Mumbai through my lense- II

This is the National Center of Performing Arts, NCPA, where I met Cyrus Bharucha.











Mumbai at night looks like this...a blur of lights, sounds and activity....














Mumbai's life line- the local trains..it was one of the very few times when it was empty..10:00 pm on our way to dinner at Andheri..The trains make up for one of the most important elements of Mumbai and I spent a minimum of 3 hours on it daily.. Miss it now? Not so sure...













Crazy bus ride from Belapur to Bandra.. at 11:30 pm the bus driver thought he was flying an airplane..not sure how many people, fruits, babies, bags fell during that ride...













The Bandra-Worli sea link that I could see from my dad's uncle's place. An amazing sight..













Me at the Lakme Fashion Week...one of the hundreds of pictures my colleague and me took during the break time.












The Taj Palace Hotel at Colaba...a magnificent piece of architecture...completely blows your mind...
















Me at the Gate Way of India and the Mumbai Marina in the background...














My friend and me at dinner in Andheri, near her office at Aaj Tak











At the same place, same day...with chicken, fish and vodka..













With my superhero- Spidey! at Belapur.























MAD OVER DONUTS :- the best place on earth.recommendations-the dark knight and hazzle dazzle.













At Pop Tates/ Jughead's with Long Islands, Black Russian and Chocolate shake...crazy pasta and steaks...










All in all: Loved being there with my friends <3 :) <3

Mumbai through my lense- I

this is the view from our 10th floor apartment in Mumbai. The blue and white striped building top that you can see straight ahead near the electricity tower is the Times of India building that glows in the night.





This is Sanjeev Kapoor, the well known chef, and me, at Kuoni Holiday's report unveiling. The pic is not very clear as you can see. but it was taken on the sly, from way back, since we were kind of shy to ask him for a pic.





This is the Mumbai skyline. On one of the days I went for a walk during work hours. This is just two minutes away from my office. Lucky me..to be so close to this beautiful view..








The balloon man outside Trident Hotel, Nariman Point. He was nice enough to pose for me a little while later :)








Two kids enjoying their curd in front of the Mumbai skyline. I forgot their names now, but one of them was Rudraksh. The one on the right.









This lil' kid was with his mom at marine lines. She told me he was really camera shy, but otherwise talked alot. It was nice talking to her. She told me that she was in Mumbai since forever and she loved it here. She asked me where I was from and whether I liked Mumbai or not. I told her the truth...






A common sight at the marine drive...but it was somehow beautiful to see these two...















My office building at Nariman Point.













Jolly Maker Chambers II, where I spent 4 weeks and had a great time...

LIVE from Mumbai X

Undated, but somewhere last week

53 Jolly Maker Chamber II

Nariman Point

Mumbai

(NOTE: I’ve begun this post so many times over the past week and I’ve never finished it. Now the dates are all mixed up and I can’t remember what happened when so I’m just putting it down as I remember it. I hope this doesn’t read as confusing as I am right now)

It’s been a crazy few days. You’ll know since you haven’t heard from me in a while. The last time I’d disappeared was because I had nothing to write. But this time it’s the complete opposite. I have tons to write but I’ve had no time at all. You might not believe me, but I have been terribly busy because this week at work it was production week and since Monday it’s been insane. The phone’s been ringing off the hook and the Delhi office has had us on our toes the whole time. When I was writing for Simply Gujarati, it was similar. And that used to frazzle me to no end. It’s the same here. But maybe I’m used to it. But actually no. Every time my phone or the office phone rings, we all hope it isn’t Delhi I’m sure that they are in as much hurry or tension as we are. Doesn’t that happen everywhere? You have someone superior to you who’s sitting on your head with deadlines. That person has his/her own boss and so on. So I guess it’s not entirely their fault. But still. Its extremely stressful.

So let me begin by telling you what all happened yesterday because that’s fresh in my memory.

