Mumbai visit part 2

HI Friends
A very very happy new year to you and wish you a great year ahead...
Its been almost 15 days to be exact that I last wrote about mumbai visit part 1 . But what to do, I had to make another visit to mumbai after that ,so , I thought I would sum up the visit in my next blog here.

So last time, I explained that , i would tell something about the people there. common people to be exact.Contrary to the popular belief , people there mind their own business and do not interfere in other's matters  or affairs, but if someone asks them for a small help, they do oblige. That's my own personal experience. I had many times asked strangers at the railway stations if a particular local train would take me to my desired location just to be sure that I am not late and end up reaching somewhere, and they have readily obliged by giving me the right direction. The people there are also somewhat miser,  when they have to shell out money change, specially the shop owners in and around the railway stations. Even if they have piles of coins lying around them, they say they dont have change when one wants a mere 5 ruppee change for phone calls .And i thought that only Ahmadabad guys are misers.

The tourist places literally loot the people of their money also thinking that all people who come there are rich and would have thousands of bucks in their pockets.
After my exam ended at 12 pm, i went straight to marine drive which was just a half kilometers from the exam center. Having spent around 45 minutes there, I went again to the Gateway of India to pass time as I had nothing to do the whole day and had to catch my train back at midnight only.
Last time i had visited my cousin , due to lack of time, we could not go to Eliphanta Caves situated at backside of the Gateway of India. So I saw myself suddenly taking the ticket and sitting on the ferry boat with other passengers on my way to Eliphanta Caves. It took us around half hour to reach the destination. It was such a joy to be among deep sea water around you once again after many many years.

But regretfully, we have also made the sea dirty as hell. uptil 5 km atleast, you can see the dirt and other pollutants sailing along the sea. It makes you think, that on one hand, we complain about the pollution and ways to control it, and on other hand, we ourselves do this to our natural habitats and environment. I wish I could show you uptil what extent the sea was polluted , but I did not click pictures of the dirty water there. the ferry amusingly charges 10 Rupees extra for going to the upper deck to have a full view in addition to 120 Bucks charged for transportation. Thats what i was talking about looting people.

So , we reached the destination in around half hour or so. The place can be called as an island itself. What a beautiful place! From the deck to the staircase, there is a toy train which takes people there in case they dont choose to walk all the way. from staircase, you have to walk up around half a kilometer up with small shops lined up on both sides selling sea articles and other related things. They take entry fee as usual to get in the caves area.

The Eliphanta Caves are around thousands of years old dating back to year 450 and 750 AD when the island was known as Gharapuri (Place of Caves). The Portuguese renamed the island Elephanta because of a large stone elephant near the shore. The statue collapsed in 1814 and the British then moved it to the mainland.
There are around 10 caves there with spectacular ,extraordinary , marvelous statues which the modern architects can hardly think to make still standing today. Although , some of them are damaged owning to time and lack of proper care but they are excellent to watch. Mainly the statues consist of Shiva and Parvati and Buddha statues . Statue of Natraja and others are treat to watch with one statue of Buddha meditating.
Like I said, the modern architects lack the vision and strength to make these type of structures. If at all they make, I doubt , how many years these structures can stand tall after 30 years.
The people who made these things or statues to say must have been great architects, visionaries, and greatly talented to say the least about them. I was left wondering on how can such great things be made completely out of solid rocks and given the proper turn in case of women statues.
There is around a 20 feet idol of lord shiva with 3 heads. Wow! With proper face and jewels worth of  Shivji. Once again., dont have proper words to express what i saw.
Here are some pics of what i am talking about:

 

 

 

Now , I will show you the big shivling and the 20 feet statue i was talking about of lord Shiva.

 

 

After seeing this wonderful structures, I went for a short trekking up on the hills where there is a land owned by Indian Navy and where there are 2 big cannons kept for display. I soon reached to the top of the island where I could see the whole Mumbai ahead with the sea in front of me and also the whole area around me. I could say for that moment that I was on the top of Mumbai or world.

Lets see some of the pics of which i am talking about here.

This is the place from where I entered the island and from where we have to walk to half a km before climbing the stairs up. imagine how much I would have walked to see this in front of me.fabulous right

I had estimated that I would come down around 2-3 hours when i went there from Gateway of India and join my friend for a movie, but it took me around 5 hours to come down and half hour extra to reach back and join my other friend for dinner.  To say the least again of Mumbai railway station, one station I liked most is the Churchgate station..

