Cafe Mysore

Cafe Mysore (review by Busybee) is one of the rarest type of restaurants in Mumbai. It claims to be the "Oldest Restaurant in Mumbai serving South Indian delicacies". Located on the King's Circle (aka as Maheshwari Udyaan or the L&T Circle), it serves a few South Indian snacks and what is called by the restaurant as a "Konkani" lunch or dinner.

While it is very accurately described in the review mentioned above, I will still highlight points that stand out:

• This is a "real" Udipi restaurant...the owners are from Udipi, Karnataka. Most other "so-called" Udipi restaurants are run by the Shettys who are from Mangalore or near Mangalore, but not anywhere near Udipi. Since it is the oldest, it also classifies as the "original Udipi".
  
• The idli is a classic one...extremely soft.
  
• The sambar is of a different variety (not the usual sweet one served at the "so-called" Udipi restaurants)
  
• The coffee is strong filter one that can be found in many South Indian's homes. It is not the milky Nescafe version (although that is available too).
  
• Just after the declaration of SSC or HSC results, the restaurant offers concession to students with first class marks provided they get a photocopy of their SSC/HSC certificate.
  
• When India won the cricket series in Pakistan not so long ago, they even had concession on a bottle of Coke (small Coke Rs. 3 instead of Rs. 10)
• Very thoughtfully, they have a toilet that is cleaner compared to the public ones.
  
• Very recently, they introduced a "Breakfast for monsoon trip to Lonavla" for Rs. 35. This breakfast is neatly packed in aluminium foil containers. One can choose from a fixed combination of Idli, Sheera, Upma and Puri Bhaji.
  
• There is also a "Railway Meal" (Pulav, Puri, Bhaji) for Rs. 25.
• The non-AC section is visited by several kinds of people - businessmen, South Indians from the nearby Matunga temples, students from the nearby colleges and schools, several Gujaratis that are residents of Matunga.
• On Sunday mornings, one can see several Catholics eating at the restaurant. Probably, they drop in to have their breakfast after the morning mass at the nearby Don Bosco church.
• On a final note, this is not a place one goes to sit comfortably and chat. It is strictly a no-nonsense eating place and there are no frills or other bells or whistles.

Save Water

This might not be exactly a good time to talk about saving water considering that Mumbai got a record rainfall in a single day, but its still important considering the way we waste it.

Mumbai might be one of the few cities in the world where we get drinking filtered water supplied by the authorities. There is no separate supply for "washing water". As a result of this, precious filtered and clean water is used for purposes such as bathing, washing, cleaning floors and even vehicles. There is no recycling of water as a result of which Mumbai is heavily dependent on the annual rains to fill its reservoirs.

A few years ago (maybe in response to water shortage) I came across a sticker stuck strategically above some water taps. It really was an eyeopener. After reading it carefully, I then started observing how others use water. I realised that many Indians (at least in Mumbai) have very peculiar habits. One of these is brushing the teeth or shaving with the tap open.

I have put the information in the sticker below. The sticker title was quite interesting too - "Save Precious Water - It is White Gold".

Shower bath	180 litres	Bucket bath	18 litres
Flush	13 litres	Small bucket	4 litres
Shaving (open tap)	112 litres	Shaving (mug)	1.5 litres
Brushing teeth (open tap)	33 litres	Brushing teeth (closed tap)	1 litre
Rinsing clothes (open tap)	188 litres	Rinsing clothes (bucket)	18 litres

Take a look and start saving water before it runs out.

The "undocumented" MHC

Monkey Hill (station code MHC) is an "undocumented" stop (undocumented to the general public) in the ghat section somewhere in between Khandala and Karjat. For many years now, all trains coming downhill from the steep ghats from Khandala to Karjat need to stop at this "station".

The purpose of this stop is not, as the name suggests, for people to catch sight of monkeys (although monkeys did/do abound around that area). The stop is also not meant for tourists and passengers to take "in" the scenic view of the ghats. The main purpose of this mandatory stop is for the locomotive driver to ensure that the brakes of the rake (and loco) are enough to stop while making the steep downhill gradient. The loco driver has to bring the entire rake to a "complete stop" for a full 2 minutes and prove to the signal man at the cabin there that there is no problem with the braking system.

In case of a failure to stop the train, the signal man diverts the train promptly to a "side catching" (away from the main line) and this "catching" eventually has a steep upgrade (probably man made) to ensure that the "runaway" train can be brought to a stop.

However, an article in the recent Mumbai Mirror states that this system will be discarded when the installation of sensors is complete in the ghat system. Under this proposed scheme, the sensors will detect such problems and hence there would be no need to halt there anymore.

Going uphill from Karjat to the Deccan plains does not require this stopping. But, to overcome the steep uphill climb, additional loco power is attached to pull the train. Additionally, 2 or more locos (called bankers) are attached at the back of the train to prevent the train from sliding back. These rear locos push the train up the hill.

Cases of evidence tampering

A very slow-moving judiciary system combined with the ability to get people in power to do anything is the perfect recipe for getting out of complex cases. A very common strategy has been to tamper the evidence in a particular case so that there is not enough evidence in the first place.

A very recent example proves that: As cited in this article, some Provogue executive was sent a parcel containing cocaine. This was intercepted and caught by the police. In the run-up to the case, however, some Assistant Police Inspectors replaced the contents of the vials containing the cocaine (which would be the prime evidence) with boric powder. Luckily, in this case, some one had the good thought of exposing such a deed. But, if it had gone unnoticed, the case would surely have been dropped.

Some other examples where such evidence tampering may have happened:

• In a hit-and-run case, the Gamdevi police had in their possession the jeep that was responsible for causing the accident. However, when the case came up for hearing, the jeep was "lost".Case disimissed: lack of evidence.
• In the case (link here) of the more high profile Bharat Shah, it was alleged that he had talked to some "underworld" people and the police had recorded this conversation on tapes. In the panchnama filed by the police, it was stated that there were 2 voices in the tape. However, when the case came up for hearing, the tape had 3 voices. Wonder if this was done purposely to weaken the case. End result was "case disimissed" due to incorrect evidence recorded in the panchnama.