Saturday, September 17, 2005

Jai Ganesh Deva

Ganesh-one of the most celebrated festivals in Bombay.

I remember Ganpati as a vivacious festival, 10 days of songs on loud speakers, loads of traffic, and people swarming around the idols.
Our mandir kept a huge idol every year, the slum dwellers had one at the end of my lane, so did my friend Bhavna's building,which I visited every year. My nani, who stays at Sukh Sagar had the most prominent location to watch all the large ganpatis immerse into the sea from Chowpatty beach. That road is alive, even at 4 am, and since the whole event is covered by IN tv, invariably I could see my nani,at her balcony-giving water and sweets to passerby's .

When I think of Ganpati-I cannot not think of Siddhi Vinayak, my early morning walks with Dela, from Bandra to Siddhi. Going for the aarti, to pray and then whispering into the mouse's ear.To top it all, we even walked back home, just to get the feeling-of complete contentment. The best part of Siddhi is the vibes I feel when I am there-the calm feeling completely encompasses me.

When I came to Dubai, I never thought Id celebrate Ganesh, but my batchmates managed to get a beautiful Ganesh idol! We had kept it at one of our villas-and every early morning before college and night 11 pm aarti was done. We outsourced the immersion part, because if you're caught in Dubai then the fine is dhms 5000.
Last night was the final pooja, we sang bhajans-Jai Ganesh Deva etc and some of my friends(Dharmesh and Chinmay) recited the athrava shastra mantra. As the vibes emitted, the whole place reverberated with positivity and togetherness.

As ever,I cannot explain it-ithe feeling was beyond beautiful. It was spiritual.

Monday, September 05, 2005

My Favorite Drink

It all started wayy before...when i was a kid. I tasted it-and gave up everything else.My mom had to beg me to have milk.I stood there resolute, nothing...nothing besides that.
I would choose it over every cold drink available.

8 year old lil p at a birthday party:
"Would you like to have some nice thanda pepsi beta?"
"Aunty could I have some Chai instead"
"Erm............."
(I think most of you can picture that face)

In school it started with 2 cups a day.
In college it moved on to around 3 cups a day(cutting chai 1/2 glass-Rs.2, full glass-Rs.3)n the days I was feeling rich-tea centre.
Morgan Stanley days it increased to 4-5 cups a day (Thanks to a tea machine and Mannu,our pantry boy)
Sp Jain, MBA days it has exponentially increased -7 odd cups a day,for very apparent reasons

Everyone knows me for my tea drinking habits, my buddies who are making tea for themselves, blindly make tea for me too. My buddies mother's who are making tea, blindly go ahead and make tea for me too.

Chai--defies the mariginal utility theory,beats a high beta stock,epitomizes inelastic demand,and has the highest NPV ever.(MBA gyaan....Non-MBA's forgive me)

For now enough of this blog...until then I think i'll go n have another cup of tea.