WSD - Strays Of Mumbai Calendar 2010

The Welfare of Stray Dogs(WSD) has brought out the “Strays Of Mumbai” WSD Calendar 2010. This year, WSD has come out with 'wall' as well as 'desk' calendars. Both the calendars have a collection of photographs of street dogs that we come across in our daily commute through the city of Mumbai. Each dog has a unique character and some hidden quirks just like the people they live amongst. Both the calendars have distinctly different photographs taken by WSD volunteer, Rohan Mukerjee

Wall Calendar - Cover

Wall Calendar - March page

Desk Calendar - Cover

They are available for Rs 150 at the WSD- Kala Ghoda office and other outlets/vet clinics listed below who have been very kind and generous to stock them.Proceeds from the sale of calendars go towards WSD’s sterilization and other programmes.

South Mumbai
1) Rhythm House : 40, K. Dubash Marg (Rampart Row), Kala Ghoda, Mumbai 400023. Tel: 4322 2727 2) WSD Office: C/o Mr F. Broacha, 2nd Flr, Yeshwant Chambers, B.Bharucha Marg, Near Fab India, Kala Ghoda, Mumbai – 23 Tel : 64222838 3) Dr Leena Dalal’s Clinic :Green Fields, Opposite Oval Maidan, Churchgate, Mumbai – 21 Tel: 66153497 4) Ibrahim’s Pet Shop : Kemps Corner, Mumbai – Tel: 23806278 5) Dr Tina Rustomji’s Clinic :Gamadia Polyclinic, Gamadia Colony, Tardeo – Mumbai - 34 Tel: 23519105 6) Dr Padam’s Clinic: Ground Floor, Mohini Mansion, Opposite Strand Cinema, Colaba, Mumbai – 400 005 7) It’s A Dog’s Life : Shop No 1 and 2, Pushpa Vihar, Opposite Colaba Post Office, Colaba, Mumbai 400 005. Tel : 22834842
Dadar
Dr Makrand Chavan’s Clinic : Shop No 1, Matoshree Tower, Kohinoor Mills Lane, Shivaji Park, Dadar – Mumbai- 28 Tel: 24380756
Bandra
1) Paws and Furs : Shop No 3, Kailash,156, Waterfield Road, Bandra, Mumbai. Tel: 66990858 2) Tailwaggers : 16th Road, Behind Hawaian Shack, Bandra, Mumbai. Tel: 9820127572
Khar
KPS My Pet Shop : Shop No 5, Shivanjali, Dr Ambedkar Road, Khar, Mumbai. Tel : 65913333
Juhu
Dr Sunita Patel’s Clinic : 3, Kartik, 12th Rd. New India Society, j.V.P.D. Scheme, Juhu, Mumbai 400 049 Tel : 26125790/26154082
Andheri
Dogaholics : Shop No 6, Garden View, Shastri Nagar, Lokhandwala , Andheri(W) – Mumbai. Tel : 9819004010
Chembur
KPS My Pet Shop: Shop No 27, Opp Wasan Motors, Sion-Trombay Rd, Chembur- Mumbai 71 Tel: 6591444

(Please telephone the respective outlet for their timings and availability)

Happy Diwali

Mumbai Birds - The Crow

The baby crow sat in my hand and clutched onto to me. His disproportionate huge head to his little body did not take away his defense mechanism in opening his big beak wide open, every time I petted him on the head. After a while he got used to me and sat quietly in the taxi-ride from opposite Mani Bhavan at Gamdevi to Fort.

I was attending one of the hundreds of calls in the year that WSD receives to rescue city-birds….mostly crows, pigeons, cuckoos, owls and kites, sometimes parrots, sparrows, egrets and herons. I am not a bird-enthusiast and cannot distinguish a heron from a magpie …but yes I love our everyday city birds.

The Indian House Crows are a subject onto themselves. You will see them all over Mumbai…. cawing away, sitting coolly on top of BEST buses - single and double-deckers, following garbage trucks and riding on top of the fisher folks baskets. Look around, especially before the rains and you will see them toiling away gathering twigs, wires and anything they can get their hands… err … beaks on to build that little nests on top of trees right in the middle of traffic and busy streets. You will also of course see them gnawing at all kinds of stuff including dead rats flattened by cars in the middle of the street and hovering around dust-bins clearing up a huge amount of garbage that we have created. Come evening and you wonder where they all disappear.


It is said that if a crow sits and caws at your door or window then you will be getting a visitor at home. Well, with the boom of crows cawing all over, all of us should be getting a regular flow of visitors. But myths apart, I had encountered a bizarre story many years back revolving around a particular crow which I too had difficulty in believing. This was maybe more than seventeen years ago when my grandmother was alive. One day she told my mom that she has been hearing a crow come everyday, sit on the window and call out ‘Abodh’ Abodh’. My mother pretended to believe this till she heard the crow letting out an ‘Abodh’ Abodh’. She related this to me and I laughed and thought it was a figment of their imagination. Till one day I heard him. It was definitely not a normal caw. It was something that sounded like Abodh and maybe it made us believe that it was Abodh. I made a friend hear it and he too was shocked. Even bizarre was the fact that I would hear him all the way through the Parsi colony short-cut I used to take to the railway station which was five hundred meters from my home. He used to be hopping on various windows on the way making this ‘Abodh’ sound. He used to sit by the window sill and eat out of my hand. I saw and heard him for around five six years till he stopped coming one day. This fellow used to love chakli just like my paternal grandfather who loved me a lot and there were suggestions that it must be his soul come, in the form of the crow! This comes from the Hindu belief that the spirits or one of the spirits of the dead pass into crows.


After that we had a stream of crows coming and sitting by the sill and eating the food. Some scared to eat out our hands and some bold .They still come and sit at my dining table window sill and eat out of my hand. Some have seen have preferences. Some love fruits, some farsan, some dal- rice, some will eat the middle of the bread and leave the sides. After this it is a joy to see them clean their beaks. They would take some time off and just concentrate on rubbing their beaks and cleaning them against any object for minutes together and then fly away.

Crows can also be mean to other creatures including sparrows, kittens, cuckoos and monkeys WSD gets rescue calls about other birds and the person many a times adds, “The crows are trying to attack the owl”. A recent story blamed the crows for the disappearing sparrows. Unfortunately nobody seems to be blaming us, humans and our garbage creation for the increase in the crow population. Only the koels(cuckoos) seem to have outsmarted the crows. They lay their eggs in crow nests , the crow hatches them and feeds them till I guess she realizes that they are not ‘crow’lings.

