Mumbai, world class

We (Bk, Olu, DC and myself) had planned a 4 day visit to the commercial capital of India. We were to join four others in Mumbai (Thanix, Naveen, Shakila and Aparna) and have lots of fun. The mundri kotta DC left to Mumbai from Chennai on Friday night itself (24 Dec 2004). We were supposed to catch him and the mumbaites on 25th Noon, but thanks to Mother Nature and Air Sahara our flight got delayed by 8 hrs.

25th:
So when we were greeted by our friends in Mumbai it was around 9 PM. We went to the famous marine drive after leaving the girls to get back to their houses. After some time there we had to pacify our hunger and we went sniffing for non-veg. We came to rest at a street parked with lots of cars, pavements filled with chairs and tables and people everywhere. This is where the famous restaurant 'Bade Miyan' is situated. Well am not sure we can call it a restaurant, as we could get not much rest and had to stand like waiters near those small tables for someone to finish their meal. And after some 20 mins of wait, we got to sit down. We were supposed to be then 6 in number, but actually only 4 were mentally present and 5 were physically present. Thanix was in a world of his own, aroused only during this phone conversations. Navkum disappeared whenever he saw an STD booth and the shopkeepers had to close the booth to get him out of there. Well atlast he joined us for dinner. Though this place is a roadside restaurant the food was amazing. Summa mathi mathi kozhiya vettitom. One exception was diet-Olu. Diet pannanunrathukaga pavam Olu vegetariana maritan. Avan sharayum sethu nanga mulunginom.

After a stomach full of Chicken we went to the hotel room where we were put up. First proof of Mumbai being the commercial capital was seen here. There had been almost no decent hotels available for stay and Thanix barely got this room. Also the rates were exhorbirant, they cost like a 3-star hotel's room and all that was in the room was 2 cots, an extra bed and no moving space. But that apart, we had our obvious fun. DC left with Thanix to stay in his house. Then we decided to play Rummy and play till everyone wins one game atleast. The game went on and on, and there was kadum potti between Naveen and myself. But after sometime Olu wanted to sleep. Viduvoma without honouring our pact of everyone winning a game, no way. Wach round we had to slap and wake up Olu to continue the game. Everyone except Bk had won a game. After a long time Bk with some 4 jokers claimed he has won, only to be have declared wrongly without any Rummy. Ayyo it was 4:30 then I guess, and after some time we succumbed to our body and our will was lost.

26th:
Woke up pretty early around 8 AM. Yeah being a s/w engineer does teach you these things. Thats when we slowly started getting news on mild tremors in Tamil Nadu, but since the news channels didn't anything on it we got ready and left for our oor-suthal. We had hired a Qualis and after picking up everyone we went shopping. Well thats another great thing you can do in Mumbai. We went to Big Bazaar and bought lots of clothes. When we could no longer stand we called it quits and left for Juhu beach. By this time we got the news about the Tidal wave but we didn't know about its seriousness. We had a good time at Juhu beach, playing football with Navkum's slippers then kicking water at each other. Finally we were all covered with salt water and we left to Appu's house for dinner. Poor Appu's mom, she would have had a tough time cleaning our mess. In Appu's house we got to see the news and the seriousness of the situation. Then we had a sumptuous dinner, with more than 10 - 12 dishes and 3 - 4 sweets. After all that great food of we left to Mahabaleshwar. And as we left Shakila got bulb after bulb trying to tell goodbye to Appu's dad. Finally she gave up. Naveen did not join us to Mahabaleshwar as he had some office work on his US trip to be done.

This night to we were determined not to waste, so we started playing UNO cards. Thanix especially was to keen on sleeping, but our ruthlessness prevailed and we made him play. Appu with her very secretive style of play took the lead. Then bk and myself took it on us to make sure Appu's points increase by leaps and bounds. The lead was going up and down and the only problem was that we had frequent interruptions in our gameplay by a sottai called DC. You don't need a watch to measure 1 hour when you are traveling with DC. Every hour we stopped for DC to get to his normalcy and soon we were in Mahabaleshwar. We got a couple of rooms to get some sleep and refresh ourselves.

