Let's Ban It!

We Indians have found the sure fire solution to all problems that plague our society. And it’s such a simple solution that I wonder what why this didn't strike us earlier!

R.I.P. Lingerie Mannequins

Warning! Just Skip This Notice and Move Ahead

Two days ago a trip to the Aksa beach turned tragic for a few friends. While two boys lost their lives, one was saved and undergoing treatment at the hospital. That Aksa is a dangerous beach is a well known fact. Over the years many have lost their lives at this piece of Mumbai coastline. The question then is why do people choose to ignore all warnings and put their lives at risk?

Ninjas in your city!

The Ninjas are in your city, all around you, going about their business, quietly, just like ninjas do. Their purpose, their mission, is to get under the skin of this city and to uncover stories that make Mumbai unique. Here at Discovering Mumbai, we are always excited about meeting people, just like us, who are wandering, exploring every nook and cranny of this mystical city and coming up with stories that celebrate the spirit of Mumbai. We were lucky enough to bump into the ninja, who started this ninja institute, a website actually, by the name ‘City Ninjas’. Here is the story of Anisha Sharma, an extremely passionate Mumbaikar and founder of City Ninjas.

The Year That Was

A year is a long span of time in our lives, but for a city that is centuries old, a year is just blip on the historical timeline. Time always seems to pass so slowly when we are going through the moment. But once the year is done with, when we look back, we always feel that the year came to an end quickly, time flew by without our noticing it. So here we are at the very end of the year that was, 2012, the time when we look back, reminisce, and we look forward to a year full of possibilities, full of hope, that 2013 will be what 2012 could not be.

Understanding Cities

You might have read in the papers about the ‘BMW Guggenheim Lab’ that is in town these days. This moving lab which has previously travelled to cities like New York and Berlin, before coming to the shores of Mumbai, likes to describe itself as urban think tank, a community center and a public gathering space. Its primary motive is to address issues pertaining to contemporary urban life through various programs and public discussions. We caught up with the Guggenheim Lab’s resident blogger ‘Christine Mclaren’, who has been trying to understand our magnificent city by unique ways like walking blind folded through the city and commuting in peak hour rush in a Virar local!

Christine McLaren

From Paris to Bollywood

The glamour, glitz, fame and moolah of Bollywood lure many to Mumbai to try their luck in the film industry. People from across the country, from big cities to the countryside; come to Mumbai with the dream of becoming a superstar. Some are spurred by passion, others attracted by its glamour. Those driven by the glamour and other ulterior motives find the struggle too hard; while those driven by passion keep trying to live their dreams. In the end only some succeed to achieve what they came for. Discovering Mumbai features Christie Bourcq, a French national and a passionate actor-dancer who flew down from Paris to take plunge in Bollywood. This is about her journey from Paris to Bollywood!

Christie Bourcq

Queen of the Suburbs

‘Queen of the Suburbs’, that’s how the suburb of Bandra is descried, and rightly so! Everyone loves this suburb. It is the symbol of Mumbai’s cosmopolitan lifestyle. From the energetic nightlife, the seafronts of Bandstand and Carters Road and the celebrities, we are in awe of everything that Bandra has to offer. There’s so much happening in Bandra, so much life, so much excitement. It’s difficult to comprehend why just one suburb, in this huge a mega polis, has been blessed with so much. Well, we came across a Mumbaikar who is trying to understand what makes Bandra click. Discovering Mumbai presents Aalika who is working on a project, ‘The BandraProject’, which aims to unlock the mystery behind Bandra’s charm.

Photograph by 'The Bandra Project'

Improvising Theatre

The vibrant theatre culture of Mumbai has been witnessing a steady stream of talented and innovative actors which are bent on changing the old ways. Their penchant for travelling on the path less travelled has resulted in creation of an innovative theatre scene in Mumbai. ‘Improv’ has been the talk of town in recent years. Improv theatre has changed the way we watch and experience theatre by making the audience a part of the action. Discovering Mumbai presents Adam Dow, founder of ‘Improv ComedyMumbai’ (ICM), a group dedicated to pushing the boundaries of Improv theatre and taking it to the masses. Time for some improvisation!

