Exploring Mumbai

Hi blog...

Life is going great in Mumbai.. There is not much work to do in company... And vase vee, those are cool people so no tensions.. In the meantime, I'm exploring every bit of Mumbai... Last week was no different.. Went for a all Mumbai tour aka Mumbai Darshan and also visited Brabourne Cricket stadium for watching final of Twenty-20 match between Punjab and Tamilnadu with AP. Match was a close one (alas! Punjab Lost).. I really enjoyed it and ground looked spectacular under lights.. Also went to see Marine Drive from ground... Marine Drive looked amazing at night..Its U shape looks like a necklace...But this post of mine will be dedicated to Mumbai Darshan...

Hmmm.. Mumbai Darshan aka City tour is an attempt to cover major tourist attractions of the city in one day. But, to me, it looked more of a crash course of Mumbai. Although there was a guide in bus to explain the history of everything, But Bus stopped at 8-9 major points only and that time was restricted too. But one cant complain after all they have their limitations. And covering Mumbai in one day is not a joke.

Here Goes a brief description of Mumbai Darshan..

The first destination of the tour was Gateway of India (GWI). It looked as magnificent as ever and there were Taj hotels (both old and new) too... looked marvelous... Clicked some pics.. Then bus left for the next destination which was Chattarpati Shivajee Vastu Sangrahlya aka Prince Wales Museum. It is the second largest museum of India. It is not dedicated to one set of things but is more of a general museum. And it is huge. I was just able to see it in given time of 40 minutes.. mind you just see not observe. It surely requires 3-4 hours to completely observe it. Well, it deserves another trip of mine.. :)

Third stoppage of the tour was Taraporewala Aquarium on Marine Drive. But between the two stops were a lot of other important and beautiful buildings like Mumbai High court (aka "Sanjay dutt ka sasural" according to our guide -- SD has to go there in relation to 1993 blasts), Cloak tower of University of Mumbai, Assembly Hall, Mantralya, Offices of HP,LIC, air India and Bombay Stock exchange (BSE). Now coming to aquarium, well it was a very simple and a good tourist point, especially for kids. There were all sort of fishes, Crabs, Prawns and tortoises. We were given time for lunch at Canteen besides aquarium so we had lunch there.

After the aquarium, it was the turn of Kamla Nehru Park and Hanging Gardens. But once again the path was laden with some special spots. There was Jain Temple having 100 % gold sculptures and a police station near it. (our guide said "kalyug hai bhagwan kee raksha police kar rahi hai").Others were Governor's bungalow, Afghanistan Embassy, Chowpathy Beach and Veena apartment where Mr. Jackie Shroff ("Galli ke gunde" acc to guide) lived.

Now, Kamla Nehru Park (1st park of India after independence) and hanging gardens were not simple parks. There was a place in Kamla nehru park From where one can capture all the marine Drive in the Camera.. so we clicked some photos. Hanging Garden was made over a water reservoir (thats why it is called hanging Garden) which provided water to south Mumbai. Hanging garden also contained many hedges cut in shape of animals..

After Gardens, we left for Mahalaxmi temple. On the way were Sahayadri guest house for MP's ("jab hamare desh ke politician thak jaate hai to yahan aaram karte hai" -- Guide), Towers of silence (has a elaborate history behind it),American Embassy and Aanand Niwas (Home of Homi bhabha-- Nuclear Scientist). It took approximately 15-20 minutes to reach mahalaxmi temple. Yahan par bhagwan se appointment puri kee aur phir nikal liye aage.. :)

The next stop was Nehru Science Center. The path from Mahalaxmi Temple to science centre was having some more special points like Haaji ali, Bunglow of salman khan, Tata golf course, Lata mangeshkar's flats, Essar house and Mahalaxmi race course. Nehru science center was one of the most important point of tour. The science center was big. There were a lot of different sections like man and machine,aeronautics, sound etc etc... I checked my weight & height relationship and it was perfectly ok given the fact that i have shed some weight after coming to Mumbai... Actually we were not having much time to explore the science centre completely. But i surely will give it another visit.

After Nehru science center, It was the turn of Mumbai's biggest beach -- Juhu beach. It was a silent journey of 40-45 minutes from science center to Juhu which was enough for me to have a short sleep.. (i was completely exhausted). We reached Juhu at 4:30 and the view of the waves was good enough to take all the weariness away. There is a lot to write about Juhu so i'll dedicate it a separate post..

After Juhu came the last stop of the tour which was Hare Rama hare Krishna Temple. It was a beautiful temple mainly built of marble. Between the temple and beach, there were bunglows of Big B and Hema malini ("ungli mat karna, ander Dhamendra bhee rehta hai" -- Guide). After the last stop, the bus left for vashi.. It took abt 70-75 min and by 7:45 we were back in Vashi,completely tired but satisfied. It was an eventful day where we explored most parts of Mumbai from sounth to middle and It was worth a great experience.

PS:- Again Picasa and 6600 rockzz... And reader must note that i tried my best to keep the description brief.. But if it is long then please bear with me.

Cricket World Cup 2007

hey blog.. it is over.. Word cup 2007 and Australia has emerged as world cup champs once again.. Great team..

I'm following Cricket from world cup 1996.. it has been a game full of excitement,joy,sadness and some unexpected results. This world cup had some of the most unexpected games I've witnessed ever. Bangladesh had upset victories over India and South Africa.. where Ireland stunned Pakistan and Bangladesh.. I do admire Ireland because they played really well within their limitations... They gave tough fights to England, Newzealand.. Two mighty Asian teams India and Pakistan had an early exit from the tournament..