They say crows don’t forget. I remember a story reported in the newspapers years ago of a lady at Khar who had pulled down a crows nest on the tree near her window. The crows teamed up and did not allow her to leave her building for almost a year! Every time she stepped out she was swooped down upon by the crows and attacked. Another story reported by CNN-IBN was about a gentleman named Treekambji who is known as the Pied Piper of Crows. He lives in Mulund in Mumbai’s eastern suburbs and has been feeding these crows for nearly thirty years. When asked how this all started, he said “I used to whistle out to stray dogs so I could give them food every day. A friend challenged me to try it on crows. When I started, nearly five hundred of them responded to my call."

Many people have found crows a very interesting subject to draw or write about. Mark Twain has written about them when he stayed at Watson’s Hotel at Kala Ghoda in 1896. In his book “Following The Equator”, he calls them Birds of Birds and four pages of this book are dedicated to the Bombay crows. They also find a mention in all Mumbai centric books including in the chapter “ Arriving in Bombay” by Aldous Huxley from the book, Mumbai Meri Jaan edited by Naresh Fernandes and Jerry Pinto and in other books like The Maximum City by Suketu Mehta , Anita Desai’s Baumgartner's Bombay‎ and Thirty Umrigar’s Bombay Time.

R K Laxman’s fascination for crows is also very well known. He told this to Gowri Ramnarayan in the book Past Forward by Oxford University Press, “At age three I began to sketch crows. I tried to draw their antics. My mother saw this and encouraged me. She told me that Lord Shanisvara used the crow for his mount. He was a very powerful God, she added, "If you draw His crow, surely He will send you good luck." I have never grown out of this childhood fascination for the crow. I have painted hundreds of crows, singly and in groups, from near and far, and in many moods. Sometimes I put crows into my cartoons. My crow paintings have gone to many countries -- one of them hangs in faraway Iceland now! He also thinks that crows are “immensely intelligent and are unfairly dismissed by fretting people as a nuisance”.

I am sure all of you have a story to ‘crow’ about. Do share yours.

Will continue this series with posts on other Mumbai birds and her birdman.

Now Open - Finally ! The Bandra-Worli Sea Link

Update : July 1, 2009 : Happened to go on the Worli Bandra Sea Link in the morning at 9:00 am. Waited for two-three minutes to get onto it from the Worli side. Drove at 50 km/hr and managed to get a glimpse of Worli Fort from close quarters and the Mumbai skyline of Shivaji Park and Mahim. Nice smooth ride.... Reached the Bandra Reclamation side within ten minutes BUT as traffic was crawling and lined up on the other side, I decided against using the Sea Link back to Worli. Thus took the regular Mahim causeway/Dargah/Cadell Road route and it was a breeze. Reached Worli in ten minutes. I am sure all those who were using the Sea Link to go to Worli must have taken 40 minutes. All this without the toll collection. Hope these are teething problems else it world be better to use the normal route in peak hours and Sea Link in non-peak.


Picture courtesy - HCC

Years ago in 2002 when they built the Love Grove flyover which is parallel to the Atria Mall (which did not exist then), I wondered what purpose it was going to serve as it just went up and down towards Worli Naka above a very non-descript T-junction leading to Worli Sea face. After seven years of its construction, the construction of this bridge might seem justified due to the opening of the Worli-Bandra Sea Link today inaugurated at the hands of Sonia Gandhi.

After many years of delay and escalation of costs by hundred crores of rupees, I hope India's first Sea Link will ease Mumbai traffic woes. Touted as the third corridor from Worli to Bandra , an alternative to using Tulsi Pipe Road and Cadell/L.J.Road , it remains to be seen if it will not cause problems at the two ends of Worli and Bandra. See this report. The bridge will also consume 1000 kW of power on a daily basis.

The opening of the bridge will throw up many questions which only time will answer like … Will the regular traffic on Cadell Road and L J Road go down?, Will traffic through Bandra Reclamation and Bandra Junction go up?, Will the traffic on Pochkhanawala Road and the Worli Circle where the South Bound traffic to Worli will have to U-turn go up?, Will Haji Ali be clogged more than it already is?, Will the Sea Link be a blessing in disguise and all of the above won’t happen?

I am not an everyday commuter from South Mumbai to Bandra but at Rs 50 for a single trip and Rs 75 for a round trip , I wonder if car owners who travel to and fro everyday will prefer using this bridge. A monthly pass is available for Rs 2500 and multiple entries on the same day are allowed for Rs 125. A Bus/Truck will be charged Rs 100 and a mini-bus Rs 75. Bus tickets will be price one rupee more than the normal fare.

The distance will reduce from 8 kms to 5.6 kms and they say that instead of forty minutes you can travel the distance in ten minutes. If you calculate @ 50 kms per hour(speed limit), it should take you just 6.72 minutes on the bridge plus the extra time coming onto Worli Sea Face to Love Grove junction.

Last year when I was on Worli Sea Face, HCC had put up these boards marketing various aspects of the bridge including that the height of the cable–stay tower is equal to a forty storied building. You will be able to see the tower from any high rise. In fact I could see it from top of the Elephanta Caves hill. I also had a closer view of the bridge one Saturday this month when we were vaccinating dogs against rabies on a hilly slum between Mount Mary and Bandra Reclamation.

Here is an official blog that takes you through the long journey of the construction of the bridge. An You tube link here takes you through the technicalities of the engineering aspect of the bridge and a virtual tour which is posted much before the completion. Another one from Discovery Channel is here.

The bridge would definitely have everyone including me taking a ride, it being a tourist attraction of sorts. Unconfirmed reports say that it will be free for the first five days.(July 1 to 5) The BEST is also going to have an open-bus joy ride going up and down the bridge starting from Bandra-Kurla and going upto Worli. But after the tourist attraction wears off the 1634 crores had better translate into savings of time and fuel for this city.

Mumbai Names 4

Another long gap and I am continuing my series on Mumbai names. The history behind the origin of the names of various Mumbai localites. Check out my earlier posts on Mumbai Names 1 , Mumbai Names 2 and Mumbai Names 3.

