Mumbai – Places we saw with pictures

There are so many places to see in Mumbai. And this time around, we managed a few, largely on account of the kids. As we alighted from the train at CST, commonly known as VT; we shed off our jackets as a welcome change. The entrance of the station hits you as you are reminded of the tragic events which happened just over a year ago. Sid was curious to know, Gautam too small to understand so I told him. The station looks exactly the same, busy and huge, as I have always remembered it.

Another place we visited was Marine Drive. Gurdev and I had done this long walk right from Chowpatty till the other end 9 years ago and this time we did half of it with kids in tow. There is a beautiful exhibition of paintings or blow-ups of paintings by a French artist on at Marine Drive and really superlative ones they were. We also got to catch the sunset. It being low tide, a lot of filth was visible which was putting off. To round it off, we went to Chowpatty to have bhel and what a downer that was. That was clearly the worst bhel puri I’ve eaten in my life and we all were extremely put off.

Another fun part was taking the kids to Vile Parle by local train. The exact way as I used to do while doing my MBA. They loved going in the train and counting stations. Vile Parle station area has changed so much and there is Metro work going on. Lots of old memories came flooding back. We also enjoyed our first drive on the Worli-Bandra sea link and loved our evening walks in the Priyadarshini Park at Nepean Sea Road where the sea caresses the Park. Though the maintenance of the Park has declined sharply over the years. Why do people dump garbage everywhere they go? We had the sweetest, most tasty nariyal pani there too.

We also visited the Siddhivinayak temple and Haji Ali Dargah. The rush was huge but we just wanted to do it. The overall trip was so relaxing, wonderful!