I have had a few horrible experiences at Aurus before-the restobar in juhu-   and so have made a conscious effort to avoid the venue for more than a year now. But this time around it was a good friends birthday and he had promised to meet up with another friend at the venue and so i didnt want to make a fuss. He insisted. And so i went. Big mistake.

Once again we were denied a seat -inspite of the several empty tables, made to wait endlessly before service and then asked unceremonioulsy to vacate our seats to accomodate newly arrived guests-4 people for a table that seated 8.
“Cant you put the extra chairs on the side for us to sit? 

“People call a week or even a month in advance for reservations” i was told
by the pompous manager”then how come there are so may empty tables? i asked. I got no answer

The place was crawling with the most sleazy and dodgy people-straight out of a B grade  flick. You are welcome to draw your own inferences to my aspersions. But i am not mincing words.It has become the worst pick up joint for out of towners who read about the hight class fare available here thanks to the patronage of a few A list free loaders

The manager Colin Fernandez or D’souza-i cant remember his name exactly- was the most rude and obnoxious maitre d i have ever encountered in my life-his attitude trying to tell me that i should be grateful to be at the place at all. All along i gritted my teeth and bore it all only because it was my friends b’day

We had to literally beg for a knife to cut the birthday cake we had ordered. My friend had to finally barge into the kitchen and get the knife herself

The worst was as I was leaving the venue. Already getting a headache from the rude behaviour of the manager and the other staff-I was shocked beyond beleif when my car was not allowed to pull up directly outside the door. There was an army of gun toting security guards parked outside the entrance of the restaurant. An alarming sight for any ordinary citizen-especially in these fragile terror ridden times. Wondering if there was any security threat and what was going on I asked the management what it was all about. After all as a  a paying customer and more importantly a law abiding citizen I have the right to know.

I was ignored royally. They didnt think my questions warranted an answer.

I persited.One guy sensing my discomfort finally explained that it was a security for the VIP guests inside. Who was the VIP? i asked? I hadnt noticed any familar face inside. And this was top level security… was it the prime minister or some such dignitary? If so…what were they doing at 2 am in a restobar in mumbai? what was going on? We left the place in alarm and disgust

The worst was when the security staff of the restaurant started banging on my car asking my driver to move on from the entrance where my car had halted(i was already inside the car, waiting for my friend to join us-i guess they coudnt see me behind my darkened windows)

“Whats the panic i asked ? rolling the car windows down, scared that i was caught in some contingency. ” Aage badho aage badho” they barked  banging on the car over and over again

“Arrey bhaiya. Kyon aage badhoon? I am waiting for my friend. He will be here in a minute”

 ” Aaage badho. Rasta khaali karo.Baba Dewan aa rahe hain”

“So??”

I commanded my driver to stay put . He broke into a sweat-the gun toting bodyguards were staring aggressively at him.I told my driver  again to not budge-the security kept banging on my car.

“Dont block the entrance” they shouted again ‘Baba Dewan aa rahe hain’

I was informed that Baba Dewan owned Aurus. Then why was everybody behaving like he was Dawood Ibrahim or Jack the Ripper?

I almost jumped out of the car to give this Baba Dewan a peice of my mind about the hooliganistic attitude of his staff. I wanted to tell him I annoyed to boot  and this was no way to treat his guests

“Shhhshh…. madam… Khamosh…. please keep your voice down…” the manager Colin whatever cowered, urging me to get back into the car”He is right behind you…He may hear you”

“so…let him hear me…is this anyway to treat ones guests?

My friend hopped into the car just then and i drove away in disgust.I asked him who baba dewan was. The new mafia lord in town? the new underworld kingpin? Is that why people were so afraid? He told me that Baba Dewan was of the HDIL group or something and the owner of Aurus 

I was zapped-i have met his wife…Anu a perfectly fine lady-she could be someone i went to school with-that kind of decent cool. Coudnt imagine why the management of her husbands restaurant was so sychophantically afraid of him or why he would have his staff behave like this. I felt i was in the midst of some kind of B grade mafia operation

Whatever. I drove off. Pissed off. I still didnt understand what this was all about …

all i know is that i will not be entering Aurus again. And i would like to warn anybody who is even thinking of it…STAY AWAY FROM AURUS. If you know whats good for you-after all would you like to risk getting shot on a simple dinner out? Only because you didnt move out of the way of the boss?I think not

