Rains continue in fits and starts

Mumbai's rains have always been unpredictable, and I remember days from my childhood, adolescence and youth before asserting this claim. There is a near consonance in the starting date, which is usually any time between the 4th and the 10th of June. We begin to read from late May that the rains have hit the Konkan coast. Once the rains are in Goa, the rainy season is but a few days away.

This year, though, something unusual happened. A cyclonic storm in the Bay of Bengal (Aila) and the El Nino effect upset the calculations. The monsoon advanced normally upto Ratnagiri, and then stalled out there for nearly eight days before slowly moving northward. We got our first rains around the 20th of June, and thereafter, rains have been playing a game of hide and seek, with the catchment areas of the five or six lakes that we in Mumbai draw drinking water from - receiving poor rainfall.

The civic authorities (Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai) have been forced to cut the water supply by 10, then 20, and now, 30 per cent in view of the near alarming situation. I admit, though, that in the housing complex where I live, there has been near normal water supply because we also draw water from a bore well.

In between, we have torrential rains. We had one such downpour lasting more than 3 hours yesterday morning, and many schools and offices remained shut as a result. We had one more such downpour today evening, with water collecting in many low-lying areas of the city. The civic authorities have a ready excuse for this, and I believe that they may be right about this: when it rains heavily at the time of an ongoing high tide in the ocean, water is bound to drain off slowly, and also, sea water will enter into the city.

Let's see how it goes ... it's fun for those who are passive observers, but for those who get caught in the downpour, it is an agonising experience indeed, as they have to wait endlessly for taxis, wade through ankle or sometimes knee-deep water as they make their way to their destinations, they have to get wet, and perchance fall ill later on, they have to ... oh, I guess you get the point.

More later.

Rains in Mumbai

Finally, the day Mumbaikars were awaiting since the first of June! On the 4th of July, it rained and it poured from dawn to late at night with a slight let up in the afternoon. The weather bureau reported nearly 125 mm of rain in Colaba and almost 250 mm in Santacruz.

What really affects me is that once it rains like this, there is no escape from the wetness ... whether you are at home and the cool droplets fall on your hands when you hang out the washing or your towel after a bath; on the bus, where you attempt to close the window shutters and they are jammed, so you are wet all over before you decide to change your seat or simply brave it if there is no free seat elsewhere; when you are walking under an umbrella (these are getting bigger and bigger each year, and the unfoldable ones are returning to fashion!), and while your head face and upper chest maintains a modicum of dryness, your body's lower half takes the full force of the rain PLUS the spray from passing cars, trucks and what have you; on a scooter with a top 1/2 of the two-piece rain suit on, and bottom 1/2 still in the dicky ... and your thighs, with the handkerchief in one side pocket and your wallet in the other ... taking the full brunt of the rain; in your car, and when you step out, you can never coordinate the opening of your umbrella with the car door opening, or when you simply decide to run from the car to the entrance of wherever you are destined to go ... and you get all wet; or in a train ... and you get wet; or under a tree or some form of shade of a shop eaves or roof ... and you get wet; or, like a traffic policeman who wears those bright yellow or white raincoats ... and still ends up wet.

If this is the case, why not enjoy getting wet? This is exactly what I do when I return from work late in the evening. I deliberately stuff my rain protection gear inside the dicky (if I am on a two-wheeler) or on the back seat (if I am in my car) and then walk leisurely from the car to my building's life ... a good 15 feet!

Flooding occurred at all the usual places by the evening ... at Mazgaon circle, near St. Mary's ICSE, at JJ junction, at Null Bazaar and so on in my area, and at more than a 100 flood-prone areas all over Mumbai.

Even so, I think the average Mumbaikar is really, really happy that heavy rains have fallen, for we get our water supply from the catchment areas of Vihar, Tansa, Tulsi, Bhatsa and Vaitarna Lakes. If it rains well there, we will get water here .

Old and present students of Bharda New High School

Some students of the Bharda New High School at CST, Mumbai, got together on a warm afternoon under the stewardship of Mr. Abbasbhai Igatpuriwala, one of the old teachers, in Bharda's auditorium, on 16th June, 2008. The purpose was to discuss what best we, old Bhardaites, could do about our alma mater.

There were equal supporters for "contributing to the upliftment of the school buildings and the staff" and for "starting new institutions of excellence and advanced studies" in Science and Technology (to be named after Mr. A.H. Mulla, our beloved principal who passed away in March) and in Mass Media and communication (to be named after Mrs. Banoo N. Cama, still very much alive and in her eighties).

As a result of the deliberations of the meeting, an online Yahoo group has been created where Bhardaites can come together to interact. To visit this group, please click here.

