But for a brief visit to IIT, Powai at Mumbai, soon after completing college at REC Trichy, I did not know much about this city. All fantasies and memories of this great city was through Hindi movies and I particularly remember Johnny Walker's song & dance in the 1956 yesteryear hit movie "CID" - Yeh hai Bombay Meri Jaan....!! Incidentally, Johnny Walker (nee Badruddhin J Kazi) was a bus conductor in BEST, Mumbai and was spotted by the great actor of Waqt fame: Balraj Sahani, who then recommended him to Guru Dutt. Johnny Walker went on to entertain people in over 300 movies.
I wasn't able to get a seat in an MTech program at IIT, Powai, but was offered a seat to carry out research in the Chemical Engineering Dept. as an Asst. Research Associate - it did not sound exciting and I politely declined. Eventually I went on to join Graphite Industries Ltd. at their Bangalore unit, which I had been offered through a campus selection program. GIL manufactures Graphite electrodes for melting iron & steel scrap in Electric Arc Furnaces. Calcined Petroleum Coke (CPC), the raw material for manufacturing these electrodes is a waste product from the petroleum refineries - solid carbon remnants after extraction of various grades of oil from crude petroleum. This was my first exposure to an industry and so was my tryst with pollution control equipments in this factory.
On my 23rd Year and on the 23rd of April 1982, I left for Mumbai from Bangalore and joined Batliboi Ltd. in their Air Pollution Control Division, hoping to make a career out of cleaning polluted air. We were a batch of 16 trainees and after the initial orientation in the Head Office at Mumbai, we were packed off to Udhana, a suburban extension of the diamond & textile city of Surat. Although the word 'attrition' was unknown those days in the industry, Batliboi took extra care to induct their Graduate Engineer Trainees under the supervision of a very experienced and retired trainer. Any 25 year old young engineer would have paled in front of this energetic septuagenarian. His energy levels and worldly knowledge was absolutely amazing!!
The training and induction program was spread across 3 full months and included all aspects as was necessary to make us complete and whole human beings. We brushed our 5 years of engineering in the relevant fields required by this industry, learnt a great deal on written and spoken communication skills, besides getting sound advice on everything that would make us good human beings first. The experience was refreshing and wholesome, and my only regret was that I lost 3 of the 14 weeks program. Surat used to be a notoriously filthy city in the state of Gujarat, known for breeding and spreading all kinds of diseases. I was forced to return home to Durgapur to recuperate from a severe bout of jaundice.
Unlike my other colleagues, who went back to their home cities post the training, I was the odd one detained at Mumbai, since the Pollution Control Division operated only out of Head Quarters in Mumbai. It was a bit of a shocker as I had fancied myself returning to Bangalore. It was a double whammy of sorts, as I had to move out of the company provided accommodation to something of my own, as well. With help from my father's batch-mates and friends at Durgapur Steel Plant, I was able to find myself a shared accommodation at a place called Laxmi Nivas in Matunga. An exotic name of the Indian Goddess of Wealth given to a 4 storied chawl having 15 to 20 rooms in each floor. The then booming cotton mills in Mumbai attracted people from far and distant Indian states and these chawls served as a low cost abode for families. More fashionably known as studio apartments now, this kind of building construction is pretty common in Dubai as well, the only difference in luxury being common vs private washrooms. People living in chawls have little or no privacy, but the proximity of rooms lends a friendly atmosphere with support networks similar to familial relationships. This urban landmark has been glamorized in Bollywood movies like Katha, Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman, Chakra, Nukkad etc. The most significant contribution of these chawls has been the encouragement of a culture of tolerance amongst the various ethnic groups and people from different religious backgrounds.
Honestly, there would no wars or strife's if people across the planet saw the world as their Nukkad!! So much has been spoken and written about Obama bending backwards, while bending forwards to bow as a mark of greeting and respect when he recently visited some Asian countries. Why on earth would that be considered a weakness!! From his position of strength as the first person of the worlds strongest and most resilient democracy, the humbleness with which he is addressing vexed issues, made complex by the short sightedness of a group of stray human beings, is extremely commendable. Barriers break when we talk with humility!! Hopefully, the ideals of our very own Father of the Nation - Mahatma Gandhi, will be President Obama's guiding light and bring him the elusive success, we the ordinary mortals living in every nook and corner of this world deserve as a fundamental right - the freedom to lead a peaceful life of co-existence.
