or let me start with yesterday itself… there was some activity yesterday too… some teerth yatra again… after office we headed to Atul’s Hotel… kept his laptop.. and then rushed for Mahalakshmi… this is when we took the western highway and the ride was smooth in the ikon he had hired… reached MahaLakshmi kinda late.. but then you have that urge to see your watch everytime you feel its late in mumbai… and then you realise that its late if you beleive the watch.. but then you are in Mumbai.. the city never sleeps…

ok.. so MahaLakshmi it is.. and we enter inside.. the gates right now are closed i guess for some aarti or something and after a wait of about 15 minutes ensures that we are inside one of the only temples in the world dedicated to the Goddess of Wealth… is that one of the reasons why Mumbai is called the Financial Capital of India….

anyway.. out of the temple and then took a cab to the Sidhdhi Vinayak Temple… we were warned of the crowd we were to see there… but then you have to see it to beleive it… the line had atleast 200 hundred people only outside the temple… and then a look inside… which proved that there were another 200 hundred inside the temple in a queue which was not moving at all… and then we saw the entry which had a 50 buck ticket… we joined that line.. and then we saw another entry which was dedicated to the Gold and Silver card members… this is the first time i have seen something like this… Free Line, 50 bucks, Silver Card, Gold Card, and one more Yearly Pass.. hey wait.. i have seen this funda in the Kamakhya Temple in Guwahati too… a line with 2 bucks as the ticket, one with 50 bucks.. and a third with 500 bucks and VIPs….

ok so the temple is crowded like hell inside.. and i just managed to tell Goddie God that i would stay away from the crowd.. and would not really fight my way inside to the main statue… we get out in about an hours time… and that can be called a record of sorts… and then take a cab to Dadar.. which was about 15 minutes away… both of us were hungry and were looking for a place to eat at 2330 hours…

this is where we discussed a few good things about mumbai restaurants…

~ there is a small Temple in most of the restaurants….
~ in some of the restaurants, they will not refill your water glasses, but would just replace the glass with a full glass of water…
~ all the restaurants are washed properly every night…

nice… very nice… I like this… i feel i am getting a lot of things to crib about when i get back to delhi 😛

about today… 28th Dec…. the day began late.. very late infact…. i got up at 1000 hrs.. and then took my time to get ready… was out of the hotel room by 1200 hrs… took the first local to VT… oops.. Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus.. and then a taxi to the Gateway of India… a 120 rupee ticket to the ferry to the Elephanta Caves.. and boarded the ferry from the gate # 4 behind the Gateway of India… had to shell out another 10 buks to sit on the upper deck… and it was WORTH it… talked to the person who was driving the ferry… stood on the upper deck like Leonardo D’Caprio in titanic.. the only difference being, i did not a Kate Winslet to kiss or draw and the ferry was not sinking because of an Iceberg…

the speed was slow… and the view exciting… it was my first exp of a journey in the sea.. Elephanta Caves are on a island about 11 nautical miles away from the coast… and it takes about 1 hour to reach there…
got down at the island.. to see that there was a small train to take some way towards the caves… saves about 10 minutes of walk… and it costs 8 bucks for a return ticket… i chose to walk.. and then had to shell out another 5 bucks as a part of the revenue being generated for the village which is there on the island… and then a walk up the 120 stairs… now what i hated about the place was it had a million people and about half a million shops.. ok ok i am exhagerating, but then it had more people then required.. and definitely the number of shops could reduce…

a 10 rupee ticket and the money i guess this time goes to the ASI lets me enter the hillock where the caves are….. and what do i see !!!

