Prices of air tickets have crashed. I realized this last week when I was booking tickets to Delhi. Difference between 3rdAC cost of super fast train and that of low cost carrier is barely 400 rupees. While train takes approximately twenty six hours, in flight time is barely two hours.
I could book Air Deccan flight to Delhi for (what I’d call) a cheap price. And saving of twenty-four hours. That means I can travel more. Delightful!
Laloo Yadav (India’s Minister for Railways) should consider this while formulating his budget. At the same time, he must look at reducing travel time by railways. Halts at some of the station are as long as thirty minutes. Isn’t that unnecessary?
Amitabh Bachchan, a film star of worshipped by millions lands in a hospital one day. Media bosses, deprived of news are overjoyed and soon the event is at the center stage of prime news feeds and front page of newspapers. People tired with the over reporting of Abu Salem, the don extradited from Portugal, initially welcomed this change. No sooner than the TRP’s of news channels began rise, so overfed the masses were with Amitabh (big B) that the newspapers report a drop in the number of people watching Kaun Banega Crorepati 2, one of the most watched TV show in India hosted by Amitabh Bachchan.
Why the film stars in our country are treated like gods and goddesses is a question not difficult to answer. In this overpopulated country filled with individuals fighting for their survival, watching the heroes in movies, the ones who rise from ordinary situations to become rich and popular, becomes the hope and idol for the most. Mythological figures of Indian culture and the deities worshipped in India have stories filled with their heroic deeds, and it is not difficult to relate them with the movie stars.
Contemporary movies are more real-life stories and are based on practical fiction. There is a lesser element of ‘supernatural’ or ‘emotional’ heroism by the lead actors. Consequently, I believe today’s film stars, although glorified or iconized, are not treated like gods. In fact some of them the mainstream stars are performing the hitherto unspeakable roles, such as ones depicting homosexuality.
Renaissance in Bollywood, the largest film maker in the world will lead to drastic increase in viewership and boosting of box office collections overseas. Entertainment industry is poised to demonstrate the fastest growth in coming decade.
Once upon a time, the pavements on the road from Flora Fountain to Churchgate station were lined up with a number of booksellers, treasuring thousands of books. The courts ordered their eviction some four months back, a thing I plainly dismissed as ‘unpractical’ and ‘unjust’. They couldn’t be doing this to Mumbai, and it would be a matter of days until they came back, I felt. My visit to that place last week told me how wrong I was.
I graduated reading Mass Transfer Operations by Treybal and Reaction Engineering by Levenspiel, and almost all of my Engineering knowledge came from books purchased from this street. I would get my supply of Robert Ludlums and Jeffrey Archers for the holidays, or simply spend time browsing through the books (and glance at the Playboys!) on my ocassional visits to teh uptown.
This street was the unofficial ‘book street’ of Mumbai, something everyone was proud of. ‘Yeh book kahan milega?‘, ‘Fountain’, came the default reply. Stocked with books ranging from almost all subjects known to mankind, these booksellers, most of them barely literate, were smart archivers.
Alas, this book street has been ripped out mercilessly from the heart of the metropolis.
Related reading: Dance bars, yes. Books, no!, What did the books do to you?
आज सकाळी १०:३० वा. डोंबिवली रेलवे स्थानकावर संतप्त प्रवाशांनी केलेल्या जन-आंदोलनामुळे ठाणे ते कल्याण दरम्यान उपनगरीय वहातुक पूर्णपणे बंद होती. हे ‘रेल-रोको’ सुमारे ९ तास सुरू होते, व सायंकाळी कार्यालयातून परतणार्या लोकांना प्रचंड गर्दी व विस्कळीत वहातुकीला सामोरे जावे लागले.
मी सकाळी कल्याण ला income tax returns भरायला गेलो होतो. कल्याण हून थेट आॅफिस ला जाण्याचा बेत होता. धावत धावत प्लॅटफाॅर्म नं ६ च्या जलद गाडीत घुसलो, आणि गाडी सुरू होताच् मी किती lucky आहे असं वाटलं. पण पत्री पुलापर्यंत जाऊन गाडी थांबली व पुढची १५ मि. कणभरही सरकली नाही. लोकांनी बाहेर उड्या मारायला सुरू केल्या, व मी पण कल्याण स्थानकापर्यंत चालत आलो. एका मागे एक लोकल गाड्यांची रांग लागली होती.
स्टेशन बाहेर रिक्षा चालकांचा धंदा जोरात चालू होता. मी डोंबिवली च्या बस स्टाॅप वर गेलो, पण गर्दी इतकी की बस दिसेना ! शेवटी ३ अन्य लोकांबरोबर रिक्षाने जायचं ठरवलं. तो २०-२५ रू. मागत होता, पण ‘ आम्ही फक्त १० रू. देऊ ‘ असं म्हणून सरळ आत शीरलो. मग आरामात डोंबिवली ला पोहोचलो.
डोंबिवली स्थानकात लोकांची अतोनात गर्दी. बर्याच् गाड्या एका मागे एक उभ्या होत्या, व आंदोलक रुळांवर बसले होते. द्रुश्य बघण्यासारखे होते.
सारांश: पाच-पंधरा लोकांमुळे हजारो प्रवाशांचे हाल. (व माझी एक सुट्टी गेली).
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