BOMB-(d)AY !!

I really did not make this blog to be a journalist reporting the ugly side of the city I was born and brought up in.

But I guess life has delivered what it had to and not its our turn to maturely handle it.

Since yesterday the Media has been bombarding photos and videos of the gruesome and brutual bombing "Mumbai 7/11" as they called it.

Thankfully people I know family, friends were spared this gruesome tragedy. Some told stories of being just a train or two ahead or behind the unfortunate train. Some even spoke of being in the same train but in some unaffected compartment. People discussed day long over the jinx which has hit Mumbai last couple of weeks with floods, rioting and now this.

Today I googled the net for all the photos of the tragic events. I was looking for something in al lof them. Keeping with my philosophy to put up that one photograph that captures it all. Finally I found it from one of those sites - I have put it up here.

This captures the essence of the city I live in. Human Enterprise. I heard so many things all through yesterday and today, about how the Islamic terrorists did it. I read Muslim boards condemn the bombing, the US doing that, Pakistan and even all the terrorist outfits doing that !!

But this photo says it all. The bombs shook an entire city, entire trains, and entire population. The bombs not only shook and tore apart trains but shook and tore apart families still trying to figure out why this had to happen to their loved ones.

One thing which did not shake was the spirit of this lovely city. Yes this city has bad roads, a bad government, a lousy municipal corporation, bad drainage, worse town planning. We have a polpulation problem, unplanned infrastructure. Evertything is bad - AGREED !!
But the one factor which makes this city so unique and dear is this spirit of the people who live here, who have made this their home.

This photo is so spotaneous - a disaster strikes and people just rushing in to save whoever they can, picking up body parts to search for life. There is no police or any other government agency taking care. People are not just on-lookers - but they are the real heros. I wonder when all these feet were running to the site, the hands helping - would a momentary thought have come to their minds - hey this is a a Hindu or a Muslim or Hey I belong to this political party or that one.

It is unfortuante but true, these are those times when the real spirit of India comes out. The Western world is perplexed what keeps this country of diverse cultures, religions and languages together ? They will find their answers at these times, in these photos which captures the essence of India which kept it together through hundreds of years of conquest and foreign rule.

And amazingly these are the same people who riot, who indulge in arson, like on Sunday. This only exposes the damage which is systematically being done by political parties with vested interests. Why else would the same people kill the very same people they are saving today ?

And this also lays to wastes arguments given by the intellectual class saying that it is the lower, illeterate, ignorant sections who act like animals. I do not see a single intellectual guy here and neither do I see any animals here. I can only see anxious faces and extended hands reaching out to help - eager to save a life.

I see hope in this image - that all is not lost. I read daily on the struggle between Israel and Palestine over the kidnapping of a soldier. Its a war, the people are divided deep within their souls.

World - Shake and Bomb Away As Much As You Can. You will only shake the earth and the sky and the sea. What you will never be able to shake is our spirit ! We are One People !

Bandh !

This is the image which Mumbai will remember for a long time to come. Yet another protest, another bandh - mindless violence and damage to Public and Private property.

Apprarently the Shiv Sena found what it was looking for. An opportunity to show its presence in Mumbai under a new leadership. Time for Thackrey Jr. to take over the reigns of terror from his Dad.

Thackrey Sr. burnt Mumbai in the last 3 decades, Thackrey Jr. intends to do so for the new generation.

However I guess there is one little point that they fail to understand in carrying forward this legacy of violence and intimidation to prove a point.

India, then used to be largely unorganized, still coming out of the British Raj Shadow. The world scene was different as well. India was a Soviet ally and the Nehru-Gandhi legacy had charted out a pseudo-secular, socialist path for India.

Lack of jobs, identity and showing political superiority was the main aim of the political parties then. The audience was the largely poor, uneducated and ill-informed low class population of a city known largely as the "Manchester of India". The textile started it all. Political movements , Bandhs exposing "capitalist" threats to the working class of Mumbai. Shakhas sprung up all over the city and the "Shiva Sena" was born to ward off this socialist, capitalist threat.

Slowly times changed and the threat changed. The textile mills became a thing of the past. The issue which was on hand was the threat from the South Indian businessmen and Dons who dominated the Mumbai scene. A campaign of "Sundar Mumbai - Marathi Mumbai" was launched to enpower the Marathi natives of Mumbai.

Again the strategy changed - this time to counter the "Muslim" threat. Along with the Muslims - the bigger threat was the so-called "Secular" parties like the Congress and the Left front who were Muslim and minorty appeasers in general. The dalits were another target. Anti-congress, pro Hindu was the requirement of the day, especially since the Babri Masjid issue was hot in the Hindi heartlands of UP and Bihar. Bal Thackrey was crowned as the "Hindu Hridaya Samrat".

