Mumbai Diary: Tuesday Tales

Fare and so unfairThe new fear or the new stress in these techtalk times is leaving behind onersquos mobile phone in a rickshaw or cab So it happened recently A lady took a cab from Grant Road station towards Peddar Road She was suddenly alerted to something blinking on the seat next to herIt was a pricey phone put on silent but it was flashing as it was ringing On picking it up a desperate highpitched young girlrsquos voice stated ldquoThatrsquos my phone I left it in the cab Please please please may I meet you somewhere I live close by I will come and take itrdquoFortunately the cab had not gone too far so it stopped a little ahead In five minutes a young girl came running around the corner and the lady passenger gave her the phone ldquoBless you bless yourdquo is all she could say The cabbie though told the passenger ldquoYou people leave your phones behind in cabs you all are not carefulThen who is to blame The driver always the driver as people think we have filched it We get a bad name because of the passengersrsquo tendency to forget phones in cabsrdquo Ah must say cabbie has a pointNo dustbin Got carThe great Indian jugaad trick is one method of either solving problems or finding a way around them The people of Dombivili took that route recently when they were deprived of dustbins by the arearsquos corporator no lessWhat use is a burntout car after all Makes a fine dustbin since there isnrsquot any other PicsShrikant KhuperkarThe corporator put up a notice saying that dustbins from a certain place in the Tilak Road area would be cleared as a bus stop was to be constructed for school busesThe notice announcing that the dustbins will be replaced with a bus stopWell garbage is not going to stop for school buses or anything else and people need a place to put their rubbish So the local residents have decided to use the wrecked shell of a burntout car nearby to dump rubbish into Unsightly Of course it is Well you know whom to askLong and winding roadThis road winding through a green rustic area looks inviting notwithstanding the steps one has to climb but it isnrsquot a route to a picnic spot Its just the path that people take to reach the civil registrarrsquos office in KarjatThe destination is mundane though PicShrikant KhuperkarGoing by road it takes about 20 to 25 minutes and the autorickshaw fare amounts to Rs 20 So many people take this shortcut looks like it could do with some improvementPut the heart in artLooking to collect some art with a difference You can do that and make a difference as well The Gateway School which helps students with learning disabilities has collaborated with the Somaiya Centre for Lifelong Learning and the India Fine Art Gallery to present its annual exhibition of art created by its students titled Mumbai Our City Our People The exhibition is on April 9 preview from 5 pm to 8 pm and on April 10 from 10 am to 5 pm at the Somaiya Centre above Kitabkhana FortWhatrsquos in a platePlenty when it comes to food safety On the occasion of World Health Day today April 7 the World Health Organization WHO has taken a slightly different approach to educating people especially the younger lot about food safetyThe term itself sounds a bit fuddyduddy so why not use social media combined with the trend of food photography to make it catchy That seems to be the thinking as the WHO has asked youngsters to photograph their food and post it online with the tag safefood to explain how and why their food is safeWith this yearrsquos theme on World Health Day being food safety this campaign has taken off across the globe and India has joined in too with Facebook sporting plates of dosa with chutney chhole bhature and so on The five key points to remember when handling food safely are keep hands and food preparation surfaces clean separate raw and cooked food cook thoroughly keep food stored at correct temperature and use safe water and raw materialsUnsafe food and water is linked to the deaths of more than two million people worldwide every year and some 200 known diseases are transmitted through food says the WHO So donrsquot take a chance with your health follow these tips And if you photograph your food share the picture too Donrsquot forget the hashtag safefood