An Evening at Cafe at the Beach, Chowpaaty

For a Week I stayed at a building named Ganga Vihar, at Marine Drive.

This was almost a break from the traffics of the suburban Mumbai.

I went to this place called Cafe at the Beach, at my favorite "H2O- Water Complex".

This Cafe is one of its kind in South of Mumbai. It is very serenely placed over the most clean part of Chowpatty, and beautiful candles and lampshades light up the place romantically in the evenings. The menu is quite extensive for a "Cafe", but very delicious food.

The Mojito and Margaritas are very decorative indeed. Gives you a perfect BEACH feeling.

What we did was Para-sailed and chartered a Jet Ski, were drenched in salt-water and then sat at the Cafe for a cool breeze. The waiters also are well dressed in their three-quarter pants and funky floral shirts.

So, this is exactly where we sat. Isn't it beautiful ! 

Mumba Devi

Mumba Devi :

This temple is situated in the heart of Zaveri Bazaar in Bhuleshwar, Mumbai.


Well all I knew about this temple earlier was, Mumbai had derived her name from the goddess Mumba Devi.

This Goddess amongst the innumerable God and Goddesses in Indian Religions, is the Goddess of the kolis (the fishermen) The Kolis are the native inhabitants of Mumbai, as Mumbai comprised of 7 islands earlier.

The name Bombay also means in Portuguese "Good Harbor".

Well Mumba Devi's Religious Beliefs lay way back in the 15th century.
The story goes like " There was a vicious Demon-giant named Mumbarak (After whom the island was named).
By means of austerities he pleased Brahmadev and prayed to him to be favoured with a blessing that he would be incapable of meeting with death at anybody's hands, and that he would ever prove successful.

Having once secured the blessing, he set out to harass both people and the Gods on earth. All the Gods therefore proceeded en masse to Vishnu to seek his protection and prayed to him to destroy their foe.

Upon this, Vishnu and Shiv extracted a portion of lustre, each from his own body, and made of it a goddess or Devi for the destruction of the giant. The goddess then beat Mumbarak almost to death and threw him down on the ground and told him to ask for a blessing. He entreated her to join his own name with hers and to perpetuate that name on earth.

"The goddess accordingly granted his prayer and named herself Mumbadevi."


This temple is said to have been built in 1675 at Bori Bunder where now the CST is, but was destroyed in between 1739-1745.

Current Scenario of the Temple:

Where the temple is located, that particular street is blocked for security reasons. As a typical scene from any temple, you would find flower vendors and 'pooja thali' vendors, who would tell you, take some offering for the Goddess in.

Mumbai, the land of opportunities and the place of multi- cultural feast of traditions and religion has derived its name from the religious Mumbadevi temple which is dedicated to the Goddess Mumbadevi.

This renowned temple serves as the ultimate tourist destination savoring the history of Mumbai, as well as its rich religious significance .(Quoted from http://www.facebook.com/exploremumbai)

Hanging Gardens

So over this weekend, we happened to go to hanging gardens twice.

Now technically the hanging gardens at Malabar Hill was built over three reservoirs which can store up to 300 million gallons of water!

This is one of the only gardens which has the old red soil of Maharashtra. A rare sight in Mumbai.

The flower beds, the trees, the scenic beauty has been well kept by the government, and inevitably the Hanging Gardens tends to be in the top list of Tourist Attraction Spots.

Well, very frankly the number of visitors we take remain enthusiastic only till the time we enter Hanging Gardens. Nevertheless, yes they are fascinated by the red soil and the fact of being built over reservoirs, they prefer the view from the opposite Kamla Nehru Park.

Well yes this view is quite breath taking. You stand there and and you witness the entire Marine Drive, Queens Necklace as well as the Chowpatty. I guess this is only of its kind spot.

To go here in the evening and slowly watch the expanse of sand at chowpatty be speckled by toy-looking humans.

It is quite artistic, and personally a better tourist spot then the former Hanging Gardens.

What are your views on the same?

Visiting Babulnath Temple, Mumbai

So last Monday we visited the Babulnath Temple. It is located at the end of the beautiful Marine Drive.

It is a Lord Shiva Temple. He is worshiped in his most famous form - the "Shiva Linga".

There is a 108 flight of Steps before you reach the Temple. 108 is an auspicious number according to Hindu Numerology. Hence it is said while climbing up you can chant the Mantra "Om Namah Shivaye" 108 times. What interested me was how every step had a "Diya" and "Belpatra" (An auspicious leaf offered to Shiva). On asking the priest he said that during "Shivratri" (the main festival of Shiva), each step has the Diya lit and the queue of worshipers can while climbing up offer the Belpatra 108 times, which later all together is offered on the Shiva Linga.

This temple is probably located in one of the busiest areas of Mumbai as it sort of connects all the main roads in South of Mumbai. What interested me was that located at 1000 feet above sea level, it was a very quiet and serene place. As you climbed the steps upward you got a feeling as you were leaving all the noise and pollution behind.

It is believed that with a little strain physically you reach mental austerity. Well This is true. Outside the temple there is a white marble stretch well shaded. I was fascinated by a cats gymnastics sitting there. I suppose i should have been meditative, but the cat performed the most graceful gymnastics ever.

