The Adventures of Justin - Year 3

Taking after his mommy, cooking up something at our kitchen in Daund

Justin’s 3 years old now, time flies huh? Leaving a few photos of his adventures of the past year: -


Justin at his second birthday, in Daund, with a horde of neighbourhood kids. Successfully made the house into a complete mess. Helluva time cleaning up for his poppa and momma, sorta made our minds up then, not to hold a similar birthday party this year. That explains the lack of pictures this year. We just took him to the local market for a walkabout and back to the house with a bonus 3 jelly sweets (his favourite, for the time being) as his birthday cake.


Posing with the Bear Man, and the ...God knows what that is, at the Phoenix Mall in Pune. That flower bedecked thing is an Indian rickshaw, decorated to mimic a Malaysian one (thanks to the Malaysian themed restaurant Malaka Street, whose Malaysian food is only as close to the real thing as how the rickshaw is... nuff said)


A cold spell during winter, in front of our Silchar home, Assam


Chinese New Year in Silchar, complete with Chinese attire


Justin’s imitation of a crocodile (or 'die', as Justin calls it), at Jalan Alor, Kuala Lumpur. 'Die' also refers to monsters, dinosaurs, zombies and things of that ilk. His vocabulary now includes Ophant, Oplane, Oly, Funner, Pamer, Popai, Duntin, Kly, Cared, Pysi, Levav, Dikar and Umplet. (elephant, aeroplane, already, thunder, power, potato, Justin, cry, scared, spicy, giraffe, guitar and trumpet respectively)


Justin and his Ji-pek-kong, Ipoh Swimming Club


Having a swim, Ipoh Swimming Club


Justin and his ‘child-bride’ Purva, just kidding. It's our neighbour's kid and one of his closest friends for now


At the Manipuri Shiv Temple opposite his grandmother’s house in Fulertal, Assam


Nepali Temple, Silchar


Having a cup of chai (tea) with our driver Pawan, at a ramshackle roadside stall at Sinhagad, a hilltop fortress near Pune


Enjoying a doughnut, one of the few foods he’ll take, at the Kumar Pacific Mall, Pune


On his way to becoming a connoisseur, wine tasting at a local winery at Roti, about 5km off our Project road


Justin in a choo-choo train, Phoenix Mall, Pune, till we meet again, Ta for the time being!

Two Deaths about Mumbai

The Bombay High Court

After staying in Maharashtra for some time, I can’t help but feel compelled to write something on two major events that happened this month regarding Mumbai.

The more prominent event would be the passing away of a controversial political leader of Maharashtra, and mainly Mumbai for the last 40 odd years, named Bal Thackeray, aged 86, on 17th November 2012. Bal Thackeray, the chief of the Shiv Sena party, is a larger than life character, interesting in the way that he was, at one time, the de facto ‘ruler’ of Mumbai, who can with one command, bring the largest city in India to a complete halt.

This is no easy feat. Just imagine, Mumbai, a city of over 20 million people, and the financial capital of India, closed! No taxis, no auto-rickshaws on the roads, no shops, malls or restaurants! And what’s more amazing is that he holds no official position in the government, never has, and has never been an elected member of parliament or the state assembly (according to the newspaper article I read). He is only a newspaper editor and political cartoonist, who founded his own local language newspaper and his own political party. Plus, he has a penchant for making controversial and derogatory remarks against all and sundry, mainly against the Muslims, and South Indians, and North Indians, and revellers of Valentine’s Day, and girls with a liberal (i.e. Western) outlook, against anyone who dares speak against him or his ideas!

Anyway, he was given a state funeral, with gun salutes and a public cremation in a Mumbai park, which was televised life on TV. Two million people attended the cremation, including the rich and famous of India like superstar Amitabh Bachchan and superrich Anil Ambani. Thanks to him, the entire state of Maharashtra, ground to a halt on 18th November, including our dear ol’ Project despite our client having scheduled an important handover inspection on the following day. Where else in this modern world, could this happen, but India??!

The second event, was the hanging of one Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, a Pakistani by nationality and the sole surviving Islamist militant of the 2008 Terrorist Strike of Mumbai where 164 people were killed in a 3-day bombing and shooting spree. He was hanged early morning on the 21st of November 2012, in a hushed up execution in a Pune Jail, 5 days before the 4th anniversary of the attacks.

I will say that this marks the close of two important chapters in the recent history of Mumbai. Anyway, here’re some photos of Mumbai taken last year. Do check back with our past photos of Mumbai taken when we were staying there in 2007.


The Victoria Terminus aka Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station, where Kasab and an accomplice killed at least 58 people when they opened fire indiscriminately in the passenger hall in the 2008 Terrorist Attack of Mumbai


Antilia, the CD rack shaped home of the richest man in India, Mukesh Ambani. My then employer, Leighton was building it when we left Mumbai in 2007


The Bandra-Worli Sealink now opened; it was under construction when we were there in 2007

Pune Diary Chapter 1

A fashion show at a launch of a residential apartment project in Wakad, Pune – posting a picture of the lights, as the pictures of the models and celebrities suck, thanks to our cheapo camera (or more like our lousy photographer, ...namely yours truly, ahem)

What’s staying here without putting some photos of life in Pune huh? Pune is the closest city (and ‘sign of civilization’) to where we stay in Daund.