Adam Dow

The Breakfast Projekt

How far can you push yourself for your passion? Setting ambitious targets is easy, but getting up every day and sticking to it is tough. We start out with much gusto, but somewhere down the line the fire fizzles out, the target becomes an insurmountable peak, and we just quit. How about setting yourself a target of preparing a new breakfast every morning, throughout the year? Sounds ambitious? Well Pratishtha Khan, has set herself this ambitious and rather unique target. Discovering Mumbai presents Pratishtha who has started ‘The Breakfast Projekt', through which she aims to cook up 356 different breakfast recipes in 365 days!

Pratishtha Khan

Wherever Music Takes You

Love music? Love attending gigs? Disappointed that major international artists skip Mumbai most of the times? Willing to travel to wherever your favourite band is performing in the country, because you just can’t afford to skip the gig! Worry not; Chorush is here to solve your problem. Chorush, a tourism company built around music, started by two music aficionados, Krish and Suraj, is an initiative to take music fans to where the music is. No longer missing that once in a lifetime opportunity to see your favourite band/star perform live, thanks to Chorush! Ain’t that music to your ears?

The Feminine side of Mumbai’s Underworld

Mumbai’s underworld and its dons are as famous as the Bollywood and its superstars! It’s a menace that has captured the attention of the general public for years now. Through Bollywood flicks and newspapers, many have tried to explore the dark side of the city and its anti-heroes. But beyond the ugly gang wars and encounters, there’s one side of the underworld which has often been overlooked. It’s about the women who were part of this organized crime scene. Surprising but true, there were many women who made a mark in the world of crime. Discovering Mumbai presents Jane Borges, who co-wrote the book “Mafia Queens of Mumbai”, which throws light on these lesser known female characters from Mumbai’s underworld.

Breaking the Glass Ceiling

 One of the good things about Mumbai is that it gives you the opportunities to create a career in the field of your interest. It’s not always easy, if you are trying to make it in a niche industry. Old traditions and habits come in the way of youngsters trying to break into such industries. With our society still being a male dominated one, women often face such barriers. But age and sex can never stop you from doing something you love to do. And this spirit is highlighted by our today’s featured writer, Karina Aggarwal, who writes about alcohol on her website Gigglewater411. Discovering Mumbai proudly presents the lady whose knowledge of spirits will leave you spell bound!

Karina Aggarwal

Life is a Cartoon

The city is huge and damn fast. Wherever you look, you will only find people in hurry! People going about their daily routine, oblivious to their surroundings, in the hurry to catch a train, a bus or maybe an auto-rickshaw. No one walks here, they all speed-walk! Through the course of your average day you come across many people, you have many interactions. The streets are bustling with interactions, incidents and accidents. Some incidents, you are a mere spectator, some, you’re part of. The tech savvy generation of today documents many of these incidents on their Facebook and Twitter accounts. However there a few who look at these incidents from a very different viewpoint. One of them is Saakshi Vyaas, for whom, such incidents from her daily life become the source of her illustrations. Discovering Mumbai presents the story of ‘Saakshi Vyas’, Mumbai based freelance illustrator.

A tour like no other!

Slums have often been looked down upon, a neglected part of the city. But these are also some of the most enterprising parts of our city. Dharavi, especially, is renowned for its many house industries. Lately, the focus of media and writers on this patch of the city has been helping in changing the perception about slums. A lot still needs to be done, to change the image of these places and also for bringing about a change in the lives of its residents. The negative perception can only be changed through educating people and what better way than taking them to ground zero. This is the aim of ‘Reality Toursand Travels’, they want you to witness first hand, the life in these slums; they want to wash your eyes off the perceptions that you were carrying for years and see these places in a new light. And while doing all this they also want to help the residents of these places, they want to help them lead a better life, a life that everyone dreams of when they land in Mumbai.

