7 Reasons why I love Bombay!

I had been to Bombay to participate in HeadStart Summer and I just fell in love with the city! When in Bombay, I could probably list 21 things, but right now, I’d be happy if I remember the top 7 ones.

Here they are in no particular order.

1. The city’s culture. Its awake in the night! Bombay is fast paced. On my first day in the city, I witnessed 1000s of people leaving their workplaces at 9:30. Bangalore starts getting deserted by that time (Yeah, our city had its hay days but they are long gone!) Even at 11:30 in the night you find several girls roaming around which speaks a bit about progressive society. Being a feminist  I really appreciate this aspect.

2. Local Trains: Man I can write an indipendent story on them! They are just so consistent. I travelled on a lot of locals and not one of them missed its mark by more than 30 seconds. Besides, you can hang outside and enjoy the gush of cool air between Vashi and Navi Mumbai! You can hang out and notice the wheels changing tracks. It was fun. And then the design of the coach is a beauty. Its been designed to accommodate 48 people (yes I counted) in a 12/18 feet space. Its been designed in a way that makes it impossible for someone to just flick off your bag kept on the railings and there are lot of other interesting things (like water diverting turns in the rooftop that double up as a holder for the out hangers). Besides, I loved those automatic ticketing terminals! Didn’t see a big queue in front of them though. A slight learning curve for most people I guess. And last but not the least, the pickup! Its sexy.

3. Juhu Beach: This was the only beach that I could visit, but what fun we had! I absolutely loved the sea! I found it relatively cleaner and less crowded than Marina beach. But then I visited the latter on a Sunday and the former on a Monday, so that could have made the difference. And along with the beach, the sheer variety of delicacies – All the chaats and tikkis, golgappas, the Khatta Meetha gola (Milk Maid gola was a flop). Mumbaiya chaat ki to baat hi kuch aur hai!

4. Bade Miyan! Kya khaana hai boss! Mazaa Aa gaya!

5. Marine Drive! Perfect dating spot! But the thing that I liked the most was that the public was all cool with the couples coochicooing around the corners. No moral policing, and its a pretty chilled out atmosphere! I am not sure if I am the PDA types, but everyone should have the right to self expression devoid of “what people deem appropriate”. Just my views though. The place makes for an excellent jogging spot too. Cool breeze, leveled parapet.

6. Autos and Taxis! This is a big one. Out there you don’t have to bargain with the Auto walla or coax him to taking you by the meter. It goes without saying. And what shocked the hair out of me was that after paying them the exact change, they returned some of it back to me! Can you beat it? And here in Bangalore, you find yourself lucky if they charge you as per the meter!

7. The chicks: At the risk of sounding despo, I must acknowledge that the Bombay chicks have an Oomph factor. Its like they notice you checking them out (the “ah she’s cool” look), they watch you straight in the eye and look straight ahead and continue in stride. Typically a girl would just look down and walk through. And while you find a lot of hot chicks here in Bangalore too, but you’d find them in clubs or in cars or select parts of the city like Lavelle Road or Koramangala. In Bombay, they are everywhere, and they are on the street walking, talking in Hindi (Man I love people talking in Hindi) just like everyone else. There is no superficial sophistication, that I notice in some of my friends here.

Its become a yet another long post. But I enjoyed writing! Reminded me of all the fun moments I had there with friends! A big thanks to Mitesh for making my trip at Bombay really memorable!