I may be a little too late to blog about this but I have to do this due to popular demand! Too many parties for new years eve offering unlimited drinks and unlimited food, which comes with unlimited puke! What else can you expect with drinks on the house! After paying big bucks, people do want to make sure that they make full use of it! 

Expecially now, when we are only two days away from the event, prices have shot up like crazy. Who would want to spend 20 grands for one night at Sahara Star? Apparently, a lot of them! Would really like to know from these guys if it was really worth it! But for the rest who think it is totally a waste of money and are looking for alternative ways to celebrate it, here's some dope for you:

• House party is the best bet. Your music, your food, your friends and at your place! It cannot get more comfortable than this but I can understand it may be a little boring to stay at home on 31st night. How can you miss out on the countdown 10, 9, 8....1 HAPPY NEW YEAR!
• Arrange a private party! You might shell out the same amount which you would spend at any five star hotel but isn't it a better option than being stampede at a crowded place.
  
• A weekend getaway is another great option. Celebrate it with your family and friends at the nearest farm house or a resort! Bonfire, swimming, chilling, chatting and may be dancing!
• 'The Art of Living' is organising a party at Mulund. This is an alternative to the regular dhinchak music. If you are looking for a peaceful beginning to your new year, try this out.
• Just go for a drive! The roads will be bottlenecked that night but do not leave at peak hours! Leave a bit early and come back late!
  
• Stay at home! Have you ever tried this? I haven't. So, I am going to try staying at home this time unless my friends drag me out.
  

Kamiya Mohan Jani

We all love celebrating Navratri, playing dandiya and garba, wearing colourful clothes and dancing the night away with gay abandon. But how many of us know the real reason for celebrating this auspicious festival?

The denizens of Chittranjan Nagar Co-operative Society ‘D’ colony have made an attempt to help the younger generation understand the reasoning behind Navratri. Children in the age group of 3-12 years old are performing the Ram Leela during Navratri, right up to Dussera. Ask them what fascinates them about Ramayan and they say unanimously: the respect that Lord Rama had for his parents.

In all, there are about 19-20 little participants and the rehearsals began 15-20 days prior to Navratri. Even with the busy schedule of school and tuitions that the kids have these days, they were all so fascinated by the characters that they would never miss their rehearsals. Their half-hour daily performance is followed by dandiya, a routine which will continue till the tenth day of this festival i.e. Dussera. Pranav Chandran (11), who is playing the character of Ram, talks about his favourite scene, “I really like the scene when I am able to defeat everyone at the swayamvar and marry Seeta (played by Shivangi Kapil Dave). That proves that I am the strongest,” he smiles.

Shivam Gaikwad, who plays Ravan, says the ten faces that he had were too heavy for him to carry and therefore, he carried just four. “Ravan did not always have ten faces; his brains worked ten times faster than anyone else and therefore, ten faces are not required,” clarifies little Shivam. “We are learning a lot of lessons from the Ramayan - the most important being respecting your parents,” adds Harshita Jani, who was playing Sumitra.

“The purpose of having these kids perform the Ram Leela is not only to entertain the audience, but also for them to understand the Ramayan and our true values and culture,” says Neha Bajerai, a resident of Chittranjan Nagar, who actually initiated the idea. Rakhi Lohana, another organiser, says, “Every time we taught the kids a new scene, there were a lot of questions as to ‘how’ and ‘why’ something happens. We are glad that today, they know the entire story of the Ramayan.”

The make-up and the accessories of the characters were also up to the mark. Once in a while, the kids would get irritated because of their heavy costumes, but the excitement of performing made them ignore the discomfort. “As far as the costumes and the make up for the kids were concerned, the parents were quite co-operative and because of that, the performance looked quite graceful,” says Bajerai. There were times when the kids forgot their roles, but Neha and Rakhi, with their prompting and encouragement, made sure that they got it right.

The response from the audiences who have viewed the show has been quite encouraging and it was noticed that the ground is quite crowded when these kids perform. Surely, these kids have set an example for others their age. Here’s wishing them all the best!

Link: http://www.chemburghatkoparplus.com/fullStory.asp?articleID=CGP7ART1012006 

Now that's what I call kissing cars. Four cars back to back! I haven't seen such a shot even in any hollywood flick. Ok, a bit of exaggeration but man, that  scene was hot. It's a bit mean on my part to say that because if my car was one of those four, I think I would have been sulking.

You must have guessed it pretty much. Blame it the very first car that hit the sudden break and vanished but all the four cars after that rammed into each other. Ouch! Mine was the fifth one and I escaped safely. Awesome, that's the testimony to the fact that I am a good driver.

It was Honda Civic, Innova, Lancer and an Indica. The worst of all was car number two and car number three, which is Innova and Lancer, obviously because both damaged its face as well as its butt. Best part being, only the cars were damaged. Everyone else in the car seemed okay.

This happened on eastern express highway, just before the sion fly over at around 12:12 pm on 27th October 2007. The traffic suddenly went slow to catch the visual but quickly paced up. They realised they are late to work like I did.

