Vibsville

   Bombay is cringing. Its wounds from the blasts in 2008 had barely begun to heal when it was attacked, yet again. At 7:20 pm on July 13 th , 2011, I got 3 missed calls from my father. I was just leaving home and was delaying answering till I began my commute. The fourth time, I answered.   “What is it, Dad?” “Don’t leave home. There has been a blast close to our office in Opera House.”   “Are you guys ok? Where is Mom?”    My father confirmed that they were safe but said they weren’t going to leave the office now from fear of more blasts. I spent the next few hours calling them frequently and checking the news for any additional blasts. They returned three hours later, but 133 people did not reach their homes that evening, 20 of whom have now been declared dead.    This time the bombs targeted the densely populated middle income areas of Opera House, Zaveri Bazaar and Daadar, during rush hour. Indeed, surveillance of crowded areas is challenging and perhaps the glitch in security mea

And just as the weekend of gallivanting across the city drew to an end, I developed a mild fever. Undeterred, I went into the office on Monday morning, only to return home burning with a fever, experiencing brief but painful headaches and severe body ache.   Like most Indian families mine too had its explanations for my condition. “You should change your trainer. The workouts are too intense” or “I told you not to go swimming in the rain” or “You never relax. You’ve been out all week”.   Under normal circumstances, I challenge these admonitions with a dismissive glance. An illness however, brings with it an innocent childish gullibility. I start internalizing and believing all that I hear and a modicum of guilt sets in.   I made a mental note to amend my lifestyle and took the day off on Tuesday to get some rest. By Tuesday evening I noticed 2 small scabs on my stomach and by Wednesday morning a noticed multiple scabs all over the trunk of my body. Several google searches later, I susp

This past weekend, my sister was visiting, so went on a dining and shopping spree in Bombay, patronizing primarily globally reputed brands. Let me detail our experiences from 4 distinct categories: Food, Electronics, Coffee and Clothing, tied by 1 commonality – Shock. Stop 1: Hakkasan: Day 3 of the opening of this Michelin starred Chinese restaurant on the 2 nd floor of a corporate building in Bandra left us impressed overall but left some indelible questions. How can a world-class restaurant not offer valet parking services in Bombay given the onset of the monsoon? Worse still, the mid-end Indian and Chinese eateries bang opposite the restaurant offer this service! While the restaurant is well located for both South and North Bombay foodies, when compared to its global peers, it stands out like a sore thumb. The Miami Hakkasan is at the Fointainebleau while the one in Abu Dhabi is in the Emirates Palace hotel, both very high-end hotels. Surely, the promoters could have found a locati

It took me almost 4 months to actually publish my introduction and this second entry - both were written around February 8th, 2011. I'll try and write up and post things that occured in the past 4 months, but for now, here's a snippet from February. Find below a brief description of my experiences since that conversation with my friend, before I turned 30. Evidently, that’s plenty of reason(s) to celebrate! What: All day sailing trip Date: Jan 26 th , 2011. Location: Alibaug (Ferry ride from Gateway of India) With whom: Mono and Jig Cost: Rs. 4200. Aquasail () organizes a day picnic of sorts to experiment with a wide range of world class yachts, kayaks and windsurfing equipment. We just showed up at 10 am at the Gateway with a change of clothes and the rest was taken care of by the extremely professional team. We were taken on a private, albeit slow ferry to Mandwa from where we walked about 10 minutes to our base camp, were treated to a sumptuous breakfast and then direct

Genesis: Thus responded an old friend in Singapore when I called to invite him mid ‐ Jan for my 30th Bday celebrations. His response got me thinking. What exactly am I celebrating? A certain coming of age, the freedom of not being answerable to anyone, the emotional and monetary recklessness that comes from being single and unemployed? What is it... Well, I guess it's a mix of everything above that simply boils down to a joie de vivre that I embody and advocate strongly. So that’s the context for the blog. I will try and post my impressions and outlook on the myriad events and experiences that come my way. These will encompass food, music, film, travel, academic lectures, adventure sports…anything I fancy.   Read this to discover what it is that I celebrate and savor; life as it unravels… now and hopefully forever. An anecdote on the coronation of the blog: My best friend from college Jahnavi and her husband Graham were visiting me in Boston in the Autumn of 2010. The three of

  As our motley group of four representing Japan, Russia, the United States (U.S. citizens require special permission to visit Cuba for educational/cultural travel) and India descended upon Havana, the air was rife with a spirit of adventure and mystique. Whilst we waited in line for immigration, we were hesitant to get our passports tainted with the much dreaded Cuban entry stamp. However, to our surprise and delight, the immigration officer simply evaded that procedure, while we waited silently. We then proceeded to the exchange bureau to decipher the dual currency system in Cuba and were amazed to learn that one dollar yielded .8 CUC (Cuban Convertible Peso). Indeed, Cuba's "tourist" currency was stronger than the US dollar, given the similar purchasing power parity of the CUC for most tourist essentials such as water, food, museum entry fees, car rentals, etc. The local currency, the Cuban national peso converted at 24 to one CUC but its usage was limited to local spo