Dharavi

Paint the Wall

Remember the days when you were kids, armed with crayons in your hands, you went around trying to paint on anything you could lay your hands on! The whole world was a canvas then. Some of us ruined our walls, well that’s what most parents felt, and then we got a good rap from them. Those were the days! Some never gave up that habit of painting the walls; they grew up wanting to paint walls with their creative ideas. For people like Jas Charanjiva, the entire world is still a canvas. She still has that childlike feeling inside of her, and this is what makes her such a great wall artist. This is the story of how Jas Charanjiva became a successful wall artist and is promoting this modern art form in our city of Mumbai. Let’s paint some walls!

'Smokin is for Villans' - Jas's wall art on Chinchpokli Road, Bandra

Jas was born in Kent County, UK, the same place where her childhood hero Mick Jagger was born. She spent half of her childhood in Toronto, Canada, after which her family moved to California. At the age of 6 she discovered David Bowie, the English pop legend known for his distinctive voice and style. Bowie’s style and his works had a significant impact on Jas; she has named her studio ‘Life on Mars’ after one of Bowie’s songs. “He's so conceptual. Costumes, make up, characters. His music was real cool and later I realized how sophisticated it was and appreciated how ahead of his time he was”, says Jas about her idol. At 12 she discovered the world of street art; she was mesmerized by this style of art. Eventually she ended up making a career in street art.

Jas was introduced to the world of street art at the age of 12, when she got her first professional skateboard. The artwork at the bottom of skateboard caught her eye. She started checking out these skateboard artworks in a popular magazine called Thrasher, a magazine dedicated to skating. Her initial trysts with street art where simple works of chalk on sidewalks. Once on her way back home from school, she wrote names of her favourite bands on the sidewalk with chalk. She did this for about a quarter of a mile before her Mom caught her and reprimanded her for this act! Her first wall art was a recreation of an album cover on the walls of a record shop opposite the Church of John Coltrane. On Sunday’s the church would see huge crowd and she wanted to paint something cool with a message for the people waiting in queue to get inside. Her work, commissioned by the record shop, was only an album cover and she could not put any message on it. However, the urge to paint something meaningful with a cool and witty message got her into further exploring this genre of art. She did some legal and some illegal works in San Francisco, California. Most of her works were messages about people living their lives in a bubble.

Few years ago she moved to Hyderabad, when her husband’s company sent him on a three year project to India. After the project was over they decided to stay back in India. The transition from New York City to Hyderabad was not so bad for her; in fact she found it cool to be somewhere different. The only issue was that street art was in a nascent stage in India and Hyderabad, especially, didn’t have anything worthy to be called a piece of art at the time. Mumbai on the other hand had a fair amount of good street art. In places like Chapel Road, Bandra, there is a waiting list of businesses and shop owners who want their walls painted. “Mumbai streets have some good pieces of art but there's not enough of it. Majority of the best work is from artists outside the country. We have some regular artists that visit often to paint here. Like Rock from France and Loomit from Germany”.

Her first solo show was all about bringing street art indoors. She had a huge room of raw concrete to paint. Jas spent 10 days and nights painting the room. The room was very hot and this inspired her to create the theme ‘Fire wall’ for her solo show. This show launched her as an artist in India. Her second exhibition Diamond Dogs + Super Creeps was inspired by David Bowie’s songs and characters. GQ magazine was coming out with a 6 page article on David Bowie, so the online editor of GQ suggested to Jas that she create some event around Bowie the same month. The show happily sold out.

So what is about street art that makes it so special for Jas? “I love the rawness of it, I love that there's no intention of making money out of it. I love that it's based on the love for it. I love there's an unpredictability to it as in one stumbles upon it and it can be painted over the next day or remain there for years”. She also loves the fact that street art is so smart, clever and sometimes witty. Jas feels that there is still a lot to be done to promote street art here in India. She feels that all the talented artists we have in the city should contribute at least one piece outdoors. People in India get to see so little of street art. When they do come across one, they are amazed, but what they can’t understand is “Why someone would do such a thing for free?”