Values: old vs. new - a perspective

I am 49 years young. However, when dealing with the tweens of today (those who are between teenage and adulthood, viz. my daughters, and others of their age), I feel like someone from Satyug. I am not joking, and most readers of my age will probably be nodding their heads in understanding. :-)
Values have changed so much, that often, what seems like a "ghor apradh" to me, sounds like a "all in a day's work" to my children! They think nothing of ignoring your requests to this household chore, or postpone the purchase of a 4 GB card for the time being, or wait a little while to have lunch while their father is on the way home, negotiating the killer traffic at Bhendi Bazaar. To them, retiring to their own rooms when my friends come to the house is, to put it bluntly, their bounden duty. It matters not that their mother (my wife) comes home after a hard day's work, hungry and thirsty: if I nudge one of them to get up and get her a glass of water, or to unburden her of her handbag or something, they will immediately turn the other way, or tell me to ask the "other daughter"' or, they will get her the water, and then refuse to do the next task asked of them, saying that they "already got up once to get mom water".
It is not only frustrating, but also demeaning, to hear them shout at each other at 11:30 p.m. to "give me more space on the bed, and to shift there."
I am sorry if this diary sounds like a public lament of my daughters, but I am using my examples to illustrate what is, I am sure, a general experience of most parents.
Coming to adult values, it is too late when yesterday's teens realise where they went wrong. Their own ghosts come to haunt them later on. Values never change, only perceptions do. And yet, false values have gradually seeped into the moral fabric of the society. Petty behaviour, insulting an elder to that person's face, speaking rudely to one's own teacher/boss/superior, ignoring the pleas of one's own parents or elder siblings, etc. are now so acceptable, that the youth does not even consider it as wrong behaviour. To a large extent, the open sky policy and the invasion of channels from the West have contributed to this moral depradation. Music today has words like F@@K and so on openly weaved into the lyrics. In such an environment, how can the tween remain untouched?
The need of the hour is to sit with them and talk to them, to sensitize them to their follies, and to do all this before it is too late.
Can I do it? I don't know. Can you? Do tell me! 

Just look at those muscles

Just look at those muscles. - MouthShut.com

Shared via AddThis

If someone saw me in real life, they would immediately remark that I have a rather huge belly. If you've seen my photos here and elsewhere, you wouldn't guess that, would you? And yet, it is true. Years of chai and indiscriminate eating has caused my belly to bloat up. My belly measures 39 inches. God! I have been trying to shed this flab off and on. I made my first serious and fairly successful attempt in 2007. In this, my first attempt, I passed with flying colours, as I lost nearly ten kgs within six months, and the belly shrank by nearly 3-4 inches!

The top photo is the one I achieved after five months of gymming in 2007, while the lower one is the earlier one.

My second attempt began in January 2008 at Talwalkar's (see my review on that). This was a failure, as, instead of losing weight, I gained 3-4 kg there, and lost no fat. I left that, and am now in my third attempt at a local gym called Mission Fitness. Having completed three months there, I can safely say that it is the best of the lot, but I haven't lost any weight or inches so far. I am maintaining a daily visit there. Recently, the physio person there changed my routine from alternate day cardio/weight training to daily weight training + cardio. I completed one week of that, and am now into the second week of the same. I am praying that I see results soon.

Mouthshut.com

This is an unique website which allows common people to give reviews of almost anything under the sun, allows them to maintain diaries, allows them to comment on others' reviews, and allows social interaction and exchanging of virtual gifts. I have been a member there since many years, and have written some reviews too; yesterday, on a lazy Sunday, I decided to do a little more on the site: I read reviews, commented on many of them, uploaded photos, wrote two diary entries, gave away virtual gifts, sent messages, etc.

The beauty of this site is that it keeps rewarding members for doing any of the above activities with MS points, thereby encouraging members to keep interacting and to never leave the site. Very interesting site. Do register as a free member and explore the site. 

And, please, check out my profile here.

Writing an entry every single day

It would definitely be desirable to visit one's own blog every single day and to write a few words there ... personally, though, I am no pro at typing, and writing long entries is something that I don't either admire or cherish. Even so, I am committing to writing one entry every day for the entire week beginning from today. Let me see if I can come good on my resolve.

Between the 15th and the 25th of May, I stood in as a substitute for some of my professional colleagues at one or two hospitals that I visit. It was a sort of busy fortnight for me, as I was now seeing patients of mine as well as two other pediatricians! Apart from being very professionally satisfying *and monetarily too, I may as well add*, this experience reminded me of my younger days, when there weren't that many doctors or pediatricians in my geographical territory which is about 5 odd sq. km south of my home at Mazgaon. It was after a long time that I was seeing so many patients in the hospitals where I was standing in for the other doctor(s).  And although tiring, it was enjoyable too, since it will definitely earn me more cash in the days I worked that hard! 

