Mumbai in 100 words

I kept thinking, how to finish this off, kept thinking for two continuous days, but I think, I can go on and on about Mumbai. Yes, those 10 days were special and memorable in their own way. One of the best vacations I had in my life.  Though I was there for some official work, but it was a vacation for me. So, after putting in too much thought, I am gonna write my 100 words about Mumbai and would put a full stop to this travelogue. Here it goes

"Mumbai is definitely a city of dreams. Full of surprises and shocks. You will develop a love-hate relationship with the city. Sea is what makes the city special. You love the city, it would love you back. You work hard, it will reward you. In short, it will either make you or break you. Mumbai rains are to die for. The nightlife of the city is awefuckingsome. Visit the city without any presumptions like I did and you would definitely fall in love with it, like I did, so much that I am planning to move there." 

The most memorable pics from the trip are here : 

Hiranandani

The place where I spent hours thinking about various things

First Journey in Mumbai Local

BSE

Hotel Taj

Gateway of India

My first encounter with the Sea :)

Shivaji

Marine Drive

Queen's Necklace 

VT 

Freedom

#IfYouKnowWhatIMean :D

Chandivali Lake

Sky Is The Limit

In the end I would like to thank each and every person who took time out to take me around the city. Specially Rishika, Dheera, Adnan Bhai, Ajit, Viraj & Dev.

Signing off from this one, this time permanently. 

- 

Yatin

Book plane tickets to India with Cheapoair! 

Day 9 - The Last Morning

Woke up at 7:30 in the morning and I was late today. I had to reach the Airport by 8:30 because I had promised Ajay ( @BloodyKamina ) that I will meet him at the airport. Quickly I finished the last part of my packing, took a shower and got ready. Cousin also got up and he was still sleepy. I asked him to sleep but he said, he would come to see me off. After a brisk discussion, I asked him not to spoil his morning because of me and he agreed. 

Ajay called me up to confirm if I have left my place so that he can leave accordingly, I told him that I would start in 10 mins. At dot 8:30 I was in an auto rickshaw and was sailing through the streets of Mumbai that I wont get to see anymore for dont know how long. 

Mixed feelings they were. Honestly, I never loved any city like this before. It might be infatuation, but the only thing I know is, I have to visit there soon. While I was thinking about everything that I did in the city in past 10 days, suddenly this thing came up in my mind.

DAMN! I FORGOT THE PACKET OF ALL THE PRASAD THAT I GOT FROM ALL THE TEMPLES AND DARGAH !

Called up my cousin

Me : Ek gadbad ho gayi yaar. 

Cousin : Kya hua ?

Me : Prasad bhool gaya yaar. Fridge mein rakh diya tha maine. Le jaana yaad nahin raha.

Cousin : Ab kya karna hai ?

Me : Aata hoon wapas lene, neeche gate ke paas milna mereko. 

Asked the auto rickshaw driver to go back to the place where we started. Made another call 

Me : Hey Ajay! 

Ajay : Hi, Have you reached ?

Me : No not yet, I am actually heading back towards home.

Ajay : What happened ?

Me : I forgot something at home, need to take it. Its very very important. I will see you at the airport at sharp 9:30.

Ajay : Okay, cool. Airport is 10 mins from my place, give me a call and I will be there. 

Me : Sure I will. 

In like 15 mins or something, I was standing outside the society, called up cousin and asked him to bring the packet. He got it for me. Said thanks and asked Auto waala to rush to the airport, it was around 9:10. God has his own ways to deal with the things. I firmly believe in that. If I had started from my place a bit late, I wouldn't have time to come back and collect the packet. In a way, I was thankful to Ajay that he agreed to meet me up at the airport. Looked like EVERYTHING WAS PLANNED.

Called up Ajay again when I reach the airport, he came up in no time. Initially we couldn't figure out where should we sit, but then as there was very little time in my hands, we decided to sit at a nearby pavement and started chatting. Another tweetup where we didn't discuss twitter much. Ajay came across as a nice sober guy, who has his goals clear. He asked me to visit Mumbai during Ganesh Chaturthi and assured me that he would take care of my accommodation and everything else. Thats so nice of him. He also told me many things about the city, the goods and bads about it. At exact 10:00 A.M, I told him, I wish to take a leave from him now because I had to check-in at the airport that was over crowded. Promised to see him soon. 

