Saturday Photohunters Theme: WIDE

WIDE VARIETY OF SHOES, BAGS, BELTS & ACCESSORIES ON LINKING ROAD

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If you are out shopping in Bandra, you can't miss Linking Road with it's rows of street stalls of shoes, handbags and brightly colored garments too. Here, you see a fusion of modern and traditional wear.

The street stalls are grouped together according to the type of goods they sell. There are traditional clothes in a row, followed by shoes, then bags and belts and then, many shops with branded wear and accessories. There is an amazingly wide variety and style to choose from. So shop to your heart's content.

Remember the Golden Rule: Bargain hard and offer to pay about half the asking price. If you manage to show indifference about your desire for the product and start walking away, there will be an immediate fall in the asking price.

Saturday Photohunters Theme: BREAKFAST

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The batata wada is a popular breakfast dish, and also evening snack in Mumbai. It is popularized as street food, eaten with pav and called vada-pav. This photo is taken in a restaurant and the batata wadas are served with South Indian accompaniments, sambar and coconut chutney.(South Indian dips).

Batata wadas are patties made of potatoes mixed with green chillies, ginger and a tadka(tempering) of mustard seeds and turmeric. The balls are dipped in herb-seasoned gram flour batter, and then deep fried. The finished vadas can be served as in the photo with sambar and coconut chutney in South Indian style, or typical Mumbai style as vada-pav, with green chillies and chutney.

The combination of vadas and the split pav is also called  Mumbai's burger.

Several fast food chains specialise in vada pav outlets in the city.

Saturday Photohunters Theme: METAL

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COLORFUL METAL BANGLES AT NADCO SHOPPING CENTRE, ANDHERI

Saturday Photohunters Theme: REFLECTION

Reflections in escalators of Mega Mall at Goregaon brighten up the mall even more.

Saturday Photohunters Theme: RUIN(ED)

THE GREAT RUINED METROPOLIS - MUMBAI

'Maximum City: Bombay Lost & Found' is a narrative non-fiction book by author Suketu Mehta about Bombay (now Mumbai) and Salman Rushdie, author of Midnight's Children and The Moor's Last Sigh in his review calls Mumbai 'The Great Ruined Metropolis' and quotes as follows:

"Quite extraordinary – Mehta writes about Bombay with an unsparing ferocity born of his love, which I share, for the old pre-Mumbai city which has now been almost destroyed by corruption, gangsterism and neo-fascist politics, its spirit surviving in tiny moments and images which he seizes upon as proof of the survival of hope. The quality of his investigative reportage, the skill with which he persuades hoodlums and murderers to open up to him, is quite amazing. It’s the best book yet written about that great, ruined metropolis, my city as well as his, and it deserves to be very widely read."

Millions throng to the city to fulfill their dreams only to realise later that the city is unlivable with an ever increasing population and  rising communal violence, a city of dreams and nightmares.The city yet thrives on the hope and spirit of Mumbaikars.

This photo shows Mumbai's harbour, the Gateway of India and the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower (a prestigious five star hotel) and is taken from the sea, when I went for a ferry ride.

Saturday Photohunters Theme: TOGETHER

SAMOSA & BATATA-VADA TOGETHER

HINDI & MARATHI TOGETHER ??? WHY NOT?

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Punjabi Samosas (a North Indian snack) and Batata Vadas (of Mumbai, Maharashtra) are popular snacks in Mumbai city. Wherever you go, you are sure to see a snack stall,  or a corner in a sweet shop for selling samosas and vadas.
Seeing samosas and vadas together in every stall reminded me of the recent differences and disputes in the city about Hindi and Marathi. When samosas and vadas are still together and relished by all Mumbaikars alike, why can't the North Indian (who is born in Mumbai or has migrated to Mumbai) and the local Marathi Mumbaikar (popularly known as Marathi Manoos) live in peace? Or for that matter, even people from other cultural backgrounds.

