Lessons from Mumbai...

I went Mumbai twice, and my both experience was all together very different from each other. When I visited this place first, I was alone, and it was an official tour just for a day. My next trip to Mumbai was after two years i.e. of 3 days with my friend Mr. Bheru to attain a wedding party. In this article I’ll share my first Mumbai experience along with the lessons I learned.

I catch my flight from Jaipur at 0755hrs (this was my first flight experience). I was excited and also a bit nervous. But trust me, there is nothing to fear, flights are made to reduce your travel time and if you are seated beside window, you can view the real creation of God i.e. nature, landscapes including human made structures. I experienced both very nicely.

Mumbai domestic airport is very large; my flight landed the airport at 9am. When I came out of the port, I saw there were several taxies standing on the stand and passengers were hiring them one by one. You can either hire a pre-paid taxi or you can bargain with them. My suggestion is that if you are good bargainer or know the place well, then you should, else you must opt for a pre-paid taxi. Since I was in hurry & also getting late, I just get into one of the taxi without any discussion and ask the driver to take me to Prabhadevi. He changed the gear and my Mumbai ride begins in a typical yellow and black taxi. I was happy.

My first lesson – Never get in any Mumbai taxi without deciding the fair & destination. The driver was new, young and less experienced and more over, I also told him that I was in hurry. At this moment my taxi was already crossed the airport area and we were on the main road encountering huge traffic. At this moment I ask him the fair, he said, “it will be Rs. 350/-“. I reacted, “What??? Rs. 350/-“, I never expected this much but since I was in the middle of the street & in hurry, I was having no options. My taxi got stuck several times in traffic jams particularly on red-lights. I was expecting that I will reach my office maximum in half hour, but it took me one hour to reach my office.

My second lesson – Keep change currency in your wallet if you’re in Mumbai. I reach at 1015hrs. I get off from the taxi and handed Rs. 500/- note to the driver, he said that he don’t have any change. I was at Head office of ICICI Prudential Life Ins. Co Ltd. It was located at Prabhadevi’s main street but unfortunately there were no shops nearby so that I can change my Rs.500/- note. I ask the driver to wait outside. I entered my office & told the reception person that I need change of Rs. 500/- note as I have to pay the fair to taxi driver. She said “Sorry, I don’t have any change” then I try with few more persons I can see at the reception area, but my bad luck was very good on that day, no change. Then I came out of the office and ask the driver if he can arrange the change by himself. He said “I cannot, do whatever you can, but do it fast as I am getting late”. Finally, after trying with few more persons, a gentleman gave me the change I required. I handed over the fair to the driver and set both of us free.

I entered my training room at 1030hrs, and I was late. It was a good experience for me, meeting all the persons who came from all the part of the country. In the lunch break I shared my morning incident with my training manager and he said “it only take 30mins from the airport and the taxi fair should not be more then Rs. 150/-.

My third lesson – never enter into any city without confirmation of your shelter for night, particularly if you are in metro city like Mumbai. My training ended at around 1730hrs. Since I was not the only one from outside to attend the training, I was in this impression that there must be some stay arrangements for the outsiders. But I was wrong, all those trainees who came from outside had already arranged their stay for the night in advance. So, after my training ended, I told my trainer that my flight is at 4am next morning and requested him if he can do something for my night stay. My tension second chapter begins from here.

My trainer took me with him to his office which was just a stone throw distance way from this office. On my way I met Mr. Madan Nayak, (Head of DOPS dept., I was working in this dept.) enjoying Wada-Paao with few other trainees. He also offered me but since I was with my trainer and also in great tension – “How I’ll going to spend my whole night in this giant city” I gracefully said no to him and move ahead.

In his office, he contacted the office administration department for room booking, they said that they will try but cannot confirm whether they can arrange any room for me in this short period of time. I said to myself “in this is huge Mumbai city, where people live in a big villa and even sleep on the footpath & streets, there must a bed for me where I can take rest.” I was very tense, tired, and hungry. After trying several admin persons at different branches, I finally got a room at Eureka Apartments which was located at East Andhari. I felt glad and thanks to god and also to my training manager. But my happiness was vanished when he told me that East Andhari is located at another corner of the city. I was assuming that soon I will get in my room and after dinner I’ll take rest and if time allow, will roam in the city, but as I said earlier, my bad luck was working perfectly with no escape, I was again trapped. Post that, he also assisted me to catch my taxi, this time I confirmed each and every thing before even getting into the taxi.

