Bombay, Feb 26 to 28th, ‘10
Didn’t really plan to write a travelogue on this one because this was hardly set to be a travel adventure. Was off to a conference in Mumbai on Neurotology, the very subject that my heart beats for, and I knew I won’t be able to find the time to sight see.
As it is I don’t know a lot about Mumbai except for what I have read in Film Magazines, seen on TV and gathered from a few friends during casual conversations and since I was not in the ‘travel’ state of mind, no research was conducted before landing at this place. What ensued were regular work day on Thursday and a morning Kingfisher flight to Mumbai on Friday. The first indication that fancy things could really after all be afoot met me at the bus that offers transport between the boarding gate and the aircraft. Kiran Kher was there. I assumed she probably wouldn’t like being disturbed so I passed a casual smile, and she smiled back. The next step obviously was a nod of acknowledgement to which she gave a suitable response. So I decided to have my picture clicked with her.
On reaching Bombay what struck me first was how different it was from Delhi. Two Cities whose name is often placed together one after the other in most forms of News were so amazingly different that it was almost annoying. The sluggish taxi took me to the conference venue through potholed roads which led my inherent merry and mirth to fall flat on its nose. At the conference the lectures were nice and my talk got a decent response but during the journey post conference the evening traffic turned out to be a bitch. Stuti was kind in extending an invite to her home but the even more sluggish traffic on the even more potholed and dug up roads left me with little courage to undertake adventure. I gave the thought a slip, went to my hotel, changed into something less formal and went out on a foot journey. Walked upto Hotel Leela, turned around, went to another part of town (close to my hotel) and had dinner at Tunga residency’s Tao restaurant which Stuti was kind in suggesting.
The next day found itself rather different. It was Eid mounted on a Saturday that eased the traffic considerably. I liked Bombay on this day.
Finishing with the conference at late evening I decided to travel and see Mumbai in a braver fashion. I already had the Mumbai Map and Stuti’s address so I took a rick to the nearest Local Railway Station and stood in the queue for the ticket.
When I reached the ticket booth after a few minutes wait and asked for a first class ticket to Sewree (pronounced Shivdi), the man looked at me surprised. He told me I needn’t have stood in the queue as first class passengers were exempt from queuing. Well, I didn’t want all my standing and queuing to go for a waste so I asked the chap to continue with cutting me a second class ticket. At times it does sound odd, when cognition without good reason allows the emotional judgment to overwhelm, but then it is exactly this that makes the human behavior different from that of a preprogrammed machine. Adventure, fun and really wild things.
The second class was fun to be in. Obviously I was still dressed in my conference attire which is generally a well ironed suit and shirt and it did draw me quite a lot of attention at the Railway station and the train, but then it didn’t bother. It was educative to learn what not to wear on a Mumbai Local.
I got in at Vikhroli on the Central line, changed at Kurla for the harbor and alighted at Sewrii (Shivdi) to get to Stuti’s house. There were plans to take the Western Line on the way back for the sake of completion but it didn’t materialize.
Stuti has again done wonky things to her leg. She had met with an accident four months ago for which she underwent a surgery on her leg and got steel plates fixed to her bones. She has now got herself operated only day before yesterday to have those orthopaedic plates out. Her reason to me was that the wound was getting infected and the surgeon suggested the surgery, but I personally think her Crutches were probably getting all rusty and she wanted to draw benefit out of them one last time before they rendered themselves unusable. She is indeed a Madu afterall.
Anyway, she offered me a Bombay special Vada pao at her residence, and we were to feast on the Pav Bhaji too but alas the man who makes it at the local restaurant near her place was on a holiday for Holi.
Soon Anuj, Stuti.S.Gupta’s brother joined us and we went for a Bombay Night out. Pali Hill, Mary Church, Mannat etc were some on the way attractions. Band stand was nice and the couples were really getting all mushy and stuff. Had nice Kebab rolls at someplace I have forgotten the name of and Icecream at Baskin Robbin’s, after which Anuj cruised us through the Bombay Sea Link and then back to my hotel at Andheri East.
Back at the hotel at half past twelve, I ended up watching a fast and racy low budget movie on Sony Pix called Three Way or something. The plot appeared to be based on a James Hadly Chase novel but this is irrelevant to the blog and I am not sure why I even bothered to mention this here.
Day three was at the conference venue for some spellboundingly nice talks by Prof Giorgio Guidetti who is the balance expert for many things including the Ferrari folks in Modena and works closely with Formula One drivers to enhance their performance. Nice guy.
Finished that bit, directly left for the airport, and here I am writing this for you while I wait to board my flight.
Probably not the best of travelogues, but a very satisfactory travel.
Adios.
PS: I am probably up for a running event at Leh during July. That is one travel I am keenly looking for. Would keep you posted.
Regards,
K
(P.S: Today is the 3rd of February 2011. It has been eleven months since I wrote this and lost it as a word file somewhere on my computer. Found it half an hour ago and was amazed how little did I remember from that trip. So this goes online to help my memory through the years. And yes, I skipped the running event at Leh. :)
