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.