It was planned earlier that we would leave house by 9:30 AM but ended up with 30 mins delayL. Since Praveen had his flight in NOON, he too joined deciding he would catch a taxi from some nearby place. After grabbing Dosa for Nth time in this trip, moved out of Vasai & soon were in Mumbai & here begins my day’s non-bike outingJ.
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| John, Bipin, Praveen, Me & my Dosa... :) |
As we moved inside the city crossing main entrance to Mumbai paying the toll, my eyes were caught by slums on either side of the road. Most of all, damn! Every slum has Dish TV, Airtel & such antenna’s on roof. Which idiot would think they are poor now?
“Slum nalli iruvavaru yella yenta daily wage workers aa??? (People in slums are daily wage workers???)” I asked getting completely confused on place of their stay & antenna’s standing straight on roof top.
“Illa ri! Dodda dodda party yavaru sa irtare… Ondu slum nalli vobba doctor iddanante… Avana hattira BMW kooda ide yante… (No! Big shots do stay in slums… In one such slum there stays a doctor itseems… He has BMW itseems)” John said while I was spell bound.
John did explain me the life they lead in slums along with his briefing about Mumbai to this new bee. Since it was raining pretty heavily, I couldn’t capture photos while on the move. John explained the day’s plan in short but as I was very new to this mega city, I simply said,
“Neevu yellige karkondu hogtira, allege hogudu aste… (I will come wherever you take me…)”
The very first place in list was Siddivinayak Temple. John said our Bachchan sir comes every week for worship & this is one of the 3 very important temples of Mumbai. As usual no wonder I forget the names of other 2 temples.
“Idi Mumbai irude ee mooru devara karune inda… (Entire Mumbai is dependent on these 3 god’s grace…)” John said while I was peeping outside to see how temple looks.
We 3 (Me, Bipin & Praveen) got down & I was wondering where to keep my slippers. After searching for a while, saw some flipflops near a small shop & we too kept our slippers there.
“Khali chappal nahi rakne ka… Kuch leke jaana padta hain!!!” Shopkeeper said while we were about move out & handed a plate of worshiping things. After enquiring the cost, he said,
“Ded sou!!!” L ‘This is Mumbai’ I said to myself.
“Bipin re, kaali chappal nodi kollikke, 150 rupai maare… (Bipin, Just to take care of slippers, it costs 150 bux…)” I said & we ended it up with laughing at ourselves.
Temple was pretty crowded with devotees, but I thought Praveen would be very happy as he would think ‘this is nothing’ compared to one he went through yesterday in local trainJ. But amazing fact was that we came out doing darshan in hardly 10 mins time. After the quick darshan, next was Marine drive going via place where Mukesh Ambani has built his house. Moving in some streets, we reached Mukesh Ambani’s house & boy o boy! Is it a house or Tech Park??? House has minimum of 35-40 floors. John said few floors are for parking & few more are houses of servants.
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| Mukesh Ambani's house... |
“Marine drive ge neevu raatri horde adu necklace tara kanistade light nalli… Adakke idannu Queen’s necklace anta heltare (If you to Marine drive in night, it looks like necklace with lights on… Hence this is also called Queen’s necklace…)” John said & but I was sure I can’t see it todayL.
Marine drive was kinda awesome with monsoon climate in MumbaiJ. While on move, John showed us Trident & Oberoi Hotels where 26/11 attack had happened. The whole operation which lasted for few days flashed in mind & felt bad thinking of fate of the people who lost their livesL. We went to end of Marine drive where locals were enjoying the waves splashing on rocks & hitting them. With Bipin not ready to walk down in rain, I & Praveen got out to get some snaps with the help of John’s umbrella. Man! It’s so awesome being here I felt. Although I knew photos might not come good due to rainy climate, captured few for my memory & got back in our Innova.
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| Trident Hotel I guess!!! |
Praveen & I both wanted to taste Misal Pav & John took us to some nearby street chat shops but what luck? Except Misal Pav, everything else was there & we ended up with Samosa Pav & another chat of which I forgot the name in no time. It was already nearing 1:30 PM & soon after grabbing a bite, Praveen took a taxi to Airport & we continued our sightseeing with entire middle row being mine for resto f the dayJ.
Next in the list was famous Gateway of India & Taj Hotel. Had heard of this Hotel numerous times & also had seen it in TV countless times. At last today, I am in front of itJ. But the bad part being to visit Gateway of India, we need to pass through metal detector & rest all the open place was banned to enter via barricades. Although I didn’t understand the concept of security in place which could be cracked very easily, got in decently for the sake of photos. Bipin too accompanied me with umbrella. Although it was raining, got my camera out & clicked snaps of everything that caught my eyes. Man! The ocean water looks very scary with tides & was completely brownish in colour.
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| In front of Gateway of India |
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| Yup! Your guess is correct!!! |
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| Taj & Beach... |
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| Can you spot the blast mark??? |
Once we got back on car, Bipin & John got busy discussing about good restaurant for lunch. Since the time machine was showing nearly 2:30 PM, Egg Biryani in Sher-E-Punjab looked yummy with Mixed Veg Raitha. Gosh! Food is so heavy that I couldn’t end up eating entire BiryaniL.
“Next yellige??? (Where next???)” I asked.
“Eega naavu CST Nodikondu, Sea link ninda seeda Bandra hoguva. Avaga time agtade. Matte vapas… (Now we will go to Bandra via Sea link seeing CST. It will consume good time & then back home…)” John said in short. As we both wanted to be back home before 6:00 PM, I thought its ideal.
After seeing CST, in short time, we were on Sea link that connects Bandra to Worli.
“Swalpa gaadi mella maadi maare! Photo tegitene..” I requested John to which he agreed & I could capture some shots while the 4 wheels were moving aheadJ.
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| CST |
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| Twin towers spotted on the way!!! |
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| Masjid between water... |
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| Enjoying drive in Sea Link!!! |
Bandra was one of the luxury areas of Mumbai & I came to know about it only when John informed me.
“Bandra dalli full Christian domination… (Bandra is Christian dominated…)” John said while I was busy looking at huge villas.
He showed me the famous church in Bandra & soon after that, we were in Bandra beach road which was damn crowded. I was spell bound looking at the couples hiding inside umbrellas & said,
“Idu yenta avaste maare… (What situation is this…)” & John & Bipin laughed at my jokeJ.
Right beside the beach, John showed me King Khan’s & Rekha’s house. He also said Salman stays in flat & showed me one about which even he wasn’t sure. It was already nearing 5:00 PM by then & from then on, it was a drive back home.
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| Slums everywhere |
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| Rekha's House |
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| Mannat! That belongs to King Khan |
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| Count the Antenna's :) |
With Noon’s lunch not working fine on me, flushed it & slept tight while Bipin got into his official work. Woke up by 9:00 PM & told Bipin I will not have dinner as I am feeling heavy tummy. Since even he was feeling the same, we both crashed calling it end of the day.
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