A different Mumbai after many years..

This is the first detailed post on the rushed India trip..

We had landed almost two hours late in the morning.

The last time I visited Mumbai and spent time here was 2017! After reaching Chembur, we had less than an hour to get ready to visit temples! It was all planned by MIL. There was some chai and fresh pav for us to gobble up before leaving the apartment.

We visited Mahalakshmi first. Was drooling thinking of fresh hot kunukkus behind the temple at Laxmi Bajiya house.. was told that things have changed. No more shops in the back.. No way to go to back either to see the ocean because of constuction. There is a freeway coming that has totally changed the ocean view.. 

Then went to Siddhi Vinayak. In spite of the crowd that pushes relentlessly, there is some peace that comes to me when visiting this place. Do not know why! We walked out and decided to eat right outside the temple. First rava dosa in Mumbai was amazing.. everything we ordered was amazing. Cannot beat food in India!

We spent the rest of the evening visiting San's cousins with her uncle. Her baby cousin (who incidentally was the oonjal kid in our wedding) has been married for years, but I never got to meet her hubby and in laws. Managed to meet him finally! 

We spent the next morning at the Chembur Murugan temple with San's uncle. Got to recite Rudram with him and watch abhishegam. Got to meet my collegemates and chat without realizing how time passed. 

we tried to recreate our first portrait but both of us were laughing and it did not come out as planned.. 

Ate at a few places like Arya Bhavan (which is okay given the hype) and Mani's which lived up to the hype on this instance(where we ate tiffin items) and did some shopping! 

we had to wait to be seated practically every place we went to eat.. every place is crowded! I came to the conclusion that Mumbai doesn't have enough restaurants for the local crowd.

Got to sample food at Sadhguru which was amazing and GuruKripa in Sion with my classmates and both places were good. However, there was no Chai at GuruKripa.. I was in shock. The samosas were amazing!

Was so happy chatting with my buddies. Was