Mumbai, Pune Diaries....

MUMBAIIII - Jan 5th to Jan 9th 2011:

Some quick first impressions of the big bad city of chaos...

- The taxi driver gives me change of Rs. 3/- on a fare of Rs. 127/- exactly shown on the meter. My eyes popped out!!! This after he realised I had no clue about were I was going (athough I tried to pretend) and had instantly become my tour guide, telling me about all the buildings and areas! I actually felt guilty telling him to keep the change...lest I bring bad habits from Bengaluru!

- The local train!!! I so loved it...sorely missed in namma Bengaluru! Must admit though that u need to ask to figure out things, lest one assumes Singapore type direction maps and all....

- Oooooh the beaches! Be it a late night chat...read 2 a.m...on marine drive/queen's necklace/lover's nest/Subhash Chandra Bose Road with a friend...or the crazy marketeers of chaat on Juhu.....I can stare at the water for hours! But really have some mercy...the Girgaon chowpaty is in the dumps literally! It's plastic and garbage strewn all over! And to think I worried that the shoes I had worn instead of chappals would'nt let me feel the water on my toes!!!

- Another word about the local transport...when I ask the auto driver 'Santa Cruz?' he just stares back blankly...while I wait for his highness to approve of my destination. Talk about getting in bad habits....arrre he cudnt care less where I am going...get in already! Took me a while to stop asking them hesitantly, while I pray they agree to come. After 4 days of this, gonna be hard to stop myself from walking straight into an auto confidently!

- The Mumbai Darshan.... a dinchak bollywoodish tour wasnt something up my alley.. what with co-passengers staring at the single 'Indian' female. I wondered..."In Mumbai??" oh yeah...sorry...Mumbaikars arent doing the Mumbai Darshan! ANyway....its cheap...I mean money-wise and surely value for money. My jeevan is saarthak after having made darshan of bungalows of Lata Mangeshkar, Ambanis, Amitabh, Salman, Rekha, Rajesh Khanna...rest I forget...of course 'Mannat'! haha! I dont have to do my Kashi Yatra now! But Hey! I did quite like the Nehru Science center with kids running all over and the fantastic show at the planetarium.

- Living in the Colaba area felt just like that..."Living"!! Walking around the heritage buildings at any time of the day or night, the Taj and Gateway neighborhood pondering on life and its temporariness, makes you want to LIVE IT UP!

- The weekend shows at NCPA - Dr. L Subramaniam's magic and explorations of Lady Macbeth using classical dance, NGMA, Jehangir Art Gallery, Prince of wales Museum, Prithvi's ambience - made me feel like I was combining work with pleasure and what pleasure it was to work!!

PUNE - Dec 28th to Jan 5th:

- Relaxed setting, Bangalore like weather, therapeutic cooking sessions and felt much like home, for all the vegetating that I needed....not to mention the mind space required to make some big decisions in life!

- Koregoan park, Camp, MG Road, Kalyani Nagar, Magarpatta...explored as much as possible with the 'transport' available....even managed an art of living bhajan on new year's day. And very thankful for the transport :-)

- The drive upto Sinhagad was torturous on a Sunday with the whole crowd going up there to create a traffic jam. Managing a U turn and getting back after covering 3/4th uphill was quite the task! Parbati was the alternate destination and was well worth spending the evening of my day of birth so many years ago, contemplating achievements and failures on a hilltop mandir.