Having established herself as an artist, she now runs her own studio ‘Life on Mars’. The name is derived from one of David Bowie’s songs about a girl who wonders if there’s life on mars, as she feels that life on earth is all messed up. Like the girl in the song Jas too gets affected by the things happening around her and that’s how the messages in her murals come about. Now she is expanding her work to murals for kids. Most of her current works have angry annoyed characters, so now she has to work on making happy characters. Jas plans to continue her street works in Mumbai and all the places that she is invited to. She is also working on selling original art. She would also like to create a few illustrated books in the future. There are a lot of things she wants to do and she is trying her hand at all of them. Given a chance she would like to collaborate with Buff Monster an artist from US and she would also like to work with the Rolling Stones or Bowie on a project. For the time being we just hope that she does more and more street art around Mumbai. The city needs more artists like Jas to change the face of this city, to make it more beautiful through their art! We hope Jas’s works will inspire other talented beginners to take up street art.

You can check out Jas's exciting artwork at - http://about.me/jascharanjiva and http://jascharanjiva.carbonmade.com/

Mumbai through the lens

Mumbai, ‘the maximum city’, ‘the city that never sleeps’; many names have been given to this beautiful city. It is not just a city of brick and mortar. This city has a soul, a voice; it is alive! Its vibrant, its active, there is something always happening around the corner in this city. Strewn across its vast landscape, in the dingy gallis or out in the open spaces, are hundreds of unique stories, of people and places that may never catch your eye. These little things essentially add up to make Mumbai the unique city that it is. One Mumbaikar is on a mission to ensure that you do not miss out on these little treasures hidden all over the city. Discovering Mumbai presents the story of Gopal, a photographer and photo blogger by hobby who has been capturing every nook and corner of Mumbai through his camera for his project titled ‘MumbaiPaused’.

‘Mumbai Paused’ is a project started by Gopal, who is a copywriter with a Mumbai based advertising agency. Originally from the southern city of Bangalore, he migrated to Mumbai in 2000 and has been living in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai since then. Gopal is 38 years old, married and has an adorable four year old son. His interest in photography began a few years ago when his wife gifted him a digital camera. Bitten by the shutterbug he started experimenting with photography and would carry his camera wherever he went. It was in Bangalore that he developed an interest in clicking photographs of things happening around the city. While travelling to work on his humble scooty he would stop and click pictures of things which caught his eye.

Urban cemetery

Gopal continued working on his photography and after he moved to Mumbai he continued clicking pictures around town, capturing the city while it went about its daily routine. This is when Mumbai Paused was born. He would click photographs and put them online on his blog. The broad objective of Mumbai Paused was to capture Mumbai streets as they went through changes. Like all migrants he fell in love with the charm of this city. Through Mumbai Paused he was able to push himself out of his comfort zone and go to places he would otherwise not go to. He started exploring the city’s gallis and the not so frequented places which he would never went to if he didn’t have a camera. “I look out for ordinary things that we all see but fail to notice. A camera helps to spot and record them”, says Gopal. To understand what he means you have to go through his blog. You will stumble upon very intriguing and interesting pictures from all over Mumbai, from south Mumbai to the far flung suburbs in north; he has captured every nook and corner of the city in his own distinctive style. His pictures are fascinating and are sure to leave you spell bound. And like us, along the journey; you too will discover a lot of things about Mumbai.

The entire journey has been an enriching experience for Gopal. Along the journey he has made numerous friends and has come across many interesting personalities. It has given him opportunities to shoot images for some of India’s leading newspapers and magazines and also a few international magazines. So far he has not exhibited his work anywhere in Mumbai, but we hope that he does so soon. The city continues to inspire Gopal, and there is so much more out there to capture and present. Gopal wants to continue taking photographs and hopes that he can present at least one story every day. We hope the same too! His photographs are not mere stills, they are alive with a story. Stories that tell something about the city you didn’t know or which you always overlooked. His works provide an insight into what makes the city so special and enigmatic. Saying that Gopal is in love with the city would be an obvious understatement! When asked to summarize Mumbai in one line; this is what he had to say, “Mumbai is the melting pot of Humanity”. Thanks to people like Gopal we are able to see Mumbai in a way we would have never seen it. So stop reading and just head over to his blog right away! - http://mumbaipaused.blogspot.in/ 

You can also follow him on his twitter account - @mumbaipaused

Reclaiming the city!