My flight was at 11:20 and as per the norms, I should have checked-in my luggage and collected my boarding pass by 10:35. The Indigo check-in counters were so crowded that everyone was clueless and furious about the chaos there. I sneaked out of the line, went to a counter. Told the executive about the status and she quickly took my ticket, handed me over my boarding pass and my luggage was checked in. I quickly walked towards the security check gates and got the security check done. 

Looked for Gate No. A4, where we were supposed to wait for the announcement to board the flight. While waiting, I thanked everyone on twitter to make my visit a memorable one. Suddenly, the announcement to board the flight happened and I was on my way to board the flight. Twitter and BBM were going in full swing as I walked towards the aircraft. 

The moment of joy happened when I saw the beautiful air hostess who welcomed me in the aircraft and as I walked towards my seats, I was greeted by 4 more. I was like " Chalo yeh flight ka paisa vasool ho gaya".  *wink*

As soon as I got comfortable on my seat and was looking outside, don't know what struck me. I felt a lump in my throat. Felt like I am leaving a place where I belonged. As promised, I called up Divpreet ( @Smilesgalore ) but couldn't talk much because I was choked. I told her that I will give her a call soon. As I was looking out of the window, it started raining, didn't last long though. That was a signal, that this city is gonna miss me. At least I took it that way because I firmly believe that if it rains while you are leaving a city, the city loves you like anything. It has happened with me in the past so many times, so I know how it feels. 

Announcements were in full swing as we were ready to take off.  The aircraft started moving towards the runway and mixed feelings were there. There was an unexplainable sadness in my heart and joy of meeting my family after 10 whole days. The aircraft took off in some 10 mins and took a whole round above the sea. I could see the sea, the buildings, the roads and MUMBAI, the city of dreams that got lost after a while and all I could see were clouds and only clouds.

-

Yatin 

Day 8 - The Nightlife Of Mumbai - Part 2

After Viraj dropped me at Hiranandani on 30th Morning, I was extremely tired. Sleep debt was there and I had a very long day ahead. Cousin had to go to Chembur to renew his flat's agreement with his landlord. So, when I reached home, no one was there. I decided to take a nap. It was a Saturday morning so I thought I would relax a bit and then go out and meet more people from Twitter. (Gawd, now it feels like, my whole Mumbai trip was about twitter and twitter people only! ).  The night was supposed to be spent with cousin and his flatmate on the streets of Mumbai. Yes, I wanted to experience what do people do on weekends.

Suddenly a phone call. 

Me : Who is this ?

Person : Sir, this is XYZ.

Me : Haan bol yaar.

Person : Sir, when are you coming back?

Me : Reaching on 1st July noon.

Person : Huge huge problem in office sir. We need you here.

Me : Give me an idea about it.

And the person went on and on and on about the mess people have created in the office. I was psyched out. I was like FUCK EVERYTHING, this is my last day in Mumbai and I don't know when I will be back here so I won't think about it and go with my plans. So, I took a peaceful nap after putting my phone on silent. Woke up, took a shower and again the phone rang.

She : Kahan Hai Dost ?

Me : Ghar Pe.

She : Mere Se Kab Milega ?

Me : Aap Batao. 

She : Aaj shaam ko milte hai. 

She : Shaam ko mushkil hai. I have plans with my cousin. He is taking me out for dinner and movie. I have hardly spent time with him. 

She : To usko bhi leke aa na saath mein. Hum masti maarenge. 

Me : Arre par woh bahot shareef aadmi hai, hamare jaisa luccha nahin hai. 

She : Mujhe nahin pata, abhi is hi waqt usko conference pe le. 

Me : Hain ?

She : Haan le na, mereko baat karni hai us se. 

Me : Okay. 

I tried to take my cousin on conference, but he was busy on another call.

Me : He is busy on another call.

She : Tu jhoot bol raha hai, dobara laga I am holding. 

I tried again. This time cousin picked up the phone. 

