SPIRIT OF MUMBAI

My very first reaction after receiving this  Rose-Gold  invite from  #OPPOF1  was " #OPPO  ? ... Oh no... 1 more mobile?. I mean, almost every day, 1 more mobile is launched worldwide. We can not keep on replacing our mobiles with the latest models. Financially, economically it's not smart to buy latest technology needlessly. I am an Indian to the core, when it comes to spending money. I am closefisted with gadget-budget. My friends keep on boasting about their Apple-iPhones. I back fire with "Who needs pocket-heavy Apples and Oranges, just for calling and surfing?. I am smart, I make Smart choice".  Bright  &  Beautiful, Selfie Expert  OPPOF1 ....And then I read further ... #SelfieExpert ( with Beautify 3.0 feature )   #OPPOF1 . Well , this seems  interesting. May be I should r.s.v.p.?. Being a true-blue journalist, I wanted to do R and D about  #OPPOF1  , before writing it off so I googled OPPO  .....

The gang of Five Girls ( Tina , Jelly , Nandu , Anu and I )  studying in 9th standard is bestowed the title of "PANDAV" in one of the strictest Mumbai - schools.... Want to know how Peppy the Pandav-group is ? Read on... "I am bored to the death " - Tina the leader of Pandav group. " Say something new. You are always bored to the death " - I . " OK. The News is , I m "Monday - bored" . - Tina . " I wanted to bring yesterday's leftover mutton-curry in lunch-box but Aai said - No. No eating mutton on Monday . Mutton in school never . Aai has kept the mutton-curry in the fridge , which is allowed to be eaten only on Wednesday " - Tina " What non-sense rules we have . Non-veg only on Sundays , Wednesdays and Fridays , cause all other days are god's days . Does it mean that Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays are Demon's days ?" - Nandu . Nandu is the only rational thinker among us , while other...

"I can not travel by the boat. I will be very, very sick. Let's return", cried one of our friend. We were standing at the Gorai Jetty but she did not allow us to buy the boat-tickets. We returned satisfying ourselves, with just the glimpse of the majestic Global Vipassana Pagoda . The impact of that golden glimpse was so strong that I vowed to visit it at the earliest. That was exactly an year ago, 1st January 2015.  Since then, I was craving to visit that grand Golden Pagoda. We were at my sister's home in Borivali to celebrate the new year. My sister suggested, "Let's go to Ganpati Mandir and begin our new year auspiciously with God's blessings". I added, "Yes, let's go to Global Vipassana Pagoda and pray". My nephew finalized with "You both want God's blessings. I and Aditai want boat-ride, Mamma and Papa want all of us to be happy. So let's go to the Global Pagoda by boat". That's India...

The year was 2009; the aam-junta was still busy scrapping on Orkut . I too had an Orkut account but I was more committed to my Blogger Account, ‘Spirit of Mumbai’. After receiving a prize for a blog post, ‘Amchi Mumbai’, I posted the photograph of my prized Chopper-ride on Facebook . And it turned me in to a celebrity overnight... Such is a strong and instant impact of Social Media. Facebook was a novelty then. Most FaceBook_DPs boasted of fancy cars while my DP showed-off a ritzy Helicopter Raven in its full glory, ready to take off at Juhu's Pavan Hans Aerodrome. I was bombarded with Friends-requests and queries regarding the Chopper-ride. Suddenly I was having more than 1000 FB-friends, who were active in various extra-curricular activities. The most fascinating and challenging extra-curricular activity, I loved on Facebook was the Contest. These online contests conducted by various prestigious organizations challenged the creativity, general knowledge, technical knowle...

"Tomorrow's breaking news will feature our friends' spicy bytes, family members' teary mugs and our dead bodies. I will be looking uber cool in BeBe sweatshirt, Calvin Klein jeans and Nike sneakers. But what about you, a fashion street junkie?. I hope they won't focus too much on your zits". : my girlfriend is loudmouthed plus pretty face. According to her I am Peppy but Zitsy-faced. "Zits ? What's that ?" I asked . "pimples" she answered and continued "and what if they get hold of your antique wallet?. Will your wallet be an Exhibit A?. No credit card, not even an ATM card. What a shame it will be to be written off as your girlfriend on the front page of tomorrow's newspapers". I had to hear all this and much more bakwaas when I asked my hep girlfriend " Tuze Aksa beach ghooma doo ... aa chalti kya ? ". OK, fine. So I am this lower middle class boy from Khar. Did you ask "Where's that ...

Curtain Raiser Event hosted by the  International Institute of Hotel Management (IIHM) Young Chef Olympiad 2016 27 th  January 2016 – 1 st  February 2016  The World’s Biggest Olympiad For Culinary Students,  67 countries, 67 top student chefs on India’s 67 th  Republic Day   International Institute of Hotel Management ( IIHM ), India's largest hotel school chain hosted a Master Class with Chef Shaun Kenworthy,  Chef Mentor and Director, IIHM  in Mumbai today to showcase what’s in store for the 2 nd  edition of the Young Chef Olympiad ( YCO ), the world's biggest Olympiad for culinary students that will serve as a platform to connect culinary talent from across borders.    Chef  Shaun Kenworthy  cooked up gastronomic delights and fashioned a fusion of Indian and International creations. Titled,  ‘ A Trifle Indian’ , the delectable centerpiece of the session captured his journey from ...

Your attention please ! Peppy  ' Tapori '  speaking . Majority of Mumbai's population is in the teenage bracket. It's natural to communicate with you in your ' boli ' , and your ' boli ' is ' Tapori '. Thanks to the generally exhilarating mood of youngsters, Tapori sounds Peppy . Once upon a time . Queen's English was considered as classic . Time flies fast ; accordingly the language went through peppy , roller-coaster-ride. The newspapers so far considered the guardians of ' Lingua-Pura ' , don't shy away from publishing articles chock-a-block with kewl , wassup , yo , ya , whatever , hey , chill pill , uber cool , snobs , chicks , dude , fultoo , item , hifi , cutting etc. Aamir Khan's ' Ghulam - song ' Ae kya bolti tu ' initiated the trend of ' Tapori ' in Hindi films and Munnabhai's ' bole to ' added momentum to the bandwagon. Mumbai , the city of dreams and dreamers , welcom...

" Be Positive " ... my mother keeps repeating n number of times. She has passed, with distinction so many life-threatening hurdles since her childhood. I wonder , how she still manages to " Be Positive ". Aai ( my Mother ) always pushes me to go ... give my Best and achieve Excellence. My Aai has the most positive Impact on my life. Flashback  .... January 26 , being Monday-holiday was an extension of lazy-Sunday. As usual I picked up my favorite, 'Hindustan Times' from the stack of 10 newspapers that my father has subscribed for. Thanks to my father, We have this luxury of reading 10 newspapers  daily. We have donated both our TV-sets to an orphanage in VikramGarh so we have more than enough interest and  time for reading. After browsing through the headlines, I extracted HT-Café ( HT's supplement ). ‘Super60’, whopper response to the ‘INDIA COOL CONTEST’ printed next to HT-Café’s masthead caught my eyeballs. But of course, I had emailed an art...