Accidents are never good but one good thing could be the type of accidents changing in India. They are becoming more like how it happens abroad. Cars were on the right lane, which is the fastest one. One mistake and all the following cars will face the trouble. A similar accident was witnessed by an uncle in UK and said it was a general trend. Yeah, I like taking only good things to home;)

Here are some hot pics, which I captured. Couldn’t get the best shots though. All because of the taxi driver who went mad honking at me. And of course the guys traumatised with their car damage, were wondering what was wrong with me why am I clicking pictures. I wanted to tell them log onto www.kamiyajani.com and you will know why. But mamu (cop) came and whistled at me. No, he was not eve-teasing but asking me to move ahead. Well, you never know. 

Knowing the fact that if you ignore or rather push away the security boundaries, you can actually pinch Dhoni, Yuvraj or Bret Lee..Wow! Not that I would pinch them, there are better options but let’s not get carried away.

The energry level at the stadium was something! You want to jump, whistle, dance, yell out one-liners like;

1. We are the champions..oooOOOoooOOO...champions champions champioms...oooOOOoooOO
2. Aussies suck! Aussies suck! (No, I wasn't a part of this brigade. I find them quite hot-looking)
3. ek do ek do, shreeshant ko bowling do!
4. Gali gali mein shor hai, umpire chor hai
5.  Indiaaaaa, India (three claps) Indiaaaa India

Soo many that I can’t even recollect now. Ofcourse the crowd was abusing the opposite team and cheering its own team. There was a synchronisation, unanimity, oneness in everything the crowd did. Each one supported the other. All tried hard to be on camera and enjoy three seconds of fame on international television but unfortunately not all were succesful. I was one of them;)

In the midst of more than 200 Indian flags, you would only find one Australian flag. Sadly, they had to hear all the abuses.

The crowd was enthralled by all fours and sixes. However, if the same shots were hit by the opposite team, there used to be a sudden silence. But one thing is for sure, if the match was for 50 overs, I would not have stayed for so long. I think 20-20 is a great idea and we should have only T20 matches henceforth. A view on a plasma screen is still recommended. Because, even though you were with the crowd and right there, the shots weren't as clearly visible as on TV. Plus, there was no replay. Once missed, it is missed forever. But you should try out the madness atleast once in your lifetime, if you are a cricket fan.

Interestingly, one new thing I discovered while watching the match last night, was that the bowler and the batsman exchange position after every over. So, if the bowler was bowling from the north side then the next over was to be played from the southern part of the stadium. Haven’t figured the reason for the same though. Was it for the crowd or something else. Do you know? If you do, leave a comment.

Kamiya Mohan Jani, Navjivan Society

The laughter show held at Navjivan society a few days back turned out to be a good laughing exercise for Chemburites. Virat Hasya Kavi Samelan invited its audience to laugh and make others laugh by putting up banners for the same. This event was organized by Chembur Bal Kala Munch and sponsored by Lal Ghanshani, the day after Chetichand jo Mela at the Navjeevan Society. “The public demanded that they want a good laughter show during Chetichand. It is the first time we did it on such a big scale with about a thousand people attending it,” says Valabh Zaveri, president of Chembur Bal Kala Munch.

The performers were Navneet Hullad, Aalok Bhattacharya, Ajay Patu, Suresh Mishra, Narayan Nidar and Lata Hayaa with poet Yugraj Jain lading the pack. Navneet, much loved by the audience, had also participated in the Great Indian Laughter Challenge on Star One. The only female amongst these was Lata Hayaa, who stole the hearts of audience by her melodious voice, started with the Saraswati Vandana and continued singing songs in praise of the Kashmir valley. The favourite of the lot seemed to be Yugraj who cracked jokes on marriage, kids, professionals and many others. “The only requirement for all the performers here is appreciation, which the audience did very well by clapping. I am happy that the audience enjoyed the act,” said Yugraj.

The audience almost rolled on to the floor with every comic story being told to them. “The show was really very good especially the jokes on the politicians,” expresses Nisha Ramchandani, from Bhopal who had come to visit her relatives in Chembur. The show was not just about jokes but the performers also gave out some serious messages like the love for parents, respect for girl child, patriotism and many other issues. “The last segment when Yugraj spoke about the relationship between a mother and a child was very touching,” says Poonam J, a Chembur resident.

All in all, it was successful attempt to bring the people together and forget about their woes.

The president of Chembur Bal Kala Munch, Valabh averred that he would make the laughter show a regular event, every year during Chetichand. So for those who missed it, you can watch it next time.

What women want? That’s a difficult one. Men would surely agree with this. But this group of women from Chembur just wanted to have a blast on the one day they call their own, writes Kamiya Mohan Jani.

Nor a bright afternoon lunch nor a late night dinner, this bunch of women decided to catch up with their friends for some evening snacks and have a blast. Taking an off from their daily chores a group of women decided to celebrate Women’s Day at a renowned club in Chembur.