Me : Listen, a friend of mine wants to talk to you. 

Cousin : Kaun hai ?

Me : She is on conference, I am connecting you with her. Talk to her. 

And then there was a conference call. It was one mad call. The person on the other side i.e. "She" was Mishkka ( @RJMishkka ). Mishkka and I met her through twitter only and I first met her in Delhi when she was in town. WE ARE TWO CRAZY FREAKS. Paagal hai hum dono. So, Mishkka convinced my cousin to meet her at Juhu Beach in the evening at a place which has a story attached to it.

But before that, I had another tweetup planned. Sharad ( @ThatPungiDude ) , Aditya ( @Visa135 ) and Ajay ( @BloodyKamina ) had to come. Ajay couldn't be there as he had some work in office, so we decided to catch up later. Sharad and Adiya came for the tweetup. We had lunch at Aroma, a coffee shop in Hiranandani. Technically, it was Sharad's and Aditya's first tweetup. We three kicked off really well and again it was one of the tweetups, where we didn't twitter much. It was more about Mumbai and my experience with the city. Aditya and Sharad both have lived in Mumbai all their life so they know the city pretty well. They told me more facts about the city which definitely added up to my curiosity quotient about the city. Sharad told me about a few places where I would be visiting during my next visit. Aditya wanted to take us out to some of the places, but due to time constraint, we couldn't go. But next time for sure. The meetup started at 2:30 and I had to leave at 4:30 because I had to go to Bandra to meet one more person. So had to leave and I came back home. 

I came back home and met my cousin. 

Me : Haanji, whats the program for the evening ?

Cousin : We will go to meet Mishkka first,  uske baad dekhte hai.

Me : Aisa hai, lets meet Mishkka first and uske baad movie chalte hai.

Cousin : Perfect ! Let me sleep for a while. 

Me : Cool. 

Cousin slept and I collected my stuff which was lying all over his flat. Yes, I am a messy person that ways. I collected everything and put that aside and thought of taking a nap. I lied down on my bed at around 5 and thought would get up by 5:30 and leave for Juhu directly, as that meet up in Bandra got cancelled. 

That nap got stretched to a full one and an half hour sleep. I got up at 6:30 and DAMN!! Cousin was still sleeping. We were late. Mishkka would beat the shit outta me and then again the phone rang

She : Kahan Pahuncha ?

Me : Abhi soke utha, kal poori raat soya nahin tha, aankh lag gayi.

She : Kitna ganda hai na tu. 

Me : Sorry, but I will leave my place in 15 mins.

She : Theek hai, come fast. I am waiting for you at Hotel Classic, Juhu Beach pe. 

Me : Okay

I shook my cousin, and asked him to get ready ASAP. We both got ready and left the place in 10 mins. Took an auto to Juhu Beach and in half an hour, it dropped us at Juhu Beach. Mishkka was calling us again and again and I knew that she was upset. But, finally we were at Juhu Beach. I called her up.

Me : I am here at Juhu Beach. Where is Hotel Classic ?

She :   Its right next to the beach, ask anyone.

Me : Okay. 

I asked a lot of people around, even policemen, no one had any idea about Hotel Classic. My cousin spotted another hotel right next to the beach, which was Hotel Citizen. I called Mishkka again.

Me : There is no Hotel Classic.

She : Arre Baba! Its right next to the beach.

Vodafone was being a bitch and there were call drops again and again. That was bloody irritating. 

Me : All I can see is Hotel Citizen.

She : Wait, let me give you the directions over the phone and you follow it.

Me : Okay

She gave us the directions and it took us to HOTEL CITIZEN. What a BUMMER! 

I walked into its restaurant and saw Mishkka standing there. Even before saying Hi to her, I said "THIS IS HOTEL CITIZEN, NOT HOTEL CLASSIC". We laughed like anything and hugged each other. 

Cousin, me and her, we kicked off really well. Mishkka is full of life, not on radio but in real life as well. Me and her form a perfect bakar bakar gang! :D 

The location of the hotel was PERFECT. We sat in the balcony that opened up on the beach side. VIEW WAS SPECTACULAR. People were enjoying at the beach. The waves hitting the shore. That sound of waves, was offering calmness in its purest form. We were enjoying our conversations and each other's company. Sat there for 2 hours and then Mishkka had to leave. 

