Mumbai - Meri Jaan!!!!

Its been a Sliver Jubilee now and I dont remember a single year when I have not been to Mumbai right from my birth!! Yes, I was born in Mumbai(It was called "Bombay" in 80's :) ) and since then I have been to Mumbai for various reasons then it may be Diwali vacations with my family or a night out trip on bikes with my friends!! As far as I remember we used to travel by train at that time. I think i was in 2nd grade and vinit was a baby. We used to stay at Kalyani nagar so Pune station was the nearest junction from where we could catch the train early in the morning. Deccan Queen used to be, and i think its still now even after completing its 75 years, the most prestigious train to travel and i used to flaunt in my friends that i had gone to Bombay by "Deccan Queen" :) but to be very frank i used to like the "Singhagad Express"....the "Express" word in it was just for the sake but it used to halt on every station and that was very frustrating....it was the only double decker train and thats what amused me...My hobby was to count the number of tunnels while traveling and as far as i remember there were 47 odd tunnels at that time.....the best halt was Karjat where dad used to jump out of the train and get the batata vadas for us...i do remember an incident where dad once got down from the train and the train started moving.....Mom was carrying vinit and i started crying helplessly....eventually the train picked up its pace and i thought that now there's no chance that dad could get on board.....i kept crying and kept looking out of the window hoping to see dad at the next station wishing that he had supernatural powers and he could fly like Superman!!! and suddenly after 10-15mins dad appeared with bata vadas in his hands :) I yelled and hugged him and asked him that how did he get on board...and guess what...he just said one sentence...."I' am a Superman!!" :D and everyone in the compartment started laughing.....to be very frank i did believe that and felt proud that my dad had some supernatural powers!!! :D meanwhile when i was busy eating those batata vadas, dad explained Mom that he boarded the last bogie and came all the way walking to this bogie....i didn't get that and out of curiosity i asked him what did he mean..... he then took me to the passage which connected the two bogies from where you could easily walk into another bogie....and that amused me a lot and it disappointed me as i realized the fact that my dad was not a Superman!! :(

Dadar was the station where we used to get down and catch another local train to Malad....Malad is situated in the northern suburbs of Bombay....Bombay local- i used to think that it is the most inconvenient mode of traveling and why do people travel by that train knowing the fact that you wont get a window seat in your entire life time.....somehow we used to get down at the Malad station and then came the most frustrating part.....Malad station has this bridge which connects the West Malad with the East Malad...and it was about 1km long.....We used to cross that bridge with dad holding me in one hand and luggage in the other and vinit nicely sleeping with Mom carrying him....

Days passed by and then ST bus (which we call Laal Dabba these days) became our mode of transport as Ambrish-my cousin shifted to Vashi....this ST bus too had two categories...the one with black and white name plate used to be the slowest one and a one with red and white name plate used to be the fastest one with less number of halts....One day when we were traveling to Pune, i was sitting in the window seat (window seat still being my favorite one) and suddenly the window fell down from the hook directly onto my fingers!!! I yelled with pain and cursed the "Laal dabba" as i always thought that it was a devil and the train was an angel.....thats when a man approached me and applied "chuna" to my bleeding fingers......thats it.....it burned like hell and i couldn't stop yelling at him....i covered the whole journey in pain!!! One thing that i still remember is the temple in Khandala ghat at the old Bombay-Pune highway where people used to run on one side of the bus and throw coins in that temple....dad used to give me 3paise, 5paise, 10paise, 20paise or 25paise coin which i always enjoyed throwing....even after 15-20 years i still don't know why people throw coins in that temple...but when everyone gathered on one side of the bus I used to feel that now the bus will topple for sure...but it was the Laal dabba-Strongest of all!!! For years and still many more years to come I think the Laal dabba will always be the most affordable mode of transport in Maharashtra!!!

Then came a revolution and one more step in luxury...it is still the best mode of transport for many people and infact even Yam travels by that to Nasik in this world of Volvos....it is the white colored bus with green strips on it...yes you are right...the Asiads!!!!! These buses were built with special tharmacol coats which absorbed the heat and kept the buses cool....mainly these buses were made for the players of Aisan games which were held in Bombay and thats why they got the name as Asiads!!!! First they used to run only between Bombay-Pune and then looking at their popularity the Government decided to run them all over Maharashtra!!!! I always enjoyed traveling by this bus and by this time Vinit had grown up and started fighting with me for many things including the window seat in the bus :) We had a walkman and the one sitting at the window seat used to compromise that seat for that walkman!! and i never did that!!! :) so most of the time we two brothers were having two "Ws" Vinit had "Walkman" and I had the "Window"!!! and after Lonavala- the only stop where the state transport buses used to halt for nashta paani, we used to switch the seats and the "Ws" too.... :)

In early 90's we shifted to Kothrud and Pune station then seemed to be the other end of the city...Gradually the city started growing and the development of the city too...many luxury buses started and the Metro-link and Sai tourism buses were the most famous, safe and expensive mode of transport!!! People with fat valet could afford the ticket of these buses...I think i was in 7th grade when I traveled alone to Bombay for the first time...and it was the Metro-link!!! My parents thought that it was the safest and fastest mode of transport...and it really was!!! I realized it when i reached Bombay in 3.5 hrs...normally the state transport buses used to take 4 to 4.5hrs!!