Back to my Matunga days, this was also the time I started visiting the Kannada Association and enrolled myself as a tabalchi. I had learnt to play this Indian percussion instrument during my school days upon the insistence of my father. I never guessed how useful this fine art would turn out to be when I was grudgingly attending the weekly classes conducted by the "School of Music" at Durgapur. By playing a musical instrument or being a percussionist, one could become an instant success in college cultural festivals and get catapulted to instant fame!! It had the same magical effect in Kannada Association; we formed a small troupe and this ensemble would end up giving 30 minute capsule programs on all the festivals. We also landed ourselves a chance to record a 15 minute capsule program for Bombay 'B' services of All India Radio. The recording was later broadcast on a late Sunday afternoon. For once, we could call ourselves as Radio artists.
Another good thing about this Association was the arrangement to run a canteen at a no profit, no loss basis. The food was tasty, suiting the taste bud and the wallet. Quite a few of us bachelors would gather every evening, spend time at the well stocked library, mingle amongst familiar faces, have a nice sumptuous meal and head home. It had become a routine of sorts.
The suburban trains are the lifeline in Mumbai. The Central and Western railway networks are perhaps comparable to the main arteries in a human body. The entire city can come to a grinding halt if these two networks suspend operations for whatever the reason. So extensive are the routes and its usage that it is shut down for track maintenance work only for 3 hours in a 24 hour cycle. Only the taxi operators exceed this by making themselves available 24/7/365 days. My memories of using the services of taxi in Mumbai has always been pleasant. First, they would never refuse to accept a passenger, no matter how near or how far the destination. Second, they would go strictly by the meter. Their meters were quaint and ancient with steps of 10 paisa. The local corporation would determine what would be the multiplication factor based on the prevailing fuel costs. Although, each of the cabs carried a chart with an old vs new rate, it wasn't really necessary as the calculation was simple. The beauty of the system was no cab driver asked for an extra buck even if the travel was at an unearthly hour, when typically the suburban trains would come to a brief 3-hours halt. Though this rule did not apply to the passengers boarding a cab at the International airport, by and large there were little or no issues with transportation at any point of the day or night. Salaam to our Mumbai Taxiwala's!!
We were in for a major surprise....sometime between October and December of circa 1982. We suddenly faced a complete power black-out in Mumbai and its suburbs. We eventually understood that the state of Gujarat had overdrawn from its assigned quota of power on a particular day from the Western Grid and this led to a drop in the frequency of power - beyond the specified variation of +/- 2.5 Hz. Once it falls below the allowable range, the power plants automatically shut down to save itself from extreme damage. One of them shutting down has a cascading effect on all the other power generating stations. Within matter of minutes all the power stations came to a grinding halt.
With roughly 8 to 15% of the power generated in a Thermal Power Plant being consumed for running its own equipments; to re-start, these thermal power stations need external power to kick them into action. It is then left to Hydel stations to supply the starting power. With power from Tata's Khopoli Hydel Station (last of the 6, 12 MW generators was commissioned in circa 1911), the thermal power stations were brought back to life one after the other and power was restored eventually to Bombay and its suburbs between 12 and 24 hours.
With no suburban trains, the buses and taxis were bursting at their seams. Mumbaikars, with their large hearts decided to take this in their stride...and walk they did to home sweet home. Matunga for me was just 15 KM's from the Fort area where our office was located. It was a cake walk compared to the other folks who must have trudged 30 odd KM's to reach home. No one was complaining...the next morning we had all the people reporting into work. Trains were back on their tracks, as power was back on its lines.
We should shower praise on Mumbaikars on their professional and clinical approach to issues. Out here, people look for opportunities to bring everything to its original state of equilibrium. The city is a perfect picture of an organized chaos. A newcomer may wonder how things ever move at this place...one may wonder how could anyone get into the already overcrowded train...Well! It is a matter of positioning, you see!! One needs to plonk oneself in the sea of humanity that is waiting to get inside a local train and that's it. Although the halt is brief for 20 or 30 seconds at each station, the positioning finally matters. One of life's most important lessons is taught in a train ride: Ride with the wave and not against and you will be at peace with yourself.
We have completed one year of freedom from the dozen odd terrorists that stormed this wonderful city. After loosing a near and dear one, it is absolutely incorrect to say that the pain will go away with time...the scar remains forever like an indelible ink. Perhaps, the pain just becomes dull by getting spaced apart in time. People have to get back to their routine and restore their equilibrium and try and pick up the threads of their life once again. Like the lifeline suburban trains of the city, after the brief halt at a station, one needs to re-start and pick-up speed to do a catch-up.
And, that is Mumbai, Meri Jaan!!
Salaam Mumbai!!