Antop Hill

In S.T. Sheppard’s book on Bombay place and street names, Rao Bahadur P B Joshi, a city historian says that Antop Hill derived the name from the name of the Hindu or Portuguese owner or proprietor of this hill. It may have been Antoine or Antoba. Thus the hill was Antob’s hill and must have been corrupted to Antop Hill. The Hill was surrounded by salt pans and currently a locality with a lot of construction of building complexes.

Ambroli

This is a corruption of an old name of this locality in Girgaum. Umbar in Marathi is the name for the fig tree and Ali is a lane, so the original area was called Umbrali/Umbarali. It is said that as Ambra in the Sanskrit word for mango, the natives might have changed it to Ambrali or Ambroli. Today, the only relevance to this name is found in Ambroli Church at the corner of Wilson Street near C.P. Tank.

Bhoiwada

Bhoi’s were one of the recognized castes in Raja Bhimdev’s (A.D. 1300)kingdom. They were palanquin bearers and thus the legacy of their name has been left behind in the locality in which they made their home. Bhoiwada is located in Dadar (East), nearer to Parel.

Chikhalwadi

A lane near my house, knowing what it means in Marathi, I always thought that this lane was named in recent times. But just like today even 100 years ago this lane used to be filled with ‘chikhal’ which is ‘mud’ in Marathi during any heavy rainfall. This was because the storm water drainage here was defective. Chikhalwadi is now called Tukaram Javji Marg and is the lane adjacent to Bhatia hospital and joins Sleater road near Grant Road railway station.

Chira Bazaar

I always wondered why this locality was called Chira Bazaar. S.T. Sheppard enlightened me. Chira in Marathi means flat stones or flagstones (Remember Wada Chirebandi). Thus this area was paved with flat slabs of these stones and was thus called Chira Bazaar. Chira Bazaar is located near Thakurdwar and is populated by jewellery stores.

Dongri

Dongar in Marathi is hill. Unfortunately, the hill did not survive but the name did. Also mentioned as Dungaree or Dungrey in 17th century English writing, Dongri had a fort which was blown up in 1769 to make way for the new Fort St George. The hill too was leveled as it was considered a menace to the Fort of Bombay in the hands of the enemy. Dongri is located near Umarkhadi.

Kala Chowki

The name came about because of the Police Chowki which is situated at the east end of the road. As this Chowki (Police stations) was dammered (black tar put on it) from the outside, it looked black and thus was called Kala Chowki. This police station still stands in the same place. Kala Chowki is very near Cotton Green station on the harbour line.

Madanpura

This area was named after Madan or Madovo, a well known Mohammedan from Allahabad who settled here for two generations and owned land. Madan was of the ‘julhar’ or the weaver caste and was a weaver by profession. Madanpura is located near Agripada.

Thakurdwar

This is a generic name for the door of an idol or here a temple. Thakur – Dwar (door) The Thakurdwar temple here is dedicated to Rama and was built before 1836. Thakurdwar is located near Charni Road station.

Nikadwari Lane

This lane is called Nikadwari lane as in the olden days was lined with plants of Nirgundi or Nikadwari (botanical name: vitex negundo) These plants are used for fumigation. This lane is in Girgaum off Khadilkar Road.

Cheetah Camp

This was told to me by my friend CSM-Fanaa who found it out from James who lives in Cheetah Camp near Trombay. No, there were no cheetahs living here but this area are must have been named due to the many crematoriums that existed and still exist in this area. Chitah means pyre in Marathi. It used to be a marshy land before and the people who occupied Cheetah Camp were oustees from the BARC area which was cleared to accommodate BARC personnel.

Mumbai World Environment Day Celebration

A mail received from WSD volunteer and friend Swati. Please be there in droves to show your support towards the environment if you don't want photos like this one to remain only on picture post cards.




June 5th is World Environment Day and the Indian Youth Climate Network and Sanctuary Asia are joining hands to organise a demonstration on Marine Drive on Friday, 5th June from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.


Our vision is to symbolise the effect climate change will have on various aspects of our life, from our food and water security to our health and our city through the use of art installations made from recycled materials. The purpose of the event is to spread awareness in a fun, lighthearted manner and also to pressurise our government to actively push for effective climate policies at the upcoming COP 15 (Conference of Parties) at Coppenhagen in December this year.
We will be meeting opposite Jazz by the Bay by 5:00 p.m.

Stand up for right to a secure future. Join us on the 5th to make this event a success and show our government that we want a clean, green and vibrant future.

Swati Hingorani

E: swatihingorani@gmail.com, swati.hingorani@iycn.in
M: 9820107204

Vote Mumbai Vote

The D-Day has arrived and hope that all Mumbaikar's are getting geared up to vote on April 30, 2009. (7 am to 5 pm)

For Mumbaikars , here is a link of a list of candidates standing in the various parliamentary seats.

Mumbai - South
Mumbai - South Central
Mumbai - North East
Mumbai - North West
Mumbai - North Central
Mumbai - North

If you do not know your election roll no and polling booth , go to Election Roll Helpline here

Carry out the following steps

1) Select the district - Mumbai City/Mumbai Suburban/Thane

2) Type your Surname in first textbox, First name in the second textbox. First name may not be complete, you can type partial name also.

3) Type Father/Husband/Mother's name in the third textbox.

4) If you know your Legislative Assembly area , Select the same else let it remain on Entire Mumbai/Suburban

5) Click on the search button. Matching names are displayed in the result window. Click on the Part no. and it will open a PDF file with a list of names in Marathi... go to your Sr No in the PDF file and you will find your name and details about the polling booth. For e.g. Here is a list of the rolls of my constituency.

This search is a little complicated and the site is also very slow but if you remember the name as it was entered into your election card(well, why should it have been entered any different from your actual name) , it should be easy to find...... I found mine.

Else you can dial 1290 and get information about your polling booth. ( I have not tried this)

Happy Voting !

Added P.V. (Post Voting) - Do carry an I-card. They accept PAN Cards,Passport, Voter I.D. They said they have added the ration card too in the list of accepted documents.

Doordarshan, Mumbai and I

This blog post was prompted by two programmes that I attended in the past fortnight.  The first was the preview screening of the film Harishchandranchi Chi Factory which is feature film biography on the life of the pioneer of Indian films, Dadasaheb Phalke. This was being screened at the Yeshwantrao Chavan Auditorium by the Prabhat Chitra Mandali.

