The Idea-smithy

On the first week of June, Mumbai welcomed the monsoon of 2008. I watched it arrive, alone…which is probably the best way, with the rain.

The skies heralded the season of water.

And then I watched the drops paint the sidewalk a shiny, sheeny gloss of life. (more…)

Here’s introducing a new category at The Idea-smithy. Remember Anjani’s tangy toes? And K’s funky bag?

Never one for fashion trends myself, I’ve always sported my own style and been at the receiving end of much flak, disbelief…and admiration. Anything off-beat or unusual on someone else catches my eye as well. We are all spectators at heart and it’s the sights that charm, entertain and enthrall us as much as our other senses. And let’s not forget -  Tomorrow is being born in the form of new ideas!

I Style! celebrates the spirit of individualism and the sparks of it that I spot in day-to-day life. The photographs may not be picture-perfect, the writing could be better but the sights will be fresh.

I’m also inviting contributions to I Style! If you spot someone wearing something whacky, something crazy, something unusual, stop and talk to them. And if they permit you to take a picture, do send it to me. I’ll be delighted to feature it on I Style! Just make sure you’ve got their permission to have it up on the internet. It would be good to take down their email address. If possible, capture the article that caught your eye with just enough detail to give perspective (size, colour, nature etc). Avoiding the face respects the spottee’s anonymity.

Else you’re just going to have to rely on my two eyes!

I’ll open I Style! with an image of a man who shows us the way. Meet…

Khalil Gebran
Fashions Designer

Jeffrey Archer on Landmark tour!

..proclaims a hoarding on Andheri Link Road a few feet before Infiniti Mall which houses the Landmark store. The lower two floors look fairly sane, I think to myself as far as weekdays go. Even the second floor which looms into sight as the escalator rides up looks remarkably normal. Then I notice the mountain of bags lying at the entrance. And I’m stopped by the polite but firm female guard who shakes her head almost sorrowfully and tells me that I cannot carry my battered copy of As the Crow Flies in.

I push my way past the jewelery counter, the New Releases rack and past the music section. Voila!! What’s a celebrity without the crowd? Archer has succeeded in drawing the mob to the store on a weekday. It’s so crowded that people are stepping on each other’s toes even among the magazines racks that signal the start of that heaven that is Landmark’s book section.

I slither through the crowd in a manner perfected by years of Mumbai train travel and end up right at the back, smushed up against Movies while Jeffrey Archer regales a crowd from a stage in what is otherwise the aisle between Maps and Language.

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The last fifteen days of summer!! Already the dark clouds have started gathering in the sky, heralding the onset of monsoon…very soon. *Sigh* Three months of muddy feet, browned clothes, greasy hair and the sniffles. The whole country thinks that rains are romantic and looks forward to the dark clouds with eagerness; I don’t. This isn’t a pretty city and it gets uglier in the rains. Trains stop, traffic stalls, roads flood and everyone’s passing colds to each other. Moreover it reminds me of that miserable time heralding the start of a new school year right after a delightful vacation. ‘Back to the grind’ is the overwhelming feeling I have right through Mumbai’s monsoon.

But today the sun shines and on Random Shuffle, I drift into the streams of

Here comes the sun, here comes the sun, and I say it’s all right

Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces
Little darling, it seems like years since it’s been here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun and I say it’s all right

What spells summer better than aamras? Succulent golden-yellow mangoes with their insides scooped out and beaten to smooth consistency. Sweet, so sweet that you can put the sugar-can away.

One of my most memorable experiences of this year was The Kala Ghoda Art Festival was held in February. These posts were written for the blog covering the festival. Here they are again, as a reminder of sparks of beauty in this otherwise dirty city.

The thing that makes a city interesting is the fact that there could be a surprise waiting for you at any corner. I often think I’m jaded with the proverbial ‘I’ve seen it all’ attitude to things that are supposed to catch my interest. And then I’m proven wrong.

Here’s what I spotted on a late evening in the local train. Orange transparent plastic sandals fastened on with a fat ribbon in a matching hue. How could I not stop and stare?!

Anjani, the owner of those tangy toes (I love aliterations!) works in merchandising a fashion retail business. She was also gracious enough to let me take a photograph for this blog. She isn’t a Mumbaiker (still bothered by the weather and the crowd) but she isn’t new to the city either. But in my mind she represents the colourful panorama of this city, shifting smoothly between outsider, newcomer and seasoned local.

Ooh, the sheer audacity of the design, the spunkiness of the colour..it totally made my otherwise dreary day! Notice the contrast between the shoe and the surroundings - a typical dark-and-dingy platform on a Mumbai railway station.

In fact, now I think I’ll start a section where I report interesting fashion ’spottings’ in the city. (See an earlier sighting here!)Thank you, Anjani, for inspiration and for the colour!

I stopped by this pavement stall last evening. It has been…oh, so very long..since I visited this place. Getting to be a real book-snob, are we, patronizing only the big bookstores? Yet, the bookseller recognized me in trice and his eyes bore no rebuke.

There’s one at every corner, if you know where to look and I’ve given away a few of my secrets before. This is (or used to be) one of my favorite haunts before convenience and credit cards took over.

From the evergreen Sidney Sheldons, John Grishams and Jeffrey Archers to the ubiquitous management books, this place still holds its charm. It’s hard to supress that innate sense of superiority in pulling out a book and placing it in the ‘right’ stack along with others in the genre. So pop fiction to the sides, classics in the middle, bestsellers on top. Then realisation strikes that the dynamics of cataloguing work differently in a street-stall.
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This was written a long time back. I’m recycling it since I don’t think any of the people who read my blog now knew me then. And because I like this piece.

29 October 2004

8 a.m. on a weekday morning. Mumbai’s crankiest best. Sweepers shuffling dust into the air with a vengeance, cars spelling out “Eat my dust” in their fumes, people shuffling to work. I stood at the bus-stop frowning into thin air, waiting for a bus that was always late on days of important appointments.

A little boy and his grandmother walked past me. The boy in a pair of faded trousers and shirt hanging out in a state of shabbiness only little boys can perfect. The grandmother was little, white-haired, bespectabled and slightly bent in that endearing ‘grandmommy’ way. Both were holding hands tightly. For a moment I wondered, who was escorting who?

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 A quicky-quick post about the Mumbai BlogCamp. Firstly, how many of your read about it here and decided to show up? And if so, why didn’t you come talk to me??!!!

Sakshi and I pulled into IIT, Powai around 11, with a late but not dramatic entry since we walked smack-dab into the crowd dispersing for a break after the introduction. The lovely Meetu and my Twisted friend from Pune had made it on time, much to my mortification.

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