I wasn't able to get a seat in an MTech program at IIT, Powai, but was offered a seat to carry out research in the Chemical Engineering Dept. as an Asst. Research Associate - it did not sound exciting and I politely declined. Eventually I went on to join Graphite Industries Ltd. at their Bangalore unit, which I had been offered through a campus selection program. GIL manufactures Graphite electrodes for melting iron & steel scrap in Electric Arc Furnaces. Calcined Petroleum Coke (CPC), the raw material for manufacturing these electrodes is a waste product from the petroleum refineries - solid carbon remnants after extraction of various grades of oil from crude petroleum. This was my first exposure to an industry and so was my tryst with pollution control equipments in this factory.
On my 23rd Year and on the 23rd of April 1982, I left for Mumbai from Bangalore and joined Batliboi Ltd. in their Air Pollution Control Division, hoping to make a career out of cleaning polluted air. We were a batch of 16 trainees and after the initial orientation in the Head Office at Mumbai, we were packed off to Udhana, a suburban extension of the diamond & textile city of Surat. Although the word 'attrition' was unknown those days in the industry, Batliboi took extra care to induct their Graduate Engineer Trainees under the supervision of a very experienced and retired trainer. Any 25 year old young engineer would have paled in front of this energetic septuagenarian. His energy levels and worldly knowledge was absolutely amazing!!
The training and induction program was spread across 3 full months and included all aspects as was necessary to make us complete and whole human beings. We brushed our 5 years of engineering in the relevant fields required by this industry, learnt a great deal on written and spoken communication skills, besides getting sound advice on everything that would make us good human beings first. The experience was refreshing and wholesome, and my only regret was that I lost 3 of the 14 weeks program. Surat used to be a notoriously filthy city in the state of Gujarat, known for breeding and spreading all kinds of diseases. I was forced to return home to Durgapur to recuperate from a severe bout of jaundice.
Unlike my other colleagues, who went back to their home cities post the training, I was the odd one detained at Mumbai, since the Pollution Control Division operated only out of Head Quarters in Mumbai. It was a bit of a shocker as I had fancied myself returning to Bangalore. It was a double whammy of sorts, as I had to move out of the company provided accommodation to something of my own, as well. With help from my father's batch-mates and friends at Durgapur Steel Plant, I was able to find myself a shared accommodation at a place called Laxmi Nivas in Matunga. An exotic name of the Indian Goddess of Wealth given to a 4 storied chawl having 15 to 20 rooms in each floor. The then booming cotton mills in Mumbai attracted people from far and distant Indian states and these chawls served as a low cost abode for families. More fashionably known as studio apartments now, this kind of building construction is pretty common in Dubai as well, the only difference in luxury being common vs private washrooms. People living in chawls have little or no privacy, but the proximity of rooms lends a friendly atmosphere with support networks similar to familial relationships. This urban landmark has been glamorized in Bollywood movies like Katha, Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman, Chakra, Nukkad etc. The most significant contribution of these chawls has been the encouragement of a culture of tolerance amongst the various ethnic groups and people from different religious backgrounds.
Honestly, there would no wars or strife's if people across the planet saw the world as their Nukkad!! So much has been spoken and written about Obama bending backwards, while bending forwards to bow as a mark of greeting and respect when he recently visited some Asian countries. Why on earth would that be considered a weakness!! From his position of strength as the first person of the worlds strongest and most resilient democracy, the humbleness with which he is addressing vexed issues, made complex by the short sightedness of a group of stray human beings, is extremely commendable. Barriers break when we talk with humility!! Hopefully, the ideals of our very own Father of the Nation - Mahatma Gandhi, will be President Obama's guiding light and bring him the elusive success, we the ordinary mortals living in every nook and corner of this world deserve as a fundamental right - the freedom to lead a peaceful life of co-existence.
Back to my Matunga days, this was also the time I started visiting the Kannada Association and enrolled myself as a tabalchi. I had learnt to play this Indian percussion instrument during my school days upon the insistence of my father. I never guessed how useful this fine art would turn out to be when I was grudgingly attending the weekly classes conducted by the "School of Music" at Durgapur. By playing a musical instrument or being a percussionist, one could become an instant success in college cultural festivals and get catapulted to instant fame!! It had the same magical effect in Kannada Association; we formed a small troupe and this ensemble would end up giving 30 minute capsule programs on all the festivals. We also landed ourselves a chance to record a 15 minute capsule program for Bombay 'B' services of All India Radio. The recording was later broadcast on a late Sunday afternoon. For once, we could call ourselves as Radio artists.
Another good thing about this Association was the arrangement to run a canteen at a no profit, no loss basis. The food was tasty, suiting the taste bud and the wallet. Quite a few of us bachelors would gather every evening, spend time at the well stocked library, mingle amongst familiar faces, have a nice sumptuous meal and head home. It had become a routine of sorts.