Pune’s a huge city, 5 - 6 million people. According to some people, this only happened in the last 10 years, i.e. the city grew 10-fold from 600,000 to 6 million in ten years (and so did the property prices). It is now a congested and expensive city, but it is our destination of choice on weekends because, ...there is just nowhere else to go.

Pune is only about 80km away from where we stay, but it takes 2 bloody hours to reach, thanks in part to our half-constructed highway, but mainly to the 6km stretch from the end of the 4-lane highway, into the city proper.

Pune is well-known in India for its vibrant night life and more liberal outlook, (which is kinda tame if compared to the variety in South East Asia, this is India after all)




Hanging out at a Shisha Cafe at ABC Farms, Pune


Getting the hookah ready


A life band at the Phoenix Mall, Pune


Papa John’s Pizza, Phoenix Mall, Pune where Amrita and Karishma, our niece, worked part-time while pursuing their course in aviation hospitality (air-hostesses)


Amrita, Karishma, Yogita (their friend) and Anu at Papa John’s, Pune


Phoenix Mall outing for the girls


Anu, with our anniversary cake at Phoenix Mall, Pune on the occasion of our 5th anniversary last year


Blue Nile restaurant, my personal favourite in Pune for its mutton biryani, seekh kebabs, Iranian-styled dishes and their efficiency but many (including Anu) aren’t really impressed, it’s a matter of taste after all...


Amrita and Karishma at Frankfinn Institute of Air-Hostess Training, Bund Garden, Pune


A fashion show by the students at Frankfinn, with a guest appearance of our little monster

A Few Trips to the Village

A view from the road to Fulertal from Silchar, Assam

More pictures of my wife’s home village of Fulertal, where we’ve made quite a few trips recently due to some pressing family matters. You can see how I’m resorting to posting a one-liner with lots of pictures just to keep the blog alive. That’ll explain how busy (not to mention grumpy) I’ve become at work.


The Barak River flanking Fulertal, with the new bridge completed. This is the village’s public bath and swimming pool, in non monsoon times (when the water's cleaner)


Justin and his cousins Kunal (right) and Akash or Chhandam in Mizo (left)


Justin resting by a neighbour’s house of wood & mud, Fulertal


Justin having a swell time at his grandmother’s house with mom, aunt and cousin sis, Sonia looking on


The Shiv Mandir (Shiv Temple) opposite Anu’s mother’s house


A closer view of the Shiv Mandir, note the inscriptions on the temple walls and entrance are in the Manipuri script as the temple is under Manipuri jurisdiction


The Mukam (tomb I think, nobody told me the exact meaning) beside the Shiv Temple. The inscription in English says Baba Longarshah, must be some Islamic Sufi saint’s name. The rest of the inscriptions are in Bengali, the local lingua franca. It’s a popular shrine among the Muslims in the region and surprisingly also among the Hindu residents of the adjoining Nepali village. Just shows the diversity of the place. We will typically visit the Shiv Mandir, and right after that, the Mukam, to place candles and incense on the steps of the tomb


The entrance to the Mukam, which I call the Shrine of the Chain, as there is a chain nailed to a tree nearby, which devotees will try to hit with a stone after making a wish. The trick is that you have to hit it with your first throw and you have to close your eyes while throwing


Anu & Justin at the Mukam, which is now decorated with chains painted gold, a recent addition. I guess the tomb caretakers finally realised the significance of that tiny chain on the tree


Amrita having a go at hitting the chain, she hit it after err... 5 times that time, so I guess it’s hard luck with her wish

An Unexpected Find

Bhuleshwar Temple, off Pune to Solapur Road, Maharashtra

Here’s an unexpected gem in the area. We decided to listen to some of our fellow colleagues and pop over on one of the Sundays to this little temple, perched on top of an uninhabited rocky hill just about 6km off our project road.

And I have to admit, I was kinda impressed – old place, with nice views of the almost barren hills around, and with intricate carvings inside. Maybe it’s only that I didn’t expect to find anything of interest in this downtrodden place. What's more surprising is that the temple even has a functional well, and this is on top of a hill, in barren country!


Visitors at Bhuleshwar Temple


A view of the arid landscape from the temple


Justin & mommy, Bhuleshwar Temple


Justin & papa, inside the temple








More views of the temple interior

Scenes from Rural Maharashtra

A quiet village scene near Satara, on the road to Phaltan

It ain’t all bad getting stuck in this place. Here’re some scenes for all you ‘city folks’ that you can’t get where you’re at hehehe...


Tree-lined roads between Aurangabad and the Ellora Caves, kinda reminds me of Taiping


Wheat field on the road to Ellora


Guess what this is, ...flowers of the common onion, didn’t know onions had flowers huh?


The parched hillside during the dry season, beside our Project Road corridor


Dusty bushland-like roads near our Project Road corridor


Temples near Lingali, one of the villages near Daund


Water catchment area, Daund


View of the countryside, near Ravangaon