I also wanted to share one more thing with my readers: on Writing.com, where I have an extensive portfolio of my non-medical writing, I am currently participating in an unique writing contest called the "14 days - 7 prompts - 1 story contest". In this contest, the admin gives the contestants a word prompt that HAS TO BE  incorporated in the coming installment. At the same time, the next prompts have to be also incorporated too, without going back and re-doing the story! Thus, the writer has to be very imaginative while tying up the prompts as they come every alternate day. To read the story as it develops/developed, click here.

Cricket, Politics and some more stuff ...

As everyone knows, the Indian Premier League (IPL) is a limited overs game with both teams bowling just 20 overs to decide the game. This year, because of the simultaneous holding of the General Elections for Indian Parliament, the venue of the IPL was shifted to South Africa instead of India. Well, the round robin league is over, and so are the semifinals ... and today, on this warm Sunday evening, Deccan Chargers and Royal Challengers will play the final for the cup and the glory. Within a few days, the Congress Party's cabinet will be in place too, and India will begin a glorious chapter of politics with the ruling party in full strength; no more coalition style politics, thank you. And, as an Indian, I wish MMS (Manmohan Singhji) has a very fruitful run as a PM (his second tenure), and India prospers as a result.

In other news, Murtuza's family and mine, are treating Dad on his just passed 75th birthday (he turned 75 on the 20th of May). We have invited him and mom to my place for dinner and to gift him a little token of our love. Murtuza's daughter Umme-Salma continues to run a slight fever since the past three days. My aunty Asma Sawliwala had a stroke last week, and is admitted at Prince Aly Khan hospital ICU as a result. She is unconscious and is being artificially ventilated. Inas keeps running for her duties to the Taj, and Hannah is at home, reading books or whiling away her time seeing television or playing a game on the computer. Nishrin's work is going fine, and mine is too.

Almost a month gone

It's been some time that I have written in the blogs that I own, including this one. It isn't that I don't enjoy blogging; of course, I do. If I did not, would I start so many blogs? However, it is also true that life sometimes just does not permit you to write ... time runs short, motivation runs short, or at times, there just isn't anything happening enough in your life to write to the world about! In my case, it never is the case that nothing is happening. So much is! If nothing else, my medical experiences would be enough to write so much about!

Since I last wrote in here, my elder daughter Inas has begun her industrial training at the Hotel Taj at Mumbai. For those not aware, Inas is in the second year of the Hotel Management (three-year degree) course of the Mumbai University. As part of the course, students are required to complete a six-month hands-on training at any of the designated hotels in the city. As Inas was one of the best students in the course, she got a chance to take the training at the famed Taj Group Hotel located at the Gateway of India ... the very same hotel that was attacked by Pakistani terrorists in November 2008. Initially, we were wary of sending her to that spot, but in the end, common sense prevailed. She began her training on the 2nd of May. Every day, she is required to be there for 8-9 hours, and her first 1 1/2 months' posting is in the Kitchen Department. This is one department that she dislikes. However, she is in, whether she likes it or not. Just yesterday, she told us that she had to peel over 250 onions! In the process, she accidentally nicked three of the five fingers of her right hand, and had to apply "Band Aid"s on the tips of all these! She has been called the "Chop Chop Queen" in honor of her "accident" :-)

Okay, Hannah continued going to school for a fortnight more, and her last school day was the 1st of May. Her results came that day, and I am happy to inform you that she did well, scoring 77 % marks in Marathi ... for the first time in her career. Her overall percentage climbed a healthy 7 % ... from the earlier 59 % to over 66 % this time. Within a few days, her tuitions for the Xth standard have also started, and she is barely able to enjoy 2 free days every week, the rest being interspersed with tuitions in Hindi, Marathi, Math and Science. Once her school restarts, she will have tuitions in French as well. This will be her final year in school, and then, it will be college life for her from June 2010.

Nishrin continues to work solo in her parlour after having removed her one and only assistant in November-December 2008. This is taking its toll on her mental peace. There are days when there is a rush of clients and she has to refuse some; there are days when there are hardly any, and she sulks around at the parlour and even weeps at times on her misfortune. To inform the readers, I should add here that she had to remove her assistant because the latter was stealing her work and attending to her clients outside the parlour at the clients' residence by doing home visits after finishing her work at the parlour.

