Two stunning bits of news from back home in Bombay - one great and hard-worked for, the other terrible and deeply shocking!

The good news first - Bombay will soon have its own 100-car vintage car museum. The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation is converting the space below flyovers into museums, with two flyovers in Mahim and Vakola taking the lead. Mahim will have a museum of vintage cars, while the space below the Vakola flyover will have an Indian art museum. This is something that we at the Vintage and Classic Car Club of India (VCCCI) have been campaigning for a long, long time!! It will be a multi-level display of approximately 100 cars within finely-lit acrylic walls, placed in such a way that they can be viewed by the motorists on the roads. Can't wait to get back to Bombay and sink my teeth into this project!!!!!

The second news is terrible - Nafisa Joseph, former Miss India, model-turned-VJ and animal rights activist, committed suicide by hanging herself from a ceiling fan in her Versova flat yesterday. She was just 25-years-old. The police and her family lay the blame on her fiancé Gautam Khanduja, who she was set to marry on August 7 this year. The engagement was apparently broken off a couple of days back when Nafisa discovered that Gautam was already married and his divorce papers were not in order. Others, however, deliberate that the engagement was broken off because Nafisa recenty had recurrent episodes of epilepsy.

Whatever the reason, I find it difficult to believe that a smart and intelligent girl like Nafisa could take such a drastic step over a failed relationship. Or for any other reason. I have personally been through some severe depressive episodes in the last few months, and I know that sometimes ending it all just seems to be the only way out. But please step back for a moment and think of all the hurt that you leave those who care for you with. Nafisa's mom, my friends in the modelling industry tell me, is totally shattered. Not surprisingly. Life can get terrible at times, but this is one path from which there is no coming back - EVER.

That said, I am just trying to think of the extreme anguish of a 25-year-old who is forced to take such a major step. Having met Nafisa a few times, I know that she was a wonderful person and my heart goes out to her. Hope you have finally found peace Nafisa, wherever you may be.

Singapore is EXPENSIVE! Haven't bought anything (at least according to my standards) and have blown all my money. Am actually starting to miss Bombay now....much as I love travelling, somehow home is always the place I end up longing for. Everytime I look at the harbour here it reminds me of the view from my bedroom window in Bombay. In these last two weeks have experienced every kind of accomodation possible - from Backpacker's Cozy Corner, which is an extremely neat 'n clean and centrally located backpacker's hostel with airconditioned doubles starting at S$30 (inclusive of breakfast and internet) to the Sentosa Resort and Spa where my suite cost approx S$1000. Tomorrow I go to the Raffles Hotel for two days and am really looking forward to experiencing this historic property. From there its back home on the 2nd :)

Went to Kuala Lumpur for three days, but frankly did not like the city too much. Its dirty, the roads are not safe after dark and the public transport system is murder. All the cabbies will take you for a ride if you dont know the routes - charging you upwards of thrice the amount. Stayed at the Heritage Station Hotel there, which was pretty OK except that the cupboard in my room would start making the most scary and loud screeching noises at exactly 7 in the morning everyday - and for absolutely no reason at all. For the first time in my life I actually believed in ghosts!!

The two things I really liked in Kuala Lumpur were the Petronas Towers and the Sepang F1 circuit...pretty impressive stuff. They allow only 100-120 people on the Petronas skybridge everyday and tickets are available for only a couple of hours in the morning. I believe people start queing up there around 6.30 in the morning. This was one of the times I was really thrilled that I had left law and returned to journalism, because the press card works wonders in such a situation :)

Must do for Singapore visitors: the Water Tours Harbour Cruise. This is a two-and-a-half hour cruise aboard a Chinese Junk, which takes you to some of the far-flung islands past the Singapore coast. You actually go pretty close to the Indonesian waters and can see their skyline in the far distance. The Singapore coastline, of course, looks simply amazing from the boat. If you are taking the afternoon cruise, pay the S$6 extra and opt for the High Tea version. That way you get to do three things at the same time - the cruise itself, experience the inside of a traditional Chinese tea house (replicated on the lower deck) and taste the famed Chinese savories.

