Mumbai trip Part 1

My long leave from office was about to start and I desperately wanted to go on a mini vacation to forget the extreme stress that I had faced in the last few days at office. After an unsuccessful attempt to tag along with a friend who was going home to Delhi, I got myself invited over to my college friend's place who is married and staying with her in laws.

Of course I was embarassed, but she made me feel so comfortable that I didn't think thrice about it. So I merrily went and booked my ticket to Borivali from Prasanna Travels, little knowing that very soon I would hate the very sight of that name(Prasanna, not Borivali). More about that later, don't break my story! Anyway, on the fateful day, I boarded the bus at sharp 10 am from Paud Road. Till 11:30, we had received a complete Pune Darshan and reached Rajeev Gandhi bridge (Hinjewadi flyover), waiting to make full utilisation of every penny that stupid MetroLink spent on its petrol. It was so frustrating that finally some of the passengers started complaining. I guess we hit the highway around 12:00 pm.

My friend had asked me to get down at R. A Dairy in Malad but the driver refused to admit that he would be passing from there. Finally he agreed to drop me near Oberoi Mall. So I got busy reading "Catcher in the Rye" (really funny book, review about that coming up on http://esolitmaniac.wordpress.com/ ;)), while listening to songs on the Mumbai FM. My very huge misconception that Mumbai FM plays better songs than Pune FM was complete shattered as there was more variety (like 8 channels there), but all of them were celebrating CHILDREN'S DAY! So I just bid my time till Oberoi mall showed up and kept updating my friend ("Just passed Dadar, crossed the airport.... ").

Finally, the driver called out "Oberoi MALL!" and I hurriedly got down. He had stopped the bus just where the flyover started. I stood like a fool looking in all 4 directions for any sort of mall, but all I could see was roads and cars! Just as the bus was about to leave, I caught hold of the conductor-kinda-guy-but-not-exactly, and asked him "Where is the damn mall!" He pointed a finger in some random direction, jumped into the bus and stormed off. Excellent!

Mercifully my friend had informed me that I had to get down near a signal, so I kept walking in that random direction which that conductor kinda guy had pointed me towards and I found a signal. I could see Oberoi Mall from below the flyover and heaved a sigh of relief. Then was the best part. I was carrying a small trolley bag and I had pulled out its handle with which you can drag it along on its wheels. I had to call up my friend to inform her that I had reached, so I picked up the bag, hung the handle on my arm, balanced my purse in one hand while opening the zip with my trolley bearing arm, pulled out the phone, balanced it against my ear, and started talking to my friend. I swear to you, people on the road were giving me a stare wondering "Should we admit her to the mental asylum right NOW?" Nevertheless, my dear friend showed up in 5 mins in a car and whisked me away to her home!

We reached home, freshened up and lunch was served! The poor girl had taken a lot of efforts for me and I felt really pampered :D We had chhole, paneer bhurji (which was AWESOME!), gobi ki sabzi, pooris and the best part, chocolate pudding! I went straight to heaven after taking a bite of that. It was the most delicious and satisfying lunch I ever had. :) After such an awesome lunch, I seriously considered how bad it would be if I spent the whole evening sleeping in while dreaming about the fantastic chocolate pudding and trying to digest what all I'd eaten. But of course, my fantasizing was cut short by her husband pointing to his watch and saying "15 mins!". Bed, Ac, Pillows, Blanket, I didn't want to leave any of those!!! Argh X-(

I reluctantly got dressed and went down with my friend and her husband. Thus, started the most exciting part of the trip!