Recently the Mumbai police have been very active in hogging the limelight thanks to it overzealous Social Security department. The raids on popular nightlife destinations in the city have resulted in a lot of hue and cry across the media. These raids have found both support and protest from different sections of the society. A bunch of Mumbaikars have begun a movement called ‘Mumbai Unite’ to protect the citizens of this cosmopolitan city. They say it’s not about the protecting the nightlife, it’s about fighting to protect the fundamental rights of citizens and protecting them from the khaki clad fanatics.

Mumbai’s image of a cosmopolitan city has taken a hit thanks to these recent events. All of a sudden the police department seems to have woken up from its slumber and it started enforcing laws which are archaic and outdated. The city which is the face of a modern and resurgent India is governed by laws that date back to the days of British Raj! On one side we want to build a world class city, like the Dubai’s and Shanghai’s of world, and on the other side we are still running our city with an old, crumbling legal system. It’s a tussle between the ones trying to take the city into the future and those who want to hold on to the old ways. Such thinking is only dragging the city’s progress and is in a way responsible for the mess the city finds itself in.

The dreaded act that is being used to terrorize ordinary citizens is called the ‘Bombay Prohibition Act’. It is important to understand the provisions of this law to ensure that you don’t become a victim of it. The law enacted in 1949, says that any person in Mumbai who wishes to consume alcohol needs to carry a drinking permit. This drinking permit comes in the form of a Rs.5 one day permit and a Rs.1,000/- lifetime permit. A license holder is permitted to hold 12 units of alcohol at any time. Anyone found consuming alcohol without this permit is liable for a fine of Rs. 50,000 or 5 years in Jail or both! The trouble here is not only the law, but the way it is enforced and the practicalities of enforcing it!

If the objective of this law is to dissuade the janta from consuming alcohol, then we are sorry to say that a Rs.1000/- permit is not a big deterrent for anyone. And how in the world are the police or anybody going to keep a check on the people consuming alcohol in the safe confines of their homes? What about visitors, will they be handed over a permit at the airport? In a corrupt country like ours this is just another, rather powerful, tool in the hands of those who will go to any lengths to exhort money out of innocent citizens. And the Mumbai police have been using this tool very effectively to harass ordinary citizens. If the intention really was to enforce the law then their targets would not have only been the swanky pubs of Bandra. There are numerous places where one can consume alcohol and not all of those are in Bandra!

So how do the people who have gathered under the banner of ‘Mumbai Unite’ plan to fight for the fundamental rights of Mumbaikars? Mumbai Unite, a group formed by concerned Mumbaikars, who have no allegiance to any political party, believes that if the establishment expects citizens to follow the rules then they must first educate people about these rules. After all, before these raids began how many of us were even of such an Act? Raiding places and harassing common citizens is not the way to ensure that laws are followed. Treating women with disrespect by calling them ‘Prostitutes’ just because their way of dressing doesn’t fit into your myopic definitions of culture and tradition, is definitely not the mark of sanity. Doing drugs is definitely wrong, but criminalizing people for it is not the way to solve this menace. It is problem which needs to be solved by creating more awareness among the youth.

Mumbai Unite has come out with a petition asking the establishment to ensure that these raids are stopped and the perpetrators behind these ghastly acts be brought to justice. It seeks to invoke the same law that the Social Service Branch of Mumbai Police refers to, ‘The Bombay Prohibition Act’. Sections of this act clearly specify how the policemen should behave when conducting searches, and from what we have been hearing about these raids, the police’s behaviour is in complete violation of the law. Using these sections of the law, the petition demands action against these so called moral police. In addition to asking people to sign up the petition, Mumbai Unite will soon go knocking on the doors of MLA’s and corporator’s seeking their support for their petition. This move will surely put many a corporator’s and MLA’s in a fix, as they will have to choose sides now. They will have to let people know who they support, the citizens of their wards who voted to bring them to power or the police who have been troubling innocent citizens.