“Like our birthday or our anniversary, even this day is really special for us and we are celebrating it just that way. We feel it’s our birthday,” says Manju Madan.

Women and their television sets are best friends; this is a known fact to everybody. Hence, Meena Lamba, one of the friends, had arranged games, wherein slogans of advertisements were shown and the women had to guess the product. Similarly, she had written all the characters name of a particular TV serial, and they had to guess the name of the soap in which these characters acted. “I thought this game would be different and my friends would really enjoy it,” informed Lamba.

Many working women had taken a day off from their routine life to enjoy this special day. Like Nisha Vazirani, a resident of Navjeevan Society, Chembur, who is working with Films Division Ltd, left her work aside to gift a day to herself and her friends. “I have been excited about this day since a long time and have been discussing it with my colleagues. We must definitely dedicate at least a day to ourselves every year,” exclaims Nisha. The women also got a cake and relished it to the core.

When questioned whether that was their ideal way of celebrating women’s day or they would have preferred celebrating it with their husbands, opinions differed. While some felt that they could always celebrate with their spouses, having a blast with their friends was unusual and fun. Meena Jethwani, a resident of Luv-Kush Apartment, Sindhi Society, says, “An ideal women’s day would be celebrating it with your friends in the evening and going out for dinner with your husband.”

Some banks in the area celebrated this day by greeting their female clients with roses. “I felt so nice when I was presented a lovely rose and I was pampered with Mehendi on my hands. It felt great to be a Woman. It was very thoughtful of my bank staff to do this.”

Well as we left the women continued to rock the party till evening.

By Kamiya Mohan Jani

Around 600 patients were given free consultation and medication at the Inlaks hospital recently. Inlaks hospital is under the Rashtriya Seva Samiti Trust, which has been conducting these charitable camps for the past 6 to 7 years now.

These routine charitable camps are held once in three months in addition to the other camps, which are held in association with the association of Bombay Hospital. “This medical camp has been attended by 600 patients who have been provided free consultation and a highly subsidized investigation in pathology, ECG, sonography, radiology,” informs Col. (Dr) R Chintamani, medical director of Inlaks Hospital. He then adds that the patients have been taken care of by the senior consultants. The hallmark of the camp has been free distribution of medicine and subsidized delivery of numbered spectacles.

Even the patients seemed to be quite satisfied with the way they were treated at the medical camp. The camp was over crowded till late afternoon. “The doctors gave individual attention to each one of us, it was really good. My wife got the medicine for free but I had to buy the medicine prescribed to me due to unavailability of the stock,” says P R Gaikwad, who hailed from Jijimata Nagar. To which Dr. Chintamani said that he has called for the remaining stock and would be giving it to the patients the next day.

Dr. Bhosale D. B, consultant Surgeon, gives the entire credit for these camps to Dr. Chintamani. According to him, since the time he has taken the charge he has virtually changed the image of the hospital.

The Banking and Insurance students of V.E.S College were disappointed as celebrity guests Priyanka Chopra and Ritiesh Deshmukh failed to turn up at their annual college event ‘Euphonity’, but yet kept the energies alive for an enthusiastic event.

Kamiya Mohan Jani, Sindhi Society

“Euphonity rocks!” bellowed the Banking and Insurance students of Vivekanand Education Society (V.E.S) College, Chembur, and the crowd cheered with them. ‘Euphonity- entering into new dimensions’, was the first intercollegiate event, organised by them on February 10.

Although the event was a huge success the students very upset as their celebrity guests failed to turn up at the venue. “Music composer Shekhar had promised that he would get Vishal and either Priyanka Chopra or Ritiesh Deshmukh for the event, but Shekhar is down with jaundice. So, nobody has turned up,” says Yash Ved, a third year Banking & Insurance student.

Inspired by Rang De Basanti, the students of V.E.S, were given a chance to do creative wall painting (graffiti) in the campus of the college, which had slogans like ‘Generation awakens’, ‘Bhangra rocks’ etc. “This is a very good chance for the students show up their creativity,” said visiting faculty, Naz Chougley. Business quiz, ad mad show, brainstorming and War of DJ’s were the few competitions organized by them. Colleges like St. Andrews, S.I.E.S (Sion), K.J. Somaiya etc. and many other colleges that offer Banking & Insurance or Accounts & Finance courses participated in the event.

“The event went on really well. We have got the best response in comparison to the events organized by the other departments,” claimed Kedar, head of designing. All the competitions held were related to their course like the Business Quiz was based on general knowledge of the banking and insurance industry. The Impromptu ad mad show was to prepare an advertisement to make their product catchy. Brainstorming required the participants to create service or product that can cater to various individuals or group needs. Keeping in tune with the happening world of music albums and video, this event gave all the budding DJ’s to showcase their talent in the war of DJ’s and the other students danced on their tunes.

The entire event gave the participants a chance to be creative and convert their imagination in to reality.