Saw a priest, asked him so please tell me the story behind this Temple. This is like an implied law, every temple has a story or legend hidden behind. This one had a very interesting one. Want to know more about it ? Contact us on " info@exploremumbai.in" or leave a message on "http://www.facebook.com/exploremumbai" !

Going down the steps is always so much easier. Pheww.!

Famished by then we simply crossed the road for the very tasty and different food at Soam Restaurant.

Happy and Satisfied Ending! :)

The Parsee Tower of Silence.

Well what does the name suggest to you. "Tower Of Silence". Well yes it must be as no non-parsee is allowed to visit it or even view it.

The structure is a raised circular structure for portraying the Dead. What the Parsees basically do is, they lay the corpses out there in the vertical columns made. The bodies of Men are arranged in the outer ring whereas women form the inner, and children form the innermost ring.

The tradition says that they believe their hair and nails in addition to the dead body to be "unclean" - as possible pollutants. Hence they believed not to pollute earth, instead be useful as food for Vultures.

Now the vultures eat the flesh, what about the bones? Well once the bones have been bleached by the sun and wind, (may take upto a year), they are piled in the centre of the pit. From here they are lift to disintegrate. The remaining material -with run-off rainwater—runs through multiple coal and sand filters before being eventually washed out to sea

Now these were the simple facts you could probably find any where on the internet. What intrigued me was WHY would they do this, (apart from the pollutant belief). Such traditions have to generate somewhere. 

Hence I would like to share a story my History Teacher told me back in school, which has stuck to me well. 

She said when the Parsees came in India the very first time they entered the sea from the South of India. On approaching the King then at his 'durbar', they said we plead for some shelter in your land till we find a way to go back. Upon this the king told his minister to get a brimful glass of water. Showing that to the Parsee he said 'O Nobleman, My land is like this glass of water, in which even if a single drop of water would be added, it would overflow. Hence, I am sorry." 

The Parsee removed a pinch of salt from his belongings and adding it to the water said 'O King, I promise that all Parsees would do what salt does in water. We would dissolve so well in your community, that you do not have to worry about the over-flowing.' To convince him further he said 'Also I promise we would not try to change any Hindus religion or beliefs or promote any conversions, hence we would not marry a Hindu, we would make cousins get married to each other. We would be useful to your land- Even after our death. We would feed ourselves to the Vultures of your community." The king impressed at the wit of this man, gave his will and permission.

This story plays on my mind till date. Hence when we visited the Hanging Gardens and Tower Of Silence, I was proudly sharing this story with the Germans who were amazed at the Tower Of Silence.

The Gateway Of India.

The inscription reads "Erected to Commemorate the landing in India of their Imperial Majesties King George V and Queen Mary on the Second of December MCMXI.

Wonder why the Gateway of India is called so. It is pretty simple. This was the "Gateway" to any governors or Viceroys to land in Mumbai, India. 

Its Architecture had traits of Roman Triumphant Archs as well as it is a perfect blend of Hindi-Muslim styles of architecture.The Gateway has four turrets and has intricate designs of lattice work. The cost of its making was 2.1 lakhs then.

Also the last of British troops and Sails had ironically set out from the Gateway of India on February 2nd, 1948.

Dating back then ironically it was the significance of British Majestic Powers, and today is a hotspot for tourist attractions and a significant pride of Mumbaikars. 

All of us agree we have seen the Gateway, probably even taken a ferry, but has any of us ever wondered why actually was it built, named so, what was inscribed, why are we not allowed "inside" of the Gateway. 

What lacks probably today is the "want to know" the "inquisitiveness", about your own homeland! 

Afghan Church

Afghan Church:

The Church of St John the Evangelist, better known as the Afghan Church is located at the Navy Nagar, in Colaba.

It not only commemorates British Soldiers as well as Indian Soldiers such as the Bombay Army, the Madras Army, and Ranjit Singh's army from Lahore. Records also mention that only one person, one Surgeon William Brydon - a medical officer - out of 16,000 men, returned safely to Jalalabad to tell the tale of a war in which the British suffered their heaviest defeat yet.

The architecture is built of limestone and basalt.

This picture is not of the current era, but it astonishes me how Mumbai encompasses EVERYTHING.
I would definitely wonder how Mumbai, the financial capital of India manages to store in her, a heritage site like Afghan Church which dates back to the 1880s and 1890s.

Banganga Tank, Walkeshwar.

Banganga Tank, Walkeshwar, Mumbai.



It is hidden behind one of the posh areas in Mumbai,Banganga Tank has holy significance dating back to the 14th century. It is situated in Walkeshwar temple complex on the southernmost tip of Malabar Hill in South Mumbai.

As the legend of the holy book Ramayana goes, overcome with fatigue and thirst, Rama asked his brother Lakshmana to bring him some water. Laxman instantly shot an arrow into the ground, and water gushed forth from the ground, creating a tributary of the Ganges, which flows over a thousand miles away, hence its name, Banganga, the Ganga created on a baan (arrow).

The tank was rebuilt in 1715 AD.

One astonishing fact is that the water of the tank is sweet, considering the fact that it is so near to all the gallons of salt water.

It is a rectangular shaped water tank with a temple crowning it on the western flank built by the Silhara Kings.

It always astonishes me how Mumbai manages to encompass EVERYTHING. You might think such things would happen only in Varanasi, but no! Mumbai has it!