The second was the Vinod Doshi Smruti Mohatsav, a festival of plays in Hindi and Marathi, held at the Ravindra Natya Mandir at Prabhadevi in the memory of the late Vinod Doshi, who was an eminent industrialist and Chairman of the Premier Automobiles Ltd., now known as Premier Ltd. Mr. Doshi had a huge passion for theatre.

At both these venues, I ran into people from the theatre world that were big in the T.V. world in the olden days when there used to be only one channel, the government run Doordarshan. This brought back fond memories of the good old Doordarshan days when one used to sit in front of the only channel available and see everything that it used to dish out.

When we were small, owning a television set was a rarity and I don’t remember when but my grandfather ordered my father to go and buy a television in order to avoid my siblings going to our neighbor’s house to watch T.V. So it was Dyanora a black and white T.V. with a sliding door that came into our house. In days of cable TV and DTH , today’s youngsters and kids would laugh at the bullock cart age we were in where an antenna which was on top of the building terrace/roof had to be adjusted all the time during the rainy season or there was a shake even when a crow sat on it!

Coming back to the people who I met/saw that revived my Doordarshan memories were Girish Karnad who I remember for his role in the serial Khandaan. In fact in his speech he remembered Mr. Vinod Doshi as a person who was very humble and never made them feel that he was a big industrialist helping them. Once when he asked them (Girish Karnad and Arvind Deshpande, who used to run a theatre company) how he could help, he immediately satisfied their big need of a rehearsal space. He gave them a whole floor… around 3000-4000 square feet of space in Walchand Terraces on Tardeo Road, opposite the A.C. Market which they used without any interference for many years.

One more person from the serial Khandaan that I met was Sunila Pradhan. Many will remember her as the wife of the industrialist whose character was played by Sreeram Lagoo. I ran into Chitra Palekar of the Marathi movie Mati May fame which starred Nandita Das and remembered that she and Amol Palekar had directed the serial Kachi Dhoop (Amol had acted in it too) which also starred their daughter Shalmalee. Then there was a bearded gentleman that I couldn't place but later realized that he was the guy who was the newsreader for years in the Marathi ‘Batmya’. His name is Anant Bhave. And sitting in the auditorium I chanced upon Meena Naik who used to host a Marathi children’s programme called KilBil and also Sulabha Deshpande who starred in Choti Baadi Baatein and a host of other serials and Marathi and Hindi movies.

A little history about Doordardhan....Doordarshan was established in India in 1959 but was a part of All India Radio till 1976. Mumbai Doordarshan started transmission in 1972. The color T.V. was introduced in 1982 during the Asian Games and that is when we switched from our black and white Dyanora to the GOI Undertaking produced E.C. T.V.

As watching T.V. was a fascinating novelty, we used to watch everything that came our way. Children’s programme like the Marathi ‘Kilbil’, the Gujarati “Santakukdi’ and the English ‘Magic Lamp’ were very popular amongst us. Then programmes like Amchi Mati, Amchi Manse for farmers, Phool Khile Hai Gulshan Gulshan, a talk show in the seventies aka today’s Coffee with Karan hosted by Tabassum, Chhayageet a programme with a medley of Marathi/Hindi film songs that later became Chitrahaar, the famous Chimanrao starring Dilip Prabhavalkar of Munnabhai fame which was a show based on C V Joshi’s short stories, the Baban Prabhu-Yakoob Sayeed comedy show and ‘Gajra’, a Marathi entertainment programme. There would be one Marathi and one Hindi film shown every week in the evening either on Saturdays or Sundays. Then there was Sports Round-Up hosted by Fredun Divitre.

My grandfather used to watch Batmya everyday at 7:30 pm. I remember Bhakti Barve, Pradeep Bhide and Anant Bhave who were regulars at Batmya. It is said that Smita Patil too started her career by giving the Marathi Batmya. It was preceded by Udyache Karyekram, a schedule of the programs that would be held the next day. Saptahiki used to show a schedule of programmes for the next week. I wonder if they still show Aapan Yaana Pahilat Ka, a flash of people who went missing. This must have done a great service to the families of missing people and I wonder if any of the channels today would do this community service. Lots of shows used to be shown featuring classical programmes. There were also some English shows like What’s the Good Word with Sabira Merchant, Fire Ball XL5 and Der Alte – The Old Fox. These were days before the arrival of the T.V. serials or soaps.

The first serial that became a huge hit was Hum Log and later Buniyaad. I remember that when they were airing the last episode of Buniyaad, we had to go for a wedding at the Taj Mahal and hurried back to catch the episode wondering on the way why there were no lights anywhere on the way home. We realized that we had foregone the ice-cream at the Taj for nothing as Bombay had no electricity and was blacked-out due to the tripping of some grid. Then there were hundreds of serials that you would remember as they became very popular. Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi directed by Kundan Shah with Kishore Kumar’s title song and starring Shafi Inamdar,Swaroop Sampat, Rakesh Bedi, Satish Shah and Tiku Talsania and the dialogues “thirty years ka experience’ and “yeh kya ho raha hai’ were on everyone’s lips. Two other serials that I remember very well were Chunauti and Subah which were shot in my college, the Wilson College at Chowpatty. Many of my college mates had acted in them as there were auditions held at the college itself. The serials were on college life.

Ados Pados, a serial directed by Sai Paranjpe of Chasme Baddoor/Katha fame was truly hilarious. It was about life in a housing colony and I remember a family had six kids whose names were A, Ba, Ka, Da, and E like the first five letters of the Marathi Barakhadi. Then the carrot chewing Karamchand, a detective serial with his assistant Kitty starring Pankaj Kapoor and Sushmita Mukerjee. Nukkad, the serial with a medley of characters touched upon issues faced by the common man and Rajani made Priya Tendulkar immortal when she took up various civic and social issues. Kachi Dhoop which featured a young Bhagyashree Patwardhan had Ashutosh Gowarikar as her boyfriend in the role of a tuition teacher! Khandaan was a good drama series on an industrial family and starred Sriram Lagoo, Sunila Pradhan, Mohan Bhandari, Girish Karnad, Neena Gupta, Rohini Hattangadi, Shekhar Kapur and Jayant Kriplani. Quite a full house. Surabhi took you on a travel and cultural. journey with Siddhartha Kak and Renuka Shahane.

I loved a Marathi serial called Shwetambara that ended very abruptly, another one called ‘Gotya’ and Ek Shoonya Shoonya based on crime. Of Course, Ramayan and Mahabharat brought life on the streets to a standstill. The World This Week on Friday nights hosted by Pranoy Roy (NDTV) was very popular as he showed a snippet of news and information from around the world.

