Just a wild thought On Friday, as this writer rushed to board her local train to work, she spotted two youngsters trying to catch her eye on the Foot Over Bridge that connects the Metro to Andheri station.
<img title="Roopesh Naik and his volunteer buddy" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2014/dec/Roopesh-Naik.jpg" alt="Roopesh Naik and his volunteer buddy" /> Roopesh Naik and his volunteer buddy
The duo volunteers at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). They began showing this writer a file of the organisation&rsquo;s work on wildlife conservation, especially concerning the country&rsquo;s tigers.
Roopesh Naik, one of the volunteers, admitted that he and his friend had been standing at the bridge since 9.30 am and, until 1 pm, this writer was only the fourth person to have agreed to listen to them.
&ldquo;In a day, barely eight or 10 people care to hear us out,&rdquo; said Naik. To our surprise, we learnt that almost 64 per cent of WWF&rsquo;s funds come from individuals not corporates.
Naik went on to request us to make a donation to the cause, but didn&rsquo;t accept cash, and this writer was sceptical of putting down her bank account or debit card details. But hopefully, with more people like Naik and his ilk, tigers will no longer face the threat of extinction.
What a show, India The recently-concluded World Bodybuilding Championships, held at the Bombay Exhibition Centre at Goregaon East, made one proud.
<img title="One of the women body-builders at the event. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2014/dec/Women-body-builders.jpg" alt="One of the women body-builders at the event. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar" /> One of the women body-builders at the event. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar
While the standard of competition was sterling, as expected at a world meet, it was the facilities at the event that warranted a round of applause. This writer was impressed by the quality of equipment in the men&rsquo;s and women&rsquo;s green rooms.
Gleaming weight-training and state-of-the-art stationery machines helped bodybuilders work on them until the last minute. Ladies (especially those of you who train hard at gyms across the city), you would have been proud to see the women bodybuilders go in for many a pushup and dip with awesome form and impressive ease.
Their dips were complete and pushups done the right way (not the way some of us cheat, with knees touching the floor!). This writer was also impressed by the lunch area, which was spotless, and the fact that waste bins had been provided at every corner.
We spotted just one stray article of trash, which was immediately picked up. The Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan seems to have flexed some biceps here, too.
Delayed, and how We've often highlighted how the city&rsquo;s Harbour Line needs to buck up and fast given the recent delays on the line. Earlier, its trains barely ran on time during rush hour, unlike the Western line.
<img title="Commuters at Kurla railway station at 11 pm last weekend" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2014/dec/Kurla-stn.jpg" alt="Commuters at Kurla railway station at 11 pm last weekend" /> Commuters at Kurla railway station at 11 pm last weekend
But going by its recent track record, it seems the Harbour Line&rsquo;s &lsquo;rush hour&rsquo; just doesn&rsquo;t end! Day after day, the number of passengers during peak hours (9 am onward) surges on to the platforms, but the trains are too few and far in between to contain the crowd.
Isn&rsquo;t it high time the Harbour Line took a leaf out of its Western counterpart and pulled up its socks? It&rsquo;s a clear case of apathy from the Central Railways, who have been meting out some kind of a step-child treatment to the CST-Panvel line. If not, what else explains this daily harassment of commuters on the Harbour Line?

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Mumbai Diary: Sunday shorts

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