MUMBHAI!!!

So, after surviving the first round of shopping, i decided to go to my place... my city... Mumbai... After 1.45 hrs of airtime, I reached on a not-so-hot day on Feb 16th... It was hot and humid by any standards, other than Mumbai standards... Actually, a typical mumbai-ite would term it as a pleasant day... The moment I landed at the airport and the first drop of sweat tricked down my neck, I knew I was home...

There are a few things which characterize a Mumbai-ite... He loves heat and sweat... It doesnt bother him a bit... Secondly, if someone tries to act over-smart, knows how to bring the "shAAna" (over-smart fellow) down to earth... And I got to do that as soon as I landed out of the airport...

The auto-rickshaw driver tried to squeeze out a chota-Gandhi (100 rupee note) out of me for the ride to my place... When he started to act smart, the dormant-for-3-years mumbai-ite in me sprang up and gave it back so nicely that he did not even dare to ask anything extra for luggage...
Reached home at 3... Did not want mom and dad to come to the airport at 2 o clock in the afternoon... So had told them that i am scheduled to reach at 5... They were pleasantly surprised to see me early and then angry because I deprived them of 1 hour under the sun :-)...

Cups of tea followed with yap yap and yap... Then dad went and got the best sev-puri in the world... From the local gaadi... How funny that every one thinks that their shop serves the best delicacy... A bengali thinks that his halwai makes the best mishti... A mumbai-ite thinks that his galli has the best wada-pav... A londoner thinks that his lane has the best fish and chips... A new-yorker thinks that his local pizza place makes the best pizza... Funny, but true...

Relished the sev puri... followed by another round of tea...

Next day, went to Siddhivinayak temple... Try to be there every tuesday of my stay in Mumbai... Was there even 2 days before my sister's wedding... 1.5 hours in the queue and was not tired even a bit... Thats the amazing thing abt waiting in line at the Siddhivinayak temple... I have waited once for 7.5 hours and still had the strength to go and work the rest of the day in the office... After the temple, went and had amazing limbu-paani at a street side stall and then chaats again in the evening...

The remaining 2 days passed even quicker... Some gifts for family members and some for friends... Some more chaats... Lots of tea... More eating and eating and eating... Then wifey arrived...

Once wifey arrived, it was even more fun... Mom and dad were happier (even more happy than when i arrived)... First day, met college friends... It was the first time when Sneha met them... Met a very close friend with his wife and kid... Got to know that the other friend couple is expecting in June...

Next day, was even better... Relaxed the first half of the day... Second half, had to go to navi mumbai to meet cousins... Actually, the fact that it all fell in place was nothing less than a miracle... One cousin and his wife had to drive from Pune... The other one's wife had to work that weekend... The third one's kid had 10th standard examination going on... Eventually, after lots of planning and re-planning, the venue was decided...

Bombay traffic decided to show its ugly face today... 2.5 hours of wait and sweat in a non-ac cab were very difficult... Amazingly, not even 1 cool cab showed up on the way for us to switch over... Reached the venue 1 hour after the scheduled time...

But things switched after that... Next 4-5 hours were full of fun... Yapped Yapped and Yapped with cousins and their spouses and uncles and aunties... Amazing food in a restaurant (theme based on a mumbai local) with drinks... And a smooth ride in a MERU cab made the evening memorable...

Next day, more relatives, more delicacies to eat and more yapping and fun... Came home at 9 O clock after a long hard day... Thats when it hit me that in a few hours, I will be leaving Mumbai... Its all down hill from now... The crest is over, the downward slope begins now...