As I see it, till a few years ago, the fight was about religion - Hindus & Muslims. Today it is over language. Soon, it will be over higher caste and lower caste. And then between man and woman. It is never ending OR it can end right now.
Wake up, fellow Mumbaikars before it's too late. The politicians are cashing on voter's emotions. After 60 years of Independent India,  our political leaders are using the 'Divide & Rule' policy against their voters-YOU.
The common man of Mumbai does not have any trouble with his North Indian or his Marathi speaking colleague or neighbour. Mumbaikars of all communities and religions join in to celebrate each other's festivals, and help in times of trouble. No one is looking forward to being dictated by rulers, in the name of religion and language.
My Vegetable Vendor (Bhaji wali) likes me asking her the price of vegetables in Marathi( we learnt it in school), and sometimes promptly replies in Hindi or even English, as if to indicate that she knows more than the Marathi language. We Mumbaikars love each other and co-exist peacefully in the city.

WE MUMBAIKARS ARE TOGETHER,

AND WILL ALWAYS BE.

Saturday Photohunters Theme: BLUE

Mumbai's BLUE Cool Cabs

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Unlike the yellow taxis with the black top, Mumbai's blue cool cabs with silvery white tops are air-conditioned and have electronic meters. So the cabbie can't fool you if you are unaware of the meter conversion rates. They are more comfortable than the yellow and black analog metered taxis and the ride costs a little extra, which is worth every rupee in the hot and humid Mumbai weather.

Also, now there are private yellow cabs, blue cabs and cabs exclusively for women driven by women too.

Saturday Photohunters Theme: SCARY

This is another spooky and scary scene of the trees at Juhu beach. I didn't realise it till I saw the photo on my computer.
I see spooky figures formed by the branches of these trees. Do you see them too? or is my imagination running wild?

Saturday Photohunters Theme: FAMILY

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After watching this happy family for about 30 seconds from the local train, sorting bunches of green peas for selling them at the traffic signal, I realised that half of the people in the city live for today. I wonder if I would be calm and smiling if I were in their place.

I came across these beautiful family quotes while browsing the net.

The family is a haven in a heartless world. ~Attributed to Christopher Lasch

If the family were a fruit, it would be an orange, a circle of sections, held together but separable - each segment distinct. ~Letty Cottin Pogrebin

Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family: Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one. - Jane Howard

Satuday Photohunters Theme: Lazy

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A  Lazy Sunday Afternoon Walk at Juhu Beach followed by a round of Pani Puri, Pav Bhaji and  Kala-Khatta Gola is my favorite way of spending weekends.

Saturday Photohunters Theme: SAD

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This is a common sight in Mumbai city, but most people in the city are used to ignore the sight of people living- eating, washing, bathing and sleeping on the pavement. The three women in the picture were sound asleep, and their small children were playing nearby.

Some of them sell articles at the traffic lights, some beg to live, and some are construction site workers on daily wages, but 'Home' is a distant dream for them.

The 'SADDEST' part of this 'SAD' scene where I took the photo is that it was less than a 5 minute from Infiniti Mall, and very close to Juhu Scheme, where many Bollywood celebrities reside. They are everywhere we pass by, but we cannot do much except giving some food and clothes occasionally.

It wouldn't be fair to blame the state government, with the thousands pouring into the city everyday, hoping to make a living in the 'City of Dreams'

Saturday Photohunters Theme: VIEW

View from Kate's Point

Kate's point in Mahabaleshwar (the nearest hill station to Mumbai) is named after Kate, the daughter of Sir John Malcolm, the founder of Mahabaleshwar during the British Raj. It is a huge rock which stands 50 m high.

 Echo point is close to Kate's Point. Kate's point offers a breathtaking view of the Krishna valley. From the southern side, it looks like an elephant's head.

Saturday Photohunters Theme : ROAD

This is the Juinagar Foot Over Bridge in Navi Mumbai near Juinagar Railway Station.

It was constructed by SPACPL, who received the Most Outstanding Bridge National Award (Aesthetics), Indian Institution of Bridge Engineers, 1997, for this bridge.