Words of wisdom emanate from his lips
Thoughts from deep inside his head
He knows it all, no need to think
In fact you might as well be dead

He’ll bless you of course, religiously
tell you all  you need to feed your greed
Then he”ll say he is the voice of God, 
simply doing his good deed
 

The people they look up to him,
follow his every word
The passion he stirs up in them,
It’s astounding, it’s absurd

The people never pause to give a thought
to their own belief
Having another do your thinking,
I guess is such a relief

The messiah he takes himself seriously,
It’s a profitable trade
His wisdom is for sale lady,
but only till half past eight.

 See it was my first time in the place and i got confused between left and right. I took the left door into the mens loo instead of the right turn into the main lounge.Suddenly i found myself in the midst of streaming watery sounds and surprised but cocky masculine faces. Where was I? I froze- it took me a few good seconds before i realized i was in a mens loo! Eeeks! EEks EEks i started to shreik, trying to find the exit, spinning around incoherantly

Some of the peeing men smirked. Some laughed. Nobody looked emabarrased except me.

It just proved to me that men even when caught with their pants and their whatever in their hands  retain their confidence.. its conditioning… There was no hiding for cover because of my horrified shreiks or my loud embarasment.. All i saw  was smug smirks and some amused glances.
Only one guy had the decency to tell me that i had exited through  the wrong door even while he nonchallantly continued his task-the rest looked maha amused. I ran out

A few minutes later the man who had shown me the exit in the mens loo joined his group at a table close to mine. While i  tried to avert my eyes he laughed and asked me if I’m allright-raising his glass in a salute

I imagined the reverse-Imagine a man walking into a womens loo-It would have caused a furore.
 Most of the women would have cowered and complained to the management and what not. The man would have probably got beaten up or even landed in jail…

For a day on our television screens it may have even made breaking news “Pervert gets beaten up for breaking into a ladies toilet…”

Phew! thank god such things dont happen to us ladies.

I call him up for everything- from coughs and colds to frizzy hair!! to broken backs. Very often Kaveri will sneeze and demand to see Dr Agrawal-sometimes she just speaks with him on the phone and she is fine. Ditto for me.  He is never too busy and takes no complaint lightly. He works tirelessly round the clock not even pausing for a cup of tea or coffee. A true karmayogi. I asked him once what happens when he falls ill-who looks after him. He laughed it off saying that as long as he is looking after people he never falls ill. Its what keeps him happy and refreshed

Last evening was the wedding reception of his daughter Dr Raashi Agrawal -a bright young physiotherapist who is carrying on her fathers good work. She has healed many a torn ligament and knee injury in my family too, with the same affable goodness as her father

The sheer goodwill that Dr Agrawal holds in the community was apparent last evening. EVERYBODY showed up-everybody had an injection story or some such to share and smile about. After all there are generations that have grown up with his healing touch 

Inspite of the large number of people that were present, Dr Agrawal attended personally to each and every one of his guests-insisting we eat and make merry.

I told him the next time I call him it HAS to be for a cup of coffee or a meal- the good doctor needs some rest too.
Ofcourse I’ll have to fake an ailment to get him to make the time for that and have him visit

If Shashi Tharoor had Indian books like The Summer of Cool and The Good News Reporter to read when he was growing up, they would have featured in his book “Bookless in Baghdad”, Chapter 1, Growing Up with Books in India.

Congratulations on filling a very important void! If I had to compile a list of most influential Indians, you would be among the top! Not only did you write for children, you wrote a completely desi book, which like most Indian urban things and people, reflects the global nature of today’s kids with their Indian cultural sensibilities.

There is no ‘Indian children’s book’ that I could relate to while growing up. Thanks for changing all that. My older daughter thoroughly enjoyed the book and so did my younger one and I just could not put the two books down. I read them one after another. The thrill of reading an Indian English book was magical. Then I went into ‘withdrawal’ and couldn’t bring myself to read anything else!

Last but not the least, the desi consideration aside, you wrote two very good books for children. I am thrilled about the fact that these have Indian characters, themes, plots and ‘Indian English’. But they are good books first because they are simply good stories. The plots are good and the story keeps moving so that you want to keep turning the page.

