MUMBAIYYA......

I really donno from where to start? Hmm...But i am sure i will write every bit of ... Wanted to visit mumbai for ages for various reasons.. for its LOCAL TRAINS, BEACHES, DOUBLEDECKER BUSES, CROWD, LIFESTYLE, and ofcourse FOOD.....

We really planned a lot ahead(which i usually don't do) lot i meant is a month for the only reason that train tickets had to be booked... Tickets got booked even got them the previous day.. just the tickets to go... The return tickets has a big story to cover... soo will surely pen it down at the end.. :D

Finally 18th Dec Came.. i was all excited to leave to mumbai.... Me, Anala and Megha were all set for an expidition to a totally new place... i was all excited about it... We got onto the train at 8... and it was 24hrs long journey... So far i had never been on train for soo long.. All excited we started... There we go, we found our co-passengers.. they were 2 ladies with 5 kids around.. Hehehehe.. We thought its gonna be the most enjoyable one.. Since it was night, we didnt interact much with any of others around.. we had one boring vergetable biryani and veg fried rice(i never found any difference between both though) and slept.. i took the upper most berth by choice. I couldnt sleep as soon as i got and i was too excited to sleep.. Then came the next morning, all new... we started our day with UNO cards.. Believe me thats the best thing during our journey, brought those kids really near us.. We all played with those kids around and donno when the journey ended...

It was 8 and here we are "MUMBAI" All thrilled, anala spoke to supriyo and he was stil at office and we had to catch a train to Andheri.. and were suppose to reach a place called Chakala... I was all thrilled.. Just waiting to see the way things work, my first dream came true "LOCAL TRAIN"... we managed to ask people and buy tickets, and managed to catch a trainn.. we got on to a ladies comparment and here we go, we didnt know when does our stop come.. Though we knew we have caught a train to andheri, we were really worried about the way we would jump out and reach the place... I was all smiling bcoz we caught the train... :) And asked too many people when and where to get down and all that... I was amazed by the way people hopped in and out of the train within a minute... I liked it thought.. finally we reached Andheri.. now comes the point, is it andheri east or west.. called up supriyo again and found out we were supposed to get down in west and get an auto to chakala, near gurunanak petrol bunk.. Being very new to the place and the time being 9.30 we were little tensed.. we couldnt find an auto for sometime.. then someone asked us to get on to the fly over and then try catching a rick.. we managed to walk tll there and managed to get a auto at 10.. we reached the place and supriyo's wife was new to all of us.. she came to pick us up and we reached the apartment where we were suppose to reside.. all tired and with no energy managed to get on to the 4th floor(lift wasnt working) and she showed us the place.. she was really nice a person to meet with.. she cooked a lot for us.. lot means lot of it.. almost every night she cooked for us... We infact made them vegeterians for a week... One sweet couple we met....

Day 1:

We had Big List of Places to be Covered... Tried our best though to cover it... Next day we just relaxed and by 5 we left to Juhu Beach and another destination ChowPathy.... Caught an auto and reached there.. on our way saw too many people kind of crowded at one place.. asked the auto bhaiyya, he said.. Its BIG B's House... Got Down in Juhu.. It was way tooo crowded.. Man.. it was more than full... then walked around and went to chowpathy.. had pav bhaji, and KAALA KATTA.... It was really yummy...... Back to pavilion.. Only Problem with that place was, it was next to fly over and one main road of Andheri.. and the vehicles movement never stopped, throught the night we heard the cars and two wheelers, lorries, moving..

