Google Maps has changed the way we look at our surroundings. This struck me a few months ago, when I was in Bhubaneshwar. I was tracking the route to the hotel on Maps and happened to mention to my hosts how wide and clean Bidyut Marg was. They looked at me puzzled. I showed them …
Category Archives: Mumbai Mirror Column
The Final Deletes
Yesterday’s papers were pretty much full of just one thing…the budget. I completely fail to understand the point of this yearly tamasha. But the whole “event” does provide gainful employment to everyone from the finance minister to the financial analysts…so I guess the entertainment value is worth the effort! Last Sunday, 4 minutes before I …
Broken Windows
Every once in a few Thursday afternoons, I run into Samir Dalvie, who often comes up with interesting and challenging points of view that sometimes become fodder for this column. Thank you Samir for this one! This Thursday, he spoke to me about the “Broken Windows” postulate, which I had read earlier in Malcolm Gladwell’s “The …
Something About Nothing (…and A Little for All)
I thought only actors got typecast! After last week’s piece “The Namoral Dilemma”, I received emails, SMSes, blog comments and calls asking why I had written a political piece and deviated from my usual focus on to day-to-day life in Matunga and Mumbai. Seriously! There is a top 5 list of “reasons to hate marathon …
The NaMoRal Dilemma
This is a confusing piece, simply because I am confused! I don’t think we have ever had such a polarizing person as a Prime Ministerial candidate. And like so many people not living in Gujarat, despite being Gujarati myself, I have extremely mixed feelings! Having grown up with the liberalism and ideals imbued by the …
Walking…with our Lives in the Palms of our Hands
Most of us walk on Mumbai roads carrying a death wish! This piece was prompted by the accident that happened last week on the Jogeshwari Vikhroli Link Road (JVLR), where an Indica mowed down six women, killing two. A death is a death. Such accidents should never happen and my sympathies rest with the families …
The Wrong Ways
I have just come back from a wonderful 3 days in Ahmedabad after attending a cousin’s wedding with my huge extended family from around the world…a typical big, reasonably fat Indian wedding with multiple sub-plots and threads. In the end though, such weddings are all about the ability to spend time with family without interruption…with …
When Fear and Respect for the Law Cease to Exist
For some time now I have been wondering aloud about the demonstrations that were held in Delhi and some other parts of the country. I understand candlelight walks expressing solidarity and regret, but I am unable to fully comprehend the reasons for the rest of the protests that targeted the Government. While I get the …
Mumbai Marathon Reminiscences
This would have been my 5th continuous half-marathon. I am registered, have a bib, but can’t run…I have a commitment in another city that is even more important! If it was just another run (and there are so many of them these days), it wouldn’t have mattered…the Mumbai Marathon has now morphed into something bigger …
The Smart-Phone License
Two days ago, I came across a post by Ms Janell Burley Hofmann in the Huffington Post regarding an iPhone she had gifted her 13-year old, on condition he would agree to a written contract of rules. All of us who are parents of tweens and teens should read this post and then share it …