Digal Digal

Monday, generally the beginning of a long week, had me rained in in my house in Mumbai with a very bratty nephew who had me kissing his stuffed toys. His vocabulary consists principally of two words 'Digal Digal' which through various connotations means various things. Digal digal means please, sorry, give me the remote now, etc. etc.

N god forbid, you do not understand the variation of digal digal, then he gnashes his four little teeth. If you do understand the pearls form a smile embellished with a dimple on each cheek.

BTW the only word he just about manages to say is my nickname :D.

Digal Digal,

Pranay

Weekends

P200708_01.01, originally uploaded by Pranay Rao.

Last weekend included a house warming party with close friends leading to Roxie, this semi - pub semi - disc place with a nice ambience and a decent crowd at the Park where we were tormented by techno music by this band called jalebi something.

We then headed to Some place else, a place at the Park where live bands perform some good numbers. However the acoustics really suck. A must visit for music aficionados. The best part about Kol night life is that it's got decent music and is quite cheap (compared to Mumbai).

We initially planned to end up with snacks at the street (see picture), which is a neat walk through to Roxie where you get street food at un-street rates but ended up at Jai Hind Dhaba where we ate a pile full of unhealthy (and tasty) Punjabi food. That's what happens when your group is predominantly Dilliwaale :).

BTW also saw the dark night last week, which was pretty amazing. Heath Ledger gives one amazing performance as the Joker in a movie which is a thrill a minute drama. This expands the canvas of the typical batman movie from alleys to the larger scale of disaster movies with road chases and amazing (sometimes unbelievable) stunts. A definite must - see.

P260708_17.59, originally uploaded by Pranay Rao.

This weekend had me spending the Friday listening to cover versions of Simon and Garfunkel at the CCFC topped with some good food at this small little eatery near Rabindra Sadan Metro station which makes some of the best rolls that I have ever eaten.

While my friends headed out to a beach on Saturday, I caught up with some work (official and personal) and then headed out to Mumbai. Captured the above picture in transit. It shows an aircraft readying for take-off against the twilight. Visiting Mumbai after 2 months means that I would have to work on being friends with my nephew or so I thought because no sooner did he see me, he walked all the way and held onto my legs and then very happily allowed me to carry him which is a rare privilege.

Slept very peacefully with some nice dreams and woke up to a breakfast of pancakes and am now planning to play with the little brat who will soon come here.

Two contrasting weekends. Poles apart but equally fun.

Luv,

P.R.

I've got it again

I'm currently at home courtesy a tummy bug which means some medicines and a little rest. I really should've taken rest yesterday but ended up going to office and aggravating my tummy problem. It's actually not all that bad and by god's grace I should be better tomorrow.

The problem with such things are that suddenly you have a lot of pain, bouts of fever and/or pain/discomfort about which you can do nothing. Kol (like Mumbai) has it's fair share of water borne infections during monsoon and me being the virus magnet would somehow have got it.

The strange part is that we drink only Kinley mineral water at home, the water in office comes from a water purifier and I try and stay away from roadside food (must be the muri for office snacks). I must live a more hygienic life than 99% of this country's population. My Doc in Mumbai says that as kids we should've had more roadside food and water from outside just to build up our resistance. Too late now I guess.

I am quite the master of tummy infections. Apart from the regular ones, I even managed to be infected by a virus which took a zillion tests and 15 painful injections to master which was supposedly present only in the central region of Mumbai (how they localize it, god knows).

The std. procedure during a tummy bug is this:

1. Restrict your diet to curd and rice.
2. Go to a doctor (Just diet can't help)
3. Take a complete day's rest at least.
4. Complete your antibiotic course (incomplete courses will just cause it to come back stronger)
5. Be positive and drink loads of water.
6. Read a nice positive book (I'm reading Banker to the poor).
7. Don't be a baby. Be strong and you will feel strong.
8. Thank god your alive (kids in many parts of the world would die because of lack of medicines)
   

Regular exercise helps a lot (not in the duration of the bug). My regular gymming recently means that I am not in as bad a state as I was when I was off gym.

Do feel free to contact me, the expert on bugs anytime

Luv,
P.R.

I got me my own domain :)

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Pranay Harish Rao aka me has finally decided to fall acquire a digital ego-booster. My very own domain. It costs as much as two movies at an inox and really serves no purpose in the near future other than linking to my blog but then ...

So feel free to visit http://www.pranayrao.com/ which will be redirected to back here because life always come full circle :D.

Luv,

P.R.

Perspective

P290608_13.30, originally uploaded by Pranay Rao.

Beautiful Naa. Clicked on this small bridge which connects Hastings to Kidderpore market. I had gone to the market to get myself a nice folding umbrella which I did for just Rs. 100.

The market was most beautiful in a very unorganised way. Reminded me about my native place. Every Wed/Thurs there used to be this Chanda which is basically a travelling market. My Granny/Granpa and I would travel in Granpa's old black ambassador to this market where we would sell of excess produce from our land and buy what we required. The experience was most magical.

Anyway walked back from the market along this water body. The water body is flanked on both sides by these slums which lead up to my guesthouse. The whole walk is a contrast. You can see these small hutments flanked by well to do buildings.

Now look closely at the picture again. On the left corner you'll see some plastic bags and waste and the water is really murky and unclean. But seen from a distance at a certain angle it looks beautiful. There's always some beauty in everything, it just depends on your perspective.

Luv,

Pranay