My fourth lesson – Whenever you book a hotel/lounge room, don’t forget to note the contact person name and his contact number. This time my taxi driver was very experienced and he was running his taxi from last seven years. He applied several shortcuts to shorter the time and also told me several do’s & don’ts like – do not talk much to strangers in hotel; do not disclose everything about yourself. After one & half hour I reached Eureka Apartments. He left me outside the main gate and charge only Rs. 250/-. It was close to dark in evening & I was fully exhausted & hungry.

But real drama was waiting for me. Since I was tense to find a shelter in order to stay in night I forgot to take any contact number of the lounge person, I was only having the address. Let me explain why I needed a contact number even I was having the address. There were three groups of apartment buildings in front of me with ten building each and my bonus for the day was, they all look alike. I start laughing and said to myself “Why I came to Mumbai yaar..???” In very hesitation manner, I called my training manager requesting for the number of the caretaker of the lounge, he was not having the number; it took him another 15-20 min to arrange the number. In between I also try to ask few people about the address but nobody was sure. Then I got the number and I call him and said there is a room booked for me in your lounge, thank god he said “yes sir, it is” then I told him that I am standing in the campus of Eureka Apartments and I am unable to find in which building the lounge is. He explained me the apartment number and finally I get in my room at 2030hrs. My room was on 2^nd floor, it was a two room set along with kitchen and dining hall. I was very happy that the whole bed belongs to me. The person told me that dinner is ready and ask me to come at 3^rd floor to take it. Meal was not so good and also in less quantity as it was already 10pm. I was not having any options and I also don’t have enough courage to go outside and search any good restaurant. After that I went down stares for a small walk. In the parking area, few children were playing football, screaming and enjoying. After a while I contacted the caretaker and told him that I need a taxi at 3am in morning for airport and luckily he arranged it for me at Rs. 300/-. When I came back at my room I saw three more persons in my room and when I talk to them I came to know that they are also here for training purpose and belongs to different locations and I have to share my bed with one of them. At 2230 hrs I went to sleep, but unable to do so as rest of the persons were watching TV. I set the alarm and somehow I slept.

My fifth and final lesson at Mumbai – if you have made some changes in your flight schedule, do not forget to reconfirm it before boarding to airport. My flight booking was done from Mumbai head office. But, I had made some changes in my return ticket; earlier it was on the same day in evening at 1815hrs and later I shifted it to next day at 0545hrs through call center. I arrived at my flight counter to take my boarding pass and I handed over my ticket to the attendant. At this moment I was very much relaxed and happy that finally I will be going back to my city. But the climax was yet to be written. The counter person said to me “Mr. Nirmal, there is no booking against your name”, after hearing this, whole earth slipped from my feet. It was like taking ten thousand volt electric shock on my body. I took a deep breath, and told the counter person that I have made some changes in my flight schedule through call center please recheck it. Then she said “yes there is a booking but you have to pay extra charge it”. At this time I was not having much money with me, I ask, “how much I have to pay”, she said “Rs. 150/-. Thankfully I was having that much amount with me, and finally I got my boarding pass to Jaipur. I reached Jaipur at 0645hrs. At that moment I was the happiest person in the world and I thanked to god for this.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this strange and funny travel experience. Trust me I’ll never going to forget it as it was also a great learning for me and I hope you too also take care of such small but important things in your life while traveling.




A WORD OF MUMBAI:

Mumbai is a cosmopolitan city, earlier known as Bombay. It is one of the largest cities in India and also capital city of Maharashtra state. Estimated population is around 141 million, making one of the world’s most populate city. Mumbai is also famous for its glamour’s world of Bollywood, and said to be city of dreams. Every year several people with dreams in their eyes came to Mumbai, hoping to get a chance to work in Bollywood films but very few of them get succeeded and they also have to pay a lot of hard work and luck. You will find very liberal atmosphere here, as it’s a mixture of enormous cultures and religions. This happened due to migration of different people from different places from entire India. Ganesh Chaturthi (lord Ganesh Birth Anniversary) Festival which held every year in the month of Aug/Sept is very famous. The best time to visit this place is between Novembers to February.