I am in Singapore, which should hopefully explain any updates on the blog since the past few days :)
 
Singapore is a  pretty good city, though I haven't really seen too much of it yet. Been having a different kind of experience here - for the first  few days am on assignment with a foreign budget travel magazine, and have to write a feature on living in Singapore on less than US$ 30 per day. Which is no mean feat, since this city is EXPENSIVE ! The "shopper's paradise" reputation is because of the variety of stuff available, and not the prices...though I did spot my dream laptop -  the Sony Vaio - for Rs. 97,000, which is way cheaper than in India.
 
Am staying in a tiny, but extremely neat and clean, hostel called Backpacker's Cozy Corner.  My only grouse? It doesn't have attached toilets and  showers. Haven't stayed  in a place without these amenities ever since my student days, and though I am going to sound  like a spoilt  brat, would  never ever choose to do so again as long as I can help it!! Sorry to admit this  - but am dying to get over this assignment and move over the posher hotels.........can't  help it, I like my luxuries!!!!!!
 
Though am grateful for one thing - might have stuck to  the cabs and never discovered Singapore's excellent  MRT (Mass  Rapid Transport) system if I was  not forced to live on a budget. The local stations and the trains  themselves are far cleaner  here than even the international airport in Bombay...I am not kidding.
 
A few more obsevations about S'pore:
1. Haven't seen a cop in two days, but everbody still follows even the tiniest of laws...are they in plain clothes??
2. Where are the petrol pumps in this city????
3. All the women look as if  they should be force fed and made to put on some weight. None of them have even a millimeter of extra fat and they all look so polished all the time. Am not even going to try stepping into a clothes boutique... they will all just be stocking stuff for 26-inch waists :(                        

One of the most fun parts of freelancing is that you don't know just what you will be doing next....on Sunday morning I was traipsing down to Juhu to take Kajol's measurements for a photo shoot and in the evening I was walking around the historic part of Ballard Estate with a famous British architect-cum-historian, researching the beautiful old buildings for a travel and design feature. I dont think there is any other job that gives such a diverse range of options and allows you to experience and experiment with so many different things!!!!

Instead of Lakshya, I ended up watching Hum Tum for the second day in a row yesterday...this is what comes out of having so many groups of friends. Anyway, I did not mind as long as I got to ogle at Saif Khan for another two hours :)

Seeing the movie for the second time made me realize one thing -- how casually Indian movies are now dealing with the issue of widow remarriage!! And I loved the very fact that this was dealt with so casually...the fact that Rani Mukherjee will get remarried is a given, its just the "who" and "when" that are the questions. I mean, this is the same country which just till a few years ago was making three-hour epics on the entire tabboos and sensitivities surrounding the issue of widow remarriage...if cinema is a barometer of society, I am very proud of the way Indian society is shedding its closed-mindedness.

Kudos Kunal Kohli and Yash Chopra!!

Two movies, both of them hyped to the skies, but only one lived upto expectations. And, surprisingly, it was Bollywood that won the contest.

Went to see Troy because of Brad Pitt, but turns out that he was actually the weakest point of the movie, or rather, the Achilles heel of the movie (pun intended!!). Pitt is completely unbelievable as a Greek warrior in Troy...the role, the long hair, the emotions, the intensity, the entire set-up doesn't suit him one bit.

btw, did anybody else think that King Priam looked like a carbon copy of Tom Alter? And did you know that the jewelry worn by Helen (Diane Kruger) was sourced from Amrapali Jewellers in Delhi??

Hum Tum, on the other hand had the most perfect casting one could hope for!! Just totally fell in love with the movie...can't wait to watch it again. Its pretty different from the usual Bollywood fare, light hearted yet sensitive, exploring the continual battle of the sexes and the undercurrents of destiny that form the basis of the most enduring love stories without falling into cliches, lectures or sexism. And both Saif and Rani carried off their roles with a panache that is rarely seen in Bollywood!

Am watching Lakshya tomorrow...that's three movies in one week :) :)