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.