The latest news from my side. Household work has gone à la carte. The last maid-servant we had hired has left. It’s time to hire a new one. And as anyone who has negotiated for a maid-servant in Mumbai will testify, it is a damn difficult job. As expected, their rates are high. But what is more surprising is the level of detail they go into while negotiating. It is as if they have attended a session on Scientific Management at some IIM or so. They will give you a breakdown of each work and the amount of money they’ll take for it.

For instance, this is what the lady had to say while quoting her rates.

Rs 400 – Washing clothes (assuming 4 people)
Rs 600 – Washing utensils, drying them and placing them in the cupboard (400 for washing and 200 for drying)
Rs 400 -Jhaadu pocha.
Rs 400 – Dusting furniture (excluding windows)
Rs 200 – Cleaning windows.
Rs 200 – Cleaning bathrooms.

That works out to around Rs 2200 for a month’s worth of work. And oh yes, before I forget, here’s the clincher – the paid-leave clause. The lady is expected to take 2 days of leave per month. But if she doesn’t, you have to give her that two days’ worth of pay.

Wow, even I have never gone into such a level of detail during my salary negotiations. Maybe this is not a bad strategy to adopt. After this level of detail, you just don’t have any room left for negotiation. You pick what you want to get done, and do the rest yourself. Obviously the wife isn’t too thrilled about this.

Let’s see, hoping the previous maid resolves all her family problems and returns. Else it is time to tighten the purse strings and make some difficult choices.

This post will contain all my experiences with the infamous Mumbai rains. Already had one of a kind experience in the July 2005 showers. Let’s see what 2009 will bring.

Day One (25 Jun 09) - Left an umbrella in the auto rickshaw. May God provide shelter to a umbrella-less person.

Day Two (26 Jun 09) - The back up umbrella I have fails to keep me dry in the rain last Friday. Got drenched from head to toe in my walk from Jogeshwari to the WE highway. Incidentally, this umbrella was bought from Gurunath stores in IIT Madras. Evidently, umbrellas manufactured in Chennai cannot protect you in the Mumbai rain.

Day Three (29 Jun 09) - A new umbrella bought for 200 bucks. In the second use, the bottom handle of the umbrella goes flying into the air. Stuck with a half-broken umbrella. It seems the Rain Gods are determined to keep me wet through this monsoon.

Day Four (30 Jun 09) – A relatively dry day. Bandra Worli Sea Link (BWSL) takes up centrestage. Finally opened in 2009 (as opposed to a planned date in 2004) at a cost of around Rs 1600 crore (at around 5 times its original budget). And to think my boss cribs about my project running a month late. But I’m not complaining (about the BWSL). Mumbai needed a monument like this since a long time. Now the only thing to see is how the police manage to protect this structure.

This infograph shows the revenue earned by the weighing machines installed on Mumbai suburban railway stations. Figures are in Rs lakhs (100,000). Further more each machine takes one rupee coin to issue your weight. So this is where all the one rupee coins have disappeared. What’s more, Mumbai’s weighing machines earn more than me.

Last week I had gone to Juhu beach with a few relatives. Those of you who have been there would know about the popular eating area near the beach – most of them making Indian snacks like pani puri, pav bhaji etc. One item which is very famous is the baraf gola. Roughly translated as ice candy, it consists of ice scraped into small bits and then stuck together on a stick. This is then dipped into a thick, sickly sweet syrup of different flavours. Everything ranging from orange, malai, kala khatta, green mango etc is available. The syrup mixture is stored in previously used – and hopefully cleaned – liquor bottles. Still crowds flock there every day to enjoy a moment with their family, friends on the beach and to relish the delicacies being served there.

Now a very interesting thing happens especially in the evenings and night time. There are around 20-30 of these stalls, and each of them sell the same thing (Truth be told, even the food from each stall tastes the same) And since there are a large number of sellers and buyers, the area models a perfect competition. Now since it is a market economy, the forces of supply and demand are bound to work. And that is what is interesting. To attract the customers and survive in the long run, they play the price game. First of all, each stall will have an “employee” carrying a menu card and calling you to try out the food at their stall. Sometimes fights happen when customer are “poached” away from a rival stall. In this market, the customer is king. All you have to do is to go to any stall and ask them how much are they willing to give discount. They will come close and whisper their answer in your ear. And then by haggling some more, you can further reduce the price by a few bucks.

But I wonder the same thing would work in the day time. There are less customers so the pressure on the stall owners to get whatever little of the share would be higher. So do they offer even more discount in the daytime? That is one thing I have yet to discover. So if anyone of you find yourself on Juhu Beach under the bright sunlight, do observe and comment on the supply demand scenario at that time.

One of my favourite ads is the Priceless series by Mastercard. This is where they list down a few expenses and then as the punchline, deliver something which cannot be measured in money. It conjures up a beautiful combination of pride and emotion for the viewer. Here’s my own version of the ad if ever the Indian Railways decided to follow that format..

Read more…

One more attack happens in Mumbai. Hearing such news has become routine nowadays. The latest attack which happened in South Mumbai, in 5-star hotels and in CST railway station was one of the worst in recent times. This time there were no remote detonated bombs. This time terrorists literally walked in, and started shooting. What were the police doing? CST is just opposite the BMC headquarters. Isn’t there supposed to be proper security? The Maharashtra State Police headquarters is at a walking distance from the Taj Hotel. So is the Mumbai Police Headquarters. When will the government learn? How many more lives have to be lost? Has the state devoted itself to kicking out North Indians out of Mumbai? Its time you start kicking the ‘right’ people out of Mumbai, those who carry out such attacks, not those who come to Mumbai to earn a decent living.

Every terror attack now comes as a predictable sequence of events. The attack happens, the PM condemns the attacks, so does the Home Minister. There is a probe set in. And we await the results. Until the next terror attack. Is the government asking for ‘A Wednesday?’ The worst thing is that people will hail and salute the ’spirit of Mumbai.’ Mumbai will again wake up tomorrow as if nothing had happened. The spirit of Mumai? What a load of bull. It is not the spirit which brings it back to its feet, but apathy. Apathy towards the condition of the common man. The familiar reactions are ‘We were not affected by it. Why should we stop going about our daily lives?” “I have 4 mouths to feed, I have to go to work.” “Who can postpone the inevitable?” Is this what the spirit of Mumbai is all about? Turning a blind eye to the daily sufferings of fellow citizens.

Tomorrow the spirit of Mumbai should not wake up. It should instead take a long vacation. And it should not come back until the government has taken concrete measures to protect its citizens from such blatant attacks. The whole of India needs to think hard and long, are we safe in our own country? Am I alive today just by luck? Where is the safety of the common man who may get gunned down anytime due to the lackadasial approach shown by the authorities time and again.

Change was required in the US, and the people voted. A bigger change is required here. The message we need to send out to the government is we do not want you to give any condolences. We do not want you to condemn the attack. We want action. Can the government guarantee that?

Updates (Saturday)
* This attack has turned out to be one of the worst and boldest terrorist strikes in the country. It shows yet another glaring failure of the authorities to ensure safety for the common man. The impunity with which terrorist can come and attack any city in the country is shameful on our part.

* The PM has invited the ISI chief to help in the investigations! Cmon which world are you living in? Calling the people who have trained and helped to propagate these terrorists will in no measure help the investigation. The Indian government should stop being diplomatic about it and start calling a spade a spade.

* A sincere salute to the ATS officers, the MARCOS unit and above all the NSG commandos who handled the whole situation with the expertise and competence expected of them. Wish the same could be said for our inept politicians.