The weekend muse… Aquarium idea
Friday was dull… Wanting to watch the Tim Burton movie ‘9’ and the Peter Jackson’s ‘District 9’, I was left waiting for the want of company.
Saturday morning was wasted after being ditched by the IT consultant for whom the morning was kept free. Plans for the evening were already drawn out when a last minute meeting with a close relative sprang up! It had to be attended and suddenly after a spate of free time, I was double booked. Was suddenly glad that friends did not agree to movies as that would have made things even more complicated! The day ended after enjoying Kaminey for the third time and chit-chatting till 4 am.
Sunday was eventful too – A dash from Thane to Chowpatty had me battling unexpected traffic snarls in Dadar as many taxis started coughing up water from an unexpected spell of heavy rains that hit Bombay on Sunday. It was a welcome relief inspite of the ensuing traffic jam! The pav-bhaji and pizza at Sukh-sagar was worth the hassle especially as it was followed up by this Falooda! (pic clicked by me)
A walk at chowpatty beach reminded of college days spent in the company of friends and girlfriends… The sight of the Saifee hospital was something! (pic from internet) It definitely adds another jewel to the glittering Bombay Skyline! The good foo, the architecture and the moisture laden sea-breeze got me thinking as I lay my eyes on the shoddy state of the Taraporewala Aquarium! Instead of building a 300 crore (thats Rs 300,00,00,000 or US $ 60,000,000) statue (no offence, but Shivaji has nothing to do with Bombay’s development or rise)…. Anyways, Instead of building a Rs 300 Cr Shivaji statue, the Govt should construct an aquarium on the Queen’s necklace promenade! Yep! The place next to the ocean which is a nice place for a walk should be turned into a giant aquarium UPON which the people would walk. It can be made from thick glass to sustain heavy weight and the brunt of nature and man. The aquarium would be the largest open air aquarium in the world and it should be free – a tribute to the people of Bombay and to tourists who come to visit the city! Instead of trying to mimic other countries by making tunnels inside aquariums, why not build an aquarium in a tunnel upon which people can walk???!!! Now that would be original and different and creative!
Instead of erecting statues as a tribute to heroes, this would be something creative that would be enjoyed by the young and the old alike irrespective of their caste, color or creed! Something that unifies us as a people and does not divide us into various groups and factions!
The drive back from Chowpatty saw me have a petty skirmish with another car driver who scrapes my vehicle and does not even bother to apologise. A gentle nudge at his car from the rear while he was waiting at a signal promptly resulted in an apology and an explanation for the incident! Sometimes the civic sense in people needs to be shaken up as it drifts into a slumber from the daily drudgery of the city life…
Sunday evening was Plum cake, followed by a 4th place victory by Force India at the Italian GP. The Brawn GP cars once again showed their might as they drove their way to a 1-2 victory after a brilliant pit strategy at the Italian GP at Monza that saw them taking just a single pitstop! Rubens Barrichello was a delight to watch as he goofed about in delight post race at the podium. “Dead-fish” Raikkonen was 3rd. He did not bother to congratulate the other winners or take part in celebrations. Even drank more champagne than he showered upon his team. No smile on his face to show joy for the 3rd place finish after Hamilton crashed in the final stages of the race with 2 laps remaining. Q: Do they call Kimi the ‘iceman’ becaue he is as cold as a fish? Perhaps another Pav-bhaji, pizza and a falooda will help me ponder over that one…
PS: It was sweet to see Force India give Ferrari a run for their money on Ferrari’s home race @ Monza, Italy! For the uninitiated, the two teams have a bitter history. Kimi Raikkonen, while driving for Ferrari, has crashed twice into a Force India car driven by Adrian Sutil and prevented the Force India team from scoring points in Formula 1! Every point garnered by a F1 team helps the team earn revenue from the sport and other benefits like free transportation to races, revenue from television rights, etc. The Force India team also switched from Ferrari Engines in 2008 to Mercedes engines in 2009 when Ferrari refused to give them their current and most latest engine. Now the team, owned by Vijay Mallya, in its 2nd year at Formula 1 has improved from being a back-runner to a front-runner and has been giving the top-runners tough competition since the past few races. Force India has a budget that is about 1/3rd to 1/4th of the big teams in Formula 1. While the big teams have been competing since decades Force India is 2 years old in the sport. Toyota, who is reported to have a budget thats even larger than Ferrari’s budget has failed to show performance in the sport that has seen manufacturers like Honda and BMW who have exited and are planning to exit the sport from next year! This makes Force India’s most recent success even more phenomenal. The team finished 2nd on the Podium in the previous race at the Belgian GP and now has 13 points in the 2009 Formula 1 season.
bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!! i have to MAKE pav bhaji and vada pav if i hope to get a decent taste! i hate you! 😦
lol… Come to bombay n eat @ ur heart’s content 😛
District 9 is a great film. I know P.J. produced it but I think Neil Blomkamp would be a little put out to hear his film described as “Peter Jackson’s District 9”
😉
Right you are… I did know of that mistake on my part, but am too lazy to change it… esp when i’m contemplating on writing a review on District 9…. Btw, the French just cleaned up an immigrant colony – the images were fitting with those shown in District 9… And to top it… All developed countries call Immigrants “Aliens!”….. wow! Thats akin to calling them non-humans!