Day 2:

All set with all energy decided to go to Elephanta caves... We left home and went and caught a local to churchgate... we just knew very few things about the wereabouts.. Thanks a lot for Megha's reasearchs... We werent sure of what is Fast, Slow Local, Harbour line.. we didnt even have a clue... But I am Proud, we learnt it... Reached Churchgate.. I still remember the announcements made in the local trains.... "Pude station Bandra, Agla Station Bandra, Next Station Bandra"... I was amazed bcoz in everystation the train stopped for hardly 40 seconds.. everyone had to get down people had to climb on train again.. that was really amazingly quick.. Realised that u need to be really quick if u need to be in mumbai.... First things first, got a map to mumbai.. which had all the train routes and the places to be seen there..We were looking for a place called tea society of india.. Couldnt find it.. Then finally called up "Shivi Pathak"(Ravi's friend) to find the place.. Then he took us there and had nice tea and nice bfast and We started to walk towards gateway of india.. infact in search of it.. walked walked and walked... didnt knew it was quite far... we managed to walk looking at all the old stone buildings. I was really fascinated by all those buildings.. They were stoned and most beautiful ones.. This part of mumbai was really beautiful... Then we went there we found out elephanta caves would be closed on Mondays.. :( we felt bad.. next aim was lets go for a movie.. we went to Imax and watched AVATAR... I fell in love with that movie.. and then head back home..

Day 3:

Megha fell ill after this day.... and she couldnt think of coming out.. So finally me and anala started to see bandstand, jogger's park and Linkin Road.. Shivi had asked to shop in linkin road, since its the best place to shop... Bandstand and Jogger's park wasnt that great.. atleast i didnt enjoy it as much.. Then we shopped shopped and shopped in Linking Road... :) While coming back we got on to the train at a peak hour.. Oh Oh Oh Oh... I was literally struck between people and for my fate was standing on the opposite side of platform where i was suppose to get down.. Probably the first ever encounter of peak hours and after that we tried to avoid the peak hour from then,. But Local's something i loved about mumbai... :) Wherever you are you are in reach of a station and 45 mins max u can reach wherever across mumbai....
Day 4:

One more fell ill..... :( Supriyo showed us a nice place to have idli vada near his place.. Till we were back we made sure we ate there everyday.... Somehow our plans kept on moving ahead... We watched Paa that day... And came back home....

Day 5:

We Finally thought just another 2 days left we have to go to Elephanta today.. And we were successfull in doing so.. We went to Elephanta.. Its a beautiful place with all good carvings in it... The Caves were Huge.. It was really great... Then we came back and didnt know what to do. it was just 4... One more thing to see was MARINE DRIVE.... Then thought of SHIVI... We called him up, caught with him and he took us to Nariman point, Colaba Cosway(its actually a tourist attraction adn highly expensive) then we had a walk in Marine Drive.. The Place which i loved the most.... it was illuminated all over and we walked all the 3 kms.. looking at sea and walking next to it was sooo much fun.. I loved the whole feeling of breeze and saw the Queen's Necklace... Shivi made us eat like mad that day... We had one kind of local chai of bihar.. One kadak chai i had ever had in life.. It was really wonderful.. Tasted a lot of food that day.. Started home by 11.. Caught a Local from marine lines... was totally surprised to see the ladies compartment full at that hour.. Thats one good thing about mumbai, Girls are safe there... i mean they can roam at any hour there... :) We reached railway station and caught an suto back home....

Day 6:

Day to worry about the return tickets... Bcoz of tatkal thing we were suppose to get out tickets.. Thanks to bala.. he got us the tickets on time... :) We went to fashion street.. belive me it wasnt soo good as heard or expected... We went to marine drive again that day.. simply couldnt resist that.. We had been to "Not Just Jazz by the Bay", "Rustom's icecreams", Saw the sunset in Marine Drive.... I loved it... I loved the sun, the breeze and the sea... we enjoyed it...

Day 7:

Last day and still had soo many places in List.. went to see mahalakshmi temple.. Haji Ali Darga.... and finally shopped in linkin road.... and met Samit and got our tickets.. all releaved.... :)

Day 8: All set to leave to Bangalore.. 8 was our train.. got into a local at 6.45.. keeping fingers crossed to reach before 7.30... thank got we did... and here we go... started to bangalore..

Time to say Goodbye to Mumbai.. Good bye to the local trains... Good bye to marine drive and almost everything.....