Then there were so many others that I will just list like Idhar Udhar, Mr Mrs, Ek Do Teen Char, Wah Janaab with Shekhar Suman and Zarina Wahab, R.K. Narayan’s Malgudi Days which till date is a popular ring tone, Star Trek, Choti Baadi Batein, Udaan which made Laltaji urf Kavita Chowdhary very popular, Gul Gulshan Gulfaam, Wagle Ki Duniya starring Anjan Srivastava and Bharati Achrekar, Bharat ek Khoj based on Nehru’s Discovery of India, Chanakya , Dekh Bhai Dekh, Isi Bahane, Jaspal Bhatti’s flop show, Bikram aur Betal, Paying Guest, Mr. Yogi with Mohan Gokhale, Zabaan Sambhaal Ke,

Lastly there were English Serials mostly British which one can see on BBC Entertainment. I loved serials like Fawlty Towers, Are You Being Served, Some Mother’s Do Have’Em, Different Strokes, Mind Your Language, Remington Steel, Spider-Man, He-Man, Body Line, Sandokan (Kabir Bedi) and all the cartoons and one that I hated was the Didi’s Comedy Show.

Many of the actors in the above mentioned serials have become big stars and well known character actors in Bollywood and some sadly passed away, many prematurely. These include Priya Tendulkar, Mohan Gokhale, Bhakti Barve, Smita Patil, Arvind Deshpande, Dilip Kulkarni, Manorama Wagle, Shafi Inamdar, Chandrakant Gokhale, Shankar Nag, Sudhir Joshi, and Laxmikant Berde. Gone are the Doordarshan days with their passing.

Amaltas

This was the first Amaltas (Cassia fistula) blooming that have I sighted upon this year. This beautiful tree is located right at the middle of the Mint Road junction not too far from Ballard Estate. Amaltas is one of my favorite trees and I long to see them bloom at this time of the year. It is also called the Indian laburnum, not to be mixed up with the Laburnum trees of the famous Laburnum Road at Gamdevi. It is also called the Golden shower tree and is indigenous to India.

The first time I had seen an Amaltas tree was many years ago in Pune, near Kothrud and it had shed all its leaves and was in full bloom. It was not a very big tree and so looked very delicate with beautiful golden-ish yellow flowers that resemble grapes hanging from the branches. The tree remains leafless for a period between March and May. You may not even notice this tree at other times of the year when it is not blooming.

I guess the Amaltas has a lot of fan following. Here is a detailed post from another Amaltas fan. Like this one, everyone thinks that Gamdevi’s Laburnum road is lined with Amaltas trees but they are not the Amaltas but Laburnums imported from England. The Amaltas tree is said to a cousin of the English Laburnum. It is believed that Gandhiji used to gaze at these Laburnum trees from the Mani Bhavan which is located on Laburnum Road at Gamdevi. If you want to know more about Laburnum Road, read Windy Skies excellent post on the same.

Historian, Sharada Dwivedi too had an excellent tale to tell. She has been quoted in the Indian Express, “A few years ago some of the wiser citizens had decided to rename the famous Laburnum Road near Gamdevi, under the impression that it was named after some Englishman. Only at the eleventh hour the BMC came to know the road was named after the Laburnum tree that used to grow in that area, and a big bloomer was averted.''

I have seen many Amaltas trees all over Mumbai including one near the Eros theatre and at the B P T Park at Colaba. If you spot any others around, do let me know.

Lest I forget

Last year, many strays that I knew passed away. Most of them were dogs that were old and had lived a good life on the street. They were looked after and cared for by someone. It becomes very tough when you lose a pet and for me it has always been tough to lose so many that I have known over the years. All these were strays that I had interacted very closely with and grown very fond of. This blog is dedicated to all of them.

The Nariman Point Kalu: The Sunday after the 26/11 terror attacks, I was in Nariman Point administering first-aid when a man who recognised me came running shouting "Doctor, Doctor ... Kalu mar gaya”. I asked him what had happened and he said “terrorist’s ne mar diya” and went onto describe how it happened. As I wondered how the terrorists could have been at Nariman Point… I realised later after reading newspaper reports about the terrorist attacks, that the man was telling the truth. I pieced together the man’s inputs with the newspaper reports on what could have happened.

After the terrorists had hijacked the police van from Metro and driven towards Nariman Point with a burst tyre, Kalu started chasing the vehicle as it was making a terrific noise. This happened at the traffic circle near the Mittal Towers. This was when the terrorists gunned him down, proceeded ahead and later took over the Skoda. The man, who met me told me that Kalu died instantaneously, had suffered bullet injuries and that they buried him near the sea.

The WIAA Kalu: I have known him ever since I started doing first aid in 1996. He died on January 23, 2009 at the WSD kennels of old age, when I was in Delhi for our Supreme Court case. Kalu was one of the most happy and resilient dogs I have known. He used to live in the Indian Merchant Chambers building at Churchgate where Irani Café, Stadium Restaurant is located. He was called the WIAA Kalu as one of the WIAA (Western India Automobile Association) drivers had brought him as a puppy sixteen years ago and all the WIAA drivers and staff used to love him and feed him. He was friends with Raju another reddish brown hairy dog who used to live here and died some years ago. Kalu was very affectionate. You would see him lying down near the 123 bus stop or on the footpath outside the IMC building. He used to make these bawling sounds on seeing me and wanted to be petted continuously. In his hey days, he would follow me to a point and then go back. Kalu has been through many maggot wounds, a liver problem, an accident where he was paralyzed but he came out strong. Whoever knew him, loved him including WSD volunteer Urvi Desai who had taken the photo that I have used alongside. Kalu was not very happy when they brought Rani,a bratty puppy to his 'ilaka' and used to act snooty with her at the beginning. He of course accepted her in some time. Rani still lives there but has glaucoma and must be missing Kalu like all of us.

Altamount Road’s Jimmy: I had known Jimmy for atleast twelve long years. Jimmy used to live in some tenements opposite the Washington House on Altamount Road. He was looked after by Rakesh who worked with Smoking Joe’s Pizza. I must confess that Jimmy was one of the few dogs that has bitten me. He used to hate me from the bottom of his heart for all the rabies immunization pokes and the maggot wound and other treatment given to him. It used to be easier to treat him when Rakesh was around , so we used to visit Jimmy during Rajesh's off-duty hours. During one such visit for a rabies vaccination, he must have though that this was his chance to take ‘badla’(revenge) and gave me a small bite on my leg when I turned around to leave.