I am also glad to see the larger trend of desi literature emerging, which you are a part of:
http://khabar.com/jsp/article.jsp?sessionid=00p0-IVDEYkoqAyDtnPeTpCVtmI&tempid=6390540636112119442&_articleid=2688
The commercial success of books also helps encourage new authors that India needs. About time India!

I would change two things about the book. One, I would edit it ever so slightly to make the book have a broader appeal to include an even younger age group. Two, I would approach Penguin to get a better bound book. Our copy of TGNR already has pages that are coming loose at one end.

Suchitra, I hope Devi Saraswati blesses your pen so you can keep more books coming. We would be thrilled to hear back from you!

Keep writing!
Chandra

Thank you Chandra for the above kind words. Its one of the reasons i chose this genre-the fact that there is no indigenous indian literature for the young mind. Nothing that told us about our own lives, the way we celebrate it.
 

Your  words seem to make all the  effort and sleepless months that go into writing a book worth it )

I invariably write through the night-when my daughter is asleep and i can be freed from the disturbance of mundane domesticity. My urge to write is so strong and uncontrollable that i just do it but i sometimes wonder…

Writing in India is an unrewarding job, in terms of money and recognition. I mean my maid earns more! An item girl shaking her touche on stage in a back of the beyond small town earns many many times more.

While i can afford to laugh it off  because my livelihood or lifestyle does not depend on it I often wonder how other writers sustain themselves.

I hope this changes soon…because there is an ocean of talent and a wealth of stories we can tap into-totally uniquely Indian. They need to be encouraged and suitably rewarded

Then maybe the new writers (unlike most of the current crop) wont feel the need to peddle our poverty and our feudal past to the west- because thats where the big bucks and the fame comes from.

Though my web administrator-the dynamic Nirav Sanghavi prophesised it and created an account for me (suchitrak) even before people were asking whats twitter? Is it a bird? 
But  i went What? Such few words and me? no chance!!! That’s way too little - Besides why would i want to let the world know everytime i belched or the colour of my doggies poo? Is nothing sacred anymore?

Because thats exactly the kind of stuff happening on twitter. Ofcourse i have checked mainly the Indian celebrity tweets- because thats all i read about in the newspapers and their links are easy to find. 

Looks like twitter has eliminated the stars need for a PR machinery…now you hear tidbits right from the horses mouth. Earth shattering and life altering stories about stuff like what they had for dinner or the new colour of their upholstery or what they wore to a party.No need for the media to cross check or verify or confirm  any of this absolutely vital peice of information. It takes precedence over the earthquake in Haiti even

No more stars getting away with saying “I was misquoted” “I am going to sue the newspaper/channel”- for stuff that is actually invariably true-never mind for a twist of zesty masala here and there.

So the stars give out tidbits that are safe for the world to know. That distract. That reveal them as the good guys/girls just having fun on sleepless nights spreading boundless love and kisses and hugs.
Mmmmuah!!! over and over and all over again.

Yikes!

Come see my movie/watch my show/read my book/ etc etc being the underlying blah.

Or atleast please dont forget all about me till i make my next big announcement!! First hand to all my tweeples ofcourse.You are family! Please please. Pretty please. Love hugzzzz and many more muahs

This is true for most celebrity tweets except perhaps for  the likes of Shashi Tharoor who is actually talking about the good work he is going all over the world and create an awareness and platform to share.

I agree Communication and technology has changed our lives for ever. It has its blessings…it has made the world more equal and democratic than one could have ever dreamed of. Infact i have often referred to the internet as “universal consciousness”

But now it suddenly seems to me that the world around us is turning into a full reality show. Scary. Everybody is gorging from it and feeding the voyeuristic tendencies of everybody else.Nobody even knows the difference anymore. The world is a stage, and everybody an actor. Nothing is sacred. Every facet of one’s lives is for public consumption.
TRP’s,  Popularity publicity ke waaste sab kuch chalega.

I’m trying not to judge it. If its where the world is headed…who knows.

 But where do we draw the line?

Information is a mouseclick away, easiest thing to access. Everything we need to know is on the internet, Except discretion. And wisdom.