The morning began in absolute chaos as phone calls kept pouring in from Delhi. They had a lot of queries about the stories we’d sent. Many changes had to be made. I was given a particular format to follow and I did that and wrote my story and then later they told me that I have to write it in a different format. I was really tensed that they might either reject my story or I might not be able to get it done in time. Also, I had sent in a dozen pics for this one story and all of them were rejected. So I had to arrange for a photo-shoot for that story. Plus one of the designers I was writing on, I was told to do a photo-shoot for her too. Timings were not working out and I was losing my mind with the demands of people around me.

Once one photo-shoot was arranged and the photographer went off to handle it, I breathed a sigh of relief. But only for a few moments. I got back to editing my story while still sorting out Delhi’s issues.

In the evening at about quarter to five, my friend called up to say that she was at the launch of a new Planet M store in Churchgate and the cast and crew of the new movie FALTU was to be there. I needed to take a break and so I went and asked my boss if I could go for the launch and he said I could.

I reached there and was so glad that I finally knew someone at an event and I wouldn’t have to stand by myself.

We waited for the store to be launched and for the guests to come. But celebrities being celebrities, they came past six. By then Delhi had begun calling me again, asking me questions about the story and details regarding the photo-shoot.

Finally the ‘stars’ arrived and in walked Jackky Bhagnani with his father and his co-star Pooja Gupta, Remo D’souza and Salman (Yana Gupta’s choreographer on Jhalak Dikhlaja ) I took one look at them, grabbed the press release and ran back to office to take care of the mess that awaited me.

After a hectic couple of hours I finally left for the launch of Tommy Hilfiger Spring Summer Footwear Collection at Olive in Mahalaxmi. Taking directions from my friend and colleague, I reached the place at about 9 pm.

I entered Olive and I didn’t know a soul. I walked around like a ghost for a few minutes before I remembered that I did know someone. The PR guy who’d called me about the launch. I met him and he took me to talk to all the biggies of TH. For a moment I was stunned. More like had a nervous breakdown (for a couple of seconds). I’d never heard of any of the guys out there. I hadn’t had the time to research on the brand or the people associated with it. I didn’t want to say no because that would have been foolish and really immature and unprofessional. Nor did I want to talk to them and sound like a complete ignoramus. I didn’t really have the time to contemplate and the next thing I knew I was talking to the CEO of TH India. I somehow managed to come up with a few questions about the new line, the theme, the need to expand the line, what is it’s target audience, what’s different about this particular line, its inspiration etc. I was terribly nervous as you can possibly imagine. But I made it through.

I’d just about finished than the PR person introduced me to the COO and there I went again. But this time I was better. I handled myself in a much more mature manner and yet again finished smoothly.

And once done talking to the COO I was taken to meet the Chairman, the big boss of TH India and I couldn’t believe my luck. Good luck or bad luck, I have no idea, but there I was chatting to him as though I’d known him for ages. I was really proud of myself. He spoke to me about a lot of things about the brand and I came up with new questions from the things he told me.

It all ended well and I finally made my way to the bar and ordered for a glass of orange juice (I’m not making it up). While I was sitting there and nibbling on prawn starters, I heard some reporters and camera persons call out, “Karan one question please! Karan face this side! Karan this! Karan that!” I turned around and there was Karan Johar, speaking to the reporters and posing for pictures. I was quite excited to see him, and tried to take a pic. Got a hazy one. After him came Shahzaan Padamsee, Puneet Malhotra, Tarun Mansukhani and Ritwik Bhatacharya. It was all new for me, seeing all these celebrities and have everyone around be all chilled out about it as though it wasn’t anything new. Which it wasn’t. Not for them.

It was half past ten by then so I decided to go home. Besides, I was starving. I told the PR guy that I was leaving and he walked me out and handed me a paper bag with Tommy Hilfiger printed across the front. I didn’t peep in at that moment, but smiled and said thank you. It was only when I was in the rickshaw on the way to the station that I looked inside the bag and I found a pair of TH chappals, in pink and black and exactly my size! I was thrilled. I immediately called up my friend and told her about it because we had been talking about it just that day.
So that was my day of celebrity watching, if you want to call it.

