My favourite things about Mumbai

Well, a lot has happened since we last caught up 🙂 I’ve been offered admission into a top B-school, for one. I visited another one for a GE/PI session recently and the experience was amazing. I have also been offered a freelancing opportunity as a copywriter in a firm I have always had great respect for and which I’m definitely going to take. Oh, and also my parents got transferred back to this awesome place where I did majority of my schooling in and have always loved (My best friend stays there :D). So things are going pretty great at the moment.

The one thing that I am feeling a little sad about is that I am not going to be a Mumbai-ite for long and will have to shift out in a month or so. So, well I decided to make a list of all the things I am going to miss of Mumbai once I shift out and here it goes –

1. The Rain – It rains like crazy in Mumbai and if you’ve stayed here, chances are you’ll know that already! I’ve always loved the rains, infact the rainy season happens to be a favourite 🙂 (I remember it once rained here in November and the whole day all I could remember was the song November rain!)

2. The Beaches and the Sea – Aahh.. although the rains do happen in other cities, even though for a shorter duration, the beach is one part of Mumbai that will not be easy to replace! And I’ll miss it soooo damn much 😦

 

3. The Local trains – This one is a little unexpected (for me too!). The popular image of Mumbai’s local trains is that one can see thousands of people all stuffed into it and travelling rather dangerously. But I almost always never get on such overfull trains. For me travelling in a local is awesome especially when I get to stand near the entrance, feeling the wind on my face and listening to music while doing so (This feels all the more awesome when the train’s passing the Vashi creek unless someone runs towards the door and throws crap/polythene bags outside right in front of you at that exact moment! Coz honestly then the moment stops being awesome and all I am filled with is disappointment that is directed to yet another citizen of the country I’m living in). It does help travelling in the ladies compartment, it’s generally less crowded than the general one.

4. The People – Before you jump to any conclusions, let me clarify, I don’t like everyone I met in Mumbai but I certainly have met quite a number of extremely helpful strangers over the course of time that I have been living here (one of them even helped me carry my heavy luggage in a local train’s station once from one platform to another).

5. Misal Pav – Especially the one they make and serve in NMSA here in Vashi! It’s the best Misal, I’ve ever had anywhere..

6. Trekking – This place had a lot of trekking spots that were nearby and great to go to especially during monsoons. I’ll definitely miss that!

7. Friends – Although the number of friends I have in Mumbai is very less but the few that are here, are extremely special and close to my heart. I’ll miss them, no doubt 😦

Things I’ll definitely not miss – Crowds, Traffic jams, Dirt, Ill mannered people, Humidity and the list goes on.. But then all these negatives are found in the majority of India (aaaarggghhh!). Wish I could change that.

Have you ever stayed in Mumbai? If yes, what is your favourite thing about it? 🙂

P.S. I haven’t seen/done a lot of things in Mumbai, my plan now is to properly experience the city before I leave in May. If you have any particular place that you think is an absolute must visit, please let me know and I’ll reward you with photographs of the place 😛 I hope we’ve got a deal here!