Bombay – “Sarkar Bharat Chodo”

Its time for Non co-operation,
I and you are no Herds,
We are thinking humans,
We need not react,
Mobs do that,
But Act, we must,
think what is good for us,
Firstly as an individual,
As a responsible family member,
A member of the society, country and the global community.

Government through the hogwash of democratic processes,
Will cease this opportunity to lay down another 5% for National security,
And the nationalist in us will believe as if mahatma was on the cash register,

Don’t you haggle at Fashion Street, don’t you utilize your resources to the best, save every penny at the grocery, and then why do you close your eyes and pay taxes?
You think they are building roads with your money, saving siachen by spending 100 crores a day or providing bread and butter to the rest of Indian poor.

Bombay you know your money well, you know you percentages and fractions to the nth digit.
But then Delhi knows your weakest point better.
You all love to pay taxes.
They will form another agency, more costs, and you will pay for their ineffectiveness.
And if you must, pay hafta to Bin Laden, as a lot of Bombay pays to Dawood.
You will be safer.

This is the time,
Do some more calculations; tell them you will vote only for the ones who will remove direct taxes. Meaning “No Income Tax”
Sack 73000 employees of this most corrupt setup.
One city Bombay, if does not pay income tax meaning 60% of India’s direct tax revenue is cut.
Smaller government, fewer norms, more of civil society, less of Khadi clad.
They get enough from indirect taxes anyway, consumption based. Anyway, why should one be taxed for excelling in whatever he is good at?
Direct taxes are only a way of asking people not to earn well.

Well there could be many rational views of why not.
And we all know this is not going to happen overnight,
But if you do not question the conventional now,
Never might it be,

The intelligentsia was not interested in independence of this country as well for a long time before 1947.
Let them try taxing the farmers,
And you will see how we get this political class out of any system they are getting good at.
Revolutions happen at the farms and factories and their economics comes out of your pockets.
Wake up guys; hit them where it hurts them the most.
Don’t you shout out at the provider of your annual maintenance contract, maybe refuse to pay him if his services are unsatisfactory?
Well, this and any government is unable to provide a satisfactory service, unable to honor their contract.
Is it not logical to seek for the basic “Right to Life”?
Is it not logical to keep your money to your self just to seek that?
Is it not logical to ask them to leave us alone?

Bounty Hunter will be back......shortly

Dear Readers,

Some of you may know me and immodest though I may sound, I presume you may have enjoyed reading my comments, as much as you enjoy I-Me-Rajesh's musings.....

After a hiatus of almost 2 months....I would like to let you all know....

that just as the cliched saying goes...that Bombay always bounces back......so will this commenter.......

In a time of grave national reckoning......hmmm


Is this the

End of the Beginning

or just the

Beginning of the End

for this mish-mash we call India.....hmmmm

Signed,
Yours truly

Bounty Hunter

Bombay – Next is what

Candles lit on Gateway,
On Nariman Point and at Hemant’s doorway,
Resilient soul of Bombay,

Candles of different colors,
Size and shapes,
Hues and aroma,

Should they not hoard them till ever?
For they will need these wax sticks forever,

For next is a nuclear detonation,
Right there at your gates,
India gate or gateway,
Next will come,
Sooner than you think,

Bombay you will need those candles then,
Not just for your show of deadness,
But to seek your way out of darkness,

Or will you make next of what you must,
Seek for those taxes you have paid,
Build some other characters for your city,
Is it not time to search your resilient soul?
Or just wait for what is next.

Bombay Key Sholey

48 hours of media coverage, in action through out the world, is something even WTC 9/11 did not get.
This group of 26 people has done more for terrorism than any war could do.

Spineless politicians all over will find a way to gain out of this crisis, out of miseries of others, trust them for it.
And India will forget, Bombay will be resilient and will be used as doormat.
Raj Thackeray would want passport for all outsiders, as if these 26 guys came in with visas.
Terror is here to stay, like bad roads and crowded stations.
We have to find a way to secure our lives.
When the ones who seek more than a third of your income to provide you the basic, and they don’t, you ask them a couple of times to improve and eventually retain that hard earned to find an alternate provider.
Gabbar used to seek a handful of grains to save the people of Ramgarh from his won wrath.
That’s what this government is doing.
Let us find or become Viru and Jai.





What will you do?
Would you be the same?
Every trip you take,
Every friend you make,
Every hotel you check,
Every dinner you partake.
Will life be the same?