Being ahead in anti-Muslim riots became the single focus of the party to find a place with the majority "Hindu" community.

Times changed and one after the other these campaigns did find some patrons but as a party it never caught on. The only place where it found support was the extremely poor community who somewhere felt a sense of identity with the Shiv Sena's various campaigns. Various sections identified with the various campaigns for their own means. It never became an ideology for anyone except for the party and its cadres.

The tiger is now old and lost most of its teeth. Narayan Rane, Chagan Bhujbal, Raj Thackrey and so many who made the Sena so potent are now gone. Plus they are now rivals. Thackrey Jr. does not have the fire and charisma of the Sr. to hold the party together.

The Sena is a spent force and the tiger is wounded and desperate to find a rightful place in Mumbai's political scene again.

The global scene is one of collaboration across boundaries. Sons and Daughters of the people who suffered during the Textile agitation are now somebit better off thanks to the IT boom. They are educated and cannot identify with the movements and ideologies which their parents stood by to find justice and security. The media captures minute graphic details and ask questions. The courts demand explanation and punish. The people want answers to this mindless violence and want the guilty to be punished. They dont care about an ideology which is only self-serving and does not contribute to India's hi-tech image.

Vroooooooooooooooooom !

Last evening, after returning from office. I finally brought myself about to take my drowned bike for cleaning it up from a local mechanic. I was strictly instructed by the Honda service center to do only a minimal cleanup, drain the water and change the oil. This was my first major disaster with a machine and I was apprehensive all through the way if I was doing the right thing by taking it to the local mechanic. All the advice given by experienced bikers on all my bike forums running through my brain again and again - some saying do it some saying dont !!

There's this shop which I have been seeing for like 20 years now - Neetu Auto. Its owned by a very thin sardarji - Tittu they call him. Last year, he had changed my Unicorn horn. However that was a bad experience. He managed to fit the horns but took a looong time to do that. I dont blame him though as the Unicorn was a new premium bike in the market and the mechanic got his hands on one for the first time - mine !

The same mechanic who worked on my Unicorn last year - Babban went to work after I told him my sad story. I asked him if he had ever dealt with something like this. He gave me a sly look and a sneak smile and went to work without answering my question !

First - he opened the oil drain screw - half a litre of water poured out and then the old oil.

Next he attacked the Carb - I asked him not to open it but just drain the water as instructed by the Honda Service Guy. He smiled again, put a stool next to the bike and asked me to sit down and be comfortable while he worked with my bike !

He opened up the carb like he was opening a damn can of beer !! he blew air from all directions, then took some petrol and wiped it all clean - a thin film of something like soot came out to expose the shiny inside. He sarcastically told me as if replying to all my apprehensions - "never been opened by your Honda guys - ask them whos gonna clean this ?"

Smilingly he took one long look at me and went back to work - he knew he had bought me over by seeing him work on my bike !

Next came the Petrol tank. He unscrewed it and took it out - drained all the petrol along with half a litre of water. cleaned it thoroughly inside - emptied something from a Castrol sachet inside and swirled around some petrol.

Next came the air filter. He took one end of the air pipe blew air in/out of the fine mesh and put it to dry.

Next came the engine - he took out the spark plug and cleaned that. blew air through one end and another fountain of water came out. Again the oil+petrol treatment inside.

The whole bike was now dissected open and the parts neatly cleaned for the water and blown dry and then a final touch of that oil+petrol mix , allt he parts clean and shiny.

Now assembly time ! He emptied a new pack of Power1 into the oil compartment. In the meantime put the carb and the other parts back... and some good petrol

Tightened all the screws and a couple of kicks and Vrooooooooom the unicorn sprang to life - let it idle for some 5 minutes as the bike spat a stream of water vapour for the next 5 minutes from the exhaust.

It took him some 2 hours as the water seepage was high inside the bike parts. Anything he opened had some water inside. I guess atleast 2 litres of water came from all the parts in the bike.

All done - cleaned up the bike and I took it for a spin. It was as good as new... in fact I think its vroooooooooooooom really sounded better than before !!!

The cost :
Castrol Power1 = 180 bucks
All the servicing = 120 bucks

Total Rs. 300 for a brand new unicorn !!!

All through what amazed me was the simplicity of the bike parts. The carb, The air filter, The engine, The oil tank - it is such a simple technology. Simple but so very precise and complex once you open the parts inside. No wonder that bikes are one of man's ultimate fantasy objects !

