lost in a sea of acronyms

just a quick primer:
BMC Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation
MCGM Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai
MMRDA Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority
BPT Bombay Port Trust
UDRI Urban Design Research Institute
USEFI United States Educational Foundation in India
PUKAR
SPARC
CRIT
AF Alliance Française


navigating the BMC is my favorite. its exciting that nothing is written in english. i can at least recognize Marathi. i take the stairs so i can keep track of which floor im on. people have been either graciously helpful, or inanely frustrating. but what kills me is the titles. although things there are segregated into departments there, more or less ive learned that each gentlemans abbreviated title is the only ticket to a meeting. forget surnames. that will confuse the PA. especially with an american accent. she works with letters, so its worth it to try to speak the language.

PIO Public Information Officer
AddnlMC Additional Municipal Commissioner
PA to the DtyME-P Personal Assistant to the Deputy Municipal Engineer, Projects


and forget street names.
VN Road = Veer Nariman Road
MG Road = Mahatma Ghandi Road
DN Road = Dadabhai Naoroji Road


landmarks? although Bombay has been Mumbai for a while now, its still helpful to go though as many iterations of place and street designations as possible.

VT = Victoria Terminus = CST = Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus
BOM = Bombay Airport Code = Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport = CSIA
Prince of Whales Museum = Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Sangrahalaya
Flora Fountain = Hutama Chowk
Crawford Market = Mahatma Jyotirao Phule
Marine Drive = Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Road = NSC Bose Road
Queens Road = Maharshi Karve Road
Pipeline Road = Senapathi Bapat Marg

and this is just a running list of what i encounter in my own little world.

i need flash cards.