Or will you resolve,
To have the same motivation
To live in peace
To fight for that piece,
To ask and to seek.

Bombay Burning

I plan to write a cheque for Rs. 600 for the staff of Taj Group of hotels, Bombay. The amount being a token amount similar to my first ever stipend or salary I received in the year 1990, as an apprentice steward.
Of course they do not need this money. It is just a gesture of solidarity from an ordinary citizen who thinks he owes at least the gesture to the men who served till the last.

Till the last news came 9 of hotels staff had lost their lives trying to save guests, including the GM and his family.

What happened In Bombay and not Mumbai I insist can not find blame anywhere.
If it can happen in New York and London, it can happen here. Any amount of intelligence and preparedness can not eliminate these incidents.

One thing is sure, these things will occur and reoccur, and the best that we can do is get used to it, do what we will be doing tomorrow anyway.

I think it will take much more than these to wreck the nerves of Bombay. Incidents like this unite India; they make Raj Thackeray look irrelevant. Who usually are doing more damage than all the terror strikes?

I have virtually grown on the streets that faced the onslaught last night. Right from the Taj where I had the best job of my life. Bar tending at 1900’s the then Disco, I have room serviced to The JRD in person, and my appointment had come after a personal interview from the then GM Kerkar himself. I was in first year at college and tips in dollars were not the only thing that I was seeking.
Not every one could afford a pint of London pilsner at the bar, at least some of our college mates for sure. And any one who has a little knowledge of bar tending would know how easy it was to make one extra beer out of three beers.

The staff of the hotel was where the city of Bombay gets its soul from. Though from the roots themselves, Marathi as an unofficial language, Bandra English as filler, but courteous and professional to the core.
3 minutes for the morning tea from order to the door bell and 7 minutes for break fast. We had to report back and all timing was noted.
Peeled potatoes, folded napkins, learnt to walk with a dozen beer glasses on top of your palm amidst the dancing drunks, froze the glasses before serving champagne.
Served topless ladies every Sunday by the pool.
I learnt more of life in one year than a decade elsewhere.

This is the least I can do.

Happy Birthday ( Without words)

Happy Birthday
Before I forget,
the day you were born and the day we met,
wishing you a great day,
today and always.

I know I have had more words for people who live in my mind,
and less or none for the ones whom I live for,

Irony it is,
circumstancial much of it,

words dont come easy,
as they loose their meaning when not used in thrift,

I have learnt lately,
hard it is to have it in your heart and not speak,

I promise I will make it up soon.

Of Chath, American President and King Of Bhutan

6th of November, Was indeed an auspicious day.

Millions Of Bihari's stand in chest deep cold waters of Ganga, awaiting for the sun god to appear. They would break their 3 day fast with the rising sun, offer him token from their new crop, deep Ghee fried wheat cakes, milk etc. All elements of life, Water, air, fire, earth and sun are present here, and the soul the sixth is cleansed.

One of the purest of religious obidience, is visible here. The festival is restricted to Bihar and parts of eastern UP. Like all of Hindu festivals, this also revolves around the agricultural lifestyles.

All the utilities for the rituals are mailny crops that are just about ready for an early harvest. Ginger, Large cirtus lime, raddish, coconut, banana, turmeric, sugarcane and Thakua, a kind of Baked/fried wheat biscuits.
The sale of new crops just for the sake of this festiva, brings in money to the farmers, so that they can get along with the sowing season. Thekua in hordes, provides them with lunch in the fields in one place and uses all the old stock of wheat.
Another uniqueness is that no priest is required for this pooja.

Chath used to be such a pure ritual that only a few could endure it and abide by all its cleanliness rituals. But now if you see the popularity, it is sure to become a big festival in the coming days.
Bihar, virtually closes down right after diwlai to seven days from it.
Now we have political bouts and it is a matter of time that, Archies starts printing Cards for it.

American president.
The world has a black American President.
It prooves US is racist, after all.
My friend Sauvik puts it really well in his blog "sauvik-antidote.blogspot.com"
Democracy the least of the evils, has chosen to call it a day in American history, why is mentioning the color so important? it is like all of south asia has had democracy and a women head of state, US is still not there, on those parameters.

Does this make us a better democracy?


Bhutan Has a new king.

Well the coronation of the new king was a fanfare, definatley more known than when it turned into a democracy.
Gross National Happiness and 98% seats to one party.

The world is living a farce.