Bombay, cooling glasses, Rajnikant vs Tom Cruise and some original quotes: a new twist to old quotes. Dominating this week's round-up is the horrible bomb blasts in India's commercial and entertainment capital: Bombay or Mumbai. In an ironic twist last week marked Portuguese traveler's Vasco Da Gama's first trip to India in 1497. The reason I mention that is because according to one school of thought (there are always many schools of thoughts anytime you discuss India) Bombay is derived from the Portuguese words “bom” + “bahia” that translates into “good” + “bay” and over the years Bombahia morphed into Bombay, and now Mumbai.

Bombay/Mumbai has once again demonstrated its resilient spirit and nature…life must go on is the mantra after the horrible and dastardly bomb attacks on Bombay's main line of communication: its railway system. Bombay, like New York city, ferries millions of passengers up and down the length of the city through its its extensive railway network. The bombs went off on the Western Line and within hours trains were back on track ferrying its passengers back and forth.

Whoever said Bombay is the rudest city in the world got their math wrong…this is a city where people don't wait for the administration to lend a helping hand …instead, they help each other during times of crisis as the city has demonstrated time and again 1993, 2005, 2006 to mention a few.

Here is a video clip from Arikast of the famous Bombay train…note how crowded the bogeys (compartments) are and how people are hanging out of the doors of the train compartment. This is a familiar sight on Bombay trains…the happy, smiling faces of commuters.

Bombay Train Video Clip.

Rmbit has a video clip of Bombay railway station on YouTube. Note how crowded the train station is.

Bombay train station.

Bloggers from Bombay and the rest of the world (who once called Bombay their home, but live elsewhere) write and celebrate the resilient spirit and soul of this city.

Govindraj Ethiraj of Dateline Bombay says:

“And yet, there is no choice. There is no other option. Life must go on. Despite knowing that every vulnerable chink in Mumbai city has been exposed. Those who survived Wednesday's blasts have only fellow passengers to thank. Television images showed many being lifted and hauled off. Others, with bloodied faces and tattered clothes, staggered out of stations and helped themselves into waiting taxis.”

Asuph in his post Salaam Bombay writes:

“The city paralyzed by overcrowding, bad town planning, crumbling infrastructure, communal strives, a constant threat of terrorism, and so on. It's a wonder that it moves at all, but it moves. It moves and moves you in turn — with all its passion for living, its resilience, and a plain ordinary humanity and courage that makes people come out, while there are blasts happening around them, and knowing that they could be the next. People come out to help strangers, in whichever way they can. People don't wait for the police, or local administrator, they just pick up the injured and put them into taxis and send them to nearby hospitals, saving god knows how many precious lives….”

Da Beam, who lives in Kuwait, urges people to stand up and city that he once called home. “Let us stand up and fight for MUMBAI – our city and our home.”

Duke of What'z Thez Pointz says:

“As people lay tired on railway stations, citizens got together to provide food and water to them. These teams also got together and collected clothes for the unlucky ones whose houses got washed away. A few do good things. The goodness follows, begets more. It spreads. Such is the magic of Mumbai.”

Khakra has a posting from his younger brother who is working as an intern in a venture capital in Bombay. Providence appeared to have helped him…he decided to skip the train and drive to work instead.

"Only when I got home and switched on the news did I realize how bad the situation really is. The blasts went off at stations that i cross twice every day, six times a week. The blasts went off at around the same time that I would be on the train going home. [Bro usually travels in one of the ‘First Class’ compartments of a train, in which the bombs went off. Had I not driven to work, I could've been in one of those first-class bogeys .."

After reading on Bombay, we take a break by looking at a fascinating element of popular Indian culture: cooling glasses, some of you might call them shades or dark glasses, but in India we call them cooling glasses. Cooling glasses is one of those quaint Indian words like cool drinks. Wikisharma's post on cooling glasses and South Indian icons is sure to bring a smile to your face. Here is a snippet from his post, and you need to read the rest to enjoy his train of thoughts.

"Logically, this evolutionary advantage also leads us to conclude that men wearing sun glasses are more capable of heroic deeds, acts of selfless gallantry and kinship, and producing ideal and copious amounts of sperm for future offspring."

Sreejith of I am going crazy has a post comparing Tom Cruise vs. Rajnikanth. He writes:
"The same friends who mock at my fascination for Rajnikanth, never lets an opportunity slip by to show their fervor for Tom. I point to them my comparison and questions their difference in attitude. They answer Tom Cruise is for “elite” audience while Rajnikanth is for “pit” audience, making me wonder what exactly is”eliteness”
The ZombieWorld Sinsuoid has some pretty interesting and original quotes. Here is one: “When the going gets tough, look at the compliment set.” Log on to the post to read the rest of his creative quotes.