Ramble on

It has been decided that I am going to use this post for planning aloud. Ramble on Mee. I think it gets forlorn and dark and uncheery (?) when it rains in Bombay (end of monsoons soon!), the green definitely starts to show in the city, though you could be forgiven to believe this city has none otherwise. The beautiful French windows allow natures green to sparkle in lush peridot and that makes up for the grey of the season.

I definitely feel near and dear to Bombay than I do to another city in the country barring a Bangalore of course. (it’s a tight race for the number 1 spot between them 2) -so I don't believe I will be totally converting anytime soon to either, like to have both cities alive in my horizon.

Anyway 2 weeks in a row no spring cleaning, so coming weekend will be devoted to cleaning. And making the house look beautiful again. Fresh flowers and lovely aroma thereafter will make my home beautiful and serene again. Pretty mundane tasks, but after it's all happened, I will feel so complete. I'll probably celebrate by doing something completely nerdy, like World of warcraft or something. Or maybe I will try to at least achieve some sort of high score on Backgammon. Either way, something along these lines will occur.

After that, I'm probably going to head over to Mommy’s and print out my tickets, and then go for dinner to Dakshin or Peshawar with family. It is a ritual - one meal over the weekend- with family and it has to be either our special places or new eateries we have discovered over the course of the week. After eating we will head back to my rez or mum’s and watch a film. Stake out a lounge and just zone out. My zone out knows no bounds. The week has taken its toll.

Small Act, Big Impact

That was an atom molecule bang resulting in a poof and no endangerment to the Earth. But look at all the crap that was drummed around by media for publicity? Predicting doomsday and whatnot!

And now take a look at what is going on in our surround. Delhi bombing, why did it happen? Jaipur, Bangalore and before that Bombay. What are we as people doing to protect our cities? Our Earth? What happened in Bihar? Did we as Indians do something to galvanize and mobilize help or support? Hurricane Ike caused destruction of a mammoth nature and the city of Houston, is still reeling with robbery, theft, no water to drink, no power, no much food. At another stratospheric level the markets are reeling with Lehman Brothers going belly upwards, and Merrill Lynch selling out, AIG calling the SOS and who knows how many more are lurking in the shadows waiting to summon the courage to declare bankruptcy!

Did you know that we as a country are second to only Iran in terms of deaths and loss of life due to terrorism? What is the impression we spread of our country in the world outside? CA is suspect of coming to India. Obama does not want to give any more jobs to Indians. Even without Obama, Indians will lose many jobs in the USA. Orissa & Mangalore reek of intolerance and hatred. Have we spent ourselves out? Have we plundered and looted and bludgeoned to such an extent that we have only a hollow shell left in the aftermath? Do we care? Do we stand to lose anything? Are we so busy running our daily lives that we turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to all that is happening around us?

There seems to be crisis after crisis brewing up in some part of the world. I don’t believe in Nostradamus nor do I believe in soothsayers. All I know is we are abdicating our responsibilities as individuals and as nationalities and as citizens and as inheritors of this magnificent planet called Earth and are not moving an inch to help or support in any ways!

I am asking each of us here, when will we wake up and when will we stir out of this apathy and when will we do something meaningful to be able to make a difference in society? More than anything else when will we become more sensitive to our surroundings? We need to become the Harmony Bear. Harmony Bear helps others get along. This peace loving bear knows our differences are something to be celebrated, not something to keep us apart. When differences are brought together in harmony they create something beautiful.

Harmony Bears caring mission is to help others overcome differences and get along. Her Character Quirk is that she's got a beautiful singing voice that seems to magically help calm others when they're upset. Her Best Friend is Friend Bear. Her Relationship Challenge is with Champ Bear. He can be so competitive sometimes. Motto is – “good times get better when we get along together”.

We do not live in fabulous conditions so we shouldn’t kid ourselves. I think, we don’t need the Big Bang of evolution, to my mind, we need, the evolution of Ideas to stop the rot and ruin around us. We need to think. We need to act! Let’s take small steps and make concrete things happen. If each of us can become a Harmony Bear and do ambassadorial work around harmony and development, that will make a small difference to society. And it is such small steps, which will lead to the big impact.

Pimp my ride

Guess if my car were broke and in poor condition I would have customized it to feel like a Rolls Royce:), the interiors definitely and the music system most definitely! But am not sure about the exterior though, I prefer my car exteriors!

The drive in Singapore in this stunningly macho beauteous large premium Rolls Royce Phantom was a delight. These are the bespoke. Customized for the high end market. Inside was soft ivory leather upholstery edged with seashell piping. Brown veneers throughout still allowing the natural grain to show through. Silver adorning for each door capping. The dashboard was finished in special black metal foil with a finely embossed diamond pattern. A slightly thicker rimmed steering wheel adds to the dynamic spirit of the Phantom. And omg those wheels, were fantastical! The flying lady at the bonnet is a symbol unmistakably for the finest in excellence. Overall a magnificent car for high end luxury, you arrive and depart in style when driving this car, and I felt like a princess being driven around with Bach playing ‘live’ for me, the acoustics are to die for in this car! Mind-blowing indeed was the experience. The car purrs and not a sound hums out from it, it is so big on the road you wonder how it will take the curbs and tight traffic, it glides effortlessly.

I was excited, nervous, and felt gauche and childish sitting in such a super luxurious car! I will cherish this experience; it was special being inside a Rolls Royce. I am not even sure I am doing justice to the car and its excellence through basic words here, all I know is this was an ‘experience’ worth the many late nights at work, worth the heart aches at not being appreciated and being hauled up for something foolish, but when you see the car and you see the people behind this brand called the Rolls Royce you understand why they are so finicky and why they are so wanting to be perfect, cause everything they do – is well, perfect:), the car you bet is perfect. I wish it looked more zanier though, else it’s a car which exudes luxury and upper class! Definitely a must have for the rich and famous I guess:)

Pump up the funk

Weekends are always special. And when weekends get musical then they become extra special. Zenzi was ready to rumble as the LJ Collective, which features some of India’s finest musicians, prepared to set the night alight. On display as the night progressed was jazz, funk, rock and blues with Louiz Banks performing with his son Gino Banks. They were accompanied by Sheldon on bass, Floyd on guitar and Joe Alvarez on vocals. This band played Stevie Wonder, Sting, Joe Bonamassa and also many original tracks. They improvised hugely and made some old songs sound different. I mean nice different: ), it was fun, it was a full house, it was mad, it was a happy evening.

Zenzi’s resident DJ took the console later into the night and kept the acoustic vibe all night with soul and funk classics. The beauty of Zenzi has been the crowd it attracts - selection of hoi polloi, genuine music lovers, the young who simply want to let their hair down and enjoy. On different days one has seen different talent on display here. From instrumentalists, poets, freestyle vocalists with and without accompaniment, to guitar soloists, turn tablists /scratch masters you find all kinds of talent here.

Zenzi is one of the places we hangout on Fridays, love the music, the DJ dishes out some super high voltage and we feel comfy here. Zenzi is our 'pump up the fun' zone.