7 days off from life. Part 1

Life has been very busy the past year. Almost no time to retire from the hectic schedule that my life was offering me every day. But last week of March was my time out from all this mess. Delhi -> Bombay -> Goa. That was my plan for the week.

So off i went from Delhi early in the morning via Air, and landed at Mumbai in about 2 hours and was in my room at the end of the next . So Mumbai it was where i was to spend next 3 nights.

Mumbai airport was better than expected. Having departed from Indra Gandhi T-3 Terminal at  Delhi which looks no less than a 5 star hotel, Chatrapati shivaji Airport at Mumbai looked equally good to me, infact better.

My dad had already made arrangements for accommodation so all we had to do was to hire a cab to the destination and we were there. Mumbai was not so pleasant as expected. Especially the roads. Immediately after we hit the roads i wanted to come back to Delhi for it was nowhere near close to what i expected Mumbai to be.

But as we neared our destination, the place got better and less crowded. I was  told malabar hill was south extension of Delhi, so i hoped it would be a better place and it was indeed.

To tired after the 6 hours journey from home to check-in to security check to flight to mumbai to hotel, i just wanted to crash on my bed in the room, which happened to be on 11th floor. I remembered i saw a giant park and a sea shore near my staying place, so i was a little more excited to be in mumbai than i was in the past hour.

It turned out better than I expected it to be.

Every following day that I spent at Mumbai, it was at this place I visited every evening from 6 to 8. Day were hot here, hotter than they were in Delhi, but the weather was not sweaty. Wind was cool near the sea and it felt very calm to sit under a coconut tree.  The coming day we decided to head out the hotel and visit a few places like the ever famous Mahalaxmi temple, and a few relatives who were settled in mumbai. The day after that called for a visit to the nearby local markets and Sidhivinayak Mandir.

Local eateries in mumbai were pathetic. Everything had a pinch of sweet taste in it. Even the chutney and pickle were sweet. Even the famous Vada Pao , that everyone know is a very famous dish of mumbai, was a small bun  filled with a very big, almost tasteless Indian potato fritter. It was dry, with no cream or mayo sauce or cheese inside it. However, when i saw local people savoring the dish, I thought it may be my taste buds that were acting up to the taste of these coastal delights. Nonetheless, the next day was going to be the most exciting day of the whole trip. It was ESSEL WORLD  that I was going to , India’s largest amusement park as they claim. The day ended with a lot of memories and a longing for getting on those rides one more time, but it was time to prepare to depart from Mumbai and head for the next city – Goa… (to be continued)