The "Bombay" Phenomenon

One of the cities that I always loved, right from my childhood, was Bombay. My visits to Bombay were usually during the summer hols or Diwali, when our whole family (consisting of abt 11 adults and 7 children) got together and had loads n loads of fun. The fun we had there was usually supplemented by the train journey. The train journey was a whole experience in itself. And jus FYI, for the journey from Madras to Bombay, I preferred the Chennai Express over the Dadar Express, for no reason whatsoever :|

The around-24-hour-long train journey contained a lot of memorable moments, with Mani & me fighting it out desperately to establish our superiority by obtaining "prasiddhi". A small detour. Mani & me had this quite funny game. Whenever the train stops at some station, the person who sets foot first in that station has obtained the "prasiddhi" of being the first there. And this continues till the train reaches Kalyan or Dadar, as the case may be. Whenever the train approaches a station, we both stand near the door, waiting to jump down and score a point. And apart from this, we also had the ubiquitous 'train game' i.e., playing cards [:)]

It was not until the final year of college did I first realise that I really loved the city. I was there for a couple of months for my engineering project. We (Gobi, Antony & Me) had a really great time, staying at Shri Kutir in Dombivli. Though I had been to Bombay many many times as a kid, I saw the city in a totally new perspective now. Oh yeah!! The city was brimming with females of my age!! [;)] The daily trek (read ordeal) i.e., the journey by the much-hyped, over-crowded "Locals" of Bombay was an absolute adventure. You had to be on 'Red Alert' all the time to save your purse, cellphone or any other belonging from being pinched.

And one incident that stands out during those two months was the 'date'. Incidentally, I got the date all because of Deeps!! I bet she still regrets why she ever did that!![;)] Anyways, things moved on and the 'date' finally got married (of course, to someone else :P), much to the relief of Deeps!![:)]

My 3-day trip to Mumbai last weekend made me come back to the city after a hiatus of 2 years. This time I stayed @ Andheri. Bombay was even more splendid, keeping me awe-struck in its grandeur. Fly-overs crisscrossed throughout the city and newer, taller buildings were being built everywhere. After all, you cant keep Bombay quiet when India is growing rapidly!! But sticking out like a sore thumb, was the city's road traffic. I had always travelled by the suburban trains and hadnt travelled extensively by road within Bombay. This time, most of my travel was by road, which exposed the congested traffic!!

The number of malls and theatre complexes seem to have increased at a rate faster than the Indian population!! Every road has a shopping mall with its attached theatre complex, with abt 4 screens, showing about 6 movies!! I watched 2 movies in the 3 days I was there. For the outdoorsy types, which includes me, Bombay has all the ingredients to keep you busy forever!!! And one of the main criterion, a beach, is also present (in addition to the abundant availability of the other two criteria - booze & babes!!)

With the location of my summer internship still not decided between Bombay & Singapore, I would prefer Singapore, though I would not be having any regrets if I am posted in Bombay!! So get ready Bombay, to welcome me with open arms!!!

P.S: As you would have noticed throughout this post, I prefer to call the city by its old name "Bombay" than "Mumbai", again, for no reason whatsoever!![:)]