Liftmen: Men who don't really lift.

So here's a thought. Another thought.
The concept of the liftman or liftmen.

When you have lived in one place for too long, you start reading into the little things around you. You start thinking and pondering and questioning and wondering.

Not like i've been in one place for forever. I have moved around here and there and everywhere.

But anyway, in this place, in this country, there exists the concept of the liftman. He (and it will always be a "he", you wont ever find a liftwoman) is the one who sits in the lift/elevator of a residential or commercial building and he is the one who is the nominal in-charge of the lift. Meaning that, you cant or shouldn't press the button to the floor you would like to reach, you have to tell him where your destination in that building is. His job is to press the button and take you there.

What's funny about this concept is, is that it's actually considered a job. Well anyway, India is a country of masses, many many many masses, and it's probably perhaps maybe a good thing that we have jobs like this to cater to everyone's possibility of being employed.

What's also funny is that, even if a lift is just about the size of an aeroplane's toilet, the liftman shall and always will stand around guarding his right to the lift and pressing the buttons for you.

What's funny is that, from morning to evening, he sits there, waiting for you and me to drop by and tell him which floor we would like to go to and then he will press the button and lift you up and come back down. His office is the lift. He sits there. Sometimes eats there. I'm sure he doesn't shower there but who knows, with the development of technology maybe one day he will land up doing just that. That is, if he does shower ever at all. Yes, it's true, sometimes, due to the claustrophobic nature of indian lifts, they kind of emit a strange smell. I'm not confirming that this is due to our friend the lift man. But...it's always a possibility.

Sometimes these liftmen are friendly and could throw you a smile in greeting. But most times, they tend to look through you (as is common in India anyway since we're all strangers and were told not to ever talk to strangers here). They will sometimes help you if your new to "their" building and lift and try to ease your unease at finding your destination and floor. But, usually, if you don't know your way around in a building, even if it's your first time, you're better off if you just figure it out or try google earth! Cause, well, sometimes liftmen can throw you these strange glances when you ask them a question and it leaves you feeling a tad bit like a silly human.

There's this one building i frequent often. It has 4 lifts. Each lift has 2 liftmen. And they work in shifts. Now that's funny enough. Noting that their working day is a routine day job, they yet have shifts for handling their assigned lift! It's actually quite amazing and more amusing. Fortunately, the lifts in this frequented building are not the size of an aeroplane's toilet but, the liftmen's attitude are. These lift men think they own the lifts, they have this insatiable urge to package as many people as they possibly can into the elevator and make us feel like sardine cans. With no air. Claustrophobia could have originated because of this! Maybe it did!

This lift i speak of and it's liftmen should be experienced by one and all. They're so deep into their job of parcelling us all off together, it leaves us wondering what the point of having 4 lifts in total really is. Use the other 3 lifts, god damit, and give us some air to breathe!!! Aaaaa! The nuances of crowds.

At some point through this lift raising scenario, i thought of using the stairs. Although my destined floor was one of the upper most floors <13th to be precise>, i yet thought of the stairs as the GREAT escape because it could beat the stuffed up effect of being stuck in the middle of 12000 (it always seems like 12000 people in that lift) people who i didn't know, definitely didn't like and surely would never want to know. I'm sure all us lift "buddies" felt the same way about each other.

Another option i came up with was to start arriving at strange hours (very very early) and leave (very very late) so that i wouldn't need to deal with the tragedy of an overly crowded lift during the "normal" hours. But alas, i soon realised that the lifts don't start working until the liftmen are there. And true to their government employee nature, they would never, NEVER dream of starting/ "opening" their office is earlier than usual or anything of the sort.

And no, a non-lift man is not allowed to start the elevators. Cause they apparently have these keys to turn it off and on!!! Yes, yes, it's a treasure the lift actually , apparently , at least for the caretakers of the building. They need KEYS!

So well anyway. The concept of the liftman. Strange when found in literally, maybe and truly almost all residential and commercial buildings in India.
I've travelled around. I've had the fairness of using elevators the world over without the "help" and "assistance" of a lift man. It's been a great, a marvellous feeling in fact, to be able to to do that.

Back here though, i'm not allowed to. Cause i'm not the liftman.