I would request you all to go to this place once in a lifetime and enjoy the beautiful structures of those people back then. and yes, whenever you go out in the sea or any other natural environement, please dont pollute it.these all places are our places and we need to preserve it.atleast for future generations.

Bye Bye for now..

Kuldip

mumbai visit. part 1

hey guys.....

Ya , I think I am addicted to internet and blog. Its been a part of my everyday life. Such that if I sleep without cheking my mails and some sites at night, I feel I have missed out something that day.

What to do? Aadat se majbur.

So right now, I will tell you some of my experiences of my mumbai visits this year .

This year, you can say has been one of travelling year. Though I can say that I have not travelled that much , but still what do you tell of a person who does not  go out of his city that often and all of sudden , he is let loose on his own to do things he wants to do? thats what is happening to me nowdays.. Suddenly and unexpectedly, I am travelling .

My first visit to Mumbai after so many many years was approximately in august 2009. I had last visited it when maybe I was begginning to come in my teen years. I was going to pay a visit to my cousin who was working there and was calling me .

I was having a pre impression of mumbai, that it is a noiseless city infested with careless people having attitude of " I don't care a damn" and with "bhai log". and a crowdy city and some more.

But to say that only 2 of my pre conceived notions came true. Rest may have been overlooked or ignored by me or may not have been in my luck to see.

I stayed in one of Mumbai's silent area called goregaon ,infested with malls every 10 meters. Though it was among malls, it was still silent . The first time I stayed in west area crowded with malls and other shops, second time i stayed in east area, which I was surprised to find was filled up with a semi jungle area  and some hill station type of view . wow... was i dreaming?! trees in Mumbai? But that was true.

Ok so you might be thinking that we might have been roaming around in mumbai the most of the day  and drinking  away. No, wrong. I stayed there for around a week , and to say the least we never actually traveled during the daytime. Only after noon, we did think of going out. and why? Because my too good great brothers slept up til noon while, I idled away on tv and net . what can i do? I cant sleep more after 7 am at the most. Such sleeping energy, people have got.

We traveled in mumbai's luxurious local transport system. Yes, am talking of local trains. hoards and hoards of guys come out and in of each local trains daily . it is a miracle as to how the guys there manage to have the local trains on time each day. You don't have to worry about going in or out. Just stand there facing the direction you want to go , and you will get there automatically with 50 people behind you pushing you out or in.

But it did give me fun to travel in local trains such that i actually looked forward to it every time. And it also provided me enough practice to actually get some space inside before I would come there again.I think, the local trains should be awarded some award of some type of best public transport system or something. the local trains have improved much much compared to before.

Well, we travelled to usual places there ,  that is juhu beach, gateway of India, Marine Drive , etc, and yes would the journey be complete without seeing the house of the superstar of millenium Mr Bachchan?. Just sad that didnt get to see him .

The pigeons at india gate are  a site to watch. They have formed a practice to take grains from your hands. Great. Atleast they teach people to trust each other and be innocent . Some lesson to learn.

What do people do when they have had a heavy lunch in a restaurant and then go out for a stroll at juhu beach in evening time? Of course, get wet and eat some pani puris and light weight. But here also, me and my brothers started ordering heavy cheese pizzas and other stuff. People also do have heavy capacity to eat anything , anytime.

And like i said , Mumbai is filled up with malls and malls, so off we went to the nearest mall within walking distance of our place. the Inorbit Mall. I learned recently that it is the biggest mall in India.

Well not surprised, but yes, among all the malls I have seen, this mall has been my favorite to haunt.

Go and visit this mall once if you want some more each and every time but yes with enough bucks in your pocket.

Other great place to visit is Haji Ali dargah. The place is situated right in the middle of the sea we can say. But as you enter from the crowd and noise of the city to this Dargah, you experience a quite serene peaceful atmosphere . you feel such peace inside that you would always like to stay then and there.

Like I said Mumbai is nice city to live in but only if you have enough bucks in your pocket ,otherwise the City does not care who you are even if you are some son of a influenced person also. Money is what matters the most.

Next time , i will write my experiences of the people there in my second part. see you guys soon.

bye bye

kuldip