Mumbaikars, who are part of Mumbai Unite, do not deny the fact that rules should be followed; in fact they would be more than happy to follow rules. It is all about how suitable these rules are to our modern style of living and the way in which the police go about ensuring the enforcement of laws. There is no hiding from the fact that these rules are outdated and need an overhaul. And if you want to impose such rules then why target certain people, why not enforce these laws on everyone. Why only check cars for permits, why not check the people in the numerous celebrations that take place on the roads of Mumbai? Mumbai Unite just wants to make the establishment realize this simple fact. Mumbai Unite is on a mission to reclaim the city of Mumbai for its citizens and we hope that every Mumbaikar supports their cause.

To read the petition please follow this link - http://mumbaiunite.com/petition/

For Mumbai Unite’s homepage - http://mumbaiunite.com/

Falling In Love With India

This is the story of how one foreign national fell in love with the rich history, culture and traditions of our country that she could never go back to her homeland. This is about her journey across India, discovering the diversity and exploring the numerous treasures that India has to offer. From the banks of the Ganges in North India to the majestic temples of South India, she has travelled and seen more of India than most Indians themselves! Along the journey she made many friends, found the love of her life and rediscovered herself. India left such a mark on her heart and soul that she could never return back to her country. Discovering Mumbai brings to you the story of Sharell Cook. Sharell writes and manages About.com India travel page, she is settled in Mumbai with her Indian husband.

Sharell grew up in a middle class family in rural Australia. Like most Australian teens she worked at a supermarket to help herself financially. Her family lived on a five acre plot which was full of animals like cats, dogs, ducks, geese and goats; she even had an aviary full of birds. A typical Australian family, they enjoyed pool parties and barbeque in summers and went skiing in winters. Sharell spent the first 21 years in her hometown before she moved to Melbourne for her job. She graduated in Business and got an accounting job in Melbourne. However, she never really enjoyed her job much, apart from the report writing part of it. Her travels to India inspired her write about India. She started submitting these articles to an article library website. One fine day she received a call from a stranger, who liked her articles, about a vacancy at About.com. They were looking for someone to write and manage their India travel website. After a few gruelling tests she was hired!

Her first encounter with India happened in the year 2000. While returning to Australia, from her first overseas trip, she did a stopover in Bangkok where she realized that eastern countries were much more fascinating than west. Even some of her friends were raving about their experiences in India. Finally she got brave and decided to travel to India. The decision was not easy for her. She was daunted by the thought of visiting India, having heard so many stories about people getting sick, getting robbed and whole lot of other such stories. Like many foreigners her perception about India was also the ‘land of snake charmers’. Sharell spent hours on research trying to make sure that nothing would go wrong on her maiden voyage to India. On her first trip she travelled through the northern parts of India – Delhi, Agra, Varanasi and Rajasthan. The depth of the culture, the history and architecture of the country left her astonished.

An obsession for India was born out of this first trip, she couldn’t stay away as there was so much more to explore and experience. Two years later she returned to spend some more time. Her second trip would be through South India. This was followed by another trip three years later but this time her reasons to travel were a lot different. Her life was going through a rough patch; she decided to come down to India to do some community work to take her mind off the things troubling her. Also she wanted to get herself out of her comfort zone, become more independent and assertive and she felt that India was the perfect place for this. While in India, an Australian friend offered her to take care of her guesthouse in Kerala for the tourist season, this made her stay back in India. It was also during this journey that she unexpectedly fell in love!

She has a lot of great memories to share from her trips like the wacky camel fair at Pushkar, spending time on houseboats in Kerala’s enchanting backwaters, driving a rickshaw from Chennai to Mumbai as part of a charity event, a village to village yak safari in high altitude Spiti and having dinner with the Maharaja of Udaipur at his palace! However, her most meaningful experience has been attending the Ganga Aarti at Haridwar, it was a very strong spiritual experience for her; something which she had never experienced before. India has played a major role in redefining Sharell, it has made her more flexible, spontaneous and assertive.

India, is the place where she finally found her true love, they decided to get married and are now settled in the city of Mumbai. They met in Kolkata, she asked him to accompany her to the guesthouse in Kerala which she was managing and after that they did some more travelling. They fell in love and finally they got married, but only after the entire horoscope matching was done and his parent’s approval was obtained! Coming from a small village in Australia she finds life in Mumbai too intense! Initially she saw Mumbai as an Indian city trying to be western. But over time she has fallen in love with the city. She loves the cosmopolitan nature of Mumbai and also the fact that it is the safest city in India for women. She finds peace in the beaches of Mumbai. Sharell also loves the Ganesh festival’s grandeur. What she does not like about the city is the poor and shabby state of its infrastructure. Also she feels that the city’s nightlife is being threatened by fanatical policing. She also dreads the city’s traffic and feels that it takes too long to get anywhere!