And since I’m talking about celebrities, then let me also tell you about this event I went to a day or two before the TH launch. It was a wine tasting event at Sea Princess Hotel in Juhu where four wines of Kimaya brand were being unveiled. There too I sat alone since I didn’t know anyone, but got around to chatting with the PR of that event. We exchanged numbers and she told me she’ll call me about the listings in our magazine. At that event, I saw a couple of actors/ actresses I’ve seen on TV but don’t know their names. I saw Shahzaan Padamsee there too. I’d had three glasses of wine on an empty stomach and was feeling quite light headed at the end of it. So I left early from there and went home for dinner.

On Saturday night we girls went to Jughead’s (Malad west) for dinner and had a fabulous time. The India- South Africa cricket match was almost over and it was a close one. The entire place was alive; cheering for both the teams and it was awesome! We’d had great dinner and later went for a walk to MindSpace and sat outside Barista for a while.

Yesterday, Sunday, we didn’t do much because two of my friends were working since they’d had a holiday on Saturday. Three of us went out for dinner to Andheri to this non-veg place that’s near one of my friend’s office (Aaj Tak).

So that’s all that has happened over last week. I wish I’d written sooner because I had a lot of things to say about those socialite parties. Maybe I’ll write about it later.

I’m waiting for the magazine issue to be out soon since it carries two of my stories. Will post it on FB.

--

LIVE from Mumbai VIII

4th March 4, 2011
Nariman Point
Mumbai


I know I know. I haven’t written in a long time. After the last time I wrote, nothing great happened. I wasn’t inspired enough to write and I didn’t want to write a post simply for the sake of writing, and waste my time and your’s (if you’ve been reading, that is).

Yesterday I wanted to write because I’d had a good day. But then I got too busy. Which I loved, by the way. The past week, I didn’t have much to do. All I was doing was collecting story ideas from things around me. Reading the papers, looking for stuff on the internet as to what all is new in the entertainment line, updating the listings page (that’s the event calendar in the city supplement) etc. All that wasn’t fun at all. I wasn’t even sent on any more press conferences so I could write about new places and about the people I met.

My boss says that in journalism, it’s more important to generate ideas and get them approved than writing a story. Writing anyone can do (I so wanted to disagree with him, partly because not Everyone can write, and I’m the writer, that’s all I am. I got nothing else but my writing skills). But I didn’t argue. I nodded along. He says that I shouldn’t wait for story ideas to be approved. I should just keep looking for more and more ideas and think of how I can make them work in a way that’ll add new light and perspective to it. I’m not saying that all that isn’t important. It’s just that talking to people and finally getting down to writing is what’s better for me. So the past week wasn’t all that interesting.

But yesterday I finally got to work the way I know it and love it. I started working on 3 stories. I won’t tell you yet what they are about. Maybe if and when they’re out in print.

I called up a dozen people with regards to the stories, got good responses from a few, not so needed responses from the rest. But one story turned out to be particularly interesting because when I’d started out, I had just one name. Then it went up to 10, and then to four. I’m hoping that by the time the stories done, I have atleast three if not more.

I then called this sportsperson whose kids I’m interviewing. He was really nice to me. Spoke politely and frankly about what he feels and I really liked him. Not everyone speaks to us journalists properly. I’m not sure why though. Or maybe I do.

For the third story I had to call the secretary first, then the main guy who’s out of town so the interview will be done via email. Like many others. Sometimes that’s just so convenient.

After a fulfilling day at work I left office feeling really happy. I’d left early to accompany my friend who broke her two day fast last evening. So we’d decided we’ll go for dinner to some nice place rather than our regular one.

In the middle of that, our ‘phone woes’ (phrase stolen from my friend’s ‘chappal woes’) continued. After finally getting a local number from Uninor, we discovered that the network was utterly horrible. You had to stand in one corner of the room on one leg and in some weird physically impossible position to get coverage. After being thoroughly fed up with that, we got an Idea number. The coverage was great and call-rates and things worked out fine. And then yesterday, what should happen but our connection getting barred for not submitting some required documents. Our idea lines not in use, we switched to the much hated Uninor number only to find that that number too was blocked. Great. We couldn’t get in touch with anyone. We eventually switched to our Baroda numbers and have been using that right now. Hoping that our troubles will be over soon. This is just too much.