After Mishkka left, I asked my cousin to take a stroll on the Juhu Beach. It was EPIC. May be in Delhi we dont have that luxury here that's why I was awestruck, but honestly saying, the feeling was amazing. The wind, the sound and the peace the place offered was AMAZING! We took a long walk on the beach and then decided our next plan. 

Next, we took an auto for Powai. As soon as we sat in the auto, there was a group of call girls heading towards the beach. It was a sight to see them. On our way, we thought, we would to go Phoenix Mills Mall Malad and catch up with "The Amazing Spiderman" there. But then finally we settled down at Infinity Mall, Andheri and headed there. 

The mall was bustling with people. Everyone was up to something or the other. I spotted Landmark, a book store. In no time, I stepped inside and got the hard copies of the books that I was reading on my iPad - "50 shades of grey" trilogy. Without thinking twice, I picked up all the three books of the series. I WAS A HAPPY MAN! 

Post that, we caught up with the movie, which was in a way disappointing because of the slow and lousy storyline but 3-D effects were superb. Post movie, we decided to head towards home and in between we would take a walk at Powai lake. While on our way to Powai, we spotted people everywhere in the weekend mood. 

There were homos, transgenders, prostitutes everywhere, trying to hook up with people. Thats another side of the city that I got to see in the middle of the night and people were mingling with them. Cousin was kinda shocked to see all this, but then I told him, its normal and you can see it everywhere. After taking a stroll at the Powai Lake, we headed towards home. And yes, that was the end of it. My time for being in Mumbai was officially over. I was sad about the fact that I would be leaving his place but had no option. Packed my stuff and slept at 4:00 A.M.

Till The Next One.

-

Yatin

Day 7 - The Nightlife Of Mumbai - Part 1

Sorry for all the delay that happened but I was really very busy in these last two days. Had loads of work to finish and many people to catch up with.

Day 7 began on a slow lousy note. As usual woke up around 8 in the morning and fiddled around with twitter and e-mails. Back in the office, there is a chaos and the intensity with which I was getting mails on my Blackberry, I am sure some major fuck up is waiting for me there.

Honestly, I was actually looking forward to this day during my whole stint with the city, but why ? Well, we will get back to that later.

Today, I was not supposed to visit any place. I had to catch up with more twitter people. After making a few calls and settling things down in the office, I took a nap. I had to catch up with Rishika ( @ TharkiThakurain ) and Tejas ( @Bedardi_raja ) again. Another person who was gonna join us was Drishti (@ daDriffti ). Drishti is studying law and stays in Ghatkopar. We have been following each other on twitter for quite some time so I was looking forward to it.

Cousin's flat mate got a new laptop that day. I had to meet Rishika at 2:30 at R-City Mall in Ghatkopar but till 1:45, I was busy setting up the new laptop. Tejas had a SAP Certification exam that morning which he qualified with flying colours. Congratulations buddy.

He calls me up and says where am I and at what time I am reaching there. Told him that I will be on time. Rishika also called up and said she would meet me at the entrance of the mall. I got ready and left my place at 2:15. Made a few calls on my way and was on BBM with Rishika. In no time I reached the mall and met Rishika. We decided the Urban Tadka at the meeting place and Rishika told me that another twitter person Shreyansh ( @OyeBehenDeTakke ) will be joining us.

Finally, all of us were sitting together in the restaurant. Ordered starters because we all wanted to have Beer but happy hours would have started from 3:30 (Gareebo Ki Kahani). We counted each and every second on the clock to show 3:30, meanwhile had lunch and then had a round of Beer. 

After finishing the lunch, Shreyansh left because he had sneaked out of his office to meet us. Me, Rishika, Drishti and Tejas went to a store from where I got some stuff for my sister. Post that a MAD MAD MAD photo session began, which left us in splits. I dont even remember when was the last time I laughed so much. It was hilarious. 

