A Drive around Town

Friday night on the streets of Bombay. I love to go on a drive to start off perfect week ends. The best way to start off would be a drive to naturals for an ice cream followed by a stroll at Juhu Beach, newly shorn of all the shops that had hidden the water view from the road. It's a better place now without all the stalls. After mid night, you can easily park on the road and sit and play in the sands or stroll towards the sea. Enjoy the music of the waves and walk along the beach. The lovely thing about this city is that you feel safe even at midnight.

Sunday morning is another lovely time to hit the road. The near empty roads across town tempt you to stretch the speed limit and enjoy a drive. I love the empty highway and some great CD's are all I need for company. I wish some times that the roads were clear through the week and I could drive in to work on empty roads but then I suppose Bombay would never be the same if we did not get stuck in traffic snarls while heading home from work.

Beautiful drives are probably meant only for late nights and early mornings when life looks so much better. Like the sharp lights on the road at night that allow you to weave a magic spell helped by the songs on radio or the beautiful sunrise that hides the rubbish and makes our very own Juhu look like some picture post card from Goa.

The Beatles

I enjoyed a lovely Beatles feature presentation on TV with screaming fans adoring every movement of the famous band while there was an INXS concert in town. I heard later that there was hardly any crowd at the live concert here in Mumbai despite wide spread coverage and a pretty regular TV appearance by the band in the last couple of months.

I was wondering about the mad rush and crazy fan following that the Beatles enjoyed in the '60s and the luke warm reception the Bombay audience gave a pretty popular band today. Are there too many bands now or too few fans? How is it that there were so many great rock groups then and so few singers one can actually listen to now...