Then came the expressway and our first car too...It was a Maruti 800!!! Dad used to drive at that time and he never used to drive on 4th gear even on expressway as he used to think that the car will catch a speed which he wont be able to control forgetting the fact that it is not a Ferrari and it was just a Maruti 800!!! :) Expressway created a great difference in traveling time...now you can reach Mumbai in 2hrs!! It is just a straight road and you don't have to switch gears unless you arrive at a toll junction. Sometimes I feel that life should be like a highway and not like an expressway where you know what is coming ahead and you keep going with the same speed...whereas at highways there are many turns and twists where there is always curiosity of what is coming next on the next node then it can be a tea stall where you can sit on the bench and enjoy the tea in the fresh air or a totally crashed car/truck which might disturb you a lot. Its upto us what we should enjoy and what we should leave behind an move on!! :)

My recent Mumbai trip was little different and most enjoying as I traveled by the local train after many years and with a little fear of reaching the destination alive!!! We reached Mumbai on Thursday and on Friday morning Mom and Dad went all over Mumbai distributing the wedding cards. Vinit and I were sitting at my Uncles place and getting bored when suddenly Vinit said lets go shopping at Heera-Panna (One of the most famous shopping mall in South Mumbai). Heera-Panna is one place where you get Rolex watches at Rs.1500/-!!! Name a brand of watch and it is there at a very cheap price....no its not a Chor Bazar but its a place where you get the exact copy or master copy of all the branded items!!! Our journey began and we had to catch a train at 9.56am from the Goregaon station. To be very frank, travelling in Mumbai by public transport is like fighting a war!! First we had to search for a ticket counter...ticket counter is one place where you can see different type of people- one traveling in the second class/luggage compartment with all his belongings of earing daily bread and the other holding a briefcase, wearing a nice ironed shirt and traveling in the first class....I, in a hurry, got the second class ticket and forgot to ask the ticket counter lady about the platform number from where the train would depart. We came down at the platform and saw the crowd, Vinit looked at me and said now what??? We asked about the platform at a tea stall nearby and he with all the guthka/pan in his mouth just signaled me with fingers and i had to figure out that it was platform no.6!! The train was called "Goregaon local" and it runs from Goregaon to Churchgate. It arrived at the platform 10mins before its desired time and then came the worst part of boarding the train...We literally had to jump in a bogie of that moving train which had not become stationary yet and catch a seat...Luckily we got a seat to sit and it was definately not a window seat :( and the person sitting next to me in the window was a Muslim...i could figure this out with his long beard and the "surma" in his eyes....suddenly a person with some third grade songs playing loudly in his cell phone boarded the train and stood next to us...let me mention one thing...now a days the locals have changed in Mumbai and they have got a new look and feel....the engine looks like a metro train engine and the bogies are just awesome with sufficient amount of light in it and these trains come with cctv cameras and speakers in it....2mins before the train could start there were announcements being made in the train in Marathi then Hindi and finally in English (I think Raj Thackrey has made some effect here) of asking the people to be aware of their belongings and not asking them to touch any unidentified bags or if they found some suspicious bag report to the station master etc etc etc....at one point of time she (the announcer) also mentioned that if you find any explosive material, then do not panic!!!! :) as if she will come down here and defuse it!! As soon as the train moved the person sitting next to me prayed by touching his fingers to the forehead and then chest and i could see his lips whispering something in urdu...and I just thought, no matter what the terrorist do in the name of 'Jihad' but there are definitely innocent Muslims too who die in the terror attack!! I too prayed to God and started looking out of the window...I could still see people boarding the train....a train running next to us had people sitting on top of the bogie and some of them were standing in the space between the two bogies...being a rush hour you hardly get a chance to board a train and reach office on time..Our train was a fast local and it would stop only at big junctions...Mahalaxmi was a small station and its next junction was Mumbai Central...we had to get down at Mumbai Central and come back to Mahalaxmi by another local...