This octagonal-section twin-arch reinforced concrete pedestrian foot-bridge spans 65m across the Sion-Panvel Expressway, near Juinagar Railway Station.

Short flights of steps near the start of each ramp, and climbing up the arch profile on either side of the horizontal, are intended to discourage motor-cyclists from riding over the ramps and the bridge.

Saturday Photo Hunters Theme: WILD

WILD CROWD

Wild crowd trying to get into/get out of the train at Kurla station.

The commuters pounce into the train even before it has halted, with little thought for others around them. There is a mad rush to get in, even if it means shoving the fellow commuter out of the  train.

If you are at the station for the first time, make sure you avoid peak hours. People hanging  out of the train at the door is a common sight even during non-peak hours. If you manage to set your feet on the train, it is important to squeeze yourself inside enough to be safe.

For more details and photos on Mumbai local train travel, click Mumbai Local Train

Saturday Photo Hunter Theme: Strings

Rakhis: Silk strings with gold and silver thread & fancy beads & beautifully crafted sequins and studded with semi precious stones.
Sisters tie Rakhi strings on their brother's wrist on Raksha Bandhan.

Saturday Photo Hunter Theme: Beautiful

Navi Mumbai's Railway Stations are one of the very few stations in India which boast of beautiful infrastructure.

Juinagar Railway Station

Juinagar is a railway station in Navi Mumbai, the twin city of Navi Mumbai and one of the largest planned cities in the world. Juinagar Station Complex is located in sector 11 of Sanpada node and is adjoining to Sion-Panvel Highway. Station complex consists of shopping area on the ground floor and well-integrated shops/ office premises on the first and second floors. This station caters for three corridors viz. Mankhurd-Belapur, Thane-Turbhe-Nerul & Thane-Nerul-Uran.

Saturday Photohunter: Theme "Wrinkled"

If wrinkles must be written upon our brows, let them not be written upon the heart. The spirit should not grow old.
-James A. Garfield

Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years.
People grow old by deserting their ideals.
Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up wrinkles the soul.
- General Douglas MacArthur

Age may wrinkle the face, but lack of enthusiasm  wrinkles the soul.
- Danish proverb

To keep the heart unwrinkled, to be hopeful, kindly, cheerful, reverent - that is to triumph over old age.
- Thomas Bailey Aldrich

Saturday Photo Hunter Theme: Colorful

Happy Raksha Bandhan

Today is Raksha Bandhan, which means the bond wherein the strong will protect the weak from all evil. It is a celebration of a brother and sister inseperable bond of love and trust. The sister ties a 'Rakhi' or 'Raksha' on the brother's wrist. The brother accepts the rakhi and thus takes the responsibility of protecting his sister from all evil. Sisters pray for the longlife, safety and well-being of their brothers. Sweets & gifts are also exchanged.

It is a very colorful festival like most other Indian festivals. I went shopping for my rakhis and gifts yesterday and I saw crowds shopping for sweets, rakhis, bangles, jewelry and also mehndi. It was Independence Day and many people were out shopping for festive discounts offered.

Here are the last year's Rakhi comments. I still don't know how to explain to Shek: What do you have to say?

Shek said...
i have tried time and again and miserably failed to explain fellow americans as to how an unrelated boy and girl can become brother-sister. "Why would they do that?"Help me out here.

Leena said...
I was trying to understand also thisconcept sister-brother :) Are they just friends - "bestis"?I love your colourful decorations and clothes as well.

magiceye said...
lovely bright colors - signifying the joy the festival brings!

Tara's Talk said...
Very lovely colors! Interesting photo for me;) Thanks for sharing it!

Anu said...
Shek, I'm not sure if I can answer that, but I'll make sure I'm askin lots of people, including family this time, and I'll be back with the feedbacks soon.

Saturday Photohunter: Theme "Dark"

The sky was dark with clouds today morning at about 6.30 am, but it hasn't rained yet (till 12 noon). And now it's not so bright but clear.

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