Entering Mumbai Domestic Airport Starbucks at 7 pm, ordered some cold coffee. Coffee came and we drank and talked and drank more. Suddenly it was 7:30 pm and coffee mug half empty and there came a realisation that the flight to Chennai is at 9:05 pm. 7:32 pm coffee finished and a sprint was made to get in the terminal on time. Your Bestie seeing you off at the Airport - one of the best ways to end the Friendship day. Readers, let me take you to my ZoomCar Journey in the City of Dreams - Mumbai.
If you go through some of last posts you will know that I was very excited about driving car in Mumbai. I have a Europe trip planned from 9th August with parents. My last trip to Bombay was in Mid-June so it made no sense to go to Bombay on first weekend of August. The fact is I always wanted to do a short weekend trip to Mumbai, booking tickets at the last moment and having an impromptu plan. Luckily for me there was some offer on Indigo airlines and I used it to book the current tickets. My total stay in Bombay was suppose to be less than 48 hours and so I decided to book Zoomcar for like 40 hours (Tata Tiago). pick and drop at airport.
to Chennai Airport -
My flight was at 10 pm from Chennai and most of the time I take a train for night flights because of heavy traffic. This time though I had two friends of mine accompanying me from Mahindra World City to Airport. They too had evening flights. We stopped in between for some snacks, A2B to be precise. A2B, Guduvanchery- I used to go there for breakfast on Mornings with one of my friend. So yeah, I had some fond memories about the place. Anyway, I had some 2 hours to spare after Airport security clearance. I made the most of it by writing my usual airport blogpost - Trip to Pondicherry.
to Sweet Home from Airport -
This was the moment I had been waiting for a week. picking up the Zoomcar. I had to struggle 15 mins to find the parking building. The pickup point is at the fifth floor of the building and it took some 10 mins to complete the checklist and take the car. I was tired and I wanted to be home as soon as possible. I didn't check the car thoroughly and didn't care to see if I had the car papers or not. Anyway, I launched the vehicle in first gear smooth and not stalling but the brakes were too sharp. Sharper than the i10 that I drove. As a result car stalled and skid little in the parking lot itself, making a high pitch sound. Troubles didn't end there. Another 5 mins it took to find the exit from fifth floor to the ground floor. Going round and round I reach the ground floor. here again I took a wrong turn and ended up circling the parking building thrice before entering the Western Express Highway. I was thinking if I made the right decision or not.
Once the highway, things were smooth and calm. It drizzled a bit and then stopped raining and then started again. Driving on the highway wasn't a big challenge since there was hardly any traffic at 1:30 am in the morning. I reached home at around 2 am and called my dad to help me find a parking spot. Getting a parking space in Bombay is tough, another 10 mins to find the spot and park it as close to footpath as possible. After parking I realised that I didn't check if I had the car papers. In the darkness I wasn't able to find the glove box handle and I concluded that I forgot to pick the papers up. However, I found the papers in the morning, they were inside the glove box only. parents initially didn't approve of me driving at night in Bombay that too in a rented car which wasn't in a good condition. The morning after the adventures night everyone was normal and calm.
some Small Trips -
on Saturday afternoon we had small family function in Rmall, Mulund. It is around 4-5 kms from my home. I took the car and with me I had my parents and uncle and aunty. Normally it shouldn't have taken more than 10 mins but it was a working Saturday morning and very close to Bombay-Thane check-naka. It here that I realised how much the traffic has increased in my locality and I never knew I could drive in such a heavy traffic. Going forward Inch-by-Inch. Launching a fully loaded vehicle on a slope has always been my nightmare. I had to do that at least 100 times on a stretch of 500 metre road. There were buses, trucks and some Mercedes and BMWs. I was scared of hitting a Merc or BMW. The first turn was a really tense one. I had to make a right turn and then a left turn. The distance between left and right turn was less than 20 metres, meaning I had to change lane really soon. Thankfully my dad was in the co-driver seat and I negotiated the junction. The main part was never letting the tense nerves get on to you. When I write this post, i don't feel that junction a big-deal now. But back then it was a real big thing. Over the course of next two days I went through many such junctions and never felt tensed.
On Saturday I didn't drive more than 20 kms. I couldn't have ignored my building friends when I go to Bombay. This time we met for dinner and then went for our usual walk.
We had dinner in Campus and went to CCD for some more fun. As I mentioned there used to be parking issue. Aster dinner I was suppose to park the car close to the footpath and that is when we decided to go for a spin in Mulund East. The Pic 3 is from that trip. Pic 4 shows the car in the background. This is the street where I stay. On the right is my building and on the left is Nupoor and other friends houses. It is only at night that the street is so empty. So this pic marks the end of the Day too.