What about me, you ask? Oh, well. My practice picked up a lot more than I had expected, but still, I was doing worse than what I did last year in April. I finally got a letter allowing me to admit patients in the 'general' class at Noor Hospital, and to date, I have admitted quite a few patients there! I am sure that the hospital trustees will have to consider giving me full privileges in the year to come. My writing work at WDC attracted prizes again. My gymming had to take an unscheduled break when I developed severe back spasm in mid-April ... then I re-joined in late April, took yet another break as the spasm acted up again, and have now re-joined and have resumed muscle training since the past four to five days.

That's all for now ... but I would like to end this post with a small bit of news: May is a month full of birthdays in my extended family. My youngest brother's both children, my own Hannah, and my dad, all have their birthdays in May! My nephew Shabbir was born on the 7th of May in 2002; my niece Umme-Salma on the 8th of May in 2008; Hannah on the 14th, in 1994, and my dad, on the 20th, in 1934. My brother Murtuza invited us all for cake-cutting and dinner on the eve of the 8th. My brother's wife Sakina had cooked the dinner, and it was okay. My other brother Kaizar, did not attend owing to some problems.

Hannah will turn 15 this year, and Nish and I plan to give her 15 gifts, of which one will be sponsored by Inas. We are also planning a surprise party for her and are inviting 7-8 of her best friends for an evening of fun and frolic. Let us see how this goes ...

Recently, I read about a friend's bad experience with Citi Financial due to mistaken identity. This reminded me of my own bad experience with Citibank due to their publishing a wrong telephone number in their advertisement.

I want to share my experience with Citibank ...
the bank that never (let me) sleep (s)!

About fourteen years ago, I used to live in a locality that had
telephone numbers beginning with 371. My number was 3712484. Now, as
most of you know, -2484 are the last four digits of Citibank call
centres, as CITI codes as 2484. No matter. Then, one fine day,
Citibank published a half page ad on page 1 of the Mumbai edition of
ET (Economic Times). The ad simply said: Get Loans at Low rates
against your shares. Call (you guessed it!) 3712484 NOW!

I remember that this was during the second stock market boom after
Harshad Mehta's stint ,,, the KP10 boom, if you will. Mumbaikars were
sitting with penny stocks like Himachal Futuristic, Silverline
Industries, Pentamedia Graphics etc ... and all these were priced
above 1000-1500 per share, with PG being priced at 2700 per share!
(Today, barring HFCL, the other stocks, including Mazda, (KP's darling
stock) have all sunk or vanished.)

Phir kya ... the home phone started ringing non-stop from 7.00 a.m.
onwards! I looked at my own number on the front page of ET at 8.30, by
which time, my wife and I had already fielded not less than 70-75
calls. We tried calling Mumbai's own citi call center, which we knew
was 2022484  ( I had a credit card from citi, so I had the call center
no), but we could not connect. And, our own phone never gave us a
second chance to use it for an outgoing call!

Remember, there were no cell phones back then.

By about 10, our patience had reached breaking point. Finally, I
connected to the citi phone center. They were as surprised as we were,
and one of them immediately recognised the number to be citi's number
for New Delhi. I demanded rectification on an immediate basis, but
they, obviously, could not do anything right away. About 11.30, I got
a call from their head, one female officer called Anjali something.
She was profusely apologetic, and said that they would publish the new
number in the next day's newspaper, and in the meanwhile, we should
just wait and suffer in silence.

I was shouting at her by then. I asked her to send someone "decent" to
take all my calls, and to stay with me till the menace receded. She
was willing to do even that, but then, she had a brilliant thought:
she sent me a box pack of an advanced telephone answering machine
manufactured by Philips. The person who accompanied the box was
knowledgeable and helped us to set up the whole thing. He also handed
me a letter signed by ?Anjali, and then left.

Over the next few days, the calls gradually stopped. However, citi
never sent to take the machine back. We used it for the next five or
six years, before it malfunctioned and had to be thrown away.

A new financial year begins

Isn't it a funny twist of Fate that a new financial year begins on All Fools' Day? I am a practising professional, and as per Indian tax rules, I am required to file the returns of each financial year by the end of August of the second year of the two years that the financial year pertains to. For example, I must file the returns for the F.Y. 09/10 by August 31, 2009. And so on. Now, to tell you the truth, my Chartered Accountant (C.A.) has never filed my returns on time, and I am forever running to his office and seeking time with him to clear the accounts back-log and planning ahead for the next F.Y. This March-end, we finally submitted (with whopping late fees), the returns for the F.Y. 2007/08. Two more returns need to be filed now ... and I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Financially, the last twelve months were a complete disaster, and not just for me,but for almost all people in India and also all over the world. American citizens were the most hit, but no one anywhere in the world was spared. The inflow of cash is not a worry as much as is the inflow of patients, which is something that can cause doctors to get extremely bored and incapable of action.

