Conductor! There’s a fucking duck in the bus!

Trust the Mumbai Monsoons to throw surprises at you. Standing in the jam packed RC Church 103 (VT-Office), I suddenly experience pandemonium breaking through! The reason? A man was carrying a DUCK! (Yes a proper duck) and he’d let it loose in the bus.
These are the moments I wish for a decent camera phone.
Well was a cool experience to have a Duck break the Monday morning gloom.

Nothing else blog-worthy been happening…except for a rather dream-esque time last week. Details on that ‘eventually’..

Oh yeah – have started another blog @ http://EPL08.com. As the name suggests, it’s dedicated to the upcoming English Premier League season. Do check it out. Will save details for a later post.

Rains thrashed the city on Friday night and messed up my plans to reach Pune by mid-night. Had actually planned to go home (Ghatkopar), pick up my bag and then Chembur-Pune. As luck would have it – the Fast train stalled between Sion and Kurla for hours and I ended up walking on the railway tracks and then wading through knee deep water to reach my new place (Where I’ll shift in mid-august. Couple of guys have already shifted in. It’s a HUGE 2BHK in a rather too-posh-for-me building. We are still looking for another roomie, so if you are looking for a place in Mumbai at the confluence of Sion-Kurla-Chunabhatta-Chembur…feel free to leave a comment. INR 4K/month). Feasted on Butter Chicken before the mosquitoes feasted on me.

Pune in the morning. Private car. Rs 120. Reached in 2.5 hours. Nothing filmy.
Returned today morning. AC Volvo. Nothing filmy again.

Well talking about Phones….I’ve got my eyes set on either the SE K800i or the SE P990i

SE K800i won the Phone of the year (2006) at Engadget and thought it’s pretty old abroad, it’s still pretty damn hot in India.
The 3.2 MP Camera along with the other jazz would compliment my Canon S3IS.

The P990i is a true Smart Phone. Pretty old now but the 2MP Cam, Symbian OS and Wi-Fi connectivity.

Since both cost approximately the same price in Mumbai, I think I might opt for the latter.
The only problem is that I don’t need it as a phone! i.e. for Talking and Texting - The primary functions of the phone.

Any suggestions?

Life Update and a few Busines Lessons

Haven’t posted anything for a considerable amount of time here (Though I’ve been pretty active over at WATblog).

I don’t really have a reason – it’s just not wanting to post, or perhaps not being in the mood to post. So finally at 2:30 in the night - I thought...chalo thoda post karte hai!

Well rains were pretty bad the weekend I last posted…here’s a pic of Ghatkopar station on the Saturday (June 30th)…



















Will try to upload other pics when I have enough dedication to do so!

Well that very day – always being game for adventurous Mumbai-Pune journeys – I took off for Pune around 4 in the evening. Heavy rains had lashed the city till about 3:30 and at 4 it was just a drizzle.

Waded through water for 2 KM’s and then managed to get a highly over-priced rick ride to Chembur. From there after a considerable wait, was able to catch a Karnataka State Tourism Bus on its way to Bangalore.

Was able to convince a friend to pick me up at Hinjewadi on the outskirts of Pune (Some where on the Pune By-Pass road)…

Return journey and the next weekends journeys were highly boring and not even worth mentioning!

Other arbit incidents in this phase:

Bike puncture last to last weekend. This is where I learnt a very important business lesson – Provide a service to people at a time they aren’t in a condition to bargain and you’ll definitely be on your way to a successful venture.

Why do I say so?
The tube had 3 punctures – the repair waala said, ‘I don’t have time to sit and fix 3 holes, I’ve a lot of customers waiting – do you want a new tube?’
I mean WTF? But what could I say?

So anyways he shows me some third grade local tube which had a price tag of 120. He said Rs 180 hoga!
WTF?
150 tube ka and 30 Rs service charge.

I’ve been biking for as long as I remember – and I've had my fair share of punctures, but I’ve never paid this much. Me being me – obviously had to argue and bargain…to which he simply said – Jao, mujhe nahi karna aapka tube change. Kahi aur se karva lo.

Yeah right! There was no tyre repair waala for around at least 2-3 kms! Plus he’d already taken off my tyre, so I couldn’t even think of dragging the bike. Thus, I had to ultimately give in to his price.

But come to think of it – I liked the arrogance and self belief of that chap.

Another incident:
This is one time I really miss not carrying my camera.

Was eating at this local Chinese dhaba in Mumbai – there was a door hanging of sorts which said – Hot Garlic Prowns

After staring at it for like 10 mins – I finally summoned enough courage to ask the owner as to why he couldn’t get the spelling right?

He started smiling. WTF?
And that’s where I learnt another essential business mantra – Always keep your end consumer in mind. Market your product according to the guys who are going to be using it.

He said – you know the correct spelling of prawns and so do I. But the average customer in my small place doesn’t. A day before I got this hanging printed – I asked 10 of my regular customers to choose the correct spelling of prawns – Prawns or Prowns?

7 of them selected prowns!

He further added – everyone knows what hot is and garlic is considered as a staple Chinese product.

Damn! They need to teach such stuff in Business Schools.

Well back to my life update –

Too much on my plate….too many thoughts….too many ambitions…..i hope I don’t run out of steam. At times believing in yourself is much more important than believing in the mere presence of God.

Loneliness:


















P.S: I paid only 160 to the Puncture Waala :-)