I wonder sometimes what their real use is. Doesn't it get boring to go up and come back down like a million times a day, using the same route! And the same lift! Doesn't it get gratifyingly boring!!!! I would love to ask them sometime, but i'd rather not, well at least till i find a seemingly friendly one someday! I also wonder if we need liftmen. Are we that incapable of using lifts on our own? Are we that..what do they call it ... dumb? That we need liftmen!!!?!

But anyhow, the concept of the liftmen is well adopted here. Of course, you find liftmen in other places too, but not in the same scope of work or way. It's very different elsewhere.
It's more like a national need to use liftmen here. One wont not find one wherever one goes.

Superamazing would be, me getting my own lift from now on. yeah, i dropped the idea of a fancy car or bike for a lift cause, well, you know, well, the crowds, the nonsense related to being tightly packed in, squeezed in is not nice. At all.

Hmmm, maybe i can make me one of those portable elevators.... now that's fancy.

Bride wars / Crossing Over

Bride Wars:

New hollywood chick-flick! I only bought home the dvd to watch cause i like Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway cause of their decently good acting skills and having them in a movie together made it a must-buy for me, personally.

A saturday afternoon with a movie like this is a well spent day.
Not that the movie was superb or anything, just that, it was a relaxed afternoon watch. One of the kinds wherein you could just let go of the steam of the work week and sit back and relax. The movie is a relaxation! Good point 1!

Story line wise: fairly better than an average ok. The story is about 2 best friends or bff's who accidentally have their weddings on the same day. Of course, any girl would know, you cannot share your wedding day with even your "bestest" of friends and so the story plays out about how the girls start their hidden bitchiness among each other and play fabulously mean pranks on one another till the end. A girly girl would probably understand the depth of the meanness felt in each scene thereafter. It's an unspoken myth; cheese a girl off, even if it's your best friend , and you're doomed till you're brought down or someone says sorry.
They do make up, of course, it's a movie, they have to. This is one of the movies wherein the ending is quite a smile creator. It actually made me wonder if there would be a sequel to this movie...especially since the movie ends with the best friends telling each other that their unborn babies are scheduled to be born on the same day! So well, maybe, perhaps, there could be another sequel to this!

The LOL scene worth remembering: In one of the prank attempts, Liv (played by Kate Hudson) switches the color tone can at the Tanning centre where Emma (Anne Hathaway) goes to get a pre-wedding glow. She comes out with a deep orange hue and is then seeing walking down a busy NY street painted orange. All over. Trying to keep a straight face.

The only negative point in this flick is the hair style maintained by Liv (Kate Hudson), the straightened-blow dried falling-all-over the face blonde hair does not compliment Hudons's filled out face in any way. It makes her look more like a grownup puppy than a famous actress, but anyway.

Overall: watch it if you want to spend a relaxed hour and half. If you have a bff, watch it with her/him!
And vouch to never get married on the same day as your best bud!

Crossing over:
Sunday needed a movie that wasn't a fun watch. "Crossing over" made the top of list. This movie about immigrants and their life and problems faced while living and hoping to get residence status in America wasn't a good overall flick. The story has been depicted a million times over already and further, the constant parallel running of different immigrants and their stories seemed like a market sale.
It felt like the screenwriter or director was hoping to get emotions out of his viewers, however, the movie itself played on till the end with a blank thought from the critic. Immigration and immigrant stories did well in the 80's and past before, don't think they would do too well anymore unless there's a real story in the loop.
"Crossing over" could have been a great movie if the scenes were shot with greater authenticity rather than an everyday life sequence. The actors didn't even seem too involved in the parts they played. Harrison Ford for instance just bore a cold expression or so it seemed throughout the running.Overall, if you missed watching it, you're not missing out on much. Although the film has an impressive ranging star cast, the story is just another movie made. Which is now almost already forgotten, a meagre less than 24 hrs later.

Jonathan : the stray she-dog!

Earlier on, during summer breaks, i was the kind of person who enjoyed following a strict fitness routine. Of course, these days, laziness supercedes my any other past interests and hobbies but however,

During my last few years in college, summers were a pleasant chilled out time. This one summer in the early 20hundreds brings smiles to the memory of a special few weeks wherein i encountered a stray dog on the streets of Mumbai...

It's common to all or most who know me personally. I like dogs. Basically domesticated pets. I grew up in a household that at one point of time sheltered 3 in-house born generations of love birds (yeah, we saw them hatch and grow into lovely pretty things!), 2 parrots, 1 baby squirrel (who had fallen out of a tree and lost it's mum), a dog (found on the street).
It's thus pretty ok to assume that we were an animal loving family.

