Facts n Fiction

Yet another TV program on saas-bahu. However, this time it’s not from Ekta Kapoor - basically for two reasons. One is the obvious one, the title doesn’t begin with ‘K’ and the second is that I wonder if Ekta Kapoor would ever be able to fathom the relation between saas-bahu and sensex (equity markets). This new relationship initiative was taken by CNBC-TV18 – the masters in educating people about equity markets, money making, savings, investing and so on. The program Saas, Bahu & Sensex is primarily focused at house wives who are investing in the stock markets or who want to learn about stock market investing. We have had women pilots, bus conductors, corporate identities, political icons and we will now have homemakers turning into investors & traders. The program discusses the strategies that housewives have adopted in investing, discuss those with the experts. The initiative would certainly help other homemakers to learn about the stock markets. There definitely is a chance ...

I met Pratyush today. During our school days, Pratyush and I had acted in a drama called ‘Alladin Ka Chirag’. I was Alladin and because of his chubby bulky stature, Pratyush suited to be a Jinee. Since then, Pratyush always used to fantasize about the story and dreamt of getting all world pleasures. He used to try and rub every lamp or lamp like structure that he came across. His obsession grew to such an extent that he always used to walk along side the guttars, nalas, garbage boxes and so on, just with a hope that he would find a lamp someday and that lamp would produce a Jinee, when rubbed. He changed his school and eventually we lost contact. I have no idea whether his quest for that lamp was still on. When I met him today (We got in touch with each other through some alumni site and then planned to meet), nothing much had changed - same bulky physique, searching eyes and noisy presence. To my surprise, even today he hunts for a lamp and jokes about it – ‘Never lose hope’. However,...

Traveling during the peak hours in Mumbai is no less than an adventure, be it by any means – your private car, cab, auto, bus or a local train. I travel to office in the morning and it’s really a fun for me – some new experience each day. Many a times I have heard people say – “Kya hoga is shaher ka, kitne khadde hai” (What will happen to this city? there are so many potholes) as the bus bumps into some puddle. Close investigation (it’s very easy to get into a conversation with such frustrated people) reveals that people who often curse this city are ones who come here with high aspirations. Welcome to Mumbai - the Swapna Nagari – (City of Dreams), with due respect to whoever named it so. People come to Mumbai to start business, look for jobs, and study and so on. In the exercise they start taking city for granted. They expect total comfort and pleasures that they probably left back in their parent city. People start comparing Mumbai with other cities, Pune is clean, Bangalore is so or...