Made in India key chains

See what I found ..a key chain with a happy little  Indian girl ..was very excited ..usually u get a blonde curvy woman (read Barbie ) who is being denounced as unnatural even in the country of her origin  ..and for some reason this Miss Hotness is  always wearing pink. I like this little girl..her little cheerfully printed skirt. .her long hair ..ha ha ha we school kids had to do that style in Tamil Nadu. .used to hate oiling my hair, ribboning it up;)  And guess how much I paid for this key chain..Rs 15!  Must be it is Made in China;) Found it at the Rose Store at Pali  Naka.  A good place to browse for such cute things..3 -D  key chain, craft stuff.#Bandralove #Mumbaimerijaan #ILoveMumbai # Bandrainfo

" Green peace" auto in Bandra

In Bandra ..here is a happy autowallah showing it is à to break the stereotype. Mumbai commuters are resigned to the stereorype of a brash, rash, scowling, horn-ok type of auto drivers. But u do bump into the happy autowallah who used to be common on Mumbai's streets till a few decades ago.
So found this happy automan who had made some changes in his vehicle to have some indoor plants fixed. Nicce..
He posed happily requesting me to write " a few good sentences" about the experience.
If journalists want to interview him, u are likely to find him off National College, Bandra.
Another autowallah watching me click pix groused that such additions are not possible unless u have safe parking.. Yes..all happy things need a safe caring space. Let's reclaim such safety for Mumbai.

Simple yoga tip for summer

Yoga tip for summer: varun mudra( also jal mudra/ jal vardhak mudra)
The names mean rain/ water/increase water respectively.
The names say it all about its benefits.
Touch tip of little finger to tip of thumb, for each hand. Hold gor 30 mins or more daily.
Increases water, as well works wherever there is deficit of body fluids ..semen/ menses/ dehydration/ thirst/ eye moisture/ saliva/ digestive juices. Go back to your achool biology books and search up the entire list of fluids in body tgen u will appreciate where all this mudra can help.
ALERT: Avoid when there is too much of any fluid. Example? Mucous, excessive menstrual bleeding, water retention. Also ayurvedic kapha personality should avoid it.

Giant guava season, in Mumbai

 

If you ever had a guava tree, then you must be used to the sticky gum. Caterpillars? And a profusion of birds in your garden. In my childhood in Vellore and Chennai, Tamil Nadu, every garden had a guava tree. In that arid climate, it never died and managed to bear fruit. . Even in Mumbai, and now in Bandra, I've lived in two houses which have had guava trees. Once time, aeons ago I  spotted an owl near it.  That was in Borivli, and it is close to the National Park. Now, in Bandra too, I have a sprawling guava tree in this old building where I stay, and parrots are regular feeders on the plant's bounty.

Last season too I remember buying a large guava and marveling at the size. As big as a grapefruit. .Today, I stumbled on one more. And here, its pricing matched its size.At Rs 200 for a kg. The one you see here 550 gms. And the shopkeeper gave a ten-rupee discount because it seems I was is first customer. It is always pleasant to me, that when I do not bargain, somebody will give me a discount.. feels like a lottery:)

 

The large guavas come from UP, I just learnt. Sardar and Safeda are the popular varieties.

I was scouting for info on guavas and just learnt that they are anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory, soothe the skin, soothe the digestive tract (in vomiting, diarrhea and other upsets), soothe the throat and settle a cough, and hey, help with serious weight loss. It's the poor man's apple, in its humble avatar.

This one, was less seeded, had a firm skin, a tarty-sweet flavor. Interesting taste!

 

And of course, one has had the Goa guava sweet. But did you even know there is a guava curry?! Check it out, here http://www.tarladalal.com/recipes-using-guava-463!!

 

"Mothley"-Art in Bandra

Often, you can spot the moths at the fruit-sellers in Mumbai. Moths have intriguing color patterns on their wings. But unlike butterflies which make everybody ooh-and-ha, moths provoke a shrinking withdrawal -- possibly because their bodies are heavier and hairier. Even kids who do not know the difference between a moth and butterfly often shrink.

I recall, when we had just moved into Kandivli Thakur Village, we used to see the large Atlas and Moon moths inside the buildings -- a foot long wing span. Jaw dropping! We used to get a pandemonium (btw that is what a group of parrots is called:)of parrots at our windows. But that stopped once the human population in that area grew and it became over-crowded and polluted and traffic-jammed!

While writing this blog, I found out, happily that if there are moths in your area, it means the place is less toxic (see the article in the link I've given) because according to lepidopterist V. Shubhalaxmi moth population contains mosquito population. Another article, attributed to naturalist Isaac Kehimkar says that they are crucial for pollinating food plants.

Overuse of pesticides will kill off these insects crucial for ecology, including in an urbanscape.

So, yes, Bandra still has a green heart. Let's keep it that way!

The rhino statue at Juhu

I saw this rhino statue at Juhu junction last month, during Diwali. It was covered with some green protective sheet. According to Mid-day (here at this link) it has been shifted from south Mumbai.
Any body has more information on it.. please share:)

What you simply MUST NOT buy because of monsoons in Mumbai

Free MySpace Animations!

Yes, there are sales and sales. Nobody is saying it is the Pre-Id sale, but you a festival is a good reason to offload a lot of stuff on the waiting-to-buy population of Mumbai. Mumbai loves malls, loves food courts, loves Bollywood and loves shopping. But discounts and sales notwithstanding there are some things you must never ever buy, due to the aftermath that monsoon leaves on the stuff you so lovingly buy and hoard.

* Mango wood furniture. It is cheaper obviously than teak or rose, and looks solid. And a lot of well-established brands sell them. But your wood is going to puff after just one monsoon. Your drawers will not open. Your doors will get stuck. Cupboards will refuse to budge. You will tug and swear. Then break something because despite the solid look this mango wood is puffy after the monsoon leaves its track of humidity behind.
* Leather moccasins --those embroidered ones that are super easy on the pocket and look super cool too -- but will be gone with a fungal overload that will make you sick, give you itchy feet and will cost you as much to clean up, even with the streetside cobbler -- they use mustard oil polish to remove the fungus -- but once you seen the overgrowth, you can't won't to wear them again!
* Salt lamps -- oh, they leak and how
* Solar panel lamps -- Hmmm.. eco-friendly and all that, but they konk-and croak off -- and you will find out too late that nobody knows what to do with them.

There are other things, but will add them once I recover weeping over their loss:)