On my way in the train I could see people living in the slums just next to the railway track....i even saw some "chawls" which almost looked like slums having A/Cs fitted in them!!!! This is something which you do not see in any city of the world....if you get a chance, you can also see a "Merc" rolling out of the Mumbai slums!!!!! :)

We reached Mahalaxmi and then boarded a bus to Haji Ali...now the bus service of Mumbai is one of the "BEST" bus services all over the country.....I' am damn sure that you don't have to wait for more than 5mins on one stop!! The frequencies of the buses are just awesome!!! Now a days these buses have got two LCD TVs (One on each side) in it....The bus went through Mahalaxmi race course and I could see all the big cars parked there..right from Premier Padmini (Taxis) to Porche!!!!! :) This is one good thing of Mumbai- rich or poor both run on the same road!!! :) It was 12.00 noon when we reached Haji Ali..Heera Panna was still closed and it opens after 1 or 2pm!! We then went to the Mahalaxmi temple and then Haji Ali...Haji Ali is one place where you will see devotees of various religions.....I belive a lot in Haji Ali and have been visiting this place from past 6-7 years!! :) It was 1.30pm and sunny afternoon in Mumbai and a calm and nice morning in Heera Panna...yes, the shops were barely open at this time too...We shopped till 3pm and then we were hungry and decided to have vada paav though we knew that there was nice spicy chicken waiting for us back at home!! We then reached Malad by train and as soon as we got out of the station, Vinit said lets have the famous MM lassi.....the lassi that we get here is really thick and full of "malai" at the top...just awesome!!! :) We had our lunch at 5pm and then at 8pm we were at the famous sea food restaurant "Ratnagiri" in the Film City area!!! Rest i don' t need to mention :D

Next day early morning me,dad,mom and my grandfather left to distribute the remaining cards in the other suburbs of Mumbai..the first place was the "Maazgaon dock" I have heard a lot about this place but had never been there....It is an harbour with almost all big ships halting over there...all the import/export of fisheries is done from this dock!! Most of the people staying there are koli (fishermen). I could smell the fish all over and just wondered how can people stay here, but its Mumbai and a Mumbaikar just needs 4 walls and "do waqt ki roti" to live :)

On our way to the next destination Dadar, i saw the famous Saat Rasta it is called so because that circle is connected by 7 roads and "Mithunda" used to stay there in his early days!! He was called the 'Saat rasta ka hero' before joining the film industry...then came the famous Sena Bhavan- the headquarters of Shiv Sena!! Its a huge glass building with a big poster of Balasaheb Thackrey and ample amount of security!! This reminded me of the scene from black Friday where the terrorist parks the car next to the Sena Bhavan and the traffic police asks him not to park the car in 1km radius of this building and he then he parks it at a petrol pump nearby and rest is a history.....Dadar is an area where you can find maximum Marathi people....It was one of the area which was badly hit during the 93 riots!!!! Here we met the real "Mumbaikars" the Kawali's they are six brothers staying one on each floor and each brother is of an age of about 72-80. The Kawalis have been staying in Mumbai for more then 300 years and they have a building of their own just next to the Siddivinayak temple!!! The elder brother is a doctor by profession and a writer by choice....the younger brother was a Chief Technical Officer in the Bhabha atomic research center....the view of the city from the younger one's flat(6th floor) is just amazing!! I could see the new Bandra-Worli sea link from his living room window!!! I got few tips of living a happy married life from the most "experienced" people of all :) We then visited the Siddivinayak temple..Dad's friend being the Director of the trust, we got a nice VIP treatment with all the security gaurds gaurding us and taking us along the temple through the VIP doors.

Next day we left for Vashi where my Mausi and my cousin sister had arranged a "Kelwan" for me in a hotel...this Kelwan was something different and I enjoyed a lot when I had to cut the Kelwan cake!!!! :) In short, Each time all my Mumbai trips have been sweet and memorable!! It was 6pm and had started raining and we had to cover Khopoli on our way back to Pune....I took the old Mumbai-Pune road (NH4) and got stuck in the traffic at Panvel for an hour.....this was very frustrating and the most frustrating part was yet to come...no one knew the address of our relative and we had to ask at thousand places....as soon as we entered Khopoli we thought of asking the address again...there were few people standing at a chowk and i think they were Shiv Sainiks and were waiting for some one....I thought of asking them the address and as soon as my car reached them, all of them suddenly jumped onto the car and started greeting my dad - assuming he is the guest for whom they were waiting for so long :D and the best part is their "SIR" (they were referring my dad as SIR) arrived there from the other end - he was very simple man holding a briefcase and no one paid attention to him as all of them were busy hovering near my car to take a glimpse of their "SIR"!!! :) I felt as if I'am a chaffer of a celebrities car :)

After finishing Khopoli we started our journey way back to Pune and as soon as we reached Pune we realized that it was pouring cats and dogs here....Yamini was on her way back from Nasik too and she had almost reached Pune....We then picked her up from Shivajinagar and reached home..One thing I realized that day while parking the car was there is another person with us and will always be in all our Mumbai trips in future and I'am lucky to have Yam with us!!! :)