Little did we know that when WSD volunteer,Rohan Mukerjee photographed him for the WSD 2009 calendar, he would not be around when it came out. Though he was street smart, I was very shocked to know that he was run over. He was one of the oldest dogs on this street and shared the tenement with Junior, a young reddish hairy dog.

The Rhythm House Kali: Kali too was very old, around sixteen. She used to live outside the Rhythm House at Kala Ghoda and used to be looked after the street dwelling family living on that foot-path. Kali used to be loved by all the street kids who also used to lovingly sit on her and she used to never protest. She too used to try and slink away when she saw me or when we had to treated her for any ailment; she used to give us a little chase upto the Kala Ghoda parking lot. She was the last of the many dogs that this street dwelling family has and younger ones had passed away before her. This photo was taken when one of the street kids wanted to put some X'mas decoration over her and she was getting ready to dart off on seeing me. The other one is of her, feeling at 'home', outside Rhythm House.

The ‘D’ Road Moti: Moti was a favorite with all the residents of Vishnu Mahal on D road at Churchgate and he used to take turns of going to different people's houses on various floors of the building for a hearty meal. You, thus would not have been surprised seeing his size. He was really huge. He used to be a good guard dog in the building and always watched me suspiciously when we used to go to give him his annual rabies vaccinations or treatment. Moti was atleast fifteen and died of liver failure and was given a tearful adieu by the Vishnu Mahal residents and me at the animal hospital crematorium.

Fashion Street Rocky: He used to live on Fashion Street not very far from The Bombay Gymkhana. He was brought there thirteen years ago by the street dwelling family whose one son still runs a cutting chai outfit on the foot-path at the entrance to Azad Maidan. Rocky was black with ‘dobe’eyes. He used to go berserk on seeing me and used to jump up and down literally trying to reach upto my chin. A volunteer who was doing a photography project had clicked a photo of him jumping in mid-air at me. Rocky has had his share of maggot wounds and the bald patch on his head was due one such terrible maggot wound which WSD’s volunteer from Germany, David Murphy had cured. Rocky was like a cat with nine lives. Some years ago, one day whilst passing by, I found him in a terrible condition, listless, not able to get up and with a very bad maggot wound. He was taken to the WSD kennels and over time, he healed and was happy to be back. Rocky would generally be lazying around on the edge of the Bombay Gymkhana grounds, on the Azad Maidan or between the parked motorcycles on the Fashion street foot-path. When ever I am passing his hide-outs, I wish that he would mysteriously appear from some where and greet me with his signature jump. Here is a photo of Rocky and his Maidan friends.

The Parsi Kua Rani: She was the gentlest dog that I have ever known. She used to live at the Parsi Kua or the Bhikaji Behram well, near Fountain. She has been living there for the last fifteen years and she was a very gentle dog loved by the Parsi worshippers who visit this holy place and of course the attendants who doted on her. They were always very concerned about her and used to call WSD very promptly if she was suffering from any ailment. She used to either be sitting at the door under the photograph of Zarathustra or on one of the green wooden benches or somewhere near the well. She was a very willing patient, be it for her tick infestation or her rabies immunization. She will be truly missed by all of us.

To be continued.....

Photo Credits :

Jimmy: WSD Volunteer,Rohan Mukerjee...taken for the WSD 2009 Calendar.

WIAA Kalu : WSD volunteer, Urvi Desai

Strand's Shanbhag passes away

Mumbai sure will be left with a vacuum in the world of book sellers and books with the passing away of Mr. T N Shanbhag, founder and owner of The Strand Book Stall at Fort. Mr. Shanbhag expired yesterday(February 27, 2009) at 1:30 pm and was cremated at the Chandanwadi crematorium at 11:00 pm.

Many know that Mr. Shanbhag started his book stall as a kiosk in the erstwhile Strand Cinema (thus the name) in Colaba on November 20, 1948 and moved it to its present location in 1954. Geeta Chadha who has written a chapter "Mirroring the Precinct", in the book Zero Point Bombay on The Horniman Circle precinct writes: "Having been humiliated in a reputed bookstore of the time for touching a book, the young Shanbhag wanted to start a bookstore where the access to ‘Saraswati' would not be restricted to the elite, but would be open to a wider section of the people. Shanbhag approached Keki Mody, the owner of Strand Cinema with his idea, and that is how the Strand Book Stall came into being on the premises of the cinema hall." Ths idea came to him during the screening of "Cheaper by the Dozen" at Strand Cinema.

Ask any book lover, reader, aficionado,buff,bookworm and he would have many names for the Padmashree Award winner of 2003 … favorite book seller, saint of books, twinkle eyed gentleman, humble book man of Mumbai and so on….

I knew him from all the frequent visits, over the years to the Strand Book Stall and also because his wife’s sister who we lovingly called ‘Mau’ was our next door neighbor. I remember him telling me that he was the first one in the world to sell a book at a discount (that too of 20%).

I have seen him, many a times forego much more than 20% for students and others who did not have enough to cover the bill. The additional book was always thrown in. This would never have happened in any other book store. He always used to say that Saraswati can never be bought or sold. He had in-depth knowledge of any book that you wanted which made you feel that he must have read each and every of the lakhs of titles in his store and I am sure he must have.

People used to throng and look forward to The Strand Book Festival at Sunderbai Hall held in January of every year, where discounts used to be higher and one could get ‘real’ deals on many books(Strand Specials). This was the first year that I did not see him at the Book Festival and his wife mentioned to me that he was at the Cumballa Hill Hospital but was recovering.

Last week, I had attended a lecture by Dr Frank Conlon on the Books Sellers and scholars of Bombay and any such discussion would have been incomplete without the mentioning of Mr. Shanbhag. In fact, the Mumbai book scene is going to be incomplete with the passing of Mr.T. N. Shanbhag. Mumbai has lost a city institution and a precious part of itself. Mr. Shanbhag will truly be missed by the city especially by those like me who have spent hours browsing in the little book store wth a soul.

Read Ranjit Hoskote's article"Honouring the bookman" written for the Hindu in 2003 here

The whole slum knows Gachkya

I have known Gachkya for the past twelve odd years. The first time we got a call for a dog with a skin problem, the caller said “woh, mutari mein baitha hoga”. (He will be sitting inside the Urinal*), aur uska naam hai Gachkya”. (And his name is Gachkya).

