Hi all,
I am again back to report the next big advenure we had recently!! Well, the adventure was not really applicable if you are looking for any hardcore action, gunfights, or a police car chase!! The adventure word simply implies the daring decision we took to make a trip of Mumbai, a city where the humidity kills a lot, and leaves the rest for pollution to take over!! That too, in a non-ac tempo traveller!! Well, trust me on this, it was a decision that was nothing less of a Mission Impossible statement, especially since the journey was to be done in the hottest month of June, and that too, before there was any showers to cool the temperature even for a bit.
Anyways, to cut down to the chase, here we were, a bunch of IT guys(and girls), trying to have some kind of break from the monotony of our daily lives, and making the best out of the situation.
The trip started at about 7'o clock in the morning on the 6th of June, 2009, after the usual hour of delay. The trip started with high spirits, and a lot of gusto! The car was nothing fancy, but was comfortable enough.
By 10a.m., we had reached Mumbai suburbs, and there itself, we got a brief of what lay ahead of us! The temperatures was intensely hot, and we, being from Pune, where we hardly know what the word "sweating" means, that got us quite a setback. But we were in that mood, where we were not ready to let anything get in our way of enjoying ourselves. So we carried on. We crossed places like the BSE and Mumbai VT station on the way, but did not halt there. Soon, we reached the 1st landmark of the day. It was the magnificent GATEWAY OF INDIA, which we have always saw either in the movies, or in the news(reference to the tragic 26/11 incident) all throughout. Seeing it in person was quite a magnificient experience, and we were all in awe of the huge structure.
Right in front of it was the Taj Hotel, another relic of the same terrorist attack. Out came our cameras, and we started clicking photos of anything and everything we could capture. Some of us were too much into nature photography, while others were quite content with just clicking our pics. In all, we took over a hundred photos of ourselves, with all kinds of backgrounds and subjects!! Here are a few examples of the same. I think you will get an idea of what I am saying.... :)
We went all around the place. The sweltering heat was getting quite unbearable when we decide to give it a break, and move on to our next destination. Overall, it was quite a good start to the journey, I must say. Having set our standards quite high, we looked forward to the next part.
And we were not disappointed!!!! Next on the list was nothing short of MARINE DRIVE, the huge expanse of cemented coastline of Mumbai on which countless filmstars have spent countless hours shooting!! We were almost hoping to get to see a few film shootouts ourselves, but luck did not permit us of that. No matter what, we had a good time there, walking along the coast. The sun was unforgiving and raged down upon us with all it's intensity. It was getting quite an unbearable. We had initially planned on walking a little distance to the place where we could have our lunch, but gave up on the walking due to the tremendous heat. We got back to the bus and went towards Churchgate.
The lunch was a minor affair with us all getting a lot of drinks and some light food at an Irani restaurant called "Stadium". The food was good there, and it kind of restored the energy level in all of us, which was dwindling a bit due to the immense heat. After lunch, we got back to our initial plan of covering as much of Mumbai as was possible in our short trip.
After lunch, we still had about 2 hours of sun to beat. We decided to go to a small park called the HANGING GARDEN in Malabar Hill. It was actually, a child park, with a model shoe built in it. No idea why it is called the "Hanging" garden, as we hardly saw anything hanging in there!! Anyways, we spent some time there and then carried on to the next landmark.
Next, was the small beach at Chowpatty. It was the first beach for us in Mumbai, and we had a lot of fun there. The water was not really clean, but we were all in the mood to have uptimate fun. We splashed around in that only, and enjoyed a lot! Next, we tried as many chaats and cold panipuris as we could find on the beach. It ended with icecreams, which turned out to be quite good, in fact!
With this, the first day of sighseeing in Mumbai came to an end. We went from there to where we would be staying at night. One of our friends had managed to get an apartment in Anushakti Nagar, the BARC colony, which was quite good, and quite inexpensive, considering he city we are talking about is Mumbai. We freshened up there, and took some rest before starting on the next phase of our plans!! Trust me, it was needed, as we had planned a wild second half for ourselves!!
That night was the breakfree party that we had long planned. The best disc in town was one called POISON. The cover charge was itself 3000/= for stags! One of us had long been talking to one of the floor managers, but on the day, there was a confusion, and we were refused entry as there it was a weekend and we were more on the stags number, than couples. In fact, ina group of 10, there were only a couple of girls! Crestfallen, we were contemplating a return back to base when one of us came up with another substitute. It was a sports bar called the Hawaiian Shack, which had an improvised dance floor, and a couple of televisions showing a live cricket match. Well, the atmosphere was quite scintillating, and a lot of energy was flowing in the air. We got into the party mood, and the alchohol did full justice to the same!!! By 2 a.m., we were quite on edge. The party ended, and a happy bunch of us got back to the bus, and came back to our apartment.
There were a few more activities in the night, which we, as a group enjoyed a lot, but I would hardly care to mention them out here. We all went to sleep in an elibrited condition, and frankly, I do not remember half the incidents of that night too clearly to recount here.
Next day, we got ready at around 11, and had breakfast, a very healthy and filling one comprising of dosas and idlis. After debating a lot, we decided on going to HAJI ALI at the beginning. It was probably the best decision of all. We all enjoyed the short walk it has to reach the temple from the gate of the place. Huge waves lashed against it, drenching the pilgrims with water, and making the journey very enjoyable.
The place was quite nice too, but the inside was very crowded. We completed our main task, clicking photographs, and came back to the outside. There, we had some refreshments in the form of fruit juices in the Haji Ali Juice Center, which is quite a renowned shop. The reputation was quite accurate for it.
Next, we went from there towards Band Stand, our last destination for the day, and the trip. En route, we crossed a nice area called RECLAMATION, which was a nice drive. Pity, we were not allowed to stop the car, and click some pics.
We reached Bandstand in a little time. The first thing we saw was the building where Salman Khan stays. Then, the list went on.... Farhan Akhtar and Shahrukh Khan being the prime ones in that list.
We stopped at a restaurant, and had lunch. It comprised of chinese food, which was ok. We ate our fill, and then went down to the beach. The beach there is completely rocky, and we had quite an experience climbing all over them to go forward. We managed, quite well, I must say. A few of us went ahead to the edge of the sea completely, while a few stayed in the safety zone a little way back. We clicked a huge collection of pics in here, in all kinds of moods, and background to complement that. The sea always gives us a sombre feeling, the vast expanse taking us all to another dimension, it seems, every time. We enjoyed a lot, and finally, decided to start back, although, against all our wishes. It was getting late, and we had to make the trip back to Pune to consider too.
Why does it always have to end this way?? After all the fun we had in this trip, it was back to square one! We would be sucked back into our work life, dreaming about the next time we will experience something as good as this.
Well, this was a small summary of how we did what we did. Till next time.... Signing off!!
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