Chhavi Noticed This!

This one’s from closer to home than the last post. Very, very close to home, actually – I found this at the local supermarket. If you’re still figuring it out, let me help you – it’s recycling at its best: cartons of men’s briefs (I can’t tell what brand it is, can you?) stocked with toor dal, moong dal, and ‘hommade’ garlic/ginger paste. Well, that’s not really what I expect to find in a packet of briefs, but hey, it’s all a means to an end …

So the BMC has decided it will now prune trees to prevent stray branches from falling. You know what that means, right? They’re just going to start chopping everything down in sight. My neighboring building society head told me that they’d chopped down the tree between us because “mosquitoes are breeding there”. He claims to be a horticulturist. Who never went to school, evidently. Because in his next breath he also told us it didn’t matter because “Only Tulsi” gives out oxygen, other trees are not important. I nearly slit my own wrists. Maybe these little clay gods will protect this peepul from being ‘pruned’ BMC horticulture style …

The doors of the loos at the Salt Water cafe in Bandra. Are these super UN- pg-13 or is my mind just in the gutter? What do you think?
In Boston, there were two hotspots with uber-cool loos. One is “33″ where the basins of the men’s and women’s loos are back to back and though there is a wall between them, there are some spaces so you can see other gender hands And there’s “Mantra” where the men’s urinal is communal and sports ice and the women’s stalls have 2-way mirrors. From inside you can see girls fixing their lipstick and pouting at, well, you! (Except, of course, they only see their own reflection.)

Test full. C’mon. It’s test-full icecream. Just like the kulfi you get in Chowpatty which is “with the full of nuts and fruit”.

Sorry for the blur. I had my taxi wallah slow down but the vendor to whose bicycle this icebox was attached kept darting back and forth, even as he smiled happily for my camera phone!

 err, cos I’m a new vegetarian? I knew a vegetarian? I’m not sure, either. What do you think it’s supposed to mean?I spotted this flapping in the breeze on 31st road, Bandra, out of the corner of my eye. I kept walking and I guess somewhere in my head, I was trying hard to process it and figure out what it really said. Then I just had to go back and check it. The seller was more than happy to let me take a photo If you want one of these, let me know. I’ll take orders in S, M, L and XL

Sometimes I really do think it’s a dog’s life. And then I see the strays shivering in the cold or dripping in the monsoon rain and feel bad for them. I guess Bombay is still kinder to them than other, less temperate parts of our country. This critter lives in the shadow of one of the largest temples in Bombay. But he has it made in the shade. Every time I see him, he’s found a new spot to beat the heat. We’ve never talked, but I suspect he’s a happy little fellow, based on his profoundly mellow expression. I know, first a flirty Batman, now anthropomorphism taken to a fresh height. It’s pathetic

I wanted to put up something Christmas-y and I guess I’ve been in a quirkier, lazier mood than usual so this is all I got! Merry Christmas all, from Chhavi Noticed This! and a bloom from my very own balcony “garden”.
It’s the only one we’ve had, although the bougainvillea is drooping with blossoms. Where I lived in Mass. had wonderful soil for roses – there were houses boasting 60-year old bushes that were pretty much knotty, gnarled trees with massive, fragrant flowers. I’ve never been crazy about roses, but these were heady. And then I had a friend who once stopped on the bike path and made this elaborate show of deviating, stopping, and sniffing. I made a point of stopping and smelling the roses every day after that.

I went to Bhopal to report on the 25th anniversary of the Union Carbide/Dow gas leak and found there was so much more to the story than that one night and the inhalation of the poison. There’s stories of shirked corporate responsibility, incredible government oversight and cuckoldry, stories of death, cancer, spontaneous abortions, animals ripping open, respiratory illnesses, ongoing denial, costly treatment, ignorance – and through the rips, hope. The commemorative Bhopal statue was designed by a Dutch lady called Ruth. And it’s symbolic. This replica is in the office of the Chingari Trust. The women of Bhopal really have been key in carrying the struggle forward — to make sure that the world doesn’t let another Bhopal happen.
Even for me – an educated journalist who considers herself abreast with news – it was an eye opener – how the water is still contaminated, how everyone drinks it daily because there are few alternatives, how the children are stunted and sick and dying. I have hours of audio and hundreds of photos to prove it. If you want to see them or listen, email me. I’ll share. Meanwhile, visit www.bhopal.net and www.bhopal.org to raise your voice. And check out the Chingari Trust if you want to contribute something towards the children.

I know people who make the stars, but I hadn’t thought far enough to the people who make kandils/phanooses This lady was on my way home after a walk and she was painstakingly putting papers on the frames and then decorating them with handmade roses – such works of art!
This is really my favorite time of year. Most building in Mumbai have lights and lanterns in their balconies – several even have color coordinated ones. Coming into the city from the airport, the government colonies look like multistoried fairy tale houses, each block uniformly sporting a different colored kandil: 21 houses with all yellow kandils, the next 21 with all orange, then 21 of red. It’s magical.

Which reminds me, we haven’t strung up our lights yet. How will Lakshmi know where to come if it’s all dark here?

What a thrill, right? To see my brother’s film posters on buses and walls But the movie was unfortunately timed; it released with 8 other films and was almost totally ignored by the mainstream press (Ok, the Mumbai Mirror did review it and decimated it, but the Times Group seemed to have decided to boycott it. Others said they’d had to choose three or four of the eight and “Toss” just didn’t make the cut).
So, we tried to salvage some of it by creating a buzz in the social media fraternity and while that didn’t really take off either (logistics, quick-changes of movies in theatres, I left for Cambodia), it interestingly garnered a mention as a sort of case study in Campaign India magazine. It didn’t talk about the results, but I’m glad someone noticed the effort! Read the story Do Indian Bloggers affect consumer views? here. What do you think?