So anyway, we set out for dinner at about 9pm and one of my friend’s dad suggested a good restaurant a little further off from where we were staying.

Let me tell you that by that time we three were 3/4th of crazy lunatics. My insane pangs of hunger, my friend’s unbelievable day of boredom and the other friend’s extremely tiring day at work had left us suffering from partial dementia. I had a mad look on my face when I suggested that I want to eat laddoos, the bored friend walked from one mattress to the other to show me what she did all day at home and the other was ready to kill people. We were at our irritable best and snapped at everyone. But then we also had sudden burst of laughter for no apparent reason.

So there we were, hunting for food. And I say that in a literal sense. We didn’t find the place we were looking for and we were somewhere in Malad west/ Goregaon looking for a non-vegetarian restaurant. After walking back and forth for around half an hour, we finally settled on this one place that looked kind of expensive. But by that time we were so starved that we were willing to pay anything for food (and my bored friend was eating up her words by then).

We ordered for butter chicken and egg curry and once our order was placed, we began staring at our neighbour’s plate of chicken lollipops. Oh what a sight they were.

When our dinner came it was heavenly. And not because we were crazily hungry, but because the food really was good. We ate like cave people and didn’t care about anyone else. Boy was that an amazing dinner. After that we had ice-cream because we felt our meal was incomplete.

We then caught a rick and went home at about 11.

Decided to watch The Social Network before falling off to sleep, but like the past week or so, I fell asleep after just 15 minutes of the film making the total number of films I’ve watched in Mumbai so far to….wait for it…ZERO. I simply can’t stay up at night. A huge huge change from my condition in Baroda. An incredible change.

Right now I’m at work. I just finished an interview with one designer and now waiting for the rest of the people to respond. Will be meeting my friends for lunch at Colaba. Looking forward to that if there’s not too much work load by then.

Well that’s all for now. Will try and be a little more updated on my blog the next time.

Tada!

LIVE from Mumbai VI

28th February
Nariman point
Mumbai

WARNING: the following post is purely a feminine one, about things that interest only women. If you’re a guy and are still reading this post, do it at your own risk. At the end of it don’t roll your eyes and say, “Women!”

So yesterday was our first Sunday in Mumbai. We’d been waiting for this day even before we came to this city. And it has nothing to do with the fact that this Sunday would mark our one week anniversary here or that we’d get a break from slogging at work. It has everything to do with what girls love most in this world. (Not every girl loves it, but most of them do) It’s a simple word. It’s a simple process. But it gives us immense pleasure and indescribable joy. Its our relief from pain, its our escape from stress, our remedy of a heart break, our medicine from sickness, our solution to every problem, our best friend, our lover, our life: SHOPPING.

Ok. So I sound like a total drama queen and you think I’m fit to star in those silly chick flicks like Legally Blonde and Sex and the City. But even though those of you out there who don’t enjoy shopping like me and my friends do, shopping in Mumbai is a different experience all together. And not those big store Prada-Gucci-Christian Dior shopping, mind you. It’s street shopping. And those of you, who come from smaller cities like me, will understand how much fun this experience can be. And how amazing it is when you don’t have to hunt for the things you want, but in fact have a wide variety to choose from.

So we were just two of us in Mumbai this weekend, and since we’d been waiting to go out shopping since forever, our friends not being home didn’t stop us from venturing out on our own.

We headed for Causeway in Colaba, since I’d had a glimpse of it last Monday when I’d gone to Mondy’s with a friend. Plus I’d heard great things about the place.

So from about 1 in the afternoon till about 6 in the evening, we rambled the streets of Causeway in the hot sun and crowded lanes, ignoring the loud noises, the sweaty people and our growling tummies (only for while though). The place, for us, is what Disney Land is for kids. There were clothes of every colour, shape, size, make, design, fabric, length, occasion, time of the day, part of your body (and I could go on).

Not to mention gorgeous footwear at an exceptional price. My friend and I went absolutely crazy! We tried to keep a control on each other and kept telling each other that it’s the first day of shopping, we’ll be back soon. So we don’t need to buy everything right then and no need to spend every rupee we had in our pockets. And even though we knew that, we still couldn’t help seeing all the things and going gaga over it all.