Woh !!! Manh !!!!

i cannot describe anything that experienced for the next two hours in words… today i am feeling that my vocabulary is not really good.. my expression of joy, excitement, surprise ends with a very fews words… any some of the pictures might help me say what i want to… huge statues man made, out of stone, huge caves, beautiful !!! just kept walking around the island and reached the Canon Hill.. where there is a huge Canon kept … the view from this point was great.. i could see the place where i got down of the boat at a distance.. and the sea all around !!! beautiful….

walk back to the boats… you can take any boat back to mumbai from here… and i did.. and paid 10 bucks again to sit on the upper deck !!! and this time the view was worth a million bucks.. i have seen the sun setting in the sea.. but only in pictures.. and this time.. i was looking at the sun for over 45 minutes ending his day.. and setting in the horizon… i was happy.. my heart was full of joy.. and i had already finished over two rolls of film… and i could not stop clicking… manh.. why don’t i have a digital SLR… i could have taken atleast 500 fotos today.. but my fotos were limited… and i am sure i could not have done what i have done with a digital point and shoot…. i need a DSLR… mom dad someone is going to pester you on his burthday….

back on the Gateway of India after a good half a day off INDIA… do you realise that.. i realise that.. i was not on the mainland for the first time ever in my life… God this is great !!! Thank you…

then my usual walk to the bus stand.. and then a cab to VT… and then a 10 minute line to the ticket from VT to Dadar.. and surprisingly a local where i could get a seat.. what is this happening… i getting a seat too regularly now in the local trains now…. and getting down pretty easy too.. i keep my bags at the hotel room.. and rush out with my laptop to find a cyber cafe.. and the ones that i find do not allow me to connect the lappie to their network.. assholes… they were afraid that i am going to infect their network.. i assured them that the computer is running a anti-spyware, a firewall, and an anti-virus software all updated.. but they did not care… i called up Gautam and requested him to send the email i was supposed to send !!! thanks Gautam…

and then back to the hotel.. kept the laptop.. grabbed a hundred rupee note.. and went out of the hotel to hunt for a good Vada Pao… i had seen the Jumbo Vada Pao stall yesterday.. and i headed for that… Vada Pao, the indian burger… and i love it.. its 1000 times better then the McDonald’s burgers… and then i have some good lassi at a shop… back to the hotel… plan to watch “Gone in 60 seconds” with my favorite Nicolas Cage and Angelina “umm lips” Jolie… but thought that i should first write about the day before i catch up with the movie… and here i was.. with the post.. will upload it whenever i get time sometime later… till then… ta ta people…

umm… and the day today is 29th Dec, my mom’s birthday… and the time right now is 2132 hrs… i am not taking any chances by not writing about today for a couple of days coz i am afraid i might miss out on somethings… so here i go about how the day was on thursday, the 29th of Dec.

the day starts late like yesterday… and what really wakes me up is a phone call from office… finish that… and then pack my stuff.. this time it looks like i have matured as a packer.. and my stuff is nicely tucked up in the two bags that i have…

i get out of the hotel.. grab a vada pao… and then take a local to Churchgate… seat again… 🙂 i am the Local Train God !!! a walk around churchgate… had lotsa juice.. different types… Pineapple, Water Melon, cheeku shake lots of them.. and then i find my way towards the Khau Galli… to be frank it turned out to be a dissapointment….

on second thoughts it was not that bad… about 15 odd shops… serving all sorts of mumbai specials… and this time i do not eat anything but had some Ganne Ka Rass, and some mango lassi and then went to a nearby ground where there were a few cricket matches on.. and enjoyed that for about 45 minutes, before I decide to get away to Marine Drive… it was quite near… i had thought it would be far.. passed by the Mocha.. Priyangini had suggested that i should go there to check out the hottie hott babes of mumbai… umm… i have seen better in delhi… you know what i think in Delhi hott gurls are present around some specific places only… unlike mumbai.. where you can definitely spot some cool girls around anywhere… anytime…

anyway.. i make way for myself to marine drive.. and i decide to spend the rest of the day there.. walking from one end of the Necklace of the Queen to the other.. and back… that makes it a total of about 8 kms… i just kept walking.. enjoying the sun.. and the weather… reached Chowpati.. had some bhelpuri there.. and then started walking back… to catch the sunset i always had been waiting for in my life.. but hey… the sun did not go set in the sea.. it was a good inch above the horizon.. not fair 🙁 i was thinking i would be able to see half the sun inside water.. and the other half above it.. well never mind.. it was good enough… some good snaps there… and then the lights came on… it for sure was beautiful.. and the number of people now had started increasing.. so i decided to make a move back.. oh… i forgot.. i also went to an aquarium there.. it was nice… took the local back to dadar.. went to the ATM.. settled my bill.. and then went out to see what can i do after i have to check out of the hotel tmrw morning.. there is this small cinema hall near the hotel.. i think i will catch the matinee show there Bluff Master is the movie.. and that would keep me busy for three hours..and i can leave Dadar at 1600 hrs… thats still kinda early for the flight.. but i guess i rather leave then wasting time around !!!

