It is most bizarre. According to reports, the Central Railway plans to permit licensed hawkers in local trains. Can there be anything more absurd than this? The concept of crush hour has vanished. During any time of the day or night, the local trains are packed with passengers. Lakhs of passengers travel in inhuman conditions. Given this rail reality, how could anyone even think of permitting hawkers inside the trains? Did any association of commuters ask for it? Why inconvenience the already harried commuters? The railways would do well to ensure that the fans in trains are working, timely announcements are made, adequate toilet facilities are made available specially for women and the trains themselves are kept clean. Hope wiser counsels would prevail and the Central Railway would throw the proposal in the nearest dustbin.
Workers along with fire officials paint the memorial to firefighters who lost their lives in the Bombay explosions of 1944, ahead of Fire Safety Week | SALMAN ANSARI
The tragic tale of Varsha
It has been my dream to interview Asha Bhosle. But it never happened. I knew her daughter, Varsha Bhosle, well. In fact, I had spent several evenings over large pegs of Old Monk and Thums Up with her at Kandeel and other bars. We would go on long drives through the deserted streets of SoBo exchanging notes about her mother’s songs. Varsha Bhosle could not sing because, by her own admission, she was “besura”. But she would egg me on to sing her mother's songs. She was a hardcore Hindutvavadi well before the right wing became mainstream. Once, she took me to her home in Prabhu Kunj on Peddar Road and introduced me to Asha Bhosle as her “big fan.” She was happy-golucky. I never realised that something inside her had snapped. One day, I was devastated to know that she had shot herself in her apartment. Even now, it is a big mystery why she killed herself.
New find: House of Ko in Deonar
I am told that this restaurant has been around for over three years. But I discovered it only yesterday. Called House of Ko, it is opposite Shatabdi Hospital, Deonar. It is billed as a European restaurant, but it also serves naan and kulcha with sliced onions and lime on the side. The air conditioning is perfect, but the interior is kitschy. We ordered penne pasta in arrabiata sauce with garlic bread, chopped chicken in spicy gravy and steamed rice. The quantity and taste were good, but the service could have been better.
Tailpiece
The wag said, “It was so hot that I married the air conditioner. Biwi ho toh AC!” (Compiled by S Balakrishnan)
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