GETTING TO MUMBAI

Mumbai is a huge city; it is very well connected with all the major cities in India as well as international cities.

By TRAIN:

There are three main railway stations in Mumbai - Chattrapati Shivaji (Victoria Terminus-VT), Dadar and Kurla Terminus. There are regular train facilities from several major cities like Bangalore, New Delhi, Ahemdabad, Jaipur, Goa, Kolkatta, Varanasi, Pune and Chennai.

By FLIGHT:

Mumbai has superb connectivity with most of the major cities in India as well as International cities like New York, London, Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur. There are several options for domestic flights which connects all the major cities in the country. Airport is around 28 kms from downtown.

By BUS & TAXI:

Mumbai provide links to all parts of the country by road. Both private & Govt. bus services are comfortable including private taxies. Asiad Bus Terminal located at Ambedkar Road in Dadar (East) is hub bus station to catch bus for several cities in India, another major bus station is ST, of Maharashtra Govt. i.e. MSRTC (Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation) located at Dadar, and tourist can catch their respective buses to visit various cities in Maharashtra state.

For local travelling, one can hire Black & Yellow top Taxies, which is easily available in whole Mumbai city. Apart from this Mumbai has its own local trains and also local bus service i.e. Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (known as BEST).

ACCOMMODATIONS:

Big cites has its own challenges so as Mumbai, it is a bit difficult to find stables stay in this city as there are ample of options but tariff rates are very confusing. Even a small hotel charges are quite high due to lack of space. So, suggestion to all tourists is to please have an advance booking and be open for price negotiation.

Few decent Tourist guest houses are located at Colaba, Dadar, Santa Cruz, Bombay Central, Andheri West, but please do check the room status before check-in in these hotels as Mumbai is full of fraud peoples. If there is no money barrier then one can easily stay at Hotel Taj at Colaba or Leela Kempinski, ITC Grand Maratha, JW Marriott and many more. Please take help of tours sites for entire list of hotels available in Mumbai.

MUST SEE:

There are ample of places in Mumbai to visit for tourist like - Marine Drive, Prithive Theater and Gateway of India etc.

Historical building like - Fort St. George at South Mumbai, Chhatarpati Shivaji Terminus (Victoria Terminus) building, Municipal Corporation & Police Headquarters building are few excellent examples of colonial architecture and Famous Taj Mahal Hotel & Gateway of India.

Museum - Chhatrapati Shivaji Vastu Sanghralaya (Museum), National Gallery of Modern Art, Jehangir Art Gallery and Nehru Science Center.

Beach – Girgaon Chowpati in South Mumbai, Juhu Beach in western and Aksa Beach at Malad.

Nature walks – Borivali National Park (Sanjay Gandhi National Park), Kanheri Caves, City Zoo i.e. Veermata Jijabai Udyan at Byculla, Hanganing Garden at Malabar Hill, Kamla Nehru Park Trust Garden, Golabal Vipassana Pagoda at Gora.

Religious Places – Mahalakshmi temple, Banganga Temple, Siddhi Vinayak Temple, Afghan Church, Mahim Church and Haji Ali.

Bazaar – Chor Bazaar at Near Grant Rd Station (east side of station), Fashion Street from Church gate till Flora Fountain, Colaba Causeway near Gateway of India, Zaveri Bazaar (Jewelry Shops), Mangaldas Cloth Market, Bhuleshwar Fruit & Vegetables market and Dadar (W) flower market.

EAT:

Mumbai is very famous for its street food and local fast foods. So, here are some good places to eat..eat and eat…

Few good Restaurants – Apurvas at Homiman circle famous for its Sea food, Peshawari at Andheri (Maratha Sheraton) famous for Indian cuisine, India Jones (Hilton Tower), Mainland China (Saki-Naka), China White (Bandra) are famous for Chinese foods, Chili’s at Central Avenue Road (Powai), Oh! Calcutta at Tardeo, Preetam’s Dhaba at Dadar (E), Poush at Andheri, Casa Soul Fry opp. Bombay University, Chetana at Kala Ghoda.

Famous street food like Pav Bhaji, Vada Pav, Bhelpuri, Panipuri etc. can be tasted at – Vitthal’s Restaurant opp. Sterling Cinema and Vithal Bhelwalla at VT Station and also at Juhu Chowapati.