Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Mumbai Statistics

3 of 5 drivers with whom I drove to Office, were named Sharma ! Should be a co-incidence or should be their last name. I spoke to them in my MALALAI (Not read as Mazhalai) hindhi and they responded in their MALALAI English.. If you knew both the languages and were sitting in the front seat, you would have died of laughter. Just imagine Pasupathy's english in Majaa.. that types.

Most of my talks was about Raj Thakarey.. and the Dharavi area slums. I take a almost 2 hour journey to office.. so I make conversations, which neither of us understand.

Every corner of the street has a glossy banner of Raj Thackarey thinking in different poses. All his gestures were majestic, and he has the poise.. i feel. The Taxi driver told me that he was really powerful and has very good image built over the Student community. That sounded like real power. I have also heard that Bal Thackray had similar Auro over the student .. wonder what the student community is doing in Tamil Nadu.. (I know they cant even win the protest for the Cell phones and Color codes)..

FYI - Raj Thakarey is Bal Thakarey's nephew.

Guys, One good thing about Mumbai is the Taxi and Auto system. Not as corrupt as Chennai is. Simple example.. when I leave home at night (close to midnight).. i wont hear "Saar.. midnight aayidichu sir.. emptyaa return varanum saaar.. paathu pottu kodunga saar..".. Instead, this Taxi driver (most probably his name is Sharma) screws the meter in style and steers his 20 year old Premier Padmini car. Hmm.. i wish this happens in Chennai too.

Hey, dont think Im becoming a traitor to Chennai. Scroll down to see my pulambals on Mumbai.. But Nalla vishayam irundha solli thaane aaganum (? Dhoda !!)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mumbai auto drivers [perumbaalum] anyayathukku nallavaingala iruppainga :)

KRTY said...

Bala.. aamam.. aamam.

Anonymous said...

It is more than a coincidence. Quite a bit of the autodrivers/paanwallah populace migrate are northies - from Ghaziabad type gareeb cities of Rajasthan, Haryana, etc. In fact they were the recent targets of the Shiv Sena for snatching away local jobs(in 60s they targeted southies["saala madhraasi 420!"], in 80s it was muslims, in 90s it was the northie bhaiyyas]. 2 yrs ago, they gheraoed a Chandigarh-mumbai train which stopped at mumbai and threatened 100s of passengers to go back, most of whom had come for a Western Railway written test! Such is their level of 'patriotism'.

BTW, the Hindi spoken by tamils is termed 'Aiyaiyo Hindi' ;-)

Anonymous said...

Our Chennai auto drivers are (in)famous for their "pottu kudu, Sir"(and have the meter box as the additional drishti bommai!)!

KRTY said...

talkative man, thats interesting Patriotism.. And the Hindhi i speak is called "Ayyago Hndhi" :)

aparna, Drishti Bommai - So true :)

Anonymous said...

keerthi,
oh yes, I didnt have that much alertness to modify the term in the original :)