ChowkNews- Vidyavihar, mumbai

i just read in a blog by vibess and they are going to launch a new radio station on the internet
not the regular pav bhaji stall pe bajne wala radio but the one that you can listen to on your computer if you have internet and the bandwidth..

great news since if this works then we will have malhars and other festivals online also we could join and relive our college days online

great to see them using technology for community building

vidyavihar
REliance is offering a free phone (no activation fees) to all REL consumers in vidyavihar
a sales person came to my house and gave me a phone after taking a form fee of 150 (i was skeptical that it may be a con job on the first day but the phone did come.) the only document that was required was an electric bill..

he was also offering a free reliance mobile connection (without handset) which i am yet to recieve but my friends say that the mobile connection would be with handset as per the scheme of reliance

i dont understand why these companies do not send an advance intimation to people about schemes and other promotions before letting thier salesmen loose..
at least that wasy we would know what o expect.

In my opinion the best way for a company to do a door to door marketing would be to advertise locally in the area that a person from thier organization will be visiting the homes in the area. and then send in the person. also publish a helpline where the persons credentials can be verified so that at least alert citizens can verify the person at the door.

Unfortunately Mumbai has had one more serial blasts. This Mumbai Blast is more tragic as it has hit the lifeline of Mumbai. WE ARE SAFE. Mumbai blast has not affected Navi Mumbai and hopefully it won’t.

For updates please check.:
in.rediff.com/news/2003/aug/25blast.htm
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3178893.stm

We pray for all affected by Mumbai Blast.

Navi Mumbai is what I would call Owners pride - Neighbours envy.

Look at the good roads, look at infrastructure, look at absence of slums, look at profile of people. They are all great. YOU will be in great company

One thing against navi Mumbai is the power situation. Let me state an instance, an IT company is moving out of Navi Mumbai thanks to frequent power cuts

News
Shops and establishments are closed here in vidyavihar following the news of rioting in dadar, the rioting started after the statue of the wife of Mr Balasaheb thakeray was found covered with mud.

While i respect the sentiments of the shiv sainiks and also have high regards for the fearless balasaheb ,i am at a loss to see how such behaviour by the sainiks and thier leaders would endear them to the people.

News

Thanks to our local corporator this time in the rains we did not have any flooding, even after the heaviest rains the water was quickly drained due to the work done on the gutters in our lane at D colony vidyavihar.
we appreciate the work done by the BMC in our lane.
Usually since we have a huge nullah right behind our colony, the waters used to get accumulated on the road for days on end and walking on the street was a major problem.
The open drain meant to channel away the rainwater was clogged most of the time due to debris from construction work and mud and silt flowing in, this was fixed by rebuilding it where it had broken and covering the drain. this helped in avoiding the flooding.
Also the main nullah that channels water to the sea was cleaned, this helped in draining the water more quickly.

A vashi based software development company Entrust technologies needs PHP developers, freshers with engineering background and knowledge of at least one programming language may apply to jobs@entrusttechnologies.com

Also required photoshop designers with minimum 6 months experience knowledge of english is mandatory

Have you read Kabuliwallah, a short story by Rabindranath Tagore? It is a sweet story of how a migrant to India from Kabul misses his hometown. He is always keen on knowing what happened at his hometown but is unable to get the information.
Today, we all have a bit of Kabuliwallah in us. Unlike Kabuliwallah, we miss our neighbourhood, though we stay there. It is ironical but true. Work pressure, long hours at office and busy schedule means we hardly interact with our neighbours and we are never updated with news that unfolds at our own neighbourhood. What is more intersting, the rambilngs of our politicians in Parliament or the local issues that we face everyday. Unknown heros or people who we can touch and feel in our own neighbourhood. Isn’t the local cricket match where your son scored a century more dear to you than reading about exploits of Indian cricket team.

This is where Chowknews come in. It is a democratic place where you can add any content you want, which you feel is relevant to your immediate neighbourhood. The moment you add a content, you are contributing to your neighbourhood and you will soon form a community of people from your neighbourhood.
Happy content addition

Compared to most parts of Mumbai, Vashi is safe from flooding. Last year, when the heavens opened up and lashed record rains, vashi was relatively safe. However, I was not lucky. I moved to Sanpada and it was a mess there and lot of flooding there. Unfortunately, my car was spoilt and that burned a hole in my pocket. So this rains, I am following a simple protocol:
1. Park car at vashi station or in Centre one. They will be safe there
2. Take a rickshaw to your office. Auto drivers brave the rain and reach you home safely.
3. Get the car insured from a known agent. He will help you in getting the reimbursements
4. MOST IMPORTANT - STAY AT HOME

Having said that, I am now at Office because my friend had reached office and I wanted to give him company. Now monitoring the flood status. Roads look Okay as of now - but are never sure

One thing you can enjoy in rains - view the belapur falls from the window of your house. It’s lovely!!

Today it rained quite heavily in mumbai, my son nikunj studies in fatima high school and the school decided to close at about 12 in the afternoon. i had to go and fetch him from the school so i took an umbrella and put on my new Bata all weather shoes and trudged along to school.
on the way while crossing the vidyavihar railway bridge from east to west i noticed that the rickshaws had lined up neatly and passengers wanted to go to mulund bhandup since the trains were not running.
the rickshaw drivers were demanding a premium to take them, i just thought that this ws pure black mail , then again in a free enterprise they were risking thier vehicle and peace to take the passengers to thier destination which is not a very bad thing.. considering the alternative of not having any rickshaws at all in these rains.

the vidyavihar west was flooded as usual near the staircase landing ( i have been going through the route since 33 years now and every rains it gets flooded, they built a new ticketing counter and changed the flooring but could not make it so that it would not flood !!
anyway the path to the school was flooded till the bus depot (knee deep water at 1.00 pm ) then it was clear inside the kirol village bylane till i came out on the other side where again it was flooded, my new shoes gave me a shoe bite and i was worried about leptospirosis. then i saw my son waiting for me. we started on our way back when i saw a student crying, it seems that she had to reach bhandup and could not think of how she would get there. she had come out of the school to make a phone call.
i wish the school would make a provision to allow the children to make phone calls from the school premises itself so that they do not have to venture outside of the school compound

We saw a couple of teachers making thier way to thier homes in vasai (a good 45 to 50 km from here) i gave them my phone number and asked them to drop in if they were unable to get any transportation.
on the way i was afraid if the rains continued then getting vegetables and provisions may be a problem so i called my wife and got a list of things to get from the market.
once home i was worried that the lights may conk out , since the memories of 26/7 were still fresh, so i put on the water pump and filled the overhead tank as this was a major problem when the lights had gone out.
then we gathered all the paper documents that were lying around on the ground floor to high ground.
thankfully the rain has stopped and the danger of flooding has passed. The TV news channels need to keep a restraint on themselves and stop giving opinions, if they would only stick to facts the people are sensible enough to create an opinion themselves.
they started blaming the bmc for shoddy work, this is not the right time to do that , since they only helped in inflaming sentiments of an already suffering people..

Will be back with more on my local life in vidyavihar