Twenty- five Seven

Maharashtra State Legislators and Mumbai Municipal Corporators to donate just Rs. ONE Crore Today

May 11, 2013
I had slept fitfully last night. I just about managed to get a dozen eggs and a small loaf of bread yesterday and was wondering how long my rations would last. Normally I buy my groceries at the beginning of the month but this month, preoccupied as I was with Wow Dinga and Anna Shetty, my schedule has gone for a bit of a toss. However, with my ever faithful local baniya ever willing to oblige, I was not really bothered. I must say though, that the Traders‘ strike ( I am all for them) has thrown a spanner in the works,

So this morning I woke up to the TV blaring and Arnav Goswami screaming

” Your channel TIMES NOW has a breaking news story where Maharashtra State Legislators and the Mumbai Municipal Corporators have decided to donate just a core of rupees each in order to make up the shortfall that the Local Body Tax would have generated. This”, he thundered, “was a true reflection of a Government of the People, for the People and by the People.”

I immediately jacknifed out of bed, unable to believe what I was hearing. Could it be true that finally our elected representatives had our interests at heart? After all a mere crore each couldn’t really put more of a dent in their pockets as an additional 10% ( I am assuming this figure as I have not really had the time to follow this story thanks to my new Granny duties) would in our home budgets. I began thinking that if every state minister, every MLA, local body representative and even high level Government employee donated just a crore of rupees each our exchequer would be overflowing. After all, who would have imagined that a humble Railway Official would be in a position to bribe a minister with TENS of Crores!!!!!

But then when I read the papers that two cabinet ministers were booted out, I realised that Arnav only came in my dreams and that the strike would continue for yet one more day…….

I wonder who has a longer breath …………..
Related articles
Why the traders’ strike is here to stay

May 10, 2013

With the Traders’ strike getting stronger and my pantry stock leaner I’m now getting a bit anxious. How long will it go on for I wonder?

While I was at the Chemists ( before they downed their shutters today) I told the chemist that as long as the PiP ( People in Power) don’t get affected, there will be no change of heart. After all only the wearer knows where the shoe pinches.

On the other hand, I realised that with our Ministers and Powers that Be openly eating MONEY in humongous quantities, there is no question of being affected by the traders’ strike at all. After all when they are eating money in crores, it is obvious that they won’t miss the simple daal chawal that sustain us mere mortals.

So unfortunately the Ministers and Powers that Be have an advantage over us and we will have to starve till the Traders lift their strike.
Things you don’t know about a dishwasher

May 10, 2013
Everytime time Bayda the Bai goes on leave I think of buying a dishwasher.

Everytime we entertain I think of buying a dishwasher.

Everytime I have to do the dishes I think of buying a dishwasher

A dishwasher containing clean dishes (Photo credit: Wikipedia

So

Finally, two weeks ago we did buy a dish washer!

Since the number of dishwashers in the market are far fewer than the brands and varieties of microwave ovens and washing machines, it is slightly easier to buy a dishwasher. So when we went to Croma at Phoenix Mills, Parel we went straight for the kill – a Siemens Dishwasher. We came to this decision rather quickly
- the IFB was out since I realised that I was taken for a ride by the IFB service engineers who actively dissuaded me from buying a new machine for 15 years so that I could remain in their service contract
- the Bosch was out because it is serviced by Siemens
- the Samsung was out because I was fed up of my Samsung Airconditioner ( can you see the logic in this? I can’t!)
- the LG was out because I have an unexplained and completely irrational aversion to LG
So we honed down to the Siemens

But there is a caveat here as there always is : Make sure that your plumbing is done before the dishwasher arrives.

We had not got our plumbing done before the dishwasher arrived and had to wait two days before our contractor could send along two men to do it. As usual our contractor has his own ideas about engineering ( he has actually given me a kitchen platform that slopes towards the wall so that the pans and pots placed on the gas stove actually slant away from me making sure that all shallow fried cutlets are unevenly dipped in oil hence unevenly fried. And, sometimes when the cooker whistles and whistles, I actually find the pot slipping away towards the kitchen wall following the slope of the platform!!!!

However, not having another contractor we had to rely on our thoroughly opinionated one and avail of his services. It was quite obvious that his men had no idea of what was required and provided us with an outlet pipe just six inches long. So when the dishwasher technician came along to fit the machine we had to re-do the plumbing. That took another two days.

Finally when we did get the machine fitted we found out that the detergent was not available. There was a stock only at Premsons which turns out to Rs.35 a wash ( FINISH as recommended by Siemens). If you do the maths, it works out to Rs. 100 a day to run the machine three times in a day. I was so shocked with this extra expense that I just couldn’t bring myself to open the dishwasher and load it.

Eventually when the cost of repairing a broken back or replacing the servant or even hiring an elusive maid to wash the dishes was worked out, I decided to commission the dishwasher and loaded the dishes. Strangely enough the dishes which piled high in the sink didn’t fill up half the dishwasher and it was not loaded to capacity till dinner time. But, at dinner time we discovered that there were no dishes to have dinner in. So we had to unload the dishwasher and hand wash the dishes!

Since then I’ve had a ton of things to do to actually tackle the problem of the empty dishwasher but I’m sure that once I get the hang of it I’ll be running it as often as I do my washing machine.

Verdict : A dishwasher is essential if you have a large number of dishes generated at every meal.