Sharell writes a blog titled – ‘Diary of a white Indian housewife’. When she was deciding on moving to India, she scoured the net looking for blogs by people who were in a similar situation as hers. She didn’t find many such blogs and so she thought that she should start her own blog to share her experiences with others. Lot of people ask Sharell about moving to India, about her experiences. She believes that anyone who has a genuine interest in India will surely enjoy their time here as India has so many things to teach you. “India can be challenging, but if you have a greater sense of purpose here, then challenges matter less”, says Sharell. She also advises people not to replicate their western standard of living in India. “Anyone moving to India must be ready to make a lot of adjustments”, she believes. For Sharell the journey has been an enriching experience. From travelling India to writing about India, finding the love of her life and getting married, India has given lots of good memories to cherish. And she too has very kind words for the country that has given her so much. “To sum it all in one line – India is a remarkable teacher!”

You can check out her About.com India travel page at - http://goindia.about.com/
and her blog 'Diary of a White Indian Housewife' at - http://www.whiteindianhousewife.com/

In Chat: Fukkat Gyan

Recently while scouting the net we came across a weirdly named blog called – ‘Fukkat Gyan’ which intrigued and impressed us a lot. It is wacky blog which makes fun of journalists through cartoons which talk about the happenings in their daily lives. Well, it’s a great insight into the exciting work life of journalists.  We were impressed by their idea and their cartoons and we decided to get in touch with these guys. Here is our chat with the founders of ‘Fukkat Gyan’. To check out their hilarious cartoons just click here – Fukkat Gyan. Subscribe to them and get your dose of gyan absolutely fukkat! We’re sure you will love them!

Hello guys, tell us something about your personal and professional background?

We’re journalists. Our favourite colours are cyan and cerulean. Our star signs are Libra and Scorpio. And our political views are ultra left of left of centre.

Can you tell us something about the world of journalism? What is a typical journos day like?

A typical day at work involves getting to office at noon, having lunch, having a digestive chai, chatting, making some calls if we feel like it, chatting, having coffee, having an evening snack, chatting, occasionally writing, chatting, rounding off the day with chai.

So how did the idea of Fukkat Gyan strike you guys?

We were snacking on Mentos one day and as the ad claims, lightbulbs flashed inside our heads.

Why the name Fukkat Gyan?

Because we’re dispensing our gyan for free.

When did you decide to go online with it?

We started the blog on May 26, 2010. Took a long break and resumed earlier this year.

What are the cartoons about and do you have prior experience in cartoons?

The cartoons make fun of journalists and the goings-on in the newsroom. We were cartoon novices when we started.

You have associated with Mumbai Boss, how did this come about?

They asked. We said yes.

What do you guys do apart from making cartoons?

One of us does cross-stitch as a hobby. The other is a kho-kho champ.

What is the response that you have received to your cartoons? Can you share some feedbacks with us?

We’ve got some great responses. Journalists deserve to be made fun of and few do it online.

What are your views about the city of Mumbai?

We love it and hate it like everyone else.

What are you waiting for, go to fukkat gyan right away - www.fukkatgyan.wordpress.com

The Trabblr!

Ever heard the story of the man who gave up a well earning job at a global corporate to go roaming around the world! Crazy? No! The man is on a journey of self-discovery. Away from the machinations of the modern life that person is trying to find the reason for his existence, the answer that will make the purpose of their life clear. And when they find that answer, it changes their life forever! Discovering-Mumbai (DM) met one such interesting individual who travelled across the world in search of his true calling! Did he find it? Yes, he did! His name – Hersh Kumbhani and he is the co-founder of Trabblr a truly innovative company that lets you explore your city in a unique social way!