Apart from upsets, this world cup saw 4 wickets in four balls from Lasith Malinga of srilkanka (against south africa.. what a match that was !!) and six sixes in six balls from the bat of Hershelle Gibbs against the Minnows Ducth. We saw World cup's fastest century from Metthew Hayden of Australia and some fierce hitting from the likes of Yuvraj singh, Mark boucher, Hayden, Ponting, Styris, Kallis, Smith, Gibbs etc etc.. Also Some great bowling from man of the series Mcgrawth, Murli, Tait, Hogg and Malinga.

This world cup also witnessed the greats like Inzamam-ul-haq, Brian lara and Glen Mcgrawth for the last time on the grounds for one day internationals as they said good-bye to ODI Cricket..

This world cup, unlike its previous editions, saw lesser competition in super eights and also local crowds.. But, all in all, it was Cricket that at last emerge victorious once again from wonderful Tournament...

Hat-trick By the Aussies...

hi blog....
Well, this post is a bit off track as it has nothing to do with my experience with Mumbai but Aussies have earned it..

Ya, Aussies have completed their hat-trick of cricket world cup wins on Saturday, 28th of April,2007.. they were as ruthless as ever.. magnificent..marvelous.. Amazing.. great.. unbeatable.. mind blowing... bla bla bla. I will not be having adjectives to describe what truly this Australian team deserves because there is nothing in words which can describe their dedication and attitude towards the game. It does not matter to them who the opposition is ? they are just the same.. with the killer instinct.. True champions.. even the great carribian team of Clive loyd will have to admire them for there attitude and ruthless nature.

They have extremely talented players which can come more than handy when the true need is there, like Gilchrist provided what was needed in the Final..It was the way Gilchrist played.. he looked like an alien from some other planet who made cricket look so easy where others find hard it to start.....

The Australians take care of every department of the game whether it is fielding, batting, bowling, running between the wickets, it does not matter... And where the Aussies are far far ahead of the others is their mental strength.. They play to win and they know they can and they will..
Hats off to Australia...

Mixed Bag

Hi...
The collage contains pictures from my earlier visits to Gateway of india, Juhu Beach and mumbai in general..
More to come soon.
Bye.

Elephanta Caves

Hi Blog...
This post of mine will be dedicated to my voyage of the Elephanta Caves. I visited Elephanta caves on 13th of this month (Friday) along with my friend Amarpreet singh (AP).
It was an unexpected plan that led us to Elephanta caves. Our original plan was to visit Mumbai University Institute of Chemical technology (UICT) for the purpose of using library there. (Our Project co-coordinator insisted we must go there so we did to full fill his wish).

Prologue

We boarded the local train (horrible local) from Vashi station at 9. It was what I call the peak hours of journey via local. But I was happy to board the train comfortably, for a change, in peak hours. So I thought the train journey won’t be a big trouble. But I was soon proved wrong because as soon as the train halted at Mankhurd (1st stop after Vashi), a capacious crowd literally attacked the train without even allowing it halt properly. Soon the crowd was filling in and I knew the worse is about to come as I was standing near the entrance. And I was not wrong at all because as the space inside thinned, I started feeling the force. It was nothing like my previous experiences in local. Impact of the blows by crowd was unbearable and soon all the air was being knocked out of me. I was pinned against the compartment wall and journey after that went in hope that it would be over soon. At last, after a packed journey of 40 minutes Wadala station came, my destination. As I left the train I thought that I was lucky to sign off the train without a bone break. That was quite a journey. Easily the worst I ever had in local.
So from wadala we went to UICT by taxi. UICT looked like an empty building at start but soon we found some students and one of them led to the library and there we were told that the under graduate students are not allowed in the library. So much pain for nothing substantial….
It was at this moment that we decided to go to Elephanta caves…

Real Voyage Starts…

We went back to wadala station. Took a train to vikhroli station. Journey was comparatively better. At VT we had our breakfast and left for Gate way of India.
The gateway of India is a wonderful monument situated at the sea creek the cuts Mumbai. A fine breeze was blowing that countered the effect of heat. From gateway of India we took ferry for Elephata caves as caves are carved in a mountain situated on an island. The ride on ferry was of an hour or so. It was fun. We clicked some pics from my 6600. We reached the island at about 1:30. A toy train took us to the village from where the journey towards caves starts.

The shops on the way to hill top were loaded with amazing stuff of art. We went slowely towards the cave, exploring everything on the way. At last we reached the caves. Bought tickets. There were many caves carved out of stone. All of these were dedicated to lord Shiva. Different sculptures were there representing different shades and pictures of lord Shiva. One of them showing the three faces of lord Shiva was particularly amazing. We clicked a lot of pictures.
After the caves we left to explore the other attractions of the island. On the way we saw some monkeys accepting food from tourists. It was quite amazing the way they behaved. We clicked some more pics. Then we left for the Cannon hill. There were two cannons (old and filled with stones) situated at the top most point of the hill. The way to the top was a rough one but not rough enough to dampen our spirits. It was great to see those cannons having length of at least 25 feet. We clicked some more pics there.

After the cannon hill, we started our journey back to the shore where ferries were waiting to take the tourists back. On the way back we had our lunch. Journey back was great too especially the ferry ride…

At last we reached gateway of India and clicked a few more pics. Then we spent some time in park and left to explore the market near the area. The market was really good with a lot of hariyali. After that we took a bus for VT and then a train for Vashi. Journey via local was not fun again but still better. At long last we reached home around 9 after an eventful day.

PS:- For pictures thanks to my 6600 and for collage picasa rockzz again.