Salaam BOMBAY!!

nariman point
Originally uploaded by akshat_kumar.

Back from Mumbai...there's been some rush-hour here with my work that had kept this post in the pipeline.And then it took me a while to figure out my account on flickr which has(thank God!) finally been merged with Y!...maybe flickr will replace Y!PHOTOS in times to come and that will be one real good treat.

Ever since I have come to Hyd ,the wanderer inside me has found a new lease of life..umpteen visits to Pune, official trip to Mysore , whirlwind tour of Nilgiris(Ooty , Conoor et al) ,
Coorg , halt at Bang and lately , Bombay.

Talking of Mumbai , I had heard "BOMBAY ROCKS!!"..but to tell you the truth the place fell quite short of my expectations..I had heard Bombay-aisa..Bombay-waisa ki I had expected God-knows-what..I had a hajaar impressions as the famous Infy slang goes of Mumbai..and then it all didn't measure much....But then anyways who went there for the city..

To say I had a ball of a time would be an understatement..Reached there in the morn in a APSRTC Volvo , the bus had too little leg room , when the guy in front of my seat stretched the back of his , my poor knees had a terrible time!!
And to add more , they played and re-played Arshad Warsi's "Kuch Meetha ho Jaaye" , whosoever has seen the movie can understand my plight . Amidst all this , I really wonder why there is such a mad-bad rush for APSRTC buses(I had to book my tickets in "real advance") even though they are more expensive than the other private ones and are definitely not so comfortable as the private ones . The one for which Shriyansh had booked my ticket for the way back was a real comfy one.

I reached Bandra and then began my tryst with the Mumbai locals.I had seen and heard a lot about Mumbai locals so much so that the one of my friends had told me that the ladies cut the vegetables while travelling so that they save on their chores once they reach their
home . I did not see such scenes but yes after having travelled by the locals , i just cannot imagine Mumbai minus the locals..they are indeed , the heartline of the city and real time-crunchers.
I met Shriyansh who took me to his place(Poor chap!He has to take a leave off his office to attend me). In all this exercise , Shriyansh himself was as new to Mumbai as I was and was discovering Mumbai just as any other nouveau-to-Mumbai would do.We went to the Inorbit Mall and in the evening to Juhu where we had the unlimited-parantha-spree and met Abhishek who in turn had lost his cell .

I was particularly , intrigued with the Mumbai Mirror V/s DNA V/s HT campaign which had painted more than half of the city and almost all of locals'
stations . Mumbai is a big city and a lot of things happen in Mumbai maybe that explains , so many newspapers . Even Delhi is yet to have a tabloid ..IT's Today is yet to establish itself.

The next day I was out on my book-shopping-spree . Churchgate-Oxford Store-Crossword(Even the much hyped Crossword-flagship-store-at-Kemps did not live up to the expectations..I believe the Bang one is miles better and is so big and un-cluttered that it gives you the freedom of what you wish to do)..and then Nariman Point..the place I liked the most in Mumbai...sitting right across the mighty sea..a world on its own...was an experince in its own . The next day to
Haji Ali-Mahalaxmi-Crossroads . I was not willing to go to Gateway thanks to the gory incident that had happened the day before and then thehuge-distances-and-constant travelling had sapped me of all my thrill and excitement . I was really amazed to see as to how do people cover such large distances in Mumbai and get used to this kind of travelling by locals . The final day , by then I had a dug a hole deep enough in my friends' pockets , I left NITIE and went to Shriya's place again . Had pani-puri , bhel-puri and rushed for the spot to board the bus . The delay resulted in a slightly frantic where-the-hell-is-the-bus search... But well, the bus was also late, which meant that we were early... So, stood around... And like I said to Shriya, "kal mail par milte hain"... The bus came soon after, I boarded it... And then it moved on..spent three hours moving around in Mumbai only...

The tinted windows were useless...And then...I left...

Out of all the things that the all of us have done together, I think I miss just sitting together and talking the most...

I went , I saw , and I rightly believe , Mumbai is "the" happening place..the locals , the sea , the night life , the dash of "Mumbaiyaa Rains" , the babes and more babes-in-backless-tank-tops(talking of gals who all thought that Bang had the best lot..please visit Mumbai) .

Call it Mumbai , Bombay or Shanghai-in-the-making...indeed , THE CITI NEVER SLEEPS.

Salaam BOMBAY!!