My last moonbeam in the Mumbai series is about my daily bus-ride from Khar to my college..Mithibai College in Vile Parle.From 1985 to 1987 it was two years of Junior college and 1987-'88 FYBSc....so three years of the same bus route!! Standing at the bus stop near my home at Union Park was so relaxing...so many students -some chitchatting, some listening to their walkman, swaying in time to the beat. Next stop- Santacruz where my dearest friends Maetri and Mahevash got on.I generally tried to catch a seat on the left side to be able to look at the helicopters taking off and landing at the Juhu Aerodrome on S.V.Road. To the right just a little beyond was Nanavati Hospital where I was born!!! My heart still leaps for joy at the thought of walking down from the bus-stop to my beloved college ----- with its bustling corridors,well-equipped labs,great faculty (My combination of subjects-PCMB) and its fun-filled atmosphere of all sorts of DAYS: Rose day,message day,tie and scarf day and many more!!

On our return from Dar Es Salaam, my brother and I joined the DPYA school in Dadar Parsi Colony. My memories of D.P.Y.A-- 3 fun-filled years of laughter and learning. Today it seems like viewing through a kaleidoscope which is providing multicoloured memories of all the special,exciting moments of my life.Some of the most nostalgic ones ...

* Catching up with my English teacher,Mrs Mehta in the BEST bus en route to school in the morning--it cheered me up for the entire day.

*Hindi lessons in 10th std with Tripathi Sir--he taught using a most interactive style.

*Rehearsing for the play "The Merchant of Venice"...

* "What's the Good Word?" on stage,Assembly prayers,newspaper headlines,debates,recitals et all.

*'P.T.'--I loved it---playing dodge ball, throw ball,sprints and then rushing in for a drink of water in the water cooler area.

*the school trip to Goa in the 9th std...beaches and churches!!

My brightest moonbeam--the main foundation of my life: my three years at The Dadar Parsee Youths Assembly High School.

Moonbeam #5:- African safari

Tanzania is famous for its millions of wild animals that thrive in vast parklands. In northern Tanzania , Serengeti National Park covers about 5,600 square miles and is noted for its lions and huge herds of antelopes and zebras.

The Serengeti plain is a vast expanse dotted with rocky outcrops, acacia bushes, forest and small rivers all overlooked by the Kilimanjaro range.

The highest concentration of wildlife is found in Ngorongoro crater, east of the Serengeti.

The abundant wildlife icludes elephants,gazelles,giraffes,wildebeests,and many more.Famed for its wealth of wildlife,the Ngorongoro crater was produced by the collapse of a gigantic mountain.Ringed by steep ,gullied slopes,the huge bowlike depression is partially filled by a large saline lake,Lake Magadi, that attracts enormous flocks of birds especially flamingos ... a vision in pink!!

My first realtime 'travel' adventure...flying out of Mumbai and reaching Dar Es Salaam International Airport. I had heard a lot about the USA and the beautiful countries of Europe from my father and my uncles, so travelling to this far-off land was like a dream come true.

The year 1976...Dar Es Salaam was a peaceful clean city with a sizeable population of people of South-East Asian origin and we felt quite at home there.Initially my brother and I went to the local school but then my father and some of the Indian expatriates got together and started up a school called the 'Indian Expatriate Study Group' in Upanga. We had the study material from India(CBSE) and for the first time in my life I learnt to read and write in Hindi ....since Villa Theresa first taught Marathi and we started Hindi only from the 3rd std.

There are so many more memories of Dar Es Salaam .... the beautiful Hotel Kilimanjaro and the yummy grilled fish they seved there.. the huge group family picnics at Oyster Bay with our favourite resort where none of us kids would leave the pool.

OHH!!! the silver-sands and the incredibly blue sea and the palm trees swinging in the breeze!!!

So, my fourth moonbeam is getting to study my native languages 'Hindi' and 'Sanskrit' sitting in the far away and beautiful country Tanzania,East Africa.

My first school, Villa Theresa High School, Peddar Rd.,Mumbai.

I remember the day clearly,the year-1975....a group of girls running around the tiny garden....trying to catch the butterflies.Soon there was one in the cup of my hands , its soft wings fluttering against my palm . As I felt the delicate touch of the butterfly it was as though I was holding a dream in my hands and suddenly, I wanted to set it free!

That is the power of life-God's gift to all beings -big and small; you just can't hold onto the moments in life...they move you,they touch you and then they're gone like the butterflies disappearing beneath the leaves...

Sometimes, when I'm alone , I think of that day and the innocent game ,the transient nature of all joys in our life--and then this feeling of wanting to hang on to and yet letting go of the tiny and beautiful creature comes over me and fills me with the longing of revisiting my childhood.

This is the third moonbeam of my life.

Faith produces an illusion of constancy but it also makes you who you are.The childhood reminiscences of the sea are the one constant in my life. Whenever I am down, the memory of the sights and the feel of the breeze ,while walking by the the seaside with my grandfather, fill me with joy. He came for a short visit following the birth of my younger brother when we were staying at Venus Apartments in Worli.

Worli Sea Face,quiet in the morning and bustling with people in the evening ....and the crashing sound of the giant waves against the rocks...I can see it all in my mind. As I strolled down the promenade with Pitaji (my paternal grandfather) , listening to his amusing riddles and rib-tickling anecdotes of my father's childhood, I felt the time stand still and developed an intimate bonding with the sea.

This is the second moonbeam of my life.

A moonbeam is the streak of light in the darkness,the ray of hope in the period of misfortune....My blog is about my life in the last forty years and the people and events that are my "moonbeans"!!

To start with I was born on August 22nd 1969, with well, "cute baby" looks. It so happened that my'dadi' (paternal grandmother) had passed away a little before that and my father who was very close to her was inconsolable and lost in memories of her. So,for him, I was like the sunshine after the rain...Taking me in his arms, he declared-"This is Mataji-my mother reborn".For a long time,especially the initial three growing up years my parents treated me with a lot of love and reverence.

Isn't that how the birth of the girl child is to be greeted? In fact this is how most Indian Hindu families traditionally honour the girl child by referring to her birth as the advent of a Goddess...a girl child's birth needs to be celebrated not condemned. A change is to be brought in the mindset of people at the individual level--- maybe then we would be able to gradually solve the problem of female foeticide prevalent in India.

My parents' reaction to my birth is the first moonbeam of my life.