Mumbai diary: Sunday Shorts

Music to your ears
It's almost the end of the year and we are tempted to say that the hills are alive with the sound of music. Yet, this is Mumbai and hills are nowhere to be seen, so let us say that the halls are alive with the sound of music. Taalyogi tabla maestro Pandit Suresh Talwalkar and vocalist Pandit Suhas Vyas will perform at Sansmaran which celebrates the 90th birth anniversary of late Hindustani classical vocalist Pandit CR Vyas.

Tabla for one: Pandit Suresh Talwalkar

The Sansmaran will take place on November 6 at Veer Savarkar Auditorium, Shivaji Park at 7 pm. For music aficionados, every bit of information is vital so we are pleased to state that the programme begins with vocalist Sanjeev Chimmalgi, trained under Pandit CR Vyas. While many musical evenings and performances are pricey, this one has a ‘free' tag to it, which is sweet music to followers' ears.

The musical evening season has started in the city. Come December-January and performances should move outdoors. Only one thing Mumbaikars, put your mobiles off during performances. There is nothing as disrespectful to an artiste than a shrill tring of a mobile, going off mid-performance. Yikes! Silence pliss, you peoples.

Push and shove
If you happen to be a railway commuter, you'd know how precious space is inside a train compartment. Which also explains why the term dhakka - meaning push or shove depending on where you're standing - is as common as the crowd. To be fair, nobody likes to have a quarrel and that too inside a jam-packed train. But we often get entertained by two or more characters who wouldn't mind slinging expletives before taking up a more violent stand. However, many a times, these silly confrontations evoke either laughter or silent appreciation from others. For instance, a young fellow was apprehending a senior citizen for pushing when the latter firmly replied, "Meri umar hai dhakka deneki?" (Is this my age to push people?) This was before he added, "Dhakka lagne se aadmi aage hi badhta hai, peeche nahi." (People move ahead with the right push and don't lag behind)

Where Delhi scores better than Mumbai
The New Delhi-Mumbai divide has been discussed often and for somebody born and brought up in the capital and earning her bread and butter in the financial capital, some things do tend to stand out in stark contrast.

Just a few days ago, we were in Delhi for a holiday and we happened to travel by Metro there. And while we were in it, we couldn't help but notice how the commuters, both men and women, entered and exited the Metro in an orderly manner. We were in the ladies' compartment and we noticed how the women stood in the middle and gave the exiting commuters enough way on the sides to move.

Compare that to the frantic way in which women commuters rush inside in the Mumbai Metro, and we can only think that the attitude comes from years of trying to find a foothold inside the city's more-than-packed local trains during peak hours. In this aspect, we guess they can learn a lesson or two from their Delhi counterparts.