Mumbaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiii !!!!!!!

Yes thats what came in my mind when I saw the city first from the aircraft. Gawd, sky high buildings, I could see the slum areas too and roads bustling with traffic. All and all, a typical metro city. The captain announced, we are about to land in Mumbai, temperature outside is 34 degrees. That gave me a sigh of relief. 34 degrees, better than burning 40-45 degrees of Ghaziabad. But as soon as I de-boarded the aircraft and BAM !!!!!

Humidityyyyyyyyy !!!! My enemy. I HATE HUMIDITY. Jee Haan.  I HATE IT, I HATE IT, I HATE IT.

I was sure, this humidity will play the spoilt sport in my stint. Humidity freaks me out and I keep sweating like a pig. But anyways, now when I had landed in Mumbai I had no other option but to survive in this weather.

As soon as I switched on my phone, I saw a BBM message notification. The message said "I have reached". And it was from a twitter friend Rishika aka @TharkiThakurain . I met her recently in Delhi and let me tell you, she is one kick-ass girl. A complete no non-sense person. And the very next moment a got a call.

Person : Sir aap pahunch gaye ? 

Me : Haanji sir, bas pahunchta hoon 15-20 mins mein aapke paas.

As soon as I entered the airport premises, I spotted Udit Narayan, the famous bollywood singer. Well, that confirmed that I am in the mayanagari - Bollywood.  Got another call. 

Person : Sir kahan pahunche ?  

Me : Bas aa gaya hoon, luggage leke seedha aapke paas aata hoon. 

Took my luggage from the conveyer belt, called up the person. 

Me : Haanji sir, kahan hai aap ? 

Person : Sir, Megamart outlet ke paas khada hoon.  

Me : Main bhi wahi hoon. 

He turned out and we spotted each other. Well, I had to hand over the packet of  Prasad that I got for someone from Vaishno Devi. Yes. i recently went there. Took a deep breath and thanked Mata Rani that the prasad will now reach its destination and I feel that the person has already got it by now. 

Rishika called up, said that once I am out of the airport premises, I should take a left and she would see me. Yes, Rishika came to pick me. Despite the fact, that I have just met her once, she took the pain to come to pick me up at the airport. So nice of her. I felt special. 

As soon as I got out of the airport premises, I spotted Rishika. We greeted each other and the next moment, we were in the queue to get a pre-paid taxi booked.  

Me : AC or non AC cab ? 

Rishika : Take a non AC one, tujhe main Mumbai ka weather experience karwati hoon. 

Me : Sigh!! 

Took a non AC cab and paid 10 bucks at baksheesh (tip) to the person to helped me in putting my suitcase in the taxi. And we were on roads of Mumbai. 

Rishika is actually my tour-guide in Mumbai. She has promised that she will help me out with direction, dos and donts, and at some places, she has promised that she would accompany me. While on out way to my cousin's apartment, wh stays in Powai, Rishika told me many things about the city, her college, Mumbaikars and how to travel in Mumbai. (Thats some serious task) 

In like half an hour or so, we reached the place where my cousin stays. We went to his flat, dropped my luggage and sat for some 20 mins and again we were on road for a tweetup. ( Tweetup is actually a meet, where twitter users meet and gossip a lot). Another twitter buddy who hails from Pune but currently doing a course here in Mumbai, Tejas aka @Bedardi_Raja was coming to meet me. Me and him we both were really looking forward to see each other. We decided on RCT mall, Ghatkopar (The Gujju Area) of Mumbai.  

Me and Rishika reached the mall, went to Urban Tadka, a restaurant and had yummy Kadhai Paneer, Raita and butter naan, which is now is our signature menu. We ordered same stuff when we met in Delhi and now again. The food was yummy, the place was just perfect to sit and chat. Later Tejas also joined us and hence the tweet up began. Tejas is a kid. Yes he is a kid with brains. He can talk and talk and talk but you would actually enjoy listening to him. We three sat together, and chatted.  

Later, came out of the restaurant, sat in the open arena in the mall. Ice cold winds were blowing in full throttle and I was actually enjoying and praising the weather and suddenly....... 

..... It rained. Yes, that was completely unexpected. The famous Mumbai rains welcomed me in their own way. All three of us ran inside the mall, roamed a bit, sat in the food court, and as usual bakar bakar bakar was full on. The best part about this tweetup was, we didn't discuss twitter much. It was all about Mumbai, Mumbai and Mumbai coz I am a curious soul and I want to know as much as I can about the city in just no time. 

It was about 6:30 , when I realised that I am getting late for home. Asked both Rishika and Tejas to end the meetup. Me and Tejas went together and Rishika took an auto back to her place.  

On our way back Tejas told me more about Mumbai, Mumbai's lifeline - The local trains and dos and donts about them. He has been in Mumbai from past 20 days only and has measured the whole city in his own way. Later when we were about to reach home, we both realised that our homes are like 2 mins away from each other.  

That was my Day 0 at this city of dreams. What I could make out by seeing the hustle bustle of the city is life is really fast here. No one has time to think, you just have to run, run and run. And I promise myself that I will try and live like a Mumbaikar in next coming days. 

Thats all for today. Signing off.

-  

Yatin