I would have written more, but that will have to wait as I have too much other work at hand.

-T

Relatives visit ...

A fortnight ago, Saleh, my first cousin on my pop's side, visited me at the clinic. Having met Nishrin, he then waited for me to also arrive at the clinic and was with us for at least an hour and a half. Saleh continues to be a pragmatic person; what I do find changed in him is that he looks much happier now than he did some years ago when he used to visit us from Dubai. It seems that Canada has been nice for him. Living at a small place called Missisuaga (I hope I have the spelling right), which is about 45 - 60 minutes away from the Niagara Falls, Saleh is enjoying life ... and I envy him!

Today, it was the turn of his younger brother Aslam to visit us at the clinic. His wife Shabnam was also with him. Aslam and Shabnam continue to dwell in Dubai, and their son Husain was also with them today. I gifted them with a small token of my appreciation that they all came to visit us.

Tomorrow, Nishrin's relatives -- her fufi, her first cousin Pinky and her family, are coming down from Chandigarh to spend a few days with us. We are all looking forward to them being with us. They would be going to Nanded next, and finally, to stay with another relative before going back to Chandigarh on the 29th of this month.

So, what does a visit by a relative mean? It means a rejoicing of sorts, as it rejuvenates both sides. It also awakens slumbering emotions and makes people yearn to hope for more.

More about the Kala Ghoda Festival

The Kala Ghoda Association, which was founded some time in the late nineties of the past century, has been instrumental in organising a multi-faceted arts and cultural festival to showcase the heritage of Mumbai's Fort precinct as well as the cultural and artistic diversity of India's vast cultural scene. My family and I have been intermittent but regular visitors almost every year, but in the past five-0dd years, our attendance has dwindled, thanks to the growing up of our two daughters. In fact, if I am not mistaken, I did not attend ANY function of the KGAF in the last three years!

This year, I decided to participate more actively, regardless of whether my family members did or did not; hence, I did so. I visited the Kala Ghoda core festival site on the second day of the eight-day festival; this is the open area in front of the Jehangir Art Gallery. The milieu changes completely. There is no entry for vehicles. Stalls are set up by various cultural organisations, private parties that deal in arts and crafts, NGOs, and others. There is a special activity are earmarked for children. They have drawing, painting, pottery, drama, acting and other workshops for children every single day. Story-writing, poetry writing and so on are also featured. 

Caferati, a literary organisation that is run by a trio of three enthusiasts, Manisha Lakhe, Peter Griffin and Annie Zaidi, organises the literary aspects of the KGAF. Most of their activities are played out in the rear lawns of the David Sassoon Library just across the road from the Jehangir Art Gallery. This year, they also had internet contests - including flash fiction (story of up to 55 words on the theme of cheating), SMS poetry (on the theme of murder) and Poetry Slam (three theme poems and one free poem), as also Lyric writing and Drama scripting. Anyone could submit their entries on the net, and if their work was selected, they would participate in the final rounds on a later date at the KGAF venue.

I participated in the first three of the above contests, and was a finalist in the poetry slam. I read out my first poem on the theme of "Rock", and was then eliminated in a sort of round robin contest. Anyway, a finalist ... not bad, eh?

I also recited a few poems on one of the other evenings in an "Open Mic" session. That was appreciated a lot by the audience.

KGAF also ties up with the Bombay Heritage Walks Association to conduct free heritage walks on each day of the festival. I was privileged to join three of the seven or eight walks conducted by the BHWA. These were the D.N. Road walk, the Gateway of India walk and the Ballard Pier walk. These walks were fantastic; not only did they inform us about the architectural wonders that are located in the Fort precinct and around it, they also entertained us with the stories of the men and women who created these monuments, who lived in them or worked in them and those who made these simple structures monumental in scope.

In addition to these, I also visited all the installations and exhibitions that formed the canvas of the festival. There were 3-D creations of a rocket made from barbed wire, men and sports figures made from steel and wiremesh, a multi-wheeled artistic form made from bicycle wheels, a statue of Ganesha made from discarded motor cycle parts, and a huge 40 feet tower made of buckets, taps and so on on the theme of conserving water, to name a few. There was a kiosk where visitors could "write" to a Pakistani citizen (thousands wrote notes); a kiosk that enabled us to look inside a slum house where ceilings leaked each monsoon; a kiosk that highlighted the plight of the Indian woman, and so on.