Hey Spike!
I don’t follow racing but this post was nice and informative and got me interested in the sport, especially the bit about Force India…respect.
I am yet to visit Mumbai but a mention of all these places and joints (post + comments) helps me mark up a few places for when I visit 🙂
Have a good week ahead…
Hi Anupama,
I’m happy that I got you interested in Formula 1. If you need more information about Bombay and places to see, you can always ask me or anyone who stays here… we’ll be glad to be of help 🙂 You have a great week too…
You know one thing, after talking about all this food I am feeling so damn restless to have a mouthful of my fav junk food again…yummmm
Hey I have a limited culinary experience at Mumbai but I loved almost everything that I ate their. Top of my chart is vada pav, followed by pav bhaji.
heard so many good reviews of “Sukh sagar”…I wonder how could they make yummy pizza? Or is it they really make it better than Pizza hut?
Anyways, the post was quite elaborate from movie to force India. Bravo!
Hi Ekta,
Sukh Sagar is a land mark @ chowpatty… its known for its Pav bhaji and Pizzas 🙂 They also have famous idlis and other things in their menu from italian, chinese to punjabi food… But Pav bhaji and Pizza is what i like there… As for the Pizza, its made how Pizza in India was made long before we had Pizza hut, Dominoes and Smokin’ Joes…. bole to – totally indian style! Pizza bread with pizza sauce, layered with onions, capcicum, and cheese! Heated till bread is crispy and cheese is melty! Tastes yummy! No jazz, just yum 🙂 Thanks…. Glad that you liked the post… Whats your favourite junk food? Vada pav?
Sukh sagar is def great, and I love the prawns at lamba’s in chembur, mumbai rocks with food, its just a melting pot of tastes from keema pav in colaba to rava idlis in chembur..!!
You said it Sujata… be it fast food, chinese or punjabi, Bombay rocks when it comes to food!
I am around buddy… just that on n off.
Yea yea…. i know….. job promotion and all that…. these things increase the bank inflow but suck out the time from ones life! (guess sahi hai na…? or is there some other reason?)
PS was the best part of the post….
hi Vee,
Good to see you here.
I love Sukh Sagar. And I feel upset that all good eating joints are in South Bombay. This Sunday we were at Bade Miya for kababs. Have you been there? Its awesome.
Statue building should be best left to Romans. Bombay needs too many other things. Even A good park would be appreciated. There is hardly any place to go with kids. We end up just going to malls with them. Pretty pathetic.
hi Aparna,
who sez all good eateries are in South Bombay? There are many joints in the suburbs that serve good food. Mulund, Bandra, Chembur, Sion, Juhu, all have good restaurants where one can have various variety of food…
Totally agree with you when u say the city needs good parks. In fact, why not allocate the site for the statue to build a park? One on the lines of a theme park like Cedar Point in USA where there are coasters galore! I can bet money that it wont get clearance! Damn dirty politics! Have you tried going to hanging gardens? Its in South bombay, you can eat at sukh sagar afterwards 🙂
Weekend well spent then 🙂
An aquarium idea sounds good!We have some Sukh Sagars here too. But they don’t taste so great.. Ah, that falooda looks very tempting 😛
Hey Shayari,
This Sukh sagar is a landmark @ Chowpatty… Its that old and famous… its got 3 branches on the same street… One for Juices, one for snacks (like an udipi) and one thats a family restaurant and is air conditioned. Thanks for commenting on the aquarium idea.
Good to know u like falooda too… If u come to bombay, lemme know :-0
Sure boss [:)]
BTW abt the car incident…do u always believe in tit for tat or for once let it be!
Its all very subjective…
Just a Plum cake for the 4th place of force India 😦
M so J u get to go to chowpati…b’lore mein no chowpati 😦
Plum cake was had before the race… And the chopatty is just one reason why Bombay is Bombay!
Thank god I have managed to track you again….and also thanks to ur this entry I can tell S what happened in the racing circuit :)…double victory today!
My o My .. ur finally here! what a delight to see ur comment…. Sachin’s ton was amazing! Wish he pulled off the 3rd reverse sweep too! (that’s the 2nd victory ur referring to, right?).. btw, whats with the poda punaku… whats does that mean?
Btw..how do I follow you?
Hi Shanu,
Follow me? Well, u can always hire a detective, but am sure I’ll give him the slip too…! 😉
Good na that sum1 did not agree to ur movie plans on Saturday…see things happen for a reason 😉
Btw me loves Falooda 🙂
Hi Shanu,
ur right, all things do happen (or they do not happen) for a reason… Falooda is amazing!! The ones @ badshah falooda are even more amazing!!!
wow! tats huge!! sounds like u had quite a weekend!!
cheers!!
Thank you AV. Except for the walk on Chowpatty and sukh sagar, it was a normal weekend….