Gautam Hari Singhania lends his support to Government for infra up-gradation of Mumbai!

At a time and day when Mumbai is competing with Singapore and Hong Kong to be the financial capital of the world, it is in dire need of infrastructure augmentation. 

The country’s financial capital i.e. Mumbai needs robust infrastructure is an understatement since the city face multiple challenges, which are unique and probably not been witnessed by any other city across the globe.

Take for instance, Greater Mumbai with a population of 16.4 million houses twice as many people as those in New York City. Suburban Mumbai has a density of 20,925 persons per sq. km which is twice as many people as that in New York (10,630 persons per sq km). That is absolutely shocking!

Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ashwincjohn/16407777033

Mumbai Metropolitan Region with 1,700 times lesser area can be home to the entire population of Australia. Can you imagine that?

Sensing the need of the hour, the Maharashtra Government and BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) are working in tandem to spruce up the city’s transportation network besides the up-gradation of the urban infrastructure.

Being born and brought up in Mumbai, I know how bad things are, with the state of bridges and all the recent collapses that are happening. The population is ever-growing and we need to upgrade accordingly.

And in support of the Government and the civic body is renowned industrialist, Mr. Gautam Hari Singhania, the Chairman and Managing Director of the Raymond Group.

Mr. Singhania recently organized a presentation by Mr. Abhin Alimchandani, Chairman STUP Consultants, which holistically covered the issues of infrastructure development in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, for prominent citizens of Mumbai.

Commending the work done by MCGM (Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai) and the State Government, Mr. Singhania remarked that the governments are criticized if they don’t do anything and also receive brick-bats if they do something. 

Admitting that there will be issues in implementing projects of these scale, Mr. Singhania said the presentation was an attempt to create more awareness about what the government was doing, He felt that the infrastructure projects such as Navi Mumbai International airport, Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link, metro rail, coastal road and mono rail will change the face of the metropolis in the days to come. A temporary inconvenience for the better future of the city!

While there will be short-term environment issues while undertaking these projects, the Raymond CMD said imagine the reduction in the carbon foot-print once the travel by road is reduced by one hour for each vehicle.

Besides, these projects will create more jobs and entail huge investment and we should thank the government for undertaking them, he concluded.

I too, believe that things will change for the better in my city, and am glad that initiatives are being taken.

Before You Go On Your Next Road Trip, Make Sure You Have Taken Care Of These 5 Things!

Gone are the days when our vacations meant boarding a bus/train/flight to reach from point A to point B. An increasing number of people are taking road trips, and not just to travel from one city or state to the other but also to another country; The India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway for instance, allows one to reach Thailand via a road trip! 

Personally, I have taken road trips in and around Maharashtra - to Panchgani, Lonavala, Pune, Mahabaleshwar, Goa and the sorts and aim to try longer routes soon. 

Here are some pointers to keep in mind before embarking on a road trip:

1. First Aid Kit 

It is very important to have the basic medicines for headaches, allergies, nausea caused due to motion sickness, etc. with you at all times.  It is also essential to carry bandaging and other supplies for minor injuries. Don’t forget to keep a scissor/swiss knife and torch handy as well. If there are any other medications you regularly take, keep those handy for the trip duration and extra too, you never know when you may extend your trip. And if there are kids traveling along, then their medications and snacks too.

Vintage photo created by freepik - www.freepik.com

2. Route, navigation, designated drivers

Make sure you know the route you’re taking, the road situation, tolls, and have a navigation system in your car or on your phone. It’s a good idea to download the map offline (Google maps has this option) as many a times you do not get network on the go or in remote locations. Also it is always good to have at least 2 people driving for long trips so that one can rest while the other drives.

3. Car check-up and spare parts

Make sure to have serviced the car just before the trip and have anything that requires repairs, addressed. Carry spare tyres, tools to change tyres, water and cloth etc. to clean car when required and anything else that you can think of to make your car ready for the adventure! It wouldn’t be a bad idea to keep some contact numbers handy for garages on the route, emergency services on national highways, and so on.

4. Car Insurance 

Better to be safe than sorry they say. Hence make sure your car insurance is renewed. If it has expired, you can renew it online easily in a matter of clicks. You just need a few details handy like the city, car and variant and registration year and month.

In fact another thing you could do if you are a frequent road trip traveler, which not many are aware of; is get a third party car insurance online. Wonder what’s that? If someone else’s car gets damaged by you during an accident, you will be covered for that as well and won’t have to shell a huge amount to reimburse the third party. In fact having a third party car insurance is a requirement under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.

Car photo created by freepik - www.freepik.com

5. A good playlist and some fun people.

No road trip is complete without awesome music! Since we all use music streaming apps these days, make sure you have songs downloaded to play offline - or else again because of bad internet network, you might have to make do without music. Don’t forget to ensure  you have the aux cable or its alternative in place. Check out some playlists made specially for road trips! 

And last but the least, it is very important to embark with a positive attitude and fun people to have a trip that you can remember for life!

LEGO The Movie 2 Rex’s Rex-treme Offroader Building Blocks - Product Review

We were recently invited for the special screening of Lego Movie 2 recently and it was such a fun movie! It was a cherry on the cake to receive the new Lego Movie 2 themed set so that we can recreate scenes from the movie!

The box contains 2 characters - Emmet & Rex, along with the dinosaur rex-o-saurus, the offloading truck and a plantimal alien figure. The movie is all about alien invasion and how Emmet and Rex help rescue Lucy, so since I have a son, he was keen to be all prepared to fight with the mean machines, dinosaur and gadgets that he built (with my assistance).

 

There are two instruction books that help you build the models, and the best part is there are more than one ways to build things. For instance you can build the rex-o-saurus quad or execu-rex-o-saurus (dino with guns or dino with wheels!) The set is suggested for age 7+, and if they have seen Lego movies and TV series, they'll be able to have so many story-telling game plays and endless amount of fun. Infact good idea to mix and match and build something new too!

Every little piece put together to make something awesome, it took us a good couple of hours to build the off-roader car, but oh man, the detailing! Stud shooters, pilot seats, sticker labelling, everything is just amazing. I personally absolutely loved Rex's mug and briefcase and Emmet's flashlight - they are so cute! Do check out our unboxing video as well:

You can purchase the set on this Amazon link and also explore other sets from the movie and many more they sell online (watch out for deals as well!) There is a Warrior Lucy & Ultrakatty themed set too, which is what I am going to buy next. Personally, lego sets are fun for our whole family, not just the kiddo.