so that was how the second last day in mumbai was spent… eating and drinking…

a few things about mumbai that i love to love
~ the strong.. very very strong public transport system, the locals, the buses, the taxis….
~ the double decker buses are still running here.. i love it…
~ there are so many juice corners around this city.. and really cheap… i loved that part…
~ looks like most of this city runs on time… this is good…

city minus the traffic… great city…

saturday 0120 hrs; last day of the year 2005 starts… and what did i do in the second last day of the year 2005… here is what i did….

the day started a li’il early then the last two days… around 0900 hrs.. i had to get up.. and pack all my stuff… and then leave for a movie… to kill time for atleast 3 hours… and around 1000 hrs i was done with my packing… and i got a message from Priya.. who was kinda free for lunch… so i thought good… i don’t have to waste time watching the movie.. i get ready.. leave my stuff with the hotel wala guys… take a local to VT and meet up with priya for lunch… her office is on DN Road… beautiful… why was i not here before… anyway… we meet outside her office.. i get her a few flowers just to thank her for whatever she had done while i was in mumbai.. i could not have got a place if priya was not around… we go to a very very decent chinese restaurant near her office itself… and they serve more then what two people can eat.. we ordered for just one noodles.. and we ate .. and had enough to pack and take away too.. but then neither was in keen on a parcel.. and she too was not interested.. so we had to waste about one third of the food and move out… i thanked her again and then rushed to dadar… picked up my stuff…and took a taxi to the airport.. and the fare this time 🙁 120 bucks.. and how much did i spend the last time.. i guess it was around 350 bucks.. i came out well of mumbai.. and it turns out that its one of the cities i like to like…

sushant called in.. and told me that he is going to meet me… i checked in.. also was happy with the fact that the flight was an hour late.. which meant i had more time… and rushed to Bandra… where Sushant was waiting for me… it was so good to see him after so long.. he has been a good friend always… and talking to him is always great.. we move to the Ban Stand Bandra, i see the deserted fort.. and we just hang out there only for a while… till the sun sets.. and then moved to the cafe coffee day.. and then search for Shahrukh.. he called but he did not give me his address.. however he being a famous cine star.. it was not hard to find Mannat, his bunglow… bang in front of the sea.. i envy him for the breeze he gets in the evenings…
so now i think i had covered all the places that Priyangini had mentioned in her comment on the post… oh.. and i also had the green chana chaat.. this time the third time… i had it the first time at the juhu..and again there only…

reached the airport… through the typical mumbai traffic… i will keep cribbing about that all the time… and the flight this time was not delayed further… and whoa !!! the jet was huuuuuuuuge… this was the first time i managed to sit in the Indian Airlines and not the Alliance Air… the plane was an Airbus 300 and it had 10 seats in every row.. and also had a executive class section… the air hostesses were slightly better… had a nice dinner on board.. mumbai looks beautiful in the night.. i could figure out where the Marine Drive was, thanks to the Air India Building near the Nariman Point… i think i liked Delhi better when the plane took off for Bhopal.. anyway.. i have also started reading the City of Djinns by William Dalrymple… interesting book….

Saturday 31-Dec-2005 2118 hrs…. chennai @ Deepak’s Residence…
what to expect in the next few paragraphs… the trip to MahaBalipuram and Pondy !!!

today is what? the second of january 2006 !!! and i have not posted anything for about a week.. actually i have been writing .. and keeping it with me.. did not have any access to the emails

ok… 03 Jan 2006… i have not wished anyone a happy new year.. i have not posted anything on the site.. and i did not tell anyone about what happened in Chennai.. shame on me…

here is the flashback…

reached chennai late… and left early for Mahabali Puram… saw the entire place.. and then went to pondi and came back… shit.. i am not really feeling like writing right now… i think i will stop here… and write about my Pondi and Mahabalipuram Trip sometime later.. it was too good to be missed out…