There are new bikes expected this year and early next year which are going to be truly premium bikes. Bajaj is going to come out with the 250CC Pulsar variant using Fuel Injection, Hero Honda is expected to come out with the revamped CBZ Sports and Karizma with the FI. I hope Honda comes out with a 250CC varient as well with alloys - something like the CBR250.

Today morning I took it out to get to office. I went to the HP pump just outside my lane and decided to fill in HP Power and see how it suits my bike. Usually I have always filled Speed - typically the 97 octane variant called Speed97.

The bike took some time to start in the morning. I wanted to give it a ride to check if it was ok and also to tune it to my personal tastes as I drove along to office

It stalled once in between - took it to the side - adjusted the Fast Idle RPM using the Air Screw.

This is something I love about machines - the fine personal settings you need to do which makes it work perfect for you - perfect as you see it that is. Those settings will be miserable for someone else. Its just like your signature - a unique individual thing between you and your machine. Its just like a relation you have with the woman in your life (both ways). either its tuned perfect or will give intermittent problems. Depends on how well you understand and tune it right !

Sometime again while driving the throttle lost power when shifting to higher gears. I guess its just a matter of time for the bike to come back in shape from last evenings "reassembly". It could be the gear box and the engine as it was coming back to shape and trying to loose all the remaining water in some corners. Then the left rubber grip came loose. I guess I will have to fix it up in the evening using some fevi-quik. Dear old Pidilite - what would life be without you :)

Slowly; the bike; as if understanding what I was telling it to do with all the small tunings, decided to obey me. Then on every little command I gave it - it followed obediently - just like before. If I see my machine as a person - then I guess I can say that my bike caught a cold in all that water and these were the last few sneezes and coughs before it got better again ;)

Point, Click - Shoot !

The floods did something very interesting. I did some amateur photography using my Nokia 6630 and video shooting using my Sony handycam. Its purely for my own records.

This rekindled my old passion. I have always had a fascination with photography. Dad used to click some really cool B/W photos and had a Yashica-D camera back in the 1960s something. I have still preserved it though It does not work. I think I got the photography gene from him.

Its time to get that Canon EOS 66 camera out from the cupboard. Its been quite a while that I have clicked some decent snaps with my 35mm SLR. I bought it about 2 years ago from Mustafa center in Singapore. It came complete with an international warranty and was box-packed with a Canon quality seal.

It has an amazing battery life with its special 2 x CR123A lithium batteries. For film I always prefer Kodak ISO 300 film. Thats the best you can get in India.

The camera was quite expensive in India when I bought it from there. It was a long pending wish for me to own an SLR Film Camera. Just like the professionals. Ok the EOS 66 from Canon is not the greatest SLRs out there - but then I am not the greatest photographers out there as well.

I thought Canon for two reasons. The Nikon F-6 was more expensive for the same features plus what impressed me about the Canon range was that the same set of lenses fit all EOS Film as well as Digital SLRs. So If i decide to buy a hi-end digital SLR the same old lenses will do. Nikon I believe has a high end lens line only for their high end cameras. I also like their For Life's Important Moments catchy line for this product.

I bought Film again as there was not much of an option to buy a digital SLR - it was damn expensive - plus at that time anything above 5 megapixel in SLRs was 10 times the cost of a film SLR. However I have on my mind to put some money in to a Digital SLR camera. It would make logical sense to invest in a Canon SLR, so that I can share any lenses I buy for either of the systems and any other accessories.

I have clicked some real brilliant snaps with the SLR I have and they are a joy to watch. I do seem to have an "eye" for photography. I do get some nice compositions and perspectives most of the times.

I guess I will do some cleaning of the SLR at home and do what I do best - click Eesha :)

This is a snap I took of her when she was one year old. She was lying on the bed and was really lost in her dreams with her eyes wide open. I thought I would loose this look while I took out the camera. but there she was still lost while I clicked away. I call this photo - "dreamer" . what she must be dreaming about ? the looong life ahead of her where she needs to go to school, learn the alphabet. or maybe she was dreaming for her "prince charming on horseback"


Some Links
http://www4.canon-asia.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=camera&prod_type=eos66
http://www.fodors.com/focus/focresults.cfm?aid=75
http://www.geofflawrence.com/photography_tutorial_cropping.htm

4-July some snaps

Thats from my humble 1.3 megapixel Nokia 6630 phone. The first one with less water is from 3-July and the flood one is 4-July. The bike in the picture in the centre top is my own Honda Unicorn bike. :(

Rain Rain go away come again another Day !

I guess the weather decided to move on and let us Mumbaikars move on as well. Its currently showing off its fury in Gujarat. Navsari, Surat are all on the verge of getting flooded.

