No Entry

Yesterday was a rare mid-week holiday, Ganesh Chaturti, the festival of the elephant-headed god. People make his doll of clay, worship for 10 days, and dump it in the nearest lake or river or sea on the last day, signifying the cycle of birth and death - from dust to dust. Ganesha was one of the immaculate conceptions in Hindu mythology. His mother created him out of her own grime. This particular ceremony was started in 1937 by Bal Gangadhar Tilak to cleanse India of the ill-effects of Christianity brought in by the British, and to revive Hinduism. People seem to have forgotten the origins of this and say that this has always been the tradition in India. Since we live in a plastic world now, Ganesha is made of plaster of paris, but still is dumped in the nearest water body, polluting it. There weren't much celebrations near my home as I live in a christian locality. So, I went to see a movie in Bandra. The first stop was 'Jai Jawan Punjabi Tandoori Centre' in Bandra Linking Road. Chicken Tikka and Chicken Sheek Kabab were food, cheap too. The prawn fry was not so good. I wouldn't recommend any sea-food dishes in any Punjabi restaurants. What would they know about fishes? they live in a land-locked area. The restaurant is open-air, with no chairs or tables, but the food is cheap and tasty. After a nice dinner, I went to 7G multiplex, one of the old theatres converted into a multiplex. The only movie watchable there was No Entry. Tickets were sold out just a few minutes before we reached, and we had to buy it in black - Rs. 80 for a Rs. 35 ticket! I read somewhere that foreigners are clamouring to get into 'bollywood movies', and true, there were a lot of white people dancing in it. Lot of skin, lots of dance numbers, lots of people, but no logic. Timepass, worth watching once with the gang. I wish I had a camera with me to catch all the Engrish signboards in the railway stations though.