The suburban trains are the lifeline in Mumbai. The Central and Western railway networks are perhaps comparable to the main arteries in a human body. The entire city can come to a grinding halt if these two networks suspend operations for whatever the reason. So extensive are the routes and its usage that it is shut down for track maintenance work only for 3 hours in a 24 hour cycle. Only the taxi operators exceed this by making themselves available 24/7/365 days. My memories of using the services of taxi in Mumbai has always been pleasant. First, they would never refuse to accept a passenger, no matter how near or how far the destination. Second, they would go strictly by the meter. Their meters were quaint and ancient with steps of 10 paisa. The local corporation would determine what would be the multiplication factor based on the prevailing fuel costs. Although, each of the cabs carried a chart with an old vs new rate, it wasn't really necessary as the calculation was simple. The beauty of the system was no cab driver asked for an extra buck even if the travel was at an unearthly hour, when typically the suburban trains would come to a brief 3-hours halt. Though this rule did not apply to the passengers boarding a cab at the International airport, by and large there were little or no issues with transportation at any point of the day or night. Salaam to our Mumbai Taxiwala's!!
We were in for a major surprise....sometime between October and December of circa 1982. We suddenly faced a complete power black-out in Mumbai and its suburbs. We eventually understood that the state of Gujarat had overdrawn from its assigned quota of power on a particular day from the Western Grid and this led to a drop in the frequency of power - beyond the specified variation of +/- 2.5 Hz. Once it falls below the allowable range, the power plants automatically shut down to save itself from extreme damage. One of them shutting down has a cascading effect on all the other power generating stations. Within matter of minutes all the power stations came to a grinding halt.
With roughly 8 to 15% of the power generated in a Thermal Power Plant being consumed for running its own equipments; to re-start, these thermal power stations need external power to kick them into action. It is then left to Hydel stations to supply the starting power. With power from Tata's Khopoli Hydel Station (last of the 6, 12 MW generators was commissioned in circa 1911), the thermal power stations were brought back to life one after the other and power was restored eventually to Bombay and its suburbs between 12 and 24 hours.
With no suburban trains, the buses and taxis were bursting at their seams. Mumbaikars, with their large hearts decided to take this in their stride...and walk they did to home sweet home. Matunga for me was just 15 KM's from the Fort area where our office was located. It was a cake walk compared to the other folks who must have trudged 30 odd KM's to reach home. No one was complaining...the next morning we had all the people reporting into work. Trains were back on their tracks, as power was back on its lines.
We should shower praise on Mumbaikars on their professional and clinical approach to issues. Out here, people look for opportunities to bring everything to its original state of equilibrium. The city is a perfect picture of an organized chaos. A newcomer may wonder how things ever move at this place...one may wonder how could anyone get into the already overcrowded train...Well! It is a matter of positioning, you see!! One needs to plonk oneself in the sea of humanity that is waiting to get inside a local train and that's it. Although the halt is brief for 20 or 30 seconds at each station, the positioning finally matters. One of life's most important lessons is taught in a train ride: Ride with the wave and not against and you will be at peace with yourself.
We have completed one year of freedom from the dozen odd terrorists that stormed this wonderful city. After loosing a near and dear one, it is absolutely incorrect to say that the pain will go away with time...the scar remains forever like an indelible ink. Perhaps, the pain just becomes dull by getting spaced apart in time. People have to get back to their routine and restore their equilibrium and try and pick up the threads of their life once again. Like the lifeline suburban trains of the city, after the brief halt at a station, one needs to re-start and pick-up speed to do a catch-up.
And, that is Mumbai, Meri Jaan!!
Salaam Mumbai!!
So Rajnikanth is not the only Indian actor who was spotted issuing tickets in a government bus! That’s news.
ReplyDeleteThe movie Katha captured the highs and lows of life in a Mumbai chawl very well. The cramped and sometimes squalid living conditions in chawls do co-exist with a spirit of acceptance and the communal sharing of joys and sorrows. The generosity often associated with the poor perhaps stems from the fact that they have very little to lose – privacy included. They are not preoccupied with flaunting their well appointed homes, fancy cars and other status symbols and are able to see another person for who he /she is – just another human being. Little wonder that compassion and real caring are more often experienced in such surroundings.
As an admirer of Obama, I stoutly second his gracious gesture of bowing low before the Japanese emperor. How long will it be before we recognize that the real stature of a head of state lies not so much in the aloofness of his personal bearing but in the humility that acknowledges the hopes of billions of people? Not surprisingly, he has won the hearts of people world over. With the Copenhagen Climate summit around the corner, one wishes that the world’s leaders rise to the occasion, treating the whole world, as you said, like their own little Nukkad.