He was called Gachkya because of his skin problem. The first time I remember being overpowered by the ammonia smell, having to carry out Gachkya who was sitting in the corridor of the Urinal and treat him. Promptly after being treated he would run back to occupy his position.

So it became a ritual if Gachkya was on the first aid list to go to Nariman Point, checking first in the toilet where he would be always sitting, being overpowered by the ammonia smell, carrying him outside, treating him and seeing him trot back right into his toilet. This carried on for years and recently he has thankfully moved into the narrow gullies of the slum behind the toilet.

He has always been a very sweet and quiet dog allowing us to carry him around for want of a better position for his treatment. He always does a little run of the criss cross gullies just to tease us, wagging his tail in tow. It is a game that he has mastered over the years. People never ‘shoo’ him away no matter where he is sitting, inside the Urinal or in the slum gully.

Gachkya is a resident of the slum opposite Tulsiani Chambers in Nariman Point and last Sunday when I saw him, he was as patient, as quiet, as friendly and as sweet as ever. Gachkya must be at least fourteen years old.

* Urinal here means a toilet with only urinal facilities.

Also cross posted on Mumbai Street Dog Photos

Shere Khan

In Marathi, a cat is called ‘Waghachi Mavshi’ or a tiger’s aunt. Well, here is a white cat that is true to his name. Shere Khan hangs around with some hawkers who sell shoes and socks on the P M Road footpath. He loves sitting on the cycle seat and will pose for you when you flash your camera. According to one of the elderly hawkers there, Shere Khan appeared one fine day, five years ago and took to all the hawkers who dote on him and feed him.

So next time if you are on P.M. Road in Fort, look out for this white ‘tiger’ who would be sitting on a bicycle allowing you to pamper and admire him at the same time.

Bombay's Book Stores - Old and New

Today, when I saw Dr Frank Conlon at the Durbar Hall at the Asiatic Society, I remembered where I had seen him last. It was at the St Xavier’s College in February 2007 where he was giving a lecture on The Tramways of Mumbai. This time, he was talking about “Bombay’s Book Sellers and scholars”, a talk organized by The Asiatic Literary Society.

Dr Frank has written many Bombay centric articles including "Dining Out In Bombay", "Industrialization and the Housing Problem in Bombay, 1850-1940” and the book, "A caste in a changing world : the Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmans, 1700-1935".

He first came to Mumbai in November 1965 and frequented many book stores and libraries. He remembers book stores like Taraporewala and Sons and New Book Company on D.N. Road, Thackers and Chetana on Rampart Row, Alavi Book Depot and Kokil on Mohammed Ali Road, N.M. Tripathi on Princess Street, New and Second Hand book store at Kalbadevi, Popular Book Depot on Lamington Road and Bombay Book Depot at Prarthana Samaj and the Strand Book Stall in Fort.

He says that the above stores were started by people who had genuine appreciation of books. Real books shops are an ‘endangered’ species today and various compulsions have closed down many including Popular, Bombay, Thackers, Alavi and Kokil.

He added that today’s bookstores like Crossword might be fancy, have sofas, carpets, air-conditioners and coffee shops but the people working there have ‘no engagement with the product’ and going to such stores is not the same for those who feel and have a special affection for books.

Strand Book Stall

He spoke about some of the people behind the stores. Everyone knows about Mr. Shanbhag of the Strand Books Store. He didn’t go into the details but here is an extract from my post on the Strand Book Festival. “It all started when Mr. T. N. Shanbhag (recipient of the Padmashri in 2003) put up a little stall which sold books at a discount. It was located near the erstwhile Strand Cinema (thus the name) in Colaba and opened on November 20, 1949 and was moved in 1954 to its present location. Mr. Shanbhag was telling me all this and added that he was the first one in the world to sell a book at a discount (that too of 20%)”

Popular Book Depot

He then spoke about the Popular Book Depot and G.R. Bhatkal and his son Sadanand. The Bhatkals were seen as the pioneers of the book and publishing business.

I have had the good fortune of knowing Sadanand kaka as I call him and remember going to the green painted Popular Book Depot on Lamington Road as a kid. The store had a long counter and perpendicular to it, at the back were rows of shelves full of thousands of books. I remember going past these rows to the back and climbing onto a steep ladder to go to Sadanand kaka’s office.

Popular book depot was started by Sadanand Bhatkal’s father Shri Ganesh Bhatkal in 1924. Eminent jurist , the late Nani Palkhiwala in a speech rendered for a G.R. Bhatkal Memorial lecture in September 1995, says that Shri Ganesh Bhatkal helped him in three inestimable ways. He used to allow Mr. Palkhiwala to treat Popular as a public library. During his career as an arts student(1936-1942), he was allowed to sit and browse through books at the shop for hours together and also take home books ‘on approval basis’. He also remembers that he would at times continue reading even after the front door had been closed and later coming out by the back door.

I was truly saddened when Popular closed down in the eighties and so did Bombay Book depot which was a leading Marathi book shop. In fact, Sadanand kaka’s brother Ramdas kaka that ran Popular Prakashan, a publishing house was present for Dr Conlon's lecture.

Dr Conlon ended his lecture by mentioning scholars and institutions that have made a big difference in researching various subjects on Mumbai and feels that today there is an upsurge on the number of people who want to research on Mumbai.

Stores that are still around

Mumbai has various books stores where you can satiate your literary appetite. The new age book stores like Crossword with their flagship store at Kemps Corner and many branches all over,Granth at Goregaon and Juhu, Oxford at Churchgate and the newly opened Landmark at Andheri. All these and the various neighbourhood book stores

There are niche book stores like Marine Sports Books Store at Dadar for sports books, Computer Book Shop on D.N. Road for computer books, Sterling Book Shop at V.T. for management books,Gandhi Book Centre at Nana Chowk for books on Gandhiji,Hindi Granth Karyalaya at C.P. Tank for Hindi books , Ideal book depot at Dadar and Majestic at Girgaum for Marathi books, Lakhani Book Depot at Girgaum for text books and Bhavan's Book stall at Chowpatty and Andheri for Religion,History and Phlosophy.