Trabblr co-founder Hersh at the Koli Seafood Festival in Versova

Hersh moved to India at the age of 13 after having lived in USA and Dubai. He went to Mahindra United World College of India (MUWCI) post which he went to Cornell University for a degree in Applied Economics and Management. With a keen interest in finance, he thought that a career in Investment banking was the best choice for him. He worked as an I-banker for almost four years before he finally decided to hang up his boots and go travel the world! Ashish, his business partner and co-founder grew up in Mumbai. The two met at MUWCI. Ashish has done his MSc in Advanced Computing from King’s College, London. Having worked for over a year as a software engineer for a financial analysis company he soon realized that entrepreneurship was his destiny. He started a bill and expense sharing web-app called WeSplit, post which he helped Hersh set up Trabblr.

Trabblr co-founder Ashish

“Trabblr was created with one goal in mind, to help people discover unique experiences around the world while building new relationships with real people”, says Hersh. Both the guys believe that even though we live in a world defined by online social networks, all the ‘likes’ and ‘tweets’ cannot replace the fun of tangible things like meeting new people and sharing some good moments. Trabblr is for people who are bored of going to the same place with the same people. It offers them an opportunity to try out new things, discover their city in an entirely new way and with new people. It makes the idea of trying out new things a little less intimidating. For travellers it offers a means to make their trips more meaningful and immersive. They can meet other travellers or engage with locals which will give them an altogether different experience, helping them understand the local culture better. We think this is a revolutionary idea! All you have to do is log on to Trabblr create an event or just join those created by other users to go meet new people and try out things you’ve never done before.

Trabblr was born out of the experiences Hersh had during his days of globe-trotting. While travelling around the Balkans in 2010, Hersh, who had by then travelled extensively through South East Asia and Western Europe, realized that visiting the main sites and dining in famous restaurants simply did not excite him anymore. He wanted a deeper experience, he wanted to explore the places in a different and more engaging manner; and that he knew could not be done through any guide book. The only way to get such an experience was to interact with locals. But how does one find such people who are ready to meet strangers and show them their city and culture? Hours of internet search resulted in futility. He could not find any existing platform which fit the bill perfectly. “That’s why Ashish and I built Trabblr - to help bring people together to explore cities around the world in a way that is transparent, safe and fun”, says Hersh.

Armed with the idea Hersh went about setting up Trabblr. His biggest challenge – he didn’t have the necessary skill sets to design a platform like Trabblr. This is where Ashish with his software engineering skills helped out Hersh. The fact that Ashish was as excited about Trabblr as Hersh went a long way in helping to bring Trabblr up and running! The guys were equally excited and nervous the first day when Trabblr went live. How would people react to it? Will they even use it? These and many more questions haunted both of them as they eagerly waited for the first feedbacks. The first event on Trabblr was when a large group, including Hersh, went to the Koli Seafood Festival in Versova in January. Initially the guys used their friends to generate some traction but soon Trabblr started receiving a lot of users who were seeking new experiences and looking to meet new people. Today Trabblr is a growing community with lot of requests coming in for starting Trabblr in other cities too. “We’ve been lucky to have users who continually give us feedback.  That means that we’re doing something right because it shows that people care enough to take time out of their day to contact us to share their ideas and suggestions” says Hersh.

Pics from Trabblr events

For Hersh, the journey has all been about following his passion. Giving up a well-paid job in an investment bank is certainly not an easy decision. “I didn’t really have a plan for what I wanted to do next.  All I knew was that I wanted to get out and see the world”. For Hersh the logic was clear and simple, he was sure that travelling around the globe will give him more clarity about what he wanted out of life both personally and professionally. He travelled to some well-known tourist trails like Spain and France; he also went on the less travelled path to countries like Bosnia & Herzegovina, Cambodia. All of these places have had a significant impact on his life. The best part was that his notion that travel would give him more clarity in life turned out to be true and his backpacking finally led him to setup Trabblr! That journey came to an end with Trabblr, but now a new journey has begun for Hersh. His sight is set on achieving great heights with Trabblr and we would like to wish him all the best for all his future endeavours!

You can check out their website and all the events that are available for you to join at - Trabblr.com