People are getting back to their normal lives and I am sure they will be apprehensive again when the rains again look set to flood Mumbai - else I guess everyones going to forget about it the "India Gene" as I call it.

Everyones talking about the media-created hype which worked on Peoples Physche having faced 26-July last year . I have been watching the television channels last couple of days sitting at home. It appears that Mumbai only has Andheri, Kurla, Kalina and some places like Dadar. Milan subway and Andheri subway are their favorite hangouts. They love showing and analyzing "insensitive statements" of Vilas Rao Deskmukh, a skeptical Kirit Somaiya on the corruption and state of affairs on the Mithi river cleanup. However what takes the cake is a whole lot of people from random areas and the politicians firing the BMC and the MMRDA for the sad state of things. They love showing this part.

However I wonder where the responsible media is after sensationalizing all the "breaking news" and the "you saw it first on ..." attitude. We have a post-mortem media which only believes in showing the deed after it is done and then exploiting it and sensationalizing it to get public attention. Then something new comes along. The old stories are forgotten. I have yet to see one news channel go back on one of its old stories and check on the state of things since they reported it. The Sting operations they conducted ? The sex scandals they unearthed - there is not a single followup on what was done.

Once they get their "Masala-story-of-the-day" their job for the day is done. And anyway who cares for the followups. We Indians are so used to "Masala" flavors of everything in life be in films, maggie 2 minute noodles, lays, egg omlettes. We want to see the same Masala flavor of news and that is what the channels serve. We viewers have the "India gene" and the channels have them too :)

I was amused to hear the channels repeatedly referrring to 26-July and how Mumbai was on the verge of another one. It was just another "Masala" story for us all - the channels, us viewers - all of us are part of the chain.

I believe what gets us through all these situations is the "India gene" which is another name of the "don't care attitude" gene which all of us Indians have. We adapt and become insensitive to any situation which comes our way. We just dont care beyond that day of misfortune. Soon its time to get on with normal life. It could be a riot, a flood, a human tragedy, a big corruption scandal. Somehow we just take all of this as "part of life" and leave it behind. We decide to do nothing about it - always thinking it to be someone elses problem, not ours.

Yes we are very helpful in times of need to each other regardless of community, religion and all those differences - but we soon forget - blaming the system for it. Phrases like "what else can we do", "what can i do " are usual balms we use to massage our conscience for adjusting to such situations.

Look at the continuing reservation agony - the AIIMS director humilated and sacked by an unscrupulous, ignorant minister.

It is precisely this difference which makes the US so great and India not so great. I cannot imagine such a high profile, intelligent citizen of this country being humilated and sacked by a minister who has no background, no merit. It s a defeat of knowledge more than anything else in this country. And all this only to influence a vote bank to stay in power. And who else is saying "No" to this injustice besides the doctors.

What hurts is that particular sections of people are so gullible and willingly get exploited for some fringe short term benefits which is going to harm the country in the long run. And then we talk of becoming a super power and take on the biggies of the west and China and all that bull Shit.


Not to worry the India gene will again take over and the people will forget - its not their problem.

Unicorn under 4 feet of water :(

The rains in Mumbai were in the 4th day on the 4th of July. The Americans saved me from going to work. Thanks to 4-July which is out holiday too.

Bad news - as usual the water flooded our lane and society. I guess must be around 4 feet at the highest time. The rains started in the morning and by 13:30 it was all over. My bike was under the 4 feet of water. I parked it at the second highest point in our compound so I could see it and saw I did - slowly inch by inch going under water. :(

I have faced quite a few electronic and electric situations in my life (computers not working, fuses blwoing out, circuits burning) - this is the first mechanical problem I am facing in my life with a vehicle.

I tried hi-tech, posted questions to some sites like answers.yahoo.com and to xbhp.com, Bike Guru dilip bam on indiabike.com. I got quite some good advice.

Called up Om Sai Honda Service center at Charkop. Cause I am far away from their service center - he gave me the following TO-DOs so that I can start the bike and take it to their service center.

1) Dont kick or electric start the bike
2) Tow it to a good local mechanic
3) Drain - DONT OPEN - the carb and ask to clean the filter
4) Drain the oil to the last drop - change it
5) Basic dry cleaning of possible water in some places

Called out the friendly neighbourhood papaji - Titu from neetu auto. I dont know if I will take it to his works today for the above steps.

The weather is worse today compared to y'day. I hope it dont flood as bad today as well :(

I guess a couple of happy people due to all the rain flooding - Doctors and Mechanics - Both busy repairing Men and their Machines !!