But I have to say, I’m proud of us. We didn’t buy unnecessary things (not entirely unnecessary things) neither did we spend all of our money. We bargained with all our might and self respect and bought good things for ourselves and our respective sisters. (It’s so easy to shop for girls. You know what’ll make them happy. Unlike shopping for guys, which is next to impossible)

So, without spending too much time on this post, I’d like give a few tips for those who decide to go shopping at Causeway:

• It’s a good idea to buy clothes and footwear here
• Jewelry is unnecessarily expensive ( will look for a cheaper alternative)
• Just because the seller tells you that his clothes are Remanika discards, and hence are expensive, don’t fall for it. Quote your price. If he’s sensible he’ll sell it to you. Both of you know that if you wanted to shop at Remanika prices, you would go to Remanika
• Just like all that glitters is not gold, all that is priced less is not of the greatest quality. You might find stalls that sell clothes/footwear at unbelievably low prices, but check twice before you buy it. There is a reason its being sold at a cheaper price

Another fun thing we did yesterday while we were out shopping was we went to see the Taj Palace, the Gateway of India and the marina. We acted like complete tourists, took pictures of the boats, the Gateway and the Taj and of ourselves with all these things in the backdrop.

All in all, we had a typical ‘girlie’ day, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Back to work on Monday, yet looking forward to next Sunday too.


PS: i forgot to add one thing. We were on our way back to Churchgate station when it just struck me that I hadn't gone for mass (it was a Sunday) So Churchgate being the most obvious choice, we began hunting for the 'church' at Churchgate. We saw one, with a huge statue of Jesus on one of the towers. We crossed the street and saw the exit to the church. There sat a policeman, surrounded by a wall of sacks (filled with I don't know what) and a long rifle pointing towards the street. We asked him politely, "are we allowed to go inside the church?and where's the entrance to it?" He looked puzzled for a moment, and then with a smile he said, "Madam, yeh toh High Court hai, church nai." (Madam, this is the High Court, not a church)

So much for wanting to be holy for a change.

LIVE from Mumbai V

26th February

Malad
Mumbai

I sit here alone at my malad flat. Two of my friends have headed for home for the weekend and one of my friends is on her way from work. So I thought I’ll get some writing done while I have the time and the internet access.

I haven’t written about my day yesterday and the day before. So let me fill you in.

24th February
Nariman Point
Mumbai

Today I finally took advantage of my office being at one of the most picturesque locations in Mumbai. After staring at the computer screen since morning I was totally fed up. No one was at work. My boss and colleagues were not in office and I took the opportunity and went out for a walk.

I took directions for NCPA (The National Centre of Performing Arts) from the security and headed there. After taking permissions from the receptionist and concerned parties for allowing me to look around the campus, I went around the huge building. As I was walking, this middle aged guy comes walking besides me and asks me if I’ve seen the main auditorium. And I told him that it’s my first time at NCPA and my fourth day or so in Mumbai. He told me that they’re recording for Saturday’s concert and I could watch if I wanted. I thanked him and followed him. On the way, he asked me where I was from, what I was doing etc I told him and in turn asked him who he was. He told me his name was Cyrus Bharucha. Somewhere in my head a tiny bell rang, but not as loud as I now wish it had.

Anyway, we reached the main auditorium and as soon as I stepped in it took my breath away. It was the largest hall I’d ever seen. A magnificent chandelier hung from the middle of the seating area and tiny lights were reflected off numerous glass panels above the stage. On the stage itself, were over 25 non-Indians with every musical instrument imaginable. And the music they made left me speechless, and brought a smile to my face. They were incredible. I’d never been to a live orchestra before. Never like this one atleast. Even during rehearsals they played with such passion. I wish I could’ve stayed there forever, but I had to leave. I got up and went to thank Cyrus. I asked him for his contact number and he handed me his visiting card and told me to keep in touch. I told him I would and left with a smile. People in Mumbai were turning out to be nicer than I’d thought.

