posting this from the office at 1100 hrs on sunday….

flashback…

what is the time right now.. lemme check… 2245 hrs… in my room… and the date today is 24th Dec… i have more about mumbai today to write… but before that.. something about what i have been doing in the last two days…

flashback…

yesterday…
usual office.. nothing great.. came back late from the office… had dinner at a restaurant near the hotel… came to the room.. watched “Gods must be crazy” and slept… i think i have written this in the last post too… so nothing new…

today… went to the office late… did not feel like getting out of the blanket… for people who are missing me in delhi.. i am using an AC in this room full blow… and mom told me yesterday that she had not seen the sun for three days..

and the son for about two weeks now… love you mom.. love you pa… your son is just fine… do not worry… he is more of a loner kinda guy so being alone is not killing him at all.. he has a mind to think.. eyes to keep looking around….and loads of work which keeps him really busy the entire day and gives him enough reasons to sleep peacefully….

so back to today…. did the training just fine… thank God we had three people with laptops in the training which meant good amount of hands on done.. otherwise it was just my laptop that was being used for hands on by the team.. the training was not that effective yesterday coz the people really needed to work on the tool to understand ( i realise that but i cannot really anything about it…) but today it turned out to the best session so far in the 4 sessions i have completed so far… the entire north has been trained… west would be completed tmrw.. and then i move to south and then to east !!! funn… eh !!!

was able to get over todays agenda by 1830 hrs.. and then came to know that Prasanna ( the IT guy from Mobility Maharashtra, Pune) was planning to go to the MahaLakshmi Temple… and he asked me.. and i was more then happy to say yes !!! he is an IBMer so he can hire a cab from Hertz.. and pay using his AMEX… i do not have that option.. and what did we have for a cab today.. a black Mitsubishi Lancer… i like that car.. its sleek….

so first stop… mahalakshmi temple… drove next to the race course as well… and then walked down to Haji Ali… and saw the sea in the night… scary !!!! it is… really…. second time i saw the sea now… i am not sure what direction i was looking at now…was it the west or the east or what the hell… coz when i went to Gateway of India that day.. the sun was setting opposite to the sea.. and i was totally confused.. it was supposed to set in the sea here !!!! why was it setting ina different direction… a quick look at the map helped me understand how the coast was structured…

phew but trust me i usually good with directions.. but i am taking more time then usual here in mumbai with that… this is not me !!! need to read more…

anyway about today.. MahaLakshmi and then Haji Ali..

and then what next… one major temple left.. the Sidhdi Vinayak Temple, PrabhaDevi Mumbai !!!! so we head towards that temple…

all sins taken care of… all Gods happy.. and i am an angel now… with wings.. and i did not even drink Red Bull !!!

then a great dinner at a restaurant called the Shobha Restaurant in Mahim !!! and a taxi back to the hotel…

now my observations about the city…
~ its fast… no i am not complaining… this is just an observation…. i still walk at my own pace here…
~ its crowded… no matter what time of the day it is.. you will be in the middle of traffic… and a sea of people…
~ it has lots and lots of taxies…. all FIAT… mmmmmmmuah 🙂
~ you have to be careful before you ask a taxi-wallah to take you anywhere… always walk for a minute or two in the direction you have to go… and then stop a taxi going in that direction… that helps !!! the first thing that the driver would do is turn down the metre.. and go where you has asked him to go.. no arguments nothing.. at the destination he will check the meter tell you the fare.. you give him the fare… greet him.. and smile.. and get out of the cab.. simple… Dilli mein meter and auto.. wishful thinking eh !!! and thrice the amount from the hotel to the office and back was exact 37 bucks.. which means that the meters also work just fine !!!!
~ do not look like a stranger to the city… just be yourself… just look busy and in a hurry…
~ mumbai has a lot of shops.. or probably the route that i take has too many of them. dadar, parel, lower parel… only shops and shops both sides of the road…
~ there is no way that the roads can expand in mumbai.. which means more vehicles are going to add to the length of the jams… and nothing can be done to increase the number of lanes the jam is in…
~ there are very few two wheelers.. i have atleast struggled to find a lot of them… unlike bhopal and delhi.. where there is an equal number of two wheelers as the 4-wheelers… oh.. and bhopal.. definitely twice the number of 2-wheelers then cars etc…

what else…

oh and yes…

i ate the pao bhaji.. good.. but for some reaon was extra red and not because of the chilly.. i guess more tamatar… or tomoto for people who do not understand the hindi…

i ate the vada pao.. i was thinking it would have the vada of idli-vada in it.. but no it was a pao with an aalu bonda in it… now my next question.. what the hell do people call that vada here… then found out.. its called Melu Vada…

ever heard of cutting chai… well i have.. and i saw the term being used today too… maza aaya sunker… “ek cutting chai dena :)” mast ekdum… oh and yes… i saw a lot of people coming to the restaurants having a quick tea and leaving.. good hai.. dilli mein nai hota ye… and guess what they have the tea in a cup and a plate.. the saucer.. and then pour the tea from the cup to the saucer and then drink.. wow… i used to do that in college whenever i could.. and here its done too.. loved that view…

i had the kolhapuri veg today.. spicy.. ek dum good…

i have not been able to use the SLR a lot so far in mumbai.. probably tmrw.. sunday.. when i move around the markets checking for stuff i can capture in the cam !!! thanks to my phone.. most of what i am seeing i can capture and its good enough to go on the blog…

will stop now… need to sleep.. with post the post tmrw morning after i reach office.. till then shabba khair.. keep travelling with me…..