27th:
Once again amazingly we got ready and checked out by 10:30 AM, missing our initial estimate only by 30 mins. We had out brunch and got our hands on some fresh strawberries. BTW, Mahabaleshwar is very famous for its strawberries. Then we hired a local guide though we had Mr Nix. We went to a temple, were bk scene ottufied and didn't even step inside. Then we were off to some sight seeing points. There was the suicide point and some 5 others along the same place. The view was great. We drank water from a spring there. After spending some quiet time there we left to see a Strawberry farm and then to a jam factory. This is were Olu's talents took over. He was possessed by P.C. Shriram's ghost and he tried to capture all plants in the camera. I am sure you would have seen some of his exploits. After he had photographed every flower he set his eyes on, we pulled him to leave to Panchakani (a cleaner place supposedly).

We went to a plateau and it was like a carnival there. There was para gliding which except Shaks and Thanix, everyone took part in. Though we thought it could be scary, it was too slow and okayish. After going on a thala suthra ride we left that place to Get back to Mumbai. The return journey was fun as first myself and then DC got to drive. The Pune - Mumbai expressway was amazing, the only inhibition was that it was a travels car and so we didn't race the vehicle. Also there was some interesting discussion on what is a perfect love was going on. Thanix made an excellent statement that "Perfect love is the one which leads finally to sex." Well may be Thanix was in his philosophical best. Then DC took over the wheels and his serene driving style made everyone sleep, including himself. For some 10 - 15 seconds everyone in the car were asleep. To compensate for this DC made a sudden break awakening all of us in one go. We reached Mumbai quite soon around 12:30 AM. We spend some time to convince Shakila to sutify with us the next day. After a lot of cajoling she agreed. We lft Appu in Shaks place and retired to Thanix's place. Had a wonderful sleep.

28th:
We had our brunch as usual and went to watch Polar Express in Imax Dome theatre. It was an amazing experience, madeit almost life like. Though the movie was good, I dozed of for some 10 seconds during the movie. 3 days of fun has had its effect. Next we left for Gateway of India with all of bk's persuation. It was a dirty place with no place to sit or stand in the shade. After some time we went on window shopping and the stroll was pleasant for the eyes. We had our lunch, in a restaurant were a married girl and her mother on the next table were ogling Olu. But Olu after a few reciprocations rejected her, seeing that she was already married. What a noble heart Olu has. We then walked to Aiyakar Bhavan (Appu's dad's office) and dropped her there. We got loads of chocolates from her which we kept munching on our way to the Railway station. We got tickets to travel in the local trains in Mumbai, a great adventure indeed.

When we got into the train it was quite empty as it was a starting station and we got place to sit. This made us doubt what others had told us about the risky trains of Mumbai. But we were not betrayed. Two stations before the one we had to get out Thanix asked us to go near the entrance. Bk and myself did so. DC and Olu laughed at us saying "Ennada eppove poi nikkiringa". We inched our way towards the entrance. Then our station came. The train stopped for aroung 16 seconds. 8 seconds for people to get out and another 8 for people to get in. As Thanix, bk and myself got out the crowd stared ouring into the compartment. It gives you an impression of a bullet train rushing towards you if you stand in their way. So the "Soll pechu kella" Olu and DC could not get out of the carriage. They got down in the next station and took a taxi to meet us. We changed trains and were ready to meet them. Also Shakila had to catch a third train to get to her place and she did so. Trains are much faster way to travel in Mumbai and they are very efficient. Every 3 mins you have a train, and you can see an electronic count down for the trains to arrive. DC and Olu joined us like after some 15 mins even though they just missed one station.

We went to Thanix's place packed our stuff and were ready to leave. Naveen met us and after our goodbyes left back to office to get on with work. We boarded the train back to Bangalore and most of the train journey was resting and reading. We were back in Blore on 29th 10.30 PM. I had still a couple of days of vacation to relax. So all through the week through the new year I was just lazing, watching movies, game, go out and eat, and put on weight. I must have increased by atleast a couple of kgs last week.

Back to Mumbai:
Well I still have to justify that Mumbai is world class. Well in Mumbai you have expressways though not like the Autobahn's they are like no other in our country. You see traffic, shops open 24/7. You see girls clad in minis and revealing clothes at 2 in the night. But they are not afraid neither are they teased. People oggle them, and they don't seem to mind, but there seems to be no eve teasing. There were some really cool huge skyscrapers, if not 100 floor high they were many 40 floor high. The train system, the roads, the taxis, the autos, everything seem to be more organized than anywhere else in India, and such a huge city with a population of 1 and a half crores, were ppl all walk at the same speed in the railway station, which is double our normal speed, is just amazing. I get the feeling that Bombay has been planned 100 times better than say a Chennai, both being British strongholds.

After having such a wonderful time I sure want to spend some more time there. Hope I get an opportunity soon.

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Signing off after this long account,
Love,
Palani.