After that I decided to go for a walk around marine lines. Or something that resembles the place. I think it leads to marine drive. Anyway, I walked for around an hour, thoroughly enjoying the wind and the sea. I met a lot of people on my walk, spoke to them for little while, took many pictures, and felt that life couldn’t get any better. In that one hour, I met every kind of person I could meet in a lifetime. I met two little beggar kids, a mother and her toddler son, a tonga wala, a young couple, a tourist guy, a ‘sadhu’, and so many other people. I didn’t want to leave, but I’d been out for over an hour and I had to get back to work.
I left marine lines, but only after promising that I’d be back for sure. There was a lot I hadn’t seen yet and I wanted all of it.

Back at my desk, the first thing I did was google Cyrus Bharucha, and I have to be honest, I felt like a complete idiot when I realized who he was. One of the most famous faces of BBC and CNN, he’d been absolutely great with me. No arrogance, no ‘Don’t you know who I am?’ crap. I felt stupid, but I was also amazed by his humility. I’m going to make sure I get back to him.




25th February

Trident
Bandra Kurla Complex
Bandra
Mumbai

I’m sitting here at an International Boating Conference and I’ve never seen so many guys in business suits other than at a Catholic wedding. I’m glad I chose to wear what I’m wearing, so I don’t look completely out of place. But my pink and white striped ballerinas and my cat anklet expose my secret. I’m new at my job and totally out of place. But I’m trying really hard to concentrate at what people are saying. And I’m taking notes as well. My boss is right here and he’s thought of a story to work on for India Today main. Hopefully I’ll get to work on this story. It sounds like a very smart concept and I’ve never worked on anything like this before.
At the Trident here, food is nothing but the best. After a cup of strong coffee and some delicious melt-in-your-mouth chocolate cookies, I’m back at the conference. Things are beginning to make a lot more sense and I’m able to follow the discussion that’s happening. I’ve met a lot of people today, media persons and important delegates. I’m really amazed and proud of how I’ve handled myself with all these important people. Most of the people have seen me always giggling or acting silly or cracking silly jokes. But they would have been proud of the way I’m being. I look, sound and behave almost professional.

Post lunch, (unbelievably crazy dessert) I went for the boat show nearby with my boss and a girl I made friends with from DNA. It was a hilarious ride, in my boss’s 1957 Fiat. He’s a great guy and with the stories I’ve told my friends, they can’t wait to meet him. I had a good time once we got talking. He’s just as new at the Mumbai office as me. But he knows Mumbai like no other.

The boat show was not what I’d hoped it would be. The biggest disappointment was that the boats (one yacht and many speed boats and kayaks) were on LAND. Not on water. So it wasn’t as much fun.

After an hour or so, I go back to Trident, attend the rest of the conference and after tea, I left for home. My boss told me I needn’t go to office since I was working all day and I can enjoy my 2-day weekend.
So I meet my friends at Bandra station and we go to Dahisar to one of my friends’ uncle’s place for dinner.

Had a fun time, and at around midnight, we return home, get ready for bed, and I’m off to sleep.

911-what's your emergency?

last night was one i'll not forget in a long long time.

it was 9:00pm and we were all watching tv at home. suddenly we heard loud incessant honking under the building. we got totally pissed cuz we assumed the driver of the car was too lazy to open the gate himself. i went outside to look and i saw the 4th floor kid-viven calling out to his father(dr. iyer).

i came back in and continued watching tv.the calling and honking stopped after a while but soon there was loud knocking and ringing of the door bell accompanying the calls to the father. i went upstairs to see what was happening and found that viven was locked out of the house while his dad was inside but wouldn't open the door.viven was wid another uncle who lives opposite to our building, mr.bhatt.

i came down and told ma about it and she went upstairs to find out exactly what was going on. apparently viven had gone out for a school concert while his dad had come home at 8:30(as reported by our neighbour).when at 9:00 viven got back nobody opened the door despite several phone calls and shouts. the lights in the hall were on and the tv could also be heard.

by this time our other neighbour razia was also wid mum outside dr.iyer's door.my mum called my dad, and dad and mr.bhatt together banged on the door and tried calling the landline and mobile phone. both the phones could be heard ringing inside the house. also, their dog Rodger kept barking from the inside. my sis by now had called the boy downstairs-noor to help break open the door. his mum-sarah aunty also came upstairs and now there was quite a scared and worried crowd outside dr. iyer's door. dr.iyer's brother and parents were called and they too tried all they could.but in vain.

