Social media has its minus points. But there is no denying the fact that it also has a strong positive side to it. Until a few years ago the Kerala festival of Onam was known only in Mallu circles. But now the whole world appears to be aware about this harvest festival. Non-Mallus even search for restaurants where Onam "sadhya" (a heavy duty vegetarian meal served on plantain leaves) is served that day. I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that my colleague Ashish Singh was taking his family living in Mahavir Nagar in Kandivali all the way to Kerala Deluxe restaurant in Fort for "sadhya." Similarly "Micchami tukdam", a beautiful annual Jain ritual of seeking forgiveness, is catching up fast with non-Jains too in a big way.
Devotees offer prayers and pay homage to their ancestors on the first day of Pitru Paksha at Banganga Tank | Vijay Gohil
Police Excel Amid Festival, Protest Chaos
The Mumbai Police led by commissioner Deven Bharti deserves to be deeply appreciated for ensuring law and order during the just-concluded Ganesh festival and the Maratha andolan. The state government had made a Himalayan blunder by granting a day's permission to Manoj Jarange Patil to stage a dharna at Azad Maidan despite the fact that the Ganesh festival had already kicked in. In fact, Mumbai Police was vehemently opposed to letting in Jarange and thousands of his supporters into the city. But the state government in a gross error of judgment allowed the protestors to come in fully knowing that to evict them peacefully would be next to impossible. For five days the andolan people occupied the city centre with impunity. But hats off to our police they handled the near-explosive situation with tremendous restraint and maturity. The force was stretched to the limit and yet it discharged its duty. A big thanks to our men in khaki.
City Food Scenes: Old Closes, New Opens
Mumbai is witnessing a strange phenomenon. On the one hand restaurants like New Yorker in Chowpatty, Jimmy Boy, Fort and Bastian, Bandra are closing down but new ones are opening almost every other day. You have Shankar Mahadevan opening Malgudi in Borivali (hope the food doesn't leave you breathless) and someone else laying out a chain of outlets serving only "benne dosa." Certainly some food for thought.
Tailpiece
Looking at the Maratha morcha, a wag commented that India must be the only country in the world where thousands march the streets demanding that they be called backward! (Compiled by S Balakrishnan)
