A Chopper above Land's end

Pumpkin Milk Shake

This fruit is called “Sitafal” in Bombay. In north it is called “Sharifa”. In north pumpkin is called Sitafal. Soon after moving to Bombay I say Sitafal milkshake on the menu of a restaurant. I just couldn’t understand why would anyone want to drink pumpkin flavored milk. I noticed that this was not limited to just one restaurant but is available in almost all eating joints selling milkshakes. When I couldn’t bear it anymore, I asked someone what exactly it is and then only I found out what it is.

The road is my playground

I am not talking about Schumacher or Alonso or anyone else involved in any type of tracing. I am talking about the kids who live in these jhuggies. This is somewhere between Bandra and Parel. The entire footpath on that stretch and beyond has been encroached. The roads have not been spared either as it serves as the front yard of their houses. All the stuff you are seeing including the bicycle, the green crate and the aluminum milk can is on the road. This is pretty much what happens to al the roads in Bombay. You may make a road that has four lanes but there will be only one lane effectively used by the traffic.

Giant Wheel

These are makeshift human powered rides that you can see quite commonly in fairs in India. Human powered because it is not operated by power. To run it, two-three people climb up the axel and by walking on it, they make it turn, quite a bit like guinea pigs that keep moving in their cages on a circular path. I personally find these very dangerous because you never know what the state of the men was last night when they put this ride together It was quite likely that they were drunk and couldn’t do it properly or may be they are frustrated by their low wage and are not wiling to go beyond a certain point.

Yellow Titan

I have mentioned earlier as well, if not here than in my other blogs that JV Link Road is taking forever to be completed. My nephew Bharat clicked this picture of the roller when he was visiting us in June last year. The work on this road is still going on. The time it takes to build roads in Bombay and their conditions is pathetic but what is even more amazing is the kind of things you will see on roads. Usually you have trucks to carry heavy machinery like this or earthmovers but in Bombay they share the road with other traffic. If this is to be transported to another place, they will simply drive it to that place. If you are thinking how long it will take then think how relevant it is. The wages of the operator or should I say driver of this roller will be so low that it will be cheaper to let him drive it instead of hiring a truck to carry it even if it takes a whole day to drive this damn thing to destination.

Bandra-Worli Sea link

This is a sea link connecting Bandra with Worli. When this is complete, it will reduce the time taken to travel from Bandra to Worli dramatically. This is a guess they have. In reality I guess this may not be as effective as they think. My negative thinking is because of they way the administrations makes poor guesses. I think the number of cars traveling on this will be way more than estimated and I am not sure what exactly has been done to prevent the bottlenecks just before and after this bridge. The bridge may be clear but I am sure as soon as you leave it, you will encounter encroachers in the forms of parked taxis and rickshaws, vendors selling all possible kind of things and what not.

Building on Bandstand

Bandstand is a promenade in Bandra west and the people living there supposedly build it. It is a nice place; there are a few cafes’ there. This place is one of the favorite places for couples to hang out.