Ok, so this one summer, i decided to start going for daily early morning runs. And i actually stuck by that decision. Today though, waking up anytime "early" is a major war like struggle for me. However, that summer....

I woke up! At 15 minutes to 6 am. Everyday! phew!
Armed with a portable music player and my walking shoes (i landed up walking , not jogging), i started out. I chose a 2 kn stretch close to home that was a route by the sea. Aaah..scenic it could be but i was too sleepy to bother.

It's during one of the first few "runs" during these summer mornings that i first spotted her. A brown, not-yet-fully-grown adult dog, with eyes that boasted of true innocence. She seemed unlike the other strays on the street. She seemed friendly and hungry but more childlike than not. Human childlike if i may.

I observed her cause i couldn't help not. She strutted around, trying to get people to come up to her, play with her, anything. Nothing. Usual it is for people to just walk past actually. Probably cause the fear of the stray biting you keeps you from really showing what you think "that the dog is cute of course!".

I swore to bring her some food from the next day on...
Comes day 2. I wake. I get my music gear and walking gear, sorry running gear, i pack in some biscuits for the stray browny and i head out.

I find her sitting around at the same spot as the day before. I walk up to her. She gets up, wags her tail and her face and eyes show-off the sweetest welcome i've ever got! I put some biscuits on the ground next to her. She smartly and confidently walks upto it and starts devouring them. The satisfaction got from seeing the glee in her face was indescribable.
It soon became a routine for me.

Going for a walk with a "doggy-bag" for my pet stray. I named her Jonathan. Why? Cause she felt like a Jonathan! Any dog lover or owner would tell you that they sometimes just get the urge to name their dog a certain something irrespective of whether it makes sense or not!

Jonathan seemed to look forward to seeing me walking toward her from a distance. I looked forward to seeing her eye light up and her tail wag everytime i neared her.
Of course, i did play with the idea of bringing her home, but i couldn't. I already had a dog who would fight with a new dog entering it's territory.
Summer was good. Every evening i parceled newer types of treats for Jonathan's breakfast.
Regular walkers and joggers smiled when they saw the scene play out everyday. A few came up to me to say they admired what i did. But did i admire it myself? Not at all! Jonathan was a dog. A sweet stray dog. She caught my eye and attention and i gave her what i could although, the reality in the number of loving and friendly dogs out on the streets are haunting. It takes alot more to really make a difference. I didn't make any difference as such. Just maybe only to Jonathan's life.

Summer eventually rolled into monsoon. College started. Rains started, the early morning ventures stopped.

I thought of Jonathan often through the year. I wonder if she's still around and if she'd remember me if i happened to chance upon her sitting by the sea...

I never ended up taking a picture of her, that's the only regret. But, she remains in any case in my memory. Always will i guess.

A poem for she

I sat down to write,
A poem about she,

The one whose my darling,
My lovely little baby,

She's just so sweet,
Sweeter than you can ever be,

The innocence in her face,
Could almost make up for common man's disgrace.

I found her on the street,
This white little baby,
She came home with me,
Entering our lives, creating simple pleasurable glee.

When she's happy she smiles,
And comes to sit next to me,
She cuddles up cutely and rather playfully.

When she's sleepy, she hides,
Under the masterbed, snoring in peace,
she loves eating chicken,
Ice cream and anything thats a mishti and sweet!

We think she's almost human!
Cause she almost understands all our feats,
She likes watching TV,
And chilling on the sofa seat.

Her name is Toffee,
She's my own little honey,
I love her white fur,
I love her dearly.

I'm glad to have found her,
Even if on a street,
She's made my life so much lighter,
Like almost maybe harmony!

I'm honored to be able to keep her,
She deserves everything a house pet should get, gladly,
I'm happy, so happy to have her,
My Toffee, my lovely little angel sweet!

note - p.s: Toffee was found wandering on the streets one February day in the year 2004. She was found with her leash on. Noone knows if she was abandoned or a run-away dog. However, she was scared and lonely and we had to, just had to bring her in. Some people (courtesy the WSD) adopt stray dogs. Some people adopt abandoned dogs. Some people abandon their own dogs (these people are'nt humane).

Some other people try and rescue dogs.