Mumbai Diary page: Thursday Theme
Updated On: 17 July, 2014 06:39 AM IST | MiD DAY Correspondent
The city — sliced, diced and served with a dash of sauce
Roadblocks and road rage
Mumbai rain means floods of course, but it also means clogged roads, leading to ire on the part of frustrated drivers.
So, yesterday as traffic crawled at the proverbial snail’s pace, one saw drivers trying to quell their rage and irritation, some with little success. One gent was stuck in his car near the Lower Parel bridge, which is closed to traffic so vehicles have to take the Chinchpokli bridge to reach Lalbaug.
This man could not take the seemingly endless delay, and just got out of his car, moved the yellow barrier, and drove onto Lower Parel bridge.
A policeman who questioned him ended up in a heated argument, as the driver asked how people were supposed to get to the other side when both Elphinstone bridge and Lower Parel bridge were closed to access. “Does the government pay for our petrol and diesel?” he queried.
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Slither Hither
Smartphone users may not get it, but we old-timers have to stand back and admire the promo currently airing on TV, for the Anacondas series of films which one of the channels is scheduled to show soon.
The promo is done in the style of the classic (and addictive) cellphone game called Snake, which users of older-model phones will remember. It’s a great idea, well executed, and the look and feel is spot-on. Applause to the creative team! (PS: Smartphone users can download the game, we hear.)
Sweet tribute
We received a pleasant surprise the other day in the form of a small parcel. Inside were miniature replicas, in marzipan and chocolate, of two books by mid-day founder Khalid AH Ansari, and an inkpot.

It's difficult to tell the edible books in the foreground from the real paper one in the background. And there’s no ink in that inkpot only sugar! Pic/Atul Kamble
One book was on Sachin Tendulkar, Born to Bat, and the other was Cricket at Fever Pitch which had a foreword by Sunil Gavaskar (both, incidentally, were edited by our group sports editor, Clayton Murzello).
The beautifully designed treats were, as Ansari told us, “A (very touching) gift from the Taj Exotica manager in Goa when we stayed there recently. It was his idea and the creation of pastry chef Ravi of the hotel.” We can’t think of a sweeter way to pay a compliment.
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