Mumbai - Day 1 (December 16, 2006)

Info on Mumbai

I got home at about 6:00am and I ventured out at about 12:00 noon. First call was to get a shave at Air Cool, next to Churchgate station in South Mumbai.

I've really missed going to a barber's shop where you sit back and the barber lathers you up and then shaves you with a very dangerous looking razor.
After the shave, I also had a head massage! Ahhh, the massage felt so good.

After that I headed to a friend's office in Bhuleshwar. I've seldom been to Bhuleshwar; it's a busy commercial area and I have no real work over there. But I desperately wanted to "fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run," so off I went to Bhuleshwar.

Bhuleswar (snaps above) is a very crowded commercial part of Mumbai and the name is a contraction of Bhulle (to forget) and Ishwar (God) and means "the place where God forgets his own name." There are many Temples, Mosques, Churches, and Jain temples cramped into this very small area -- hence the myth goes that God forgets his/her name while visiting Bhuleshwar -- hence the name.

I landed at the office of a close friend (D) who I've known since 4th grade and who's in the seamless pipe business. After lots of catching up and after getting an update of D's dhanda (business) we ventured out. First stop was to get me a cell-phone, since I didn't want to purloin my mom's phone for 8 days. Next stop was lunch and along the way walked past the Mumbadevi temple after which Mumbai gets her name. The temple was also targeted during the Mumbai bomb blasts.

Mumbadevi Temple

I was very eager to have food from stalls on the road. As a kid, my parents warned me to not eat food from the road as it was very unhygienic. And I listened to them for 16 years! It was only in Junior College (11th & 12th) that I started eating from stalls on the road after observing that none of my friend's fell sick. And I've never stopped since! Some of the best food in Mumbai can be had from stalls on the road.



We had Jain (without the onions & potatoes) Bhel Puri (pictures above), bought a plate of BP for a little boy, and then had ragda pattice, and jalebis (a sickly sweet sweet dish).

Ragda Pattice

JalebiOn the way back, D took me inside a Jain temple. I'd never been inside one, so I was very happy. Unfortunately, I couldn't take pictures inside. Here's a snap of the outside. You have to appreciate that this building is right in the middle of Bhuleshwar ( see pictures above), and so it seems rather out of place.

Pillar inside the temple

After visiting the temple, I went back to D's office, chatted some more, and took a black and yellow to my next destination.