It was one of those days I felt I didn’t have anything to do. It was not raining either, the weather was pleasant; it was cloudy. I had a whole day at my disposal and I was totally charged up to do something crazy. I thought I would Walk till my legs fell and took up the challenge.
I started off the day at the famous Siddhivinayak Temple to take blessings from Lord Vinayak, the Hindu deity whom the devotees approach before starting any work. The items that I carried were – a water bottle, my mobile which has GPS tracker, mobile charger, a camera and Sunglasses. These were going to help me explore South Bombay.
After taking the blessings, I headed towards Worli seaface. From Siddhivinayak, it is a straight road towards Worli. The pavement was wide and there were numerous trees along the road, which made the journey so pleasant. After a couple of crossroads, I had to take right. It had a sharp U-turn after some distance. After walking almost 2 km from Siddhivinayak, I got to see the stunning view of Bandra-Worli sea link on the right.
I stopped, took out my water bottle and had a couple of gulps. Clicked a few pics of the stunning landscape. The sea face was breath-taking. The pavement was broad and clean, trees were planted at regular intervals. There was no crowd at all and this created an amazing atmosphere to walk. I put on my sunglasses and started walking along the sea-face carefree. There was a gentle breeze, it was cloudy and all I could hear was the sound of waves hitting the shore. Moreover, there were young couples getting cozy sitting on the parapet wall. Love was in the air!
After spending a good amount of time at Worli seaface, I decided to walk ahead to Haji Ali Masjid. I checked my ‘Here Maps’ application on my mobile for the distance to be covered. Haji Ali was 5 km away from the place where I stood. I had already covered 4 km by then. Since the atmosphere was highly conducive, I decided to walk without thinking twice.
I had a feeling that it could start raining anytime. It was 2 km to Haji Ali and the Rain God blessed the earthlings with a slight drizzle. I thanked the Rain God when it stopped raining after 5 minutes. It was the end of Worli seaface; cross roads and traffic signals started appearing. I was closely following my GPS tracker while I Walked. After a while, I got to see the sea again, and there at a distance I saw the historical place of Haji Ali.
From a distance, I could see a structure that is literally standing on the sea few hundred meters away from the land. I saw a swarm of people walking on the ramp going into and coming out of the masjid. I walked along the pavement looking at the structure. I was awestruck with the kind of effort and the amount of thinking has gone into the making of the beautiful monument. I walked further to find Mahalaxmi Temple which was pretty close to the Masjid. A completely different world altogether, yet the idea was the same – submitting oneself to the almighty! I never thought the walk would be more spiritual.
After resting for a while, I took a taxi to Colaba, to The Gateway of India. It was very crowded since it was a Saturday though it was 2 in the noon, which is not a peak hour. I thought it was a bad idea to visit the place on a weekend. Visiting the place early in the morning, say at 6 or 7 would have helped. It would have been pleasant at that time barring the photographers who would swarm around the tourists. The Taj Mahal hotel stands tall close to The Gateway of India, it will be an out of the world experience when you look at the magnificent hotel for the first time, especially in the early morning with pigeons in the foreground. The day I visited it was a high tide, which I failed to notice before planning for the trip, due to which the ferry ride to Elephanta caves was not operational. Later I walked to the rear of The Taj to find Starbucks.
This was actually a part of the plan – to sit in the Starbucks for a couple of hours. I entered the place after getting my bag checked by the Security Guards. The guards were prompt in saying ‘Good afternoon Sir’ which I didn’t understand the first time. I greeted them the same and entered. I ordered my favourite ‘Freshly Brewed Coffee’ and found a place to sit. It was crowded. Hardly 4-5 seats were left. Each in the corner of big tables where friends and families were sharing happy moments. I asked a gentleman who looked like a modern businessman in mid 40s, if I could sit on their table where a seat was vacant. He immediately said ‘Yes, please’. I happily kept my bag on the chair, a gesture of reserving the place and went to the restroom to empty my bladder. I came out relieved and by then my Brewed coffee was ready. I kept it on the table and took out my water bottle from the bag and drank a lot of water as I was dehydrated. I could see things clearly now after a couple of sips. The music was pleasant and so were the people around. I spent more than an hour there, ‘WhatsApp’ing friends slowly sipping the coffee. When I was leaving the guards promptly said ‘Thank you, Sir. Have a great day!’ I wished them back and left the place.
The plan was to walk to Churchgate and take a train to Dadar. I turned on my ‘Here Maps’ and it was showing 4 km approximately. When I was walking on the pavement in Colaba, I saw a series of shops on the pavement selling fancy items like necklaces, scarves, t-shirts with quotes and lot of ladies wear like Churidar, Salwar Kameez. A lot of people, especially girls were checking out various items in those shops. Lot of them were foreign tourists and hippies. Nike, Reebok and Adidas outlets were also present. The highlight was Leopold Café which was full as usual, some of the customers were waiting outside since there were not enough seats. I also spotted a Café coffee day there, which had higher capacity as compared to that of Starbucks. So, if you can’t find space in Starbucks, you can always walk in to the CCD and spend your time there. I walked ahead to find a chowk (circle). Maharashtra Police Headquarters and other important landmarks were around that chowk. Opposite to that was the Mumbai Museum.
This was not a part of the plan. But I thought I could spend some time in museum since I had time that was unused due to the closure of Elephanta caves. I was excited and entered the place without thinking much. The entry was Rs. 60 for adults and Rs. 25 for students. It was 4:30, it closes at 6. I deposited my bag at the security counter and hurried into the museum carrying my camera. It is more of a natural and cultural museum where one could see many models of animals, birds and reptiles, various stones from different ages, and art items like coins, Buddhist, Hindu and Jain paintings, art plates/ carvings and pictures of various Bombay landmarks in the early 20th century. Though it was written ticket for taking pictures was Rs. 200, nobody demanded any ticket for taking pictures. I left the museum at 5:45 after collecting my bag. Next to it was Jehangir Art Gallery, which I couldn’t visit due to paucity of time.
I was tired again and I wanted to have a good filter coffee. I turned on Here City Lens application to find out good South Indian eating joints. Hotel Milan was one among them with high rating. I followed the route and reached the place. It is a small hotel which can accommodate 25 people on the ground floor and another 20 on the mezzanine floor. The rates were pretty affordable. I ordered Idli-wada sambar and a filter coffee. In the meantime, I put my mobile on charge as it was very low on charge. By far it is the best sambar in whole of Mumbai. I am yet to visit Café Madras in Matunga which also boasts of serving the best south Indian food in Mumbai. The bill was just Rs. 60. I compared it with the Starbucks coffee that I had for 130 bucks and took a deep breath. It was a late realization though. From there I walked to Churchgate. I took tickets from ATVM as I had smartcard, which is always recommended in Mumbai to avoid standing in long queues and save time. Since it is the start of Western railway line, trains were empty. I took windows seat and reached Dadar. It was one hell of a journey, I call these places ‘Walker’s Paradise’.
Article Courtesy: Ranjeeth Verma
This post first appeared on Travelmax - Travel Stories By Umang Trivedi, please read the originial post: here