There was a stage too, where the dance and drama events were held. Eats ... from all the restaurants that form the facade opp. the Art Gallery, and free movie screenings at the K.R. Cama Oriental Institute and the Ghia Hall. Unfortunately, I could not attend any screening of any movie due to lack of time.

All in all, a great festival, with something for everyone. I enjoyed being a part of it!

A month ends and a lot of stuff to narrate

As readers will have observed, I am returning to this blog at the end of the month ... my previous post was on the 1st of February. A lot of things have happened in the past month, the most important of these being the fact that time was always short. Let me first list the main things that have livened up my life:

1. Global economy  continued to deteriorate: not that this is news, but the fact is that this decline has affected my practice considerably. I am sure that everyone else has also been affected likewise - businesses, professionals, salaried class, and so on. 
2. In Mumbai, for a whole week, culture ruled as the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival got under way during the second week of February. I visited the main center three times, saw and photographed many artifacts, installations and sights. Also, I went to three heritage walks - one at Ballard Pier, one at  D.N. Road, and one at Gateway of India. I also  recited a few poems at an open-mic on one of the days at the lawns of the David Sassoon Library. Finally, I also participated in three contests run by Caferati: the SMS poem, the 55-word story and the Theme poetry slam. While I got disqualified in the first two, I was selected to be a finalist in the slam onthe basis of my poem on "Paper". More about this slam later.
3. p4poetry.com had its monthly poetry reading at the residence of Raj/Renuka at Juhu on the 24th. The  theme  was "LOVE" and I recited two poems. 
4. Inas got selected for her industrial training at the Taj  Palace and Tower.
5. We completed six years in Mazgaon on the 8th of February.
6. I started gymming again, joining the gym Mission Fitness near Noor Baug. Nishrin paid half of the fees, while I pitched in with the rest. The total fees for 1 year were 10000 INR. Since the day I joined, I have not missed a single one of the nine-odd days. I am already feeling better - both physically and mentally.

Having listed these events and occasions, I am already feeling bored to write more. Hence, I am going to end here. More in another entry.

Bangalore Visit, January 21-25, 2009: Background

This year, after a three year gap, I decided to once again attend the annual national pediatricians' gathering. This, the 46th Pedicon, would be held at Bangalore, or Bengaluru as it is now called by the government of Karnataka, from the 22nd to the 25th of January, 2009. I registered as a delegate some time in August, and received a confirmation receipt a month later.

I was excited to go, and even suggested to my wife Nishrin that she should accompany me, since I would be returning to this city after exactly 19 years - we had gone there together for our honeymoon in 1990. It would be a sort of romantic return - but as was expected, Nish could not come owing to the fact that her salon practice would be on in full swing. Therefore, I decided to go alone. I asked some of my colleagues as to who would be going - and eventually, Praful - my friend and colleague from Masina - officially Dr. Praful Shanbhag - and I - coordinated as much as possible - and decided to explore the Pedicon together.

I booked my onward flight journey for the 21st morning, as I would also be attending a workshop on early recognition and management of cerebral palsy; Praful would come to B'lore on the next morning, and he booked his flight with his own agent. However, it fell upon me to book a hotel room for the two of us, and to book a common flight for the return journey on Sunday the 26th of January. Both these bookings I did with my credit card, and later on, Praful reimbursed me his share of the flight ticket AND ALSO PAID THE FULL ROOM CHARGES FOR BOTH OF US. I think he will get someone from some pharma company to sponsor the room charges, but even so, that was awfully nice of him.  

The theme of the conference was "Redefining Child Care". I was in intermittent touch with some of the B'lore pediatricians who were on the organising panel, the chief one being Dr. R. Nisarga, the main organising secretary.

For booking the hotel, I called upon a dear friend from Writing.com who is  staying in the same city - viz. Vikramadith Raman. He was kind to point me to this site (which is only for Bangalore), from where I finally arranged the booking for both Praful and myself in a double Delux room, the hotel being about 2 km from the conference venue and very reasonably priced. It was called Hotel Atlaantic Inn and it is located at J C Nagar opposite "Fun World". The room rates were Rs. 1500/= per night plus 12% luxury tax. I even requested Vikram to go to the hotel and check it out. Which he did. Wasn't that really sweet of him? I kept in touch with him, and later, also got in touch with another Writing.com friend from B'lore, one Mr. B.A. Satish. More about these two friends in a later post.

To replace me at the clinic, I requested my senior registrar at Masina Dr. Sandeep to visit and see my patients daily in the evenings. He complied with this very nicely. At Dholkawala Hospital, Dr. Munira Khambati filled in for me and at Masina, Dr. Avinash Desai. 