Drishti had to attend a Punjabi wedding in the evening so after getting a few tips and stories from me and Rishika, she left for her place. Me, Rishika and Tejas sat together for some time and then it was the time to go back home. I realized this was for the last time, I would be seeing Rishika in Mumbai and obviously Tejas too. Bid them bye with a heavy heart and we all promised to see each other really very soon. 

Came back home and all I did was waited for the L-E-G-E-N-D-A-R-Y tweetup that I had been planning from the times when me, Viraj ( @Gaaliman ) and Dev ( @Nostradevus , @CaptnJellyBelly previously )  came in touch through twitter and became best of the buddies. Dev and Viraj has known each other since years as they studied together and Viraj introduced me and Dev when Star Plus showed premiered Rockstar for the first time on Indian Television and I was live tweeting it furiously. 

The plan was to have a nighout at Dev's place. He stays in Navi Mumbai and Viraj and me were supposed to go to his place and thats what we did. I met Viraj (Who kept on changing plans till the last moment) at Mulund and finally we were on our way to Dev's place. Just to tell you, VIRAJ LOVES DRIVING ! ( Saala paagal ho jaata hai driving seat pe baith kar). The excitement was clearly visible the way he was behaving that day. All he did was played Dope-Shope by Honey Singh in his car and kept dancing on it while he was driving. He showed me around a bit and after like 30 minutes or something we reached Dev's place. 

Dev and Viraj both are CA aspirants. Dev has recently given his final exams and Viraj had appeared for PCC. Both are waiting for their results. Finally, after months of planning WE THREE WERE TOGETHER. A dream come true to say the least. The plan was to have dinner and get sloshed. 

Dev to say the least, is an amazing host. I loved his house. He ordered Pizza for us which was our dinner and the non-stop gossip began. Everyone on twitter knows that how big gossip whores me and Viraj are.  While we were chatting, I told them that only thing that I missed out in Mumbai was seeing Marine Drive in the middle of the night. And within the moments of saying this, both of them were on their feet to heard towards Marine Drive. 

After finishing our dinner, we were again on wheels and headed straight towards Marine Drive. Viraj as usual was high on happiness and was playing foot tapping numbers at the loudest possible volume. We all were too excited to be at Marine Drive because its been months since Dev and Viraj had been to the place. 

What I noticed on our way was. Mumbai never sleeps. It was around mid-night that we were cruising through the roads of Mumbai. No traffic nothing. We got stuck a bit at some places, but that was okay. Within some 45 minutes we were at Marine Drive. The place was bustling with people. It was a friday night and everyone there was in a weekend mood. 

All three of us, sat at Marine Drive and discussed about our lives, our dreams and everything that we could share. It always feels good when you sit with people who share the same mental frequency with you and all three of us kicked off really well. We all lied down and were gazing at the moon-lit sky which gave us an out of the world feeling. Some experience that was.

Finally, after spending an hour or so, we headed towards Dev's place. Dev was telling me about Mumbai roads and he asked me to count the number of bridges that we crossed on our way back. They were total 13 in number ( I hope, I am not wrong as I lost the count in between). In no time, we reached his place and all the bottles of alcohol opened in no time. Viraj and Dev kept teasing by saying "Tu Jaanta Nahin Hai Mera Baap Kaun Hai" as I hail from Delhi and every other person here keeps saying that to each other. We laughed a lot on this thing. 

When alcohol went down to our throats, we all started discussing various profound things. It was one of the tweet-ups where we didn't discuss twitter much. We were discussing about our life plans, things around us and stuff. It was informative, loved the whole session. After drinking whole night, we all decided to sleep at 6:30. Dev strictly asked to not to wake him up when we leave. Dev and me hugged each other and promised to meet soon. Me and Viraj slept in no time and by 9 in the morning, we left Dev's place. 

Viraj dropped me near Hiranandani and we hugged each other and said bye. I am so waiting for both of them to come to Delhi as they are seriously planning to be here. 

Now, you all know why I couldn't update my blog that night. Because I was having the time of my life. Marine Drive looked beautiful in the night and the only click I could manage there is this where you can see the famous Queen's Necklace.

Till the next one

-

Yatin