Like a southern Russian summer

I can safely say that has been the most beautiful June in Bombay in living memory. The rains arrived in the city on the first of the month, thanks to Cyclone Nisarga and we've had a decent amount of rainfall, but the days have been gloriously sunny with the cloud and winds making sure it doesn't get too hot.

This month in Bombay has felt like a summer month in southern Russia. Instead of dacha duty, I have been trying to use the daylight as well as I can by playing wall tennis for any period between 30 minutes and an hour. It feels so good to move my body in such beautiful weather, supported by cool breeze and fresh and clean air.


When I look up, I see blue skies, warm sun and grey clouds, and of course a canopy of a banyan tree! My building compound is blessed with Ashoka trees, a Banyan canopy and a Gulmohur canopy. It's easy to look up and totally forget that I actually live in one of the most densely populated cities in the world.

This bliss, like all things in this physical realm, is passing. Soon the monsoon rains will lash Bombay and my wall tennis may be curtailed.

For as long as I can, I'll enjoy this Southern Russian summer, fuelled with some outdoor activity, Chekhov, Shakespeare, Dostoyevsky and Malayalam literature, as well as mint tea, the last Alfonso mangoes of 2020. 

How to keep the streets of Andheri West as clean and empty as they are now

Under normal circumstances it would take me exactly a few seconds before bumping into someone in the densely packed streets of Andheri West. J.P. Road is a major thoroughfare connecting S.V. Road to Versova, Juhu and the link road that heads as far north as Bombay stretches. Andheri also has its fair share of educational institutions and industrial areas. People who come to these every single day are guilty of dumping plastic bottles, wrappers of chips and other junk food and a whole assorted set of items that belong in garbage or recycle bins. I am no social enforcer so besides a dirty look, I don't bother much with litter bugs anymore, as far as possible.

A wonderful part of this lockdown has been that these people are home and not coming from elsewhere and trashing my area.

It is no longer stressful to go outside. No more loud car horns, large crowds and auto rickshaws. Since schools and colleges are indefinitely closed, the noise that comes from the streets is equivalent to what used to be the case on Sundays. I frankly love it.

Andheri has been abused for decades, as has the rest of Bombay. One of the best ways to decongest both is to throw out industrial estates, the headquarters of the Western and Central railways, Central Government offices and Bollywood. The city's population would fall by a substantial number and places like Andheri West would be more liveable under normal circumstances. 

Seeing Bombay from an entirely different perspective

I haven't left the city in six months. This is my longest continuous stretch in my hometown since 1998, when I was a teenager. Of course, three of these months have been under lockdown, but there is so much that I have been able to notice and observe thanks to this forced isolation.

For starters, the natural light outside. I can easily tell a month in Bombay apart by just looking outside. The 9 am blue-yellow light in December is different from the light at the same time in April when it's more of a lemony yellow. The breeze that blows in to my apartment in May is different from the one in April, although the difference is absolutely subtle.

What I have been able to notice in 2020 is the gradual change between these periods. The cloud formations, the birds (except parakeets) and butterflies were things I never paid too much attention to, but now I can tell the whistle of a black bird with a silver tail apart from the chirping of other birds.

When one is left with few choices, it's easier to notice the size, colour and shape of flowers on the trees. So no, copperheads and laburnums don't just have yellow flowers and the gulmohur flower is not just orange-red.

The late summer twilight is so different from that of January.

And oh the number of big birds that fly in the sky! How could I have never noticed them and their path before?

I have no idea what is going on even two kilometres from here, but I do know that we are surrounded by all kinds of beauty that often goes unnoticed. It's all there for us, to access when we do.

It's time to light candles and enjoy the grey and white rainy monsoon days now. I don't have to worry about being late for a meeting because the rains have wrecked havoc with the traffic or trains. 

Palakkad red rice and our heritage

India’s now-eased lockdown has forced even the strongest opponent of tech billionaires to try and source some groceries online. One of the boons of this reliance on e-commerce for Malayalis is the
nationwide availability of Matta rice from the fields of Palakkad. Those who live in localities (outside Kerala) that don’t have many Malayali residents would find it next to impossible to get this variety at the local grocery store. 

The change in diet from the polished white rice to this fine red variety has proven beneficial to this writer in many ways. Besides the obvious nutritional benefits that come with Matta rice, there is the compatibility of Kerala and particularly Palakkad cuisine with this variety. Erishery, sambar and any kind of upperi goes great with this variety...