For that we still have to exercise  our minds and more importantly- our heart

                              Chakravyuh, acrylic on canvas, 62×50

When the founders of Laadli first mentioned it to me I refused. Because i had become a bit cynical about charity. Only because i found that in the past few years the mammoth efforts i had made towards collecting funds for the downtrodden( i have run three previous marathons for an NGO called Saathi) were being utilized to sponsor management picnics and travel camps and paying for management salary rather than going towards the desperately needy. Every time i asked for details on where the funds i had collected were being utilized i was given vague  answers and sent a profit and loss statement which told me nothing.

So when Laadli asked me if i was willing to lend my support to their cause i was sceptical. Even though its a cause i beleive i was born to be involved in I refused..

 But it didnt take long to convince me and so here I am-all ready to huff and puff through the streets of mumbai on the 17th of jan for Laadli

 Like every year i know it will be a melee. A crazy stampede but I am still looking foward to it…

Unlike the previous years where i have particiated in the marathon, i have not made any preparations at all this time around.. No begging my  generous friends for a donation. No personal trainer to jostle me out of bed at 5 am to run on the beach till i collapsed cramped and exhausted, no whey protein supplements to increase my muscle mass and stamina,no knee presses and back breaking exercises. No pressure of any kind.

So why am i blogging about it now? Because  all i want to say is that I am proud to be running for Laadli-an organization dedicated to the welfare and upliftment of the girl child. An institution that fights against female foeticide and tries to give every girlchild her rightful place in the world 

An organization that reitarates my faith about being the daughter and mother i am…

I am doing this for my laadli, my daughter Kaveri

www.laadli.org

Never mind that Chetan Bhagat dosent think so and that his name has been unmercifully and shamelessly marginalized in the credits. Slumdog Millionaire turned the unknown Vikas Swarup and his book Q and A into an overnight success-yes that screenplay was adapted too, as most films are. But atleast he didnt feel miffed. And the makers were gracious enough to grant him his peice of the pie
The humour in 3 idiots was too cerebral and high IQ to be from a hindi film mind(excuse my snobbery) so i have no doubts about Chetan Bhagats contribution even though i havent read the book. But Hello? (remember that film Chetan? Why werent you screaming from the rooftops about that being your story too? Tch Tch…Whats going on? Am just curious at the way the human mind and the ego works
 

But coming back to what i started writing this post about, I really beleive that the new year will herald a new start… and whatever the pitfalls I’m going to hold my hand across my chest and repeat the phrase over and over again. After all if our thoughts manifest our reality we might as well fill our heads with the most postive and uplifting ones…even if at times we know its a lie.

“bad hair day?”     All izz well
“sensex crashed today? All is well
“Insecure boyfriend getting on your nerves?” All izzz well
“You mean you didnt know your husband was cheating on you? IDIOT!” ALL IZZZ WELLL
“Maid didnt come today?”  ALLL is well
“Have no money in your bank?” all izzz well
“Lost your job?”  All izzzz well. Trust me
“He likes her more than me? But she’s a greedy whore!” All izzz well. The schmuck deserves her. I deserve way way better
“Too drunk to care?” All izzz well
“No I am not turning into my mother. F off!!”
ALLL IZZZ WELLL!!! dont panic. Things can be changed you know. Our destiny is in our hands

 See I’m a huge Raju Hirani fan. Wether its his ‘Gandhigiri’ or “Jaadu ki jhappi” and now his phrase “All izzz well” from the 3 idiots, hes a man with his heart in the right place. And everytime i see one of his films i get enthused and pious and determined till the next time when…

So all is well is what i told myself when i stood on the weighing scale this morning and i almost died of a panic attack. Having just returned from a debauched holiday it hadnt struck me that the devastating effects on my body mass would be so immediate and so agonizingly painful.

But since “All izzz welll”What is 6 kgs heavier in the larger scheme of things? It atleast gives me a resolution to make and adhere to.

For we must try and we must strive…give every hour and every day a purpose and meaning. Stay happy till its time to bid adieu. Remember Whatever good happens is entirely attributable to you.

Anything bad that happens in between is Karma-not your fault. Blame it on God
or curse the wise  that said…

“You are what your deep driving desire is.
As your desire, so is your will
As your will is, so is your deed.
As your deed is, so is your destiny.
                                          Brihadarayanka Upanishad