In the last few months, one pharma co. reimbursed me the entire flight charges, while another  sponsored my entire registration package. Thus, the trip became a reality.

Returning after a long gap

While I plead guilty to not writing anything in any of the blogs that I currently own, I must say that I was a bit distracted by real-world events; also, for about 5-6 days in the fourth week of January, I was out of town and without a connection to the net. In addition to these "excuses", I was also a bit despirited as I am out of touch with my physical exercises, have put on weight and need to do something strongly to get back into shape.

Okay, enough of that. To read more about my state of mind, visit my other blog: Click here!

Now, on to a little more news. January was bad - practice was dull, I missed those six days when I went to Banagalore to participate in the Annual Pediatric Conference (Pedicon 2009). I had registered for the conference way back in August 2008, having paid INR 6000/= for the same. One of my colleagues and a personal friend, Dr. Praful Shanbhag was with me: we stayed in the same room in a hotel, stayed almost together during the entire five days of the conference and returned together as well. But a lot of other things occurred too, and I am going to write that out as a separate entry right after this one. 

In other news, India started its ties with Sri Lanka in the Cricket One dayers with 2 consecutive victories; Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza moved to the semi-finals of the Australian Open Tennis tourney; our beloved PM Sardar Manmohan Singh underwent a complicated 5-vessel cardiac bypass surgery and is none the worse for it ... in fact, he is "positively better"!

In my home, Hannah had her annual sports and a few other school functions; she made me run to school with her on so many days, I have lost count. Inas continues to have projects and work that is driving all the rest of us mad; my brother Murtuza finally purchased his own house and has just announced that his old house also got sold; mom went to her physician and has been asked to rest and take more medicines; Inas and I went to Lonavala on the occasion of the 40th day observation of my cousin Dr. Altaf's untimely demise (see this); Dad celebrated his 77th coconut birthday and Nish, her 44th cake birthday on the evening of the 31st of January in a dinner meet at my residence - and wonder of wonders - my bro Kaizar also came this time with his entire family!

That's about it for now. Let me rest awhile and then begin my post on my Bangalore visit.

And, if you are bored by all the above, click here for some fun.

Just another day

I think today could be marked off as just another day in the almanac of 2009, as nothing really rocking or interesting occurred. For us, the Dawoodi Bohras, it was the 10th of Muharram, and so, everyone from the community was in the mosque to listen to the day-long sermons that would end at the time of the evening call for prayers with the recitation, by the priest, of the martyrdom of Prophet Husain (A.S.) at the hands of Layeen Shimra *(another Muslim, who represented the tyrant rulers of that time who did not wish for Husain's version of Islam to spread). 

I took both my daughters to the mosque, but not as early as one might think: we reached at 4:00 p.m. , and were there till the end of the sermon. The story of the martyrdom of prophet Husain (A.S.) and his family is heart-rending even today, after so many hundreds of years. Most listeners were beating their breasts and crying by the time the muezzin called the evening prayers. My daughter, Inas, and to a lesser extent, Hannah, were a bit sceptical about how the prophet conducted his affairs during the last 72 hours. Why, she asked, did he have to send his soldiers one by one to get killed at the front. Well, I told her I DID NOT KNOW. What else could I do but come clean on this issue.

Nishrin has been going here and there to make enquiries at the top beauty academies as she wishes to update her skills. Yesterday, she went to the L'Oreal and Yasmin, today, to Nalini's and to the Toni and Guy academies. I don't think she has made up her mind as to which course she wishes to do.

A new year has begun

The new year, 2009, brings with it a lot of the gloom that 2008 was a characteristic of: economic slow-down, inflation, share-market collapse, terror attacks - even the 1st of January was not free from it, there being three bomb explosions somewhere in Assam -and so many other things. At the same time, the new year, in re-inventing itself every 365-odd days, also brings with it the hope of a better tomorrow; a tomorrow that is already the present for all of us. What a wonderful word the word "present" is! Today is a present to us from Father Time. We must make the best of it!

We, in India, saw the world through glasses that were gleaming and speck-free in the month of January; the stock market was above all previous highs, the Sensex touching a phenomenal 21000 in the middle of that month. From then, until the end of the year, we had travelled down to sub-10000 levels, having touched a bottom close to 7800 some time in October. The world economy drove the sensex down, gold and dollar prices up, and industrial and general growth indices near rock-bottom as the sub-prime crisis took with it huge banks and non-banking financial institutions; several private companies also went under, especailly auto manufacturers - the erstwhile giants of the auto business like Chrysler, Gen. Motors, etc.

