I *heart* Bombay (and well..Boston)

I'm urban..in the way other people are mountain-people or tunafish junkies. I love city life...something about dreary concrete blocks and grumpy people totally gets my juices flowing. Ergo, this will be a blog about me, my two favourite cities (Bombay and Boston), my addiction to Vietnamese coffee and my views on Gregorian chant and it's efficacy in curing some types of tympannic membrane rupture. Enjoy!

Monday, May 09, 2005

Oy Bubby Oy Oy Bubbly...

I am not a violent man.

Hell, if push came to shove, I wouldn't shove. (I have to push though, that's the only way I could ever travel in a Bombay train). I flinch everytime I tear into a particularly succulent piece of Tandoori Chicken. I usually turn the other cheek (Ok...so that's just part of a dance move. Quit hassling me!).

The plight of homeless, blind orphans and triple amputee widows with a squint doesn't bother me as much as that ringtone...You know the one. The "Oy Bubbly" tune that Pepsi foisted upon a protesting nation in the name of coolness. Which hundreds of my otherwise intelligent Bombay brethren have deemed fit to add on to their cell phones at full volume (People! There's a volume control on the blasted thing!). Which a desperate-for-ad-revenue TV channel decides to play at intervals of 10 minutes everyday.

ShahRukh Khan..How much does one hate thee? Let me count the ways...

Nouveau-riche Indians with cell phones. A combination that makes even the strongest among us quake. People who have no problem letting their phones ring at top volume in the midst of the scene where an Alzheimer's stricken Amitabh remembers the blind girl he taught once...(Tum to wohi...OY! BUBBLY! OY OY! BUBBLY!). People who have no problem letting their phones ring in the midst of an aarti at Siddhivinayak temple thus mingling the strains of prayer withan exhortion to buy a cola (Sukhkartaa Dukhhartaa Vaarta..OY! BUBBLY! OY OY BUBBLY!). People who insist on letting their phones ring through a conversation with the bus conductor (Master, ek full ani don half Ca...OY! BUBBLY! OY OY BUBBLY!)

We don't deserve cell phones. Because we have no manners at all. Apparently our ancient and distinguished culture didn't have anything to say about etiquette (Must be the fault of the Mughals and the Marxist historians).

This has turned out to be a rant. I thought the Valium was supposed to take care of that part of my personality.

Oy.

Random website:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2565827.stm
Yum. Tastes like chicken.

Music choice:
Bandeh - Indian Ocean (Black Friday soundtrack)

7 Comments:

  • At 6:55 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    i'm proud to state that i don't *know* anyone that has the Oy Bubbly ringtone. The annoying guy in my bay doesn't count. i don't even know his name.

    I do know that my friend's girlfriend seranades him with that song. I give them another month.

     
  • At 11:38 AM, Blogger Bhumi said…

    THat must be some "wonderful" ringtone...haha!
    I haven't even heard of it (the song or the ringtone). You reminded me of a funny situation that I was in, while I was in India. Here I was trying to watch movie in the theatre. This lalaji sorta unclji's cell kept on ringing (can't rem the ringtone), but the most Hilarious and annoying part was that this man actually started telling scene by scene documentary to his friend on the cell.. OH MY GOD! Can anyone be more annoying than that.. sorry I know it sounds irrelevant to ur Oye Bubbly thing, but u just reminded me of that.. hehe

    P.s: Hey I got a nice ringtone (IN DA CLUB - 50 cent) which everyone dances too when I get a call ;-)

     
  • At 11:51 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I have hardly watched TV for last 2 yrs or so. But this Bubbly tune is becomming so popular with everyone out here is that, when I went to my friend's place in Pune the first thing I asked him was "When does that bubbly ad shows up in TV ? I want to see it."
    His response.. "always"

     
  • At 1:05 AM, Blogger southpawpisces said…

    got any valium to spare?

     
  • At 9:30 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    i know what u mean. and just a take on bhumi's comment..it happens ever so often with me when i am trying to watch a movie. The scene:the protagonist of ur movie just stumbled upon an inportant clue to fix the bad guys. the music in the theatre is getting progressively louder, faster and well soemtimes annoyingly high pitched noices...DHOOM MACHALE DHOOM MACHALE DHOM...the ringtone (should be spelt as wringtone for its effects on other people) of the moron sitting next to u. and this is just the beginning of the torture...and in the middle of neo dying or our dear harry potter finding the secret of the socrates stone, u have this absolute idiot sitting next to you screaching till his lungs gave way(which they unfortunately dont seem to do)and and all of his earthshattering profound conversation with mr. idiot no.2 on the other side of the line consists of "i cant hear you. i am in the movie hall....what? what? i cant hear u. no i am in the movie theatre. that why i cant hear u. what? waht? what?..." THEN WHY DONT YOU SWITCH OF THE DAMN THING U NITWIT.

    AHHH. that just felt so much better. i feel very strongly about things like these. people lacking basic common sense.

    p.s. generally on ringtones. i dont understand why people dont want their phones to RING. why the fuck does it have to SING. its a phone people, not ur pocket madonna. GET OVER IT.
    p.s.s i love ur blogs. most of the times i just tell myself "i know how that feels."

     
  • At 2:43 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I completely agree with this annying ringtone thing....
    another thing that bambaiiyaa bhaiyyas have picked up is those stupid bikes with brakes that go "dhoom machaa le"....know what i am talking abt??

     
  • At 2:51 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I totally agree! It's just *SOOOOOO* annoying!

    I demand eligibility criteria for owning cellphones. I demand cellphones do not come with changeable ringtones apart from beeps until you pass an aesthetic ability exam. And i ABSOLUTELY DEMAND that this test be made mandatory for bloody admen who foist us with oye bubblies.

     

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