Single books stores which have been around for a long time like Danai at Khar(which also has opened a branch at the Taj Land's end), Nalanda in the Taj Mahal Hotel at the Gateway of India, Shankars outside Cafe Mondegar on Colaba Causeway and Causeway Book Store which sell books left behind by foreign tourists at over-rated prices.

And the old age ones like the Strand , off P.M. Road, FBH ( Fort Books Distributors) at V.T. who supply a lot of books to all the Mumbai book stores and regularly hold exhibitions all over the city. You would get new and second hand books at the New and Second hand books shop at Metro, Smokers Corner at the Ballard Estate end of P.M. Road and of course the road side book-sellers around Fountain, Churchgate, King's Circle, Bandra and at 'raddiwalas' all over the city. All these stores would always give you discounts on the books.

But in the sea of the Crosswords, Oxfords, Granths and Landmarks … the Strand remains my favorite.

Janfest 09 and Strand Book Exhibition

The Janfest 09 conducted by the Indian Music Group (IMG) at the St Xavier’s College is going on from January 24, 2009 to January 26 2009.

The IMG was set up to promote the rich Indian heritage of classical music and to encourage youngsters to carry forward this tradition.

Janfest has seen stalwarts from the classical music field like Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, Zakir Husain, Shubha Mudgal, Parveen Sultana, Kishori Amonkar, Rajan and Sajan Mishra and many many more.

This year performances would seen the following musicians

24th January (Saturday) 7:00 pm

Taal Vaad Kacheri

Shri Vikku Vinayakam(Ghatam)
Shri V. Selvaganesh(Kanjira)
Shri Dilshad Khan(Sarangi)
Shri Fazal Querishi(Tabla)
Shri Sridhar Parthasartyh(Mridangan)
Shri Bhawani Shankar(Pakhawaj)

25th January (Sunday) 5:00 pm

Shri Rupak Kulkarni(Flute)
accompanied by

Shri Aditya Kalyanpur(Tabla)
Shri Kalinath Mishra(Pakhawaj)

Pt Channulal Mishra (Hindustani Vocals)
accompanied by

Shri Guruprasad Hegde(Harmonium)
Shri Lalit Kumar (Tabla)

Pt ShivKumar Sharma (Santoor)

accompanied by
Shri Yogesh Samsi (Tabla)
Shri Bhawani Shankar (Pakhawaj)

26th January (Monday) 6:00 p.m.

Ustad Nishat Khan(Sitar)
accompanied by

Shri Yogesh Samsi (Tabla)

Smt Kishori Amonkar (Hindustani Vocals)
accompanied by

Shri Vishwanath Shrodkar (Harmonium)
Shr Suyog Kundalkar (Harmonium)
Shri Milind Raikar (Violin)

The Tall Vaad Kacheri was a rendition of percussion instruments and was very beautiful with the first half having the Hindustani Music , then the Carnatic and then all of them together n a jugalbandi. The ambience of the St Xavier’s college stone building with a cathedral backdrop makes it more enthralling.

Tickets were still available, so do go if you like Indian Classical Music.

Don't miss the Strand Book Festival

The Strand Book Festival is currently going on and will end on January 28, 2008.(10.00 am to 8:00 p.m.) Like every year, the venue is Sunderbai Hall, near Churchgate Station. Don’t miss it.

And Mumbai ran again

Every year in January, Mumbai runs in the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon. This year too, WSD volunteers and supporters ran along with hundreds of young and old who were running for various causes and companies.

The Dream run which chugs or walks along the V.T. – Fountain-Marine Drive-Flyover-Metro stretch always attracts the maximum participants. There were people running for various causes for NGO’s like Akanksha, Aseema, Unmeed, Magic Bus, Unmeed, CRY, Friends Of Tribals, Asha, Nanhi Kali and many more.

It was a quiet moment when we passed the Trident and the runners applauded the staff that was standing outside for their courage during the Mumbai Terror Attacks.

Every year, our Regalwala Kalu gives us company. We have spotted him at various places during the Marathon. He really likes people and this year one of our volunteers who was at Chowpatty running the Half Marathon called and told me that Kalu was giving her company.

Luke Kenny, who starred in Rock On lent WSD his support and ran in the Dream Run.

The WSD - "Strays Of Mumbai" Calendar 2009

The Welfare of Stray Dogs for the first time has brought out the “Strays Of Mumbai” WSD Calendar 2009. The calendar features strays from various parts of Mumbai and catch them in different moods that show what an inseparable part of our lives they are. All the photographs have been taken by WSD volunteer, Rohan Mukerjee.

They are available for Rs 150 at the WSD- Kala Ghoda office and other outlets/vet clinics listed below who have been very kind and generous to stock them.

Proceeds from the sale of calendars go towards WSD’s sterilization and other programmes.

South Mumbai
1) Dogy Articles, Shop No 4, Daulat, Near Colaba Post Office, Colaba, Mumbai Tel: 22162869
2) WSD, C/o Mr F. Broacha, 2nd Flr, Yeshwant Chambers, B.Bharucha Marg, Near Fab India, Kala Ghoda, Mumbai – 23 Tel : 64222838
3) Dr Leena Dalal’s Clinic – Green Fields, Opposite Oval Maidan, Churchgate, Mumbai – 21 Tel: 66153497
4) Ibrahim’s Pet Shop, Kemps Corner, Mumbai – Tel: 23806278
5) Tog Dog, 45, Husain Manor, Petit Road, Breach Candy, Mumbai- 26 Tel: 9820070992
6) Dr Tina Rustomji’s Clinic – Gamadia Polyclinic, Gamadia Colony, Tardeo – Mumbai - 34 Tel: 23519105
Dadar
Dr Makrand Chavan’s Clinic – Shop No 1, Matoshree Tower, Kohinoor Mills Lane, Shivaji Park, Dadar – Mumbai- 28 Tel: 24380756
Bandra
Paws and Furs, Shop No 3, Kailash,156, Waterfield Road, Bandra, Mumbai. Tel: 66990858
Tailwaggers, 16th Road, Behind Hawaian Shack, Bandra, Mumbai. Tel: 9820127572
Khar
KPS My Pet Shop, Shop No 5, Shivanjali, Dr Ambedkar Road, Khar, Mumbai. Tel : 65913333
Chembur
KPS My Pet Shop, Shop No 27, Opp Wasan Motors, Sion-Trombay Rd, Chembur- Mumbai 71 Tel: 6591444
(Please telephone the respective outlet for their timings and availability)