Read my latest column for Manorama Online here.  

The summer of Covid-19 in Bombay

Old readers of this blog know that I absolutely love the months of April and May in Bombay. The humidity doesn't really bother me that much. There's always a nice cold glass of aam panna waiting for me when I get home. I love the flowering trees, the longer days. We don't exactly have White Nights here, but the sun does set after 7 pm in May and there are traces of daylight till around 8 pm.

The best part of a Bombay summer is the reduced traffic on account of schools being shut, and the fact that many families leave the city for long vacations.

Although I spent most of the Covid-19 summer indoors, I did have to step out for fruits, vegetables and some groceries. What I did notice is that it was much cooler this year than the years past. This obviously is because cabs, private cars and autos were off the roads for the most part. The burning of fossil fuels and the fumes that vehicles emit make it a lot hotter.

This summer was also a pleasant one for birds, which found a lot more freedom thanks to noisy people being indoors. They were always around but I started to notice them more in my building's common areas. The only unhappy birds seem to be the crows, who love feeding off garbage dumps. The very fact that the streets have fewer footfalls means there is less garbage on them,

There were days when I walked to the Andheri market and it felt just perfect. There was life, lots of vendors and a reasonable number of people, but it wasn't hot, dirty, smelly or crowded. Besides the metro line that bisects J.P. Road, the image of the market may been similar to that in the early 1970s.

I did miss having ice cream at Natural's in Juhu and having a sundowner at a bar overlooking the Arabian Sea and walks and jogs on the beach, but spending so much time at home helped me realise how much time I do waste outside, and how stressful the city's streets can be when life is normal.

Once life is normal, I'll make sure that local grocery stores deliver my monthly provisions and I do my vegetable and fruit runs at strategic times to avoid the horns, stress and people as much as possible.

The summer of Covid-19 has given way to the monsoon season of Covid-19. I am not sure how long this will go on, but there are indicators that school will only restart by August 15. I'll use this time indoors the best way I can by reading, learning, indoor and balcony gardening and meditating. Whenever I do get access to the great outdoors in the future, I'll appreciate all the more.

Dealing with uncouth and degenerate neighbours in Andheri

I am quite fortunate to live in a fairly nice locality in Andheri West. A metro station is just outside my gate, but far enough from my flat to not disturb the peace and quiet. The Bhavan's College campus is 300 metres away by foot and a lot closer as the crow flies. A building just in front of me was torn down in the last weeks of 2017 and nature has managed to take over with wild grass and a Gulmohur tree that is blessing the plot with orange-red flowers this summer.

How does the yin and yang factor play out with all this? With my neighbours of course! For years these people have resisted carrying out structural repairs on this 50-year old building, so cracks have begun to appear on everyone's bedroom and kitchen walls. There is also the issue of monsoon leaks, for which the degenerates have found a solution in tarpaulin sheets! Essentially the black sheets that hang over the top floor of the building look like garbage bags!

Not happy with the pure and clear air that the lockdown has managed to create in Bombay by default, the uncouth top-floor dwellers want hot tar to be applied to their outer walls. When they have garbage bags to protect themselves, why pollute the air and make the walls look ugly I wonder?

The answer to this lies in the fact that these people get some sort of trivial pressure when they get under someone else's skin. They have a problem with my window sill and balcony plants and also with the saplings I have planted in common areas. I told them they'd regret touching my plants and trees if they did make an attempt, so my minor contribution to the environment is safe for now.  These people of course have no problem for using the terrace and common areas for putting their junk!

I so realise that it's a drastic difference in mindset that puts me at odds with some of these degenerates, but guess what, I am not going anywhere! (They are a bunch of racists as well, and can't stand to see my foreign guests).

Out of 16 members in this housing society, there are a few good members. I so do value them.
The trouble makers want every member of this society to sell their flats, so that a builder can buy the land and give everyone a large sum of black money. My simple advice to these people is to sell and go. Maybe a more decent set of people will buy their flats?

After years of disagreements and hate-filled society meetings, it has been decided to do the necessary renovations for the building. Hopefully people will get really serious once the monsoons are over. I don't fancy painting and renovating my interiors only for everything to be spoiled later by structural repairs outside. 

This blog is back

It's been almost three years since I wrote anything here. I am not sure how regular I will be, but I am planning to give this blog another shot.

I like the relative anonymity of this space.

I am going to try and use it for book reviews, gardening tips, health and lifestyle suggestions and random musings.

Do comment if you're reading this, and say Hi!