meanwhile dad and mr.bhatt came up with torches and some tools to break open the door or pry the lock open. but nothing worked. the door was too sturdy and the lock way too strong to be fiddled with a screw driver.

suddenly someone realised that the spare keys to the house would be with the driver or the maid. a frantic search began for their phone numbers as we got to know that neither of them had a mobile phone. as noor and our marathi neighbour(donno his name but he is the father of the 4 yr old twins ankur and ankit)went in search of the driver, i ran down to ask an old lady who lives in a hut like place just adjoining our building about the maid.

as i spoke to the old lady, her daughter supriya made hurried phone calls to the driver(ravi)'s friends and neighbours to get in touch with him. the old lady told me that there had been a fight between dr.iyer's maid and driver about the spare keys and there is quite a possibility that the maid might have a set of keys. she offered to go get the maid.

as i ran upstairs to dr. iyer's house ,i found out that the fire dept had been informed and were on their way for the rescue. by now Rodger had stopped barking which was even scarier. dad. mr bhatt and dr iyer's brother went up on the terrace to see if there was a way in. but the only way was to jump down in to the balcony. also, viven ran to the adjoining building to see if anything could be seen from the window facing his dad's bedroom. but the curtains were drawn and the lights seemed to be off.

it was almost half an hour since the fire dept had been called and there was still no sign of them, it was past 10:15 and everyone was really tensed by now. the kids in the building were all awake and excited with the activity and noise cuz they dint really understand what was going on.

we then heard the siren of the fire brigade and breathed a sigh of relief. but the tension had mounted and everybody feared the same thing- what would the fire men find once they were inside?

as 2 firemen hurried up to the 4th floor, 3 of them stood under the building awaiting orders. i ran downstairs to see what their plan was and learned that the 2 firemen who'd gone to the 4th floor will try getting into the house from the terrace and only if it dint work out, they would go up from the front with the help of the ladder.

by then, the driver -ravi and the maid had both arrived. the maid had the keys.

but as we stood outside dr.iyer's door we heard a loud crash as the firemen jumped into the balcony and broke the glass doors that led to the hall. dr.iyer's brother asked the firemen to open the front door first before he went in search of dr.iyer. as soon as the door was opened, he rushed in and saw Rodger outside the bedroom refusing to let any one in.

we stood outside wit our hearts beating 1000000miles per sec and silently praying that things were ok. the firemen went inside the bedroom and found dr.iyer lying on the bed. he went up to him and shook him violently.

and dr.iyer woke up from his sleep as though nothing had happened....

he found the whole building population inside his apartment with worried and now relieved faces. he'd apparently just been asleep and had heard none of the knocks, calls, barks or anything.

everybody breathed a sigh of relief that dr.iyer was alright and nothing was wrong. he was simply in a daze and couldn't figure out what the commotion was about.

the firemen were thanked for the help all the neighbours too were thanked profusely for everything. everybody went back home talking about what had just occurred. i ran down to thank the old lady for her help.

it had been a long and scary and adventurous night, and there were a few things i realized after this incident.

** the marathi neighbour(ankur ankit's mom) inspite of only having lived in the building for a few months, was the only one who knew where the driver lived. we really dono as much about our neighbours as we should.

** the old lady who went to call the maid has always been perceived as a grumpy old twit who's always screaming at everyone and making a racket for nothing. i learnt that u should never judge a person until and unless it's based on personal interaction and experience.

** all the people in the building, even though they haven't had as much interaction or anything in a long time, still got together to help. it's at times of trials and tragedies that people truly unite and become one.

** the fire dept is out there to help anyone in need. yet i now realise that they too take everything way too lightly. when they were called for help, they suggested that the job was more of a carpenter's than a fireman's, and this wasn't really an emergency.

** you'd expect a doctor to be vigil and alert at all times in case of an emergency. but this was the total opposite. not that it was anyone's fault, just that even doctors are human beings.