Sunday - Funday - Friendship Day -
This deserves an entire series of blog posts. Anyway, let me start with the overview. Sunday - my flight was at 9 pm from Bombay domestic airport and I had to drop the Zoomcar by 7 pm. I was to meet my Engineering college friends. It was 10 years back that we met and started out engineering studies in Somaiya. Deepali was to come to my home and from there we were planning to go to Mahalakshmi Temple, visit Temple and pick up my Bestie and then decide the next destination. The trip was to start at around 11 am from Mulund. In addition to this I had to go to Ghatkopar with dad for some small work. So there was lot of driving to be done. The trip to Ghatkopar was good, I mean there was hardly any traffic. Smooth ride and I was back home. Dad seemed happy with the driving.
Finally at around 11 or so the big trip started. A day back i had checked the map 3 times to be sure about the route to Mahalakshmi but things don't always go as planned. I had to make a stop at Chandiwali (near Powai) and then go to Mahalakshmi. Once at Chandiwali, Google bhai said that it is better to take the Bandra and sea-link road and we just obeyed it. There some patches of the road that I had crossed during my marathons and this time I got a completely different view when I was in the car. It was on the sea-link that I had to suffer because of 80 kmph speed limit. It wasn't a suffering as such, but you floor the accelerator pedal and the speed just doesn't go above 80. Feels powerless. Anyway, it was wide open road till we reach close to Mahalakshmi.
Thanks to my excellent navigation skills, I made a wrong U-turned. I turned before the actually turn which we were suppose to take. This was the most exciting part. The main U-turn which we were suppose to take was a very narrow patch of road and there were vehicles, big ones coming from two other directions. No signals and no traffic police. it was all about being aggressive than the most aggressive driver to make the turn successfully. There were Mercs and BWMs all around me and I was too scared to go close to them. Judging the front Left end of the car has always been my biggest challenge. Again - Inch-by-Inch and degree-by-degree I turned and moved forward. Things get exciting after the turn. You need to pick your lane carefully and that is what my Bestie kept telling me. Basically, there are many tourist taxis on the route and they slow down the left lane completely. I got stuck behind one of them. Learning the finer parts of road sense and driving. Anyway, after some more struggle I was at the desired location :)
Cutting the long story short. We had lunch in Oye Kake Oye. Good restaurant, especially the tandoori Parathas. From there we went to Nariman point, Marine Drive and Worli sea-face. We had some other places to visit too, but never realised where the time flied in our recollection of old memories - Travelling Down the Memory lane. We then spent some more time at the Marine drive before winding off.
One more trip was made on the sea-link to reach the airport. After dropping the car we went to Starbucks at Mumbai Airport. Most of my trips to Starbucks have been with Kartik and each time I have tried some different drink. Best (or worst) part is that I don't recall what I had ordered three or four visit back. Then Kartik and I made atleast three trips a day to Starbucks when we were in Malaysia last October. So yeah, Starbucks holds a special place in my Heart and taste Buds. What happened after coffee can be found in the first para.
If you go through some of last posts you will know that I was very excited about driving car in Mumbai. I have a Europe trip planned from 9th August with parents. My last trip to Bombay was in Mid-June so it made no sense to go to Bombay on first weekend of August. The fact is I always wanted to do a short weekend trip to Mumbai, booking tickets at the last moment and having an impromptu plan. Luckily for me there was some offer on Indigo airlines and I used it to book the current tickets. My total stay in Bombay was suppose to be less than 48 hours and so I decided to book Zoomcar for like 40 hours (Tata Tiago). pick and drop at airport.
to Chennai Airport -
My flight was at 10 pm from Chennai and most of the time I take a train for night flights because of heavy traffic. This time though I had two friends of mine accompanying me from Mahindra World City to Airport. They too had evening flights. We stopped in between for some snacks, A2B to be precise. A2B, Guduvanchery- I used to go there for breakfast on Mornings with one of my friend. So yeah, I had some fond memories about the place. Anyway, I had some 2 hours to spare after Airport security clearance. I made the most of it by writing my usual airport blogpost - Trip to Pondicherry.
to Sweet Home from Airport -
This was the moment I had been waiting for a week. picking up the Zoomcar. I had to struggle 15 mins to find the parking building. The pickup point is at the fifth floor of the building and it took some 10 mins to complete the checklist and take the car. I was tired and I wanted to be home as soon as possible. I didn't check the car thoroughly and didn't care to see if I had the car papers or not. Anyway, I launched the vehicle in first gear smooth and not stalling but the brakes were too sharp. Sharper than the i10 that I drove. As a result car stalled and skid little in the parking lot itself, making a high pitch sound. Troubles didn't end there. Another 5 mins it took to find the exit from fifth floor to the ground floor. Going round and round I reach the ground floor. here again I took a wrong turn and ended up circling the parking building thrice before entering the Western Express Highway. I was thinking if I made the right decision or not.
