38 - THE QUEEN OF THE SUBURBS

Today, I had to travel by the local train upto Virar for some official work.  I only travel by the local train if I have to go very far, very fast, as compared to slow bus travel.  Since I seldom travel by the local train,  the experiences and scenes flash into my senses and get analyzed into statistics.

Although it was a Saturday, being a half day for most office goers and an off day for many academic institutes,  the train was very crowded.  But today, in the crowded ladies' compartment, a good samaritan actually offered me a seat for some time and stood all that while, and then even advised me as to the best place to stand, in order to avoid the onslaught of the incoming crowds that kept boarding the train upto Nallasopara.  It made me so happy to have this empathetic lady share her seating time for a while.

The bad memory was when the train approached Bandra,  the litter along the boundaries of the tracks was disgusting and demoralising and smelly.  An assault on the senses.   How can human beings live in that filth?  The entire length of the track, almost one kilometer before Bandra station, is lined with slums and beyond their ramshackle abodes are piles and piles of plastic, paper, thermocole, rags, and rotting vegetable waste.  Rats, flies and God knows what other pests are breeding in that area.   Please please, Bandra residents,  make the approach to your suburb clean and green.  I beseech to all its famous and rich residents, the Bollywood big shots etc, all visitors need to feel a sense of the 'Queen of the suburbs',  and you should make an effort to live upto its name.  Mr Shahrukh Khan, you have recorded a TV ad about 'swachch bharat',  but you only care for your bungalow and your home in Dubai,  you must GIVE towards improving the suburb that has brought you fame,  but it only has the shame of being a filthy public space mostly.

And then when Vasai was announced on the intercom system in the train,  the nose and eyes had another stinky onslaught from a sewage oulet or a large 'nalla'.   The only saving grace was that, the monsoons have turned the open areas into lush green growth.  So wherever we can view the greenery through the moving train, it is so beautiful and clean.

The local trains are the 'lifeline' of Mumbai but all along the tracks are 'deathlines' of filth, poverty, garbage and open air toilets.  Dear Salman Khan, you sent tankers of water to the drought-affected districts of Marathwada, yet you fail to notice the poverty and squallor of the poor in your very own neighbourhood?  I feel that 'Being Human' does not mean that Mumbai only gets the expensive stores with that logo, but that you do the humanitarian work for Mumbaikars too, please.  Do not forget that it is this city that has brought you your name, fame and where you have grown up.  You could give back by maybe, building good homes for the railway line squatters.   It will also be a more lasting contribution towards society, than the water donation that you had undertaken in 2013 to the drought hit Beed district.

October the second has been declared as THE cleanliness drive day for all Bharat,  and there will be lots of photo ops by politicians and richie riches like MsNeeta Ambani and her ilk.  But nothing really really effective at all.  Nothing that would deplete their pockets,  only silly whitewashed news stories, with brooms and buckets and expensive gloves, for maybe 5 to 10 minutes, just as long as it takes the cameras to flash.  If only each celebrity or large company, would adopt the wards, then it would lead to concrete progress towards cleanliness.  Mr.Amitabh Bachchan, you could easily adopt B ward, and it could be the 'Big B' B ward and compete with the Salman Khan A ward etc.  And the great Neeta Ambani C ward, and the Katrina Kaif D ward.  Not forgetting a E ward takeover by the great Kapil Sharma,  he will of course then be forgiven all the 'gapla' he did at his Versova flat.  And the likes of Anil Kapoor, who only want to rake in the moolah and the name and fame without any give back to society.  You have launched your daughter and now your son,  pray please do spend on beautifying the city that adores your every action and relative.  Come on people, Gandhiji is still revered all over the world, you could be revered at least in your 'karmbhoomi'.

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31 - COMEDY NIGHTS AND MORE

I enjoy watching 'comedy nights bachao' on the TV, especially since Mr. Krishna entertains us so.  Celebrities are roped in and they bear the jokes that are cracked at their expense, so so very sportingly.  Usha Uthup, singer Altaf Raja, cricketeer Shrishant were the participants today.  All of them very sportingly bore the jokes at their expense.   It is so redeeming at watch famous people be comfortable with comedy.  My connection with Usha Uthup is since my childhood,  when she was the classmate to my cousins at St. Agnes High School, Clare Road, Byculla, Mumbai.    And that was one more incentive for me to enroll my daughter at this school.  I have very carefully preserved a notebook page with the song, Bom Bom Bom Bom Bombay meri hai,  which was written by Ms Usha Uthup herself, when she was studying at St. Agnes.

So, TV programmes sometimes become nostalgic for personal reasons.  Other times, advertisements that are shown, make me very angry and I feel so ineffective,  because although I want to do something about it, and I have tried in the past,  efforts to oppose them have proved futile.  It is very important that what is portrayed in TV ads, should be correct and harmless, if imitated by the viewers, especially children. 

Vivo oil for diabetics, show the wife frying purees in the hot oil and the 'diabetic' husband is singing praises for the new oil, and he is seated on the cooking platform, just next to the cooking range with the hot oil.  A very dangerous situation has been shown.  The other ad that is not in good taste, is the Colgate toothbrush ad, showing a teacher speaking to parents on open day at school, and the junior student tells the teacher that she had spinach for dinner, the previous night, because it is still stuck between her teeth. Naturo Sugarfree saccharine drops are advertised, where the husband wants nimboo paani after his jogging, and the wife and a very minor daughter remind him that the sugar will nullify his exercise with sugar calories, and that sugarfree is better.  The minor also agrees wisely.  Millions of kids who watch this ad, will empathise with the advise and resort to sugarfree.   The ad does not advise that it is advisable only for adults with diabeties or obesity problems, and is not good for growing children.

Indian roads are so badly maintained and yet there are so many car and bike ads. Easy loans and gifts are promised to buyers.  Families and lovers and even children recommend expensive vehicles.  Very misleading, because it is not as if buying a vehicle will solve your problems and make your family sublime with happiness.  Very often, bank loans are taken for vehicles and it is a cause of tension for so many families, that could have been happier without the burden.

Then the option for entertainment are the hindi soaps for most families.  Ekta Kapoor tends to hone into serials that build a rapport with the audience and let her laugh all the way to the bank.  As a teacher, I have realized that even very small children, example standard one students, are watching  TV  programmes, upto ten pm and very aware of the various characters depicted in the serials and can imitate and even repeat dialogues of many of the shows.  It was very tough, penalising students for the phrase 'babaji ka thulloo' and the accompanying hand action, that was so popular because of  'the Kapil Sharma Show'.

The typical 'saas bahu'  TV dramas, immortalise mean attitude, poisoning food, materialistic habits and emotional blackmail, as the done thing.  These shows also propogate heavy make-up, expensive jewellery and outfits and elaborate hairdos.  Very very phony.

I prefer watching news programmes.