THE PAINTER.
Last two weeks were such a holiday. You would wonder if any place is worth a Holiday within this busy city.
YES there is ! I stayed with a cousin right opposite the Marine Drive. It was the most "fresh" and noise free area to stay in. It was intriguing to see how hundreds of people would walk by the sea to keep themselves free, and more over how many sat there facing the horizon, lost in their creative thoughts. Walking back home, I had an opportunity to meet one of the finest artists( considering I haven't come across many). He was the stereotype of any painter. Lost, creative, almost ragged clothes and  paint all over his body. He was using his hand to paint the beautiful scene of the sunset. He just used 3 colors - orange, blue and white. The smallest of ripples was drawn by him with his fingers. Noticing me notice him for so long, he managed a smile and asked me if I wished to join him. Luckily I did. I managed to see his rest painting on his Mobile - All were MUMBAI. A picture can actually speak a 1000 words. It was amazing. Telling him of Explore Mumbai - impressed he was. Gave me very valuable tips and ideas too - creative after all, its a matter of seconds for them.
I wish to come across him very soon.


P.S : Back home - I Want to go back to Marine Drive ASAP !!

Town Hall

                                                  In the olden days....


Asiatic Town Hall.

Established as earlier as the 19th Century.

• The library contain thousands of books out of which 15,000 are proudly classified as rare and valuable.
• It has innumerable artifacts.
• It has more than 3,000 ancient manuscripts in Persian, Sanskrit and Prakrit.
• It has a collect of 11,829 coins out of which an important and one-of-its-kind Gold Mohur of Akbar stand out.
• Has a collection of 300 maps, taking you through the forming of Mumbai.

Probably you might wonder a library to be one of the most dull and boring places to be. You never know ALL the history, conspiracy, legends and myths that lies beneath these libraries. 

You might wonder - WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THIS !!

It is nothing but as simple simple as some-ones home !! Do no ridicule this fact - it is Mr. Mukesh Ambanis House in Mumbai called ANTILLA.

It is recorded to be the WORLDS most expensive house!

It is a 27 storey building - impossible to put your finger on, what facility is NOT there!

I got a good chance to get a close look at its top floor. My Uncle stays in a building namely "Kshitij" and his room faces the upper floors of this building. Having very powerful binoculars I innocently tried to 'peep' in their house - without realising that very obviously they have taken care of their privacy! Their walls are strongly double layers - preventing any sort of laser entry and their glasses are again layered - preventing any 'peeping' inside.

Its current value is much more than 20 Billion Dollar.

Also factually, it is the ONLY billion dollar house in the WORLD.

What else did Mumbai need!

Dinner at Copper Chimney

We managed to go for a family dinner after what seems ages. We decided our always preferred Copper Chimney. 20 minutes from our house it is perfectly located at Oberoi Mall, Goregaon. The mall was crazily full of people being a Sunday. There were queues waiting to get a seat in one of the restaurants. Also to cherry the cake IPL (Indian Premier League) is on. Mumbai, where cricket is played in ever nook and corner, when IPL arrives the TRP goes triple higher!! Luckily getting a seat at preference, 10 of us took our seat right in middle of the restaurant. Copper Chimney would earlier serve their food also in classic copper plates and vessels, so it was a sad sight to see those cliche glass plates being artistically laid in front of us.
Ultimately food mattered more than the cutlery. Years by gone have seemed to always add on to the taste of their menu. With their classical Maharaja Dal (Black Lentils) and a great variety of Chicken cooked with Indian spices its a perfect places for all taste buds.
In a lump some 1 hour we managed to finally convince ourselves to leave. What we probably really missed then was the famous Indian Paan (leafed after-food re-freshener)!
Letting one single leaf not get the better of our moods, we simply returned home lazily and plopped on our beds and slept like stones - ONLY TO BE SURPRISED THE NEXT DAY ;)

A Busy Week

It has been a crazily busy week. The Germans seemed to have just fallen in love with our guide - Kirtan. They wanted another tour ONLY if he was available! It has been a successful week for him too.
With all the appointments, and the increasing scorch of the heat - the work is becoming strenuous day by day. With all the hard work comes the satisfaction at night when you are finally cozy in your bed. You almost feel you have earned your sleep and you deserve it. Its an amazing feeling.
When the whole world seems to be working according to you, its a feeling of expansion in the heart, collecting accolades all they way is simply a spirit-booster.

Ayurveda

Late Afternoon I had the opportunity to take an Ayurvedic Treatment at one of the Kerala Centres in Mumbai.......

There was this amazing treatment of "Potli" in which they use a hot compress ball ( which is made of all ayurvedic and Indian herbs), this warm potli is correctly pressed into points of your back which are painful! Its the best feeling ever.....imagine some one squeezing out pain from your tired muscle so gently....

Followed by it was Shirodhara (which literally means head-stream) in which oil from a "kalash" or v-shapped vessel, would be poured on the centre of your forehead......this ancient therapy from the South of India is profound in its cure for severe head aches, migraines and hyper tension.

Totally took me a 2 hours, but was equivalent of a good 8 hour sleep. So fresh and charged now, I am ready to be working all night !

*Credits to Kerala Ayurveda

Early Morning Drive :

Getting no sleep, probably struck by insomnia or should i call it the excitement, I left for an early morning drive ! The always "on-move" city, the always "honking" city was so quiet and divine! You could hear the crows, the leaf fall - hard to imagine for a city  like Mumbai.

Where you see a minimum of 100s of people in every street you turn, there were only few countable milkmen or newspaper boys. There was this one old "kaka" as we call, or old uncle with a stereo type white mustache who was standing by the sea and selling the most famous "cutting-chai" ! No other tea in any 5-Stars can also compete with these local tea vendors.

Driving through the Sea Link was beautiful as you could see tiny waves catching up with the morning, birds dipping in to probably bathe or drink water, the cemented road also seemed to join nature by awakening into dew drops!

It was a beautiful morning drive - in this beautiful city of Mumbai !  

Lazy Sunday

Sunday, I didnt know would get so lucky for me.....I thought it was just another lazy Sunday and was just preparing my self for the very hectic schedule ahead.....Who knew I would get my very first big contract successful on April Fools Day :) .
Haahahah :)