M4 - The "Rakhadpati"

Can the Mumbai rain stop 5 LDites to do "Rakhadpati" ??
NO!!

29th Day of August 2010, Sunday
It rained the whole night and even in the morning and it continued the whole day.
But it was 3 in the afternoon and it was time to do some Rakhadpati in Mumbai.
I was a bit reluctant in going out in this rain, but then all my LD mates were ready so we all set out for "Rakhadpati"
Me Raunak and Amit.
Mansarovar - Kurala - Dadar(the meeting spot, Kinnar joins us) - Church Gate

and then to Marine Drive in Taxi. It was raining heavily here and the scenic view from Marine Drive was awesome. We could hardly see the buildings the other side. Best, romantic and awesome place with awesome atmosphere. Was not carrying the camera or else I would have put up the pics. It was real fun to shout in the rain on the edges of wall. The crazy frog tune also drove me crazy. Tea added to the fun. We walked along the Marine Drive Lane towards the Nariman Point and back. Also saw Trident. (missed Bi-dent, Uni-dent and Pepsodent) Now it was time to fill up the bellies. Taxi to Chowpaty and enjoyed almost all the type of chats here. Pavbhaji and Panipuri and we were done. Finished it with a paan. The food was really awesome. Forgot the Ganesh Pavbhaji for a while after having pavbhaji here.
What did you do if you did not have Bhutta(Corn) at Chowpaty!! So Bhutta at Chowpaty in rain and strong winds. Watching the "Queen's Necklace"
The Marine Drive when lit up with street lights in the eve, appears like a Queen's DIAMOND Necklace and hence the name.

Next on the list was a famous bar and restaurant, "LeoPold". Awesome place to hangout. But its too expensive. Now it was getting to late so did not visit Taj. May be next Sunday.
So back to Churchgate.
Churchgate - Dadar - Kurla - Mansarovar.
And ending it with other recognizable 'feature' of LDite. Why to wait in a long queue, if there are Fotcuts(Shortcuts)? The passengers on getting out of the train were rushing to form a queue for rickshaw. "Discipline" as I mentioned in the previous post. We also joined the queue. But then we thought, 'we are LDite!'. Immediately called up a rickshawala and waited for him separately besides the queue. Within 2 minutes he was there to pick us up and we were back to the room quickly. That was the one of the most funniest moment of the day.
So its time now and have a swelling in the knee so got to take some rest.
All for the day. Bye...

M3 - THE TRAINS

28th Day of August 2010

Its 2 days I have been here in Mumbai, but i was not feeling that I am in Mumbai. But today after having experiences of Mumbai Local Trains, I feel that I am in Mumbai. I had heard much about the Mumbai Local Train and finally I got to know more about it.
Its really a good system. The entire rail has been divided broadly into 3 lines. Harbour, Central and Western. Map of the rail. Our route was from Panvel-Kurla-Dadar-Goregaon. And the best thing we experienced is, we did not wait for more than 5 minutes for any train. Among the other things for the benefits of the passengers is the ticket systems.
1st is the common ticket system. Take a ticket from start station to destination station.(2 classes are available here 1st class and 2nd class) You can also take return ticket from the destination.
2nd is the coupon system. One needs to buy ticket coupons(available in a range of Rs. 30/40/50 and may be some others too)
The passenger just needs to see the chart for the fare and he needs to get the coupons for that fare punched from coupon punching machines. Thats easy and quick. One doesnt have to wait for long queues.
3rd is a ATM type of ticket machine. Forgot the name. But one needs to show his pass and select the ticket details from the screen and get the ticket printed in few seconds.
Hats off to the Local Trains of Mumbai

Some more noticeable things here were the "Discipline" of the people here. Any local train here stops for nearly 10 seconds at any station. 5 seconds to get down, 5 seconds to board the train. First 5 seconds the people get down and the next 5 second people board it. The amazing thing is, whatever the strength of people getting in or out may be, they always do it in those 5 seconds available to them. Even the one who is coming to "THE TRAINS" for the first time goes along with the flow.
The people at Mansarovar, Panvel are even ahead in Discipline. While we came back after our whole journey it started raining at Mansarovar station. As soon as we came out, we saw a long queue of people waiting for something that too in rain. There was no vehicle, no rickshaw, nothing but the queue was waiting. After walking about 500 mtrs we saw some rickshaws coming. And to our surprise the long queue was waiting for rickshaws. So thats was really weird and new for us. A long queue that too waiting for Rickshaws. No we cant do that!!!

And some critics for the rickshaw walas in Goregaon. These guys are just bullshit. No one ready to go from station to Religare Diagnostic Centre which is not more than 1km from station. No one even answer to the call for rickshaw.

The entire day was amazing. Also met college friend at SP JAIN, Andheri West. Had a great time with him too.

Now I am in MUMBAI...!!!!
Ok now legs paining, so will take rest.
Bye...