Once the highway, things were smooth and calm. It drizzled a bit and then stopped raining and then started again. Driving on the highway wasn't a big challenge since there was hardly any traffic at 1:30 am in the morning. I reached home at around 2 am and called my dad to help me find a parking spot. Getting a parking space in Bombay is tough, another 10 mins to find the spot and park it as close to footpath as possible. After parking I realised that I didn't check if I had the car papers. In the darkness I wasn't able to find the glove box handle and I concluded that I forgot to pick the papers up. However, I found the papers in the morning, they were inside the glove box only. parents initially didn't approve of me driving at night in Bombay that too in a rented car which wasn't in a good condition. The morning after the adventures night everyone was normal and calm.
some Small Trips -
on Saturday afternoon we had small family function in Rmall, Mulund. It is around 4-5 kms from my home. I took the car and with me I had my parents and uncle and aunty. Normally it shouldn't have taken more than 10 mins but it was a working Saturday morning and very close to Bombay-Thane check-naka. It here that I realised how much the traffic has increased in my locality and I never knew I could drive in such a heavy traffic. Going forward Inch-by-Inch. Launching a fully loaded vehicle on a slope has always been my nightmare. I had to do that at least 100 times on a stretch of 500 metre road. There were buses, trucks and some Mercedes and BMWs. I was scared of hitting a Merc or BMW. The first turn was a really tense one. I had to make a right turn and then a left turn. The distance between left and right turn was less than 20 metres, meaning I had to change lane really soon. Thankfully my dad was in the co-driver seat and I negotiated the junction. The main part was never letting the tense nerves get on to you. When I write this post, i don't feel that junction a big-deal now. But back then it was a real big thing. Over the course of next two days I went through many such junctions and never felt tensed.
On Saturday I didn't drive more than 20 kms. I couldn't have ignored my building friends when I go to Bombay. This time we met for dinner and then went for our usual walk.
 |
| 1. Campus Hotel, Mulund with Nupoor and Aamod |
 |
| 2. CCD, after the Campus treat |
 |
| 3. in the Car |
 |
| 4. our famous Lokmanya Tikal Road, Mulund |
We had dinner in Campus and went to CCD for some more fun. As I mentioned there used to be parking issue. Aster dinner I was suppose to park the car close to the footpath and that is when we decided to go for a spin in Mulund East. The Pic 3 is from that trip. Pic 4 shows the car in the background. This is the street where I stay. On the right is my building and on the left is Nupoor and other friends houses. It is only at night that the street is so empty. So this pic marks the end of the Day too.
Sunday - Funday - Friendship Day -
This deserves an entire series of blog posts. Anyway, let me start with the overview. Sunday - my flight was at 9 pm from Bombay domestic airport and I had to drop the Zoomcar by 7 pm. I was to meet my Engineering college friends. It was 10 years back that we met and started out engineering studies in Somaiya. Deepali was to come to my home and from there we were planning to go to Mahalakshmi Temple, visit Temple and pick up my Bestie and then decide the next destination. The trip was to start at around 11 am from Mulund. In addition to this I had to go to Ghatkopar with dad for some small work. So there was lot of driving to be done. The trip to Ghatkopar was good, I mean there was hardly any traffic. Smooth ride and I was back home. Dad seemed happy with the driving.
Finally at around 11 or so the big trip started. A day back i had checked the map 3 times to be sure about the route to Mahalakshmi but things don't always go as planned. I had to make a stop at Chandiwali (near Powai) and then go to Mahalakshmi. Once at Chandiwali, Google bhai said that it is better to take the Bandra and sea-link road and we just obeyed it. There some patches of the road that I had crossed during my marathons and this time I got a completely different view when I was in the car. It was on the sea-link that I had to suffer because of 80 kmph speed limit. It wasn't a suffering as such, but you floor the accelerator pedal and the speed just doesn't go above 80. Feels powerless. Anyway, it was wide open road till we reach close to Mahalakshmi.
Thanks to my excellent navigation skills, I made a wrong U-turned. I turned before the actually turn which we were suppose to take. This was the most exciting part. The main U-turn which we were suppose to take was a very narrow patch of road and there were vehicles, big ones coming from two other directions. No signals and no traffic police. it was all about being aggressive than the most aggressive driver to make the turn successfully. There were Mercs and BWMs all around me and I was too scared to go close to them. Judging the front Left end of the car has always been my biggest challenge. Again - Inch-by-Inch and degree-by-degree I turned and moved forward. Things get exciting after the turn. You need to pick your lane carefully and that is what my Bestie kept telling me. Basically, there are many tourist taxis on the route and they slow down the left lane completely. I got stuck behind one of them. Learning the finer parts of road sense and driving. Anyway, after some more struggle I was at the desired location :)
 |
| Oye kake Oye, Fort - with Shrutika and Deepali |
 |
| Nariman Point |
 |
| Sea Link Moments |
One more trip was made on the sea-link to reach the airport. After dropping the car we went to Starbucks at Mumbai Airport. Most of my trips to Starbucks have been with Kartik and each time I have tried some different drink. Best (or worst) part is that I don't recall what I had ordered three or four visit back. Then Kartik and I made atleast three trips a day to Starbucks when we were in Malaysia last October. So yeah, Starbucks holds a special place in my Heart and taste Buds. What happened after coffee can be found in the first para.
Thanks a ton for reading till here. Drop in your comments and words of encouragement.
Happy Friendship Day to All !!!