There were tremors and rumours for sure: at one time, the second biggest bank in India (and the largest in the private sector), the ICICI bank was itself under a cloud and people rushed to withdraw their money from it. This rumour, like many others, proved to be unfounded, but it is also true that the Government of India, the Department of Treasury and the Reserve Bank of India had to announce a slew of measures - not once, not twice, but over three times, to keep the market sentiment in a positive direction; the last such package was announced only yesterday. We do, therefore, expect the stock market to open positive the coming Monday, i.e. on the 5th of January.

The terror attacks in Mumbai were timed at the worst time: they were repulsed successfully, but there were no winners, since the spirit of Mumbai was almsot trod under the feet of fundamentalists. Over 180 people , including tourists from abroad and several decorated police officers, died in the 60-hour mayhem that occurred between the 26th and the 29th of November, 2008. Stocks of the hotel industries fell, esp. those that were affected in the attacks, viz. the stocks of Indian Hotels Ltd. (Taj Hotel is a part of their offering) and the East India Hotels Ltd. (the Oberoi, Mumbai, is from their stable).

Now, over a month later, these stocks have recovered, as has the stock market generally, as it hovers near 10000 once again. Will it breach this mark decisively this time? I don't know, but I sure hope so.

I bought a handsfree bluetooth device a few days ago over the net through ebay India. Redeeming a discount coupon that I had received earlier, the bluetooth cost me just over 730 INR. The first instrument that was sent to me from the Delhi trader whose product I had bought was defective - not working. I got in touch with the owner and he asked me to ship it back to them! I did, at a cost of Rs. 80/=, but thankfully, the new piece arrived within 5 days, and it is working perfectly! As I write this, I am listening to a popular Hindi song from the seventies called "Chudi nahin ye mera dil hai, dekho, dekho, toote na ..."   

Inas, my elder daughter, whose name appears sporadically in this blog, has gone for a "waiting" today evening,  and I must go and fetch her at or about mid-night. Hannah is studying hard for the upcoming examinations that will start, for her, in mid-January. Muharram is going on, and soon, will pass.  Nishrin must be busy in the parlour, as usual. Dad must be at home, watching some or the other TV serial - his favourite pastime. Mom must have gone to the mosque for the "maghrib" prayers and the sermon thereafter. 

Life, in this way, goes on ...                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Christmas has come and gone

Indeed, as the title says it, Christmas has come and gone ... this time, a little more silently than in the previous years ... at least in Mumbai, but, thanks to the economic melt-down, perhaps all over the world as well. Festivities such as having a Christmas tree, visiting Santa, giving gifts etc. will all go on, but as the pockets aren't so deep, the trees will be smaller, and the gifts, not as ostentatious as before. Travelling to a foreign country will also, I am sure, be marked by austerity and some effective use of common-sense (which is otherwise so uncommonly seen). 

Mumbai has had the terrrible terror attacks a month ago, and although people have begun to lead near normal lives, the fear and the suspicion are still there: people check under their seats when they visit a restaurant, and some will even chide the manager for not having long table-cloths under which they may hide in case a terrorist visits their restaurant. Introspection, quiet demeanour and an acceptance of Fate have all conspired to flatten the enthusiasm of the average Mumbai who wants nothing more than peace and a promise of no-repeats of what happened on 11/26.

Today is the 28th and we are roughly midway between Christmas and the New Year. I saw big crowds near the Regal Cinema, which is a stone's throw away (I know the analogy is a bit weird) from the Taj Palace hotel and the Gateway of India. Both the Taj tower and the Trident started operations and welcoming guests on the 21st of this month, and have sent a clear message to the terrorists and their masters that they will not cower down before the actions of a murderous few.

Today was also the first day of our Muslim-Bohra calendar year. Yesterday night, we had a sort of feast - a tradition that we follow every year. We create several dishes, and also dice a lot of fruit, and serve it all in small, dainty plates and bowls atop a large serving plate known as a "thaal". This large plate, mostly of stainless-steel, is circular and more than 3 1/2 feet in diameter. Along with the dishes that are served up, we also place, in the thaal, a smaller plate containing a silver coin, some raw rice, jaggery, a supari piece, a coconut, a garland and a single betel leaf: the belief is that this is a "birthday" of the thaal. You could say we are invoking Allah for his beneficence and his limitless mercy.

Generally, we count the items on the thaal and make sure we have at least 21 items, but at times, we aim for  larger number, which is usually an odd number. Yesterday, we reached a modest 25 dishes, while others aimed to go to 51 dishes or even more!

Stuffed ourselves, yes ... we did. And then, Nish and I went to attend a wedding ceremony of the son of one of our neighbour friends, where, too, we ate some food.

That's all for now. Hope you liked the entry.