Mumbai Ambassador

How much do we know about the city we live in ? And moreover how much pride we take and propagate in what it has to offer. I always take the bus to work from Churchgate station, that's how I had met Mr.Mohite remember ? This morning while waiting for the bus, I could hear a cabbie shouting to sell the last seat on his share cab. It was unsual as usually they don't keep announcing to sell, they just wait till 4 random passengers decide to share the cab. So this made me curious and I became random passenger number 4. This short 5 minutes cab ride was about to get interesting. There was the random passenger number 1 and a couple who was from Amravati who were visiting Mumbai for the first time. Just as the cabbie finished introductions, he broke in to this super fast rap !! Believe it or not, he narrated all the tourist attractions from Churchgate to Borivali in under 3 minutes along with their timings. This is Mr.Anish Siddiqui, who is a cabbie by profession, but has much more to offer. He gave his nunber to all of us and guaranteed to offer the best tour of the city.  And as always my destination arrived and I had to leave, but not before shaking hands with this passionate ambassador of our city. I also caught a glimpse of the Amravati couple who now felt warm and welcome thanks to the hospitality by Mr. Anish Siddiqui. Thanks to people like him we can still say the words "Atithi Devo Bhava"

Love you Mom :)

I have been watching these 2 since I was a kid going to school. What's interesting is that some things that we only have a deep sense of awareness about, some people actually live their lives that way. We all know that our parents love us no matter what. But have we stopped to realise what sacrifices they go through to keep us happy. Back when I was in school, this mother and son pair owned a small pco booth at the start of the Relief road behind SNDT college Santacruz. Looking at them it's not difficult to judge that it is their only source of income. The son is blind. The mother used to carry him around because of this .It's easy to spot these two inseparable mother and son if you are Santacruz. I have seen the boy grow up and the mother grow old. And as again today morning while going to work I saw the mother who is very very old now still continues to guide her son and continues to be his eyes after all these years. A big salute to this mother and mothers all over the world. Love you mom.

Riding with a celebrity

Today morning when I left home for work, I never imagined that I will meet a person who will leave such a lasting impression on my life. As soon as I stopped a rickshaw for Andheri, Sandeep Bachhe halted in front of me what looked like an auto from outside but was a different world when you sat inside.
At that moment I had the privilege of meeting Mr.Sandeep Bachhe aka Munnabhai SSC. Once you are in the auto you can’t help but turn your head around 360 degrees and admire the way he has decorated the interiors. You will find a phone, fire extinguisher, chocolates (that’s right), paper napkins, tea (yes you heard me right), drinking water, phone, first aid kit, tab (to watch movies), newspaper, emergency phone numbers, mobile recharge and much more..You will witness people in vehicles beside you trying to get a glimpse of this three wheel wonder.
This simply shows what “out of the box” thinking means. One must love his job, take pride in it and do the things to shine and stand out of the crowd.

But the experience just doesn’t stop here. My curiosity leads me to start interviewing Mr. Sandeep Bachhe. The facts that unfolded in front of me left me speechless. Our very own Munnabhai SSC runs his independent identity by helping the poor and the needy. He collects donation for cancer patients with the help of a donation box inside the auto. He distributes breakfast and lunch for homeless kids and at orphanages. He has special discounted auto fares for handicapped and senior citizens. Many call him the bare foot rider because he stopped wearing foot wear since his mother passed away in 2004, something like that requires serious dedication.

Because of his unique style and caring culture, he has bagged quite a few prestigious awards from organisations that acknowledge his contribution to the society. He was also invited as a Speaker at TEDx which is a conference organised by an international firm who celebrates and recognises such heroes. TEDx chooses just 5 speakers from all over the country and our Munnabhai was one of them. He has many fans all over the country including actor Salman Khan who runs his own charitable organisation. During his spare time he spends time chatting with the municipal workers who clean the garbage because according to him they are the real heroes who keep our city beautiful (that is so true). He is married with 2 kids but still finds time for charity work, family and friends. Now that kind of time management is not even seen in many of us educated folks. Being technologically advanced he is able to reach out to more people through his Facebook and twitter account and is also on whatsapp.

My destination at Andheri had arrived and I was so lost in conversation with this interesting man that I had not bothered to complain about the traffic or worry about reaching late to work. I had only one realisation dawning on me that a man with such limited means can do such unlimited good deeds.

It’s all about the will and passion to help others and look beyond our comfort zone. Driving an auto is one of the most challenging and humble profession as it is. Despite that Sandeep Bachhe considers it as an opportunity to meet new people and identify ways to help them if possible. This is such a genuine way to create and build bonds between each other and turn strangers into friends. We all talk about and think about helping someone but how much we actually DO is what matters.

He teaches how to take pride in what we do and stand out from the crowd by creating an identity for ourselves.

Hats off to Munnabhai SSC and his amazing adventure of helping the world become a better place !!

Mr. Mohite

Its early morning hours and Churchgate is yet to see its downpour of daily commuters. That's one of the reasons I always find a seat on the bus I take to work from the station. But today was a bit different, I saw people standing even though one seat was completely empty. To kill my curiosity I had to know what was wrong with that seat and so I squeezed myself ahead of others. As I reached the seat, a frail old gentleman removes his handkerchief and wipes few drops of water from the seat, which to my utter surprise was the reason for people to not sit on it. All the people standing were standing because they chose to stand, not because there was no seat.  Now let's think, was everyone so lazy that they preferred standing than wiping the water or did their ego get the best of them. The best answer came obviously from Mr Mohite who was now enjoying his window seat and I had the privilege to sit next to him. Unfazed by my reaction, Mr. Mohite simply said "koi kaam chhota nahi hai, agar hame seat chahiye to hamko hi saaf karna hoga". Life doesn't get simpler than  this, if you want the seat, then you should not shy away from wiping the water.  Mr.Mohite has been working all his adult life at the Colaba docks. My bus ride with him was short and delightful. If you ever meet him tell him I said hello.