Eshwar Iyer Expired

Eashwar Iyer (more popularly known as Eshwar Mama), residing in Chetna Appartments, J.M.Road, expired today. 

He was popular in the Ayyappa pooja circle and was renouned for his recitation of Narayaneyam etc. 

Ganesh Chaturthi

As usual, Ganesh Chaturthi is being celebrated with lot of enthusiasm all over Mumbai. Some of the Sarvajanik Ganesh Mandals in and around Jungle Mangal road has been included here.

1. J.M.Road - Near Shiv Sena Office

2. J.M.Road - Ganesh Mandir (Opp Abhyudaya Bank)

3. Mini Land

4. Chandra Nagar (Opp. API)

5. Near Madras Cafe

6. Near Station Road

7. National School Road

8. Bhattipada Road

As usual, Mr. Moraskar (Unit 2, JBD) has a Ganesh Idol installed at his residence.

Crown of trees!

Times of India, Mumbai edition dated 17th July 2008 reported the figures of the recently concluded tree census conducted by BMC (Brihanmumbai Muncipal Corporation).

The humble suburb of Bhandup stood out as the leader among all the BMC wards in Mumbai. The table below shows the final statistics.

Region	Ward	Count
Bhandup	S	159217
Andheri East	K-East	156508
Borivli	R-Central	144790
Andheri West	K-West	136262
Malad	P-North	121075
Chembur	M-West	105631
Trombay	M-East	92445
Kandivli	R-South	84510
Mulund	T	84187
Goregaon	P-South	83862
Bandra West	H-West	83176
Wadala	F-North	82117
Bandra East	H-East	74092
Dahisar	R-North	67828
Kurla	L	67758
Nana Chowk	D	58207
Parel	F-South	54330
Prabhadevi	G-South	45912
Dadar	G-North	43341
Colaba	A	41838
Byculla	E	39270
Mohammed Ali Road	B	6786
Chandanwadi	C	3919

Considering the fact that a major part of Bhandup East is salt pan land with little scope for trees, the suburb is well placed. Hope the trees multiply in geometric progression and generations to come benefit from it.

You can read the full article here.

Unique Pet

Gone are those days when kids used to keep dogs and cats as pets. Today, I met this kid who was carrying a huge bird (presumably a falcon or a kite) as a pet. The bird was idling on the stools placed outside Dr. Kantilal Shah's dispensary.


Although the wing span was quite impressive, I had a feeling that the bird was either sick or hurt. It had nothing to do with finding it outside the good doctors dispensary!


The owner was sporting enough to ask me to hold the bird in my hand. Although tempted, I shied away, scared of the outcome. Maybe some other day, if it is not on the endangered list.


Hope my son does not make a request for such fancy pets!

A 5D Theater

Orama 5D, located at Nirmal Lifestyle, Mulund, was a unique experience. The place boasts a games arcade and a 5D theater. The games arcade is similar to the ones that dot various parts of Mumbai. The 5D theater however is unique.

Last month, we watched a movie titled "Haunted House & Ocean Jungle" at Orama 5D. You are provided with goggles to experience the movies in 3D. The seats are modified to move based on the camera movements. There are two types of seats to choose from. The cheaper ones have unidirectional movement while the costly ones are multi directional. This is why it is classified as 4D.

The 5D part is quite exciting. If a frog jumps on a pool of water and splashes water all over, you can actually feel tiny jets of water being sprayed on you. Depending on the movie, you can also experience hot air jets and air bubbles.

The only draw back is the steep price of the ticket. At Rs. 280 per seat for a 15-20 minute movie., you do feel overcharged. An affordable price of Rs. 50 per seat would have ensured better patronage.

Scary

Today's DNA (Mumbai Edition) had a wonderful photograph of a high tide at the Gateway of India. It looks as if the sea is going to spill into the city. You can view the picture here....

Hindustan Times went a step further and published a series of images of an incident that happened during the high tide. View it here....

Times of India also reported flooding in Juhu during the high tide! Remember, it was not raining. Read it here....

We have heard of global warming and the rising sea levels because of ice caps melting. Is this a precursor of things to come? Scary.

Monkeys in Jungle Mangal

Yesterday, Jungle Mangal road played hosts to two monkeys. They were seen freaking out on the trees and buildings lining up the road. Kids were running around in excitement. Some were trying to feed them biscuits while others were just jumping around trying to imitate them. Besides breaking some flower pots, the monkeys didn't do a lot of damage.

A few months back, around five such monkeys had made their presence felt at Jungle Mangal. Those monkeys looked well groomed and it looked like they had had a shampoo bath before venturing out. The hair on their body was shining brown and you had no option but to admire them. I remember they had feasted on coconuts at JBD then. Finally, the watchman had to fire crackers to make shoo them away.

Death in Chetna Appts.

Wife of Eswar Mama, residing in Chetna Apts, expired today at around 7.30 am.

Speaking of Crows

Although living in a city like Mumbai has its advantages, one of the biggest drawbacks is that you miss the flora and fauna found in abundance in our country side. It is fairly difficult to live in this city and most of the birds and animals have quietly moved away. Only the rough and the tough who can endure have stayed back. One such being is the crow.

