My vacations
It is not amongst the most beautiful cities of
India. It is not even a place where life is relaxed, yet Mumbai attracts people
like no other city of India. Mumbai is both the commercial and
entertainment hub of India. It is the dream city to which people come
from all parts of the country to fulfil their dreams of becoming ‘successful,
famous and rich’.
My own visit to Mumbai, though it had nothing
to do with becoming successful, was full of anticipation. I was visiting
my sister and expected to stay there for sometime. My expectation from Mumbai,
like many others were sky high. However, I felt them crumbling down the
moment I stepped out of the station. Nowhere could I see even the faintest
glimpse of the image I had in mind of Mumbai. Being from Delhi,
the metropolitan look that I was hoping to see of Mumbai was grossly missing.
The roads were narrow and the crowd sometimes became too much to handle. All
through my way from station to home, I constantly peeped out of the three
wheeler to see the Mumbai of my dreams, but all in vain.
Fortunately, my disappointment from Mumbai
ended very soon. Mumbai had so much to offer that the ‘look aspect’
really took a back seat in few days. Along with my sister, I paid a visit
to the Gateway of India and took a ride in the ferry. The ferry, we thought,
would take us to the famous Elephanta caves, but it never did. Not the fault of
ferry wala though because we heard things wrong. The ferry was just
supposed to take a round on the sea and come back. Even then, I enjoyed
myself a lot and this piece of misunderstanding continued as a joke for the
next hour or so between the both of us.
I also paid a visit to Juhu beach and quiet a
few lesser known beaches. Juhu was all lighted up and glittered beautifully in
the evening. The surrounding was vibrant - the foodsstalls were full, the
vendors were going around showcasing their items and the
photographer were busy spotting and clicking tourists. We also played in
water, felt the sand slipping from below our feet and got ourselves
clicked.Visits to the Mahalaxmi Temple, Haji Ali, Marine Drive followed and
made me more than happy. I could now see the religious as well as modern side
of Mumbai. It was as if slowly Mumbai had started revealing its treasures
to ward off my initial discontentment.
Shopping was next on our list. We visited both
small and big shopping centres in close vicinity and bought lots of items.
The prices were reasonable and the variety, good. I really had to supress
my laughter everytime the salesman described his clothes as ‘mast’. The statement
invariably went like this, “ekdum mast lag raha madam, le lijiye”. It was very
difficult for me stop my laughter initially and quiet a few times, I
actually burst out right there leaving them a bit embarassed sometimes
and dumbfounded at others.
What I most enjoyed during my stay in Mumbai
was the rains. Never before had I seen rainfall for 3 – 4
consecutive days with very little interval. It was true that I
just couldn’t go out anywehere because of the rains but just watching the
rainfall for so long was immensely enjoyable for me. Another thing which I
enjoyed was travelling in local train. I anyhow will not advise anyone to
travel during peak hours,viz,
during office hours because the rush at this point of time is just too much for
anyone not used to it. You really need lots of alacrity, patience and practice
to travel during these hours. For the rest of the day, the crowd is
manageable.
Travelling by train gave me a first hand idea
of life of the people in Mumbai. For them, local trains are a lifeline.
Without these trains, life in Mumbai becomes crippled and I witnessed
that myself when heavy rains seriously affected the running of trains and
large number of people got stranded where they were.
Thankfully, the situation improved very soon
and life got back to its normal self. Mumbai, after all, is known for its
resilience and under no circumstance does it goes down. Infact, such a
situation saw complete strangers coming together to bail out each other from
difficult situations. I realised that it is this spirit of Mumbai that keeps it
going despite all odds
There were various other aspect of Mumbai that
came to my notice during my stay in Mumbai. I wished to explore Mumbai more but
had to cut short my trip because of certain reasons. I was surprised that I was
feeling bad to leave a city which I did not like initially. Also, I knew I had
to come back to know and understand Mumbai more. I had come to Mumbai and was
leaving with an anticipation. This is Mumbai, a city that never fails to
charm an incoming visitor.
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