I have not found many who love watching the crow. Probably the abundance of crows in the city ensures that there is no fascination for the same.

The crow however is a very useful bird. It sincerely goes about doing the job that has been assigned to it by mother nature. Had it not been for the crow, a city like Mumbai would be twice as dirty.

I too hated the continuous crowing of crows in the vicinity of our house and used to look for solutions to stop the menace. If only a “no-crowing” zone could be declared and the crows start following the order!

My hatred for the bird changed to admiration when I came to know that the crow’s nest is used by the Koel/Cuckoo to lay its eggs. The eggs of both the crow and the cuckoo look alike and the crow takes over the task of hatching the eggs. In fact, it’s the presence of crow’s that brings a cuckoo and its sweet melody to overcrowded places like Mumbai. What a relief!

In India, a crow is revered on occasions like performing the last rites. It is considered inauspicious if the crow does not feed on the offerings. My mother used to say that the departed soul returns as a crow. If the crow accepts the offering, the departed soul is happy. I used to laugh it off asking why does the departed soul come as a crow and not as a peacock? As a young man you always try to deride age old wisdom!

That also changed after I attended one such ritual.

My uncle had expired and I along with my uncle’s son’s had gone to Nashik, to perform his last rites. His younger son had completed his doctorate and evinced interest in taking sanyas. Before his death, my uncle could not convince his son to change his decision.

The priest who performed the last rites started explaining the sholkas (which were in Sanskrit) in English and this kept my interest in the proceedings. At the end of the ritual, it is customary to offer food to the crows. The place where the offerings are kept is frequented by crows and no one dare shoo them away.

When we kept our offering (few balls of cooked rice) on the platform, we were surprised that the crows would not touch it. It would be better to say that the crow’s could not touch it. There were around three crows competing with each other to get to the rice balls. What was more surprising was that offerings by other mourners were lapped up the moment they were kept on the platform.

It was not as if the crows were not trying to eat the stuff. I noticed that the beak of a crow went as far as a few mm from the offering but could not touch the offering.

This went on for around ten minutes. The priest then declared that the soul is not happy and that we could wait for hours if needed, but the crow’s would not touch the food. He went on to explain that a crow is a scavenger and eats everything. However, the departed soul covers the offering and prevents the crow from eating if it needs to convey a message to the family!!!

The priest started inquiring about the reason for the soul’s unhappiness. What is your mother doing? Do you have sisters? Are they married? ….

He concluded that if you know the reason, sprinkle water around the offering and take a vow that you will take care of the problem. We knew the real reason and asked the younger son to do so. To our surprise the crows started pecking on rice balls the moment my cousin turned his back after sprinkling water.

This came as shock to my scientific mind. I was taking part in an age old ritual without understanding the real meaning of the same. My outlook towards these rituals changed and I learnt to respect the significance of these rituals. A crow is a wonderful teacher.

I remember telling my cousin that your father has succeeded in convincing you after death although he could not do so when he was alive. My uncle’s son not only dropped the idea of sanyas but is now happily married with two lovely kids.

I recounted the above incident to one of my colleague’s and he had his own experience about the crow to narrate.

It seems his daughter could not speak. They consulted medical experts but to no avail. Their anxiety turned to despair and they started looking for alternatives. Their search took them to a saint who advised them to feed curd to a crow and then feed the leftover curd to the child. My colleague and his family were shocked by the advice. How could you probably feed a small child something which has been pecked by a crow. A crow is known to be a scavenger and they had even seen crows feasting on dead rats.

Left with no other option, they did feed curd to a crow. The leftover curd was fed to the daughter. To their surprise, within hours, the child started speaking! Believe it or not.

Surely, we have not understood the magic weaved by crows.

Mumbai Zoo

Been to the Mumbai zoo last week with relatives who were visiting Mumbai. The place really needs an overhaul. Heard that the zoo is going to be revamped and the new layout will rival international zoo's. Hope it turns out as planned.

Clicked some fantastic snaps at the zoo.


Always felt that the white peacock is a poor cousin to its colored counterpart . However, I was mesmerized when I saw the white peacock displaying it feathers at a the zoo.


The Albino crow has been at the Mumbai zoo for quite some years now. I wonder if it's the same crow or the authorities are smart enough to replace the crow as and when needed. Reminds you of Phantom comics and how the new Phantom takes over from his dead father by wearing the Phantom hide.

Anyway, the kids had a wonderful time at the zoo and want to visit the place once again! Without doubt, the place has some wonderful trees to boast about.

डॉ आर जे शाह (जो शरद विल्ला मे नीवास करते थे) का देहांत १४ मै २००८ को हुआ।

Dr. R. J. Shah expired on 14th May, 2008

Dr. R. J. Shah, residing in Pravin Kunj/Sharad Villa, expired on 14th May. 2008. He was 78. Dr. R. J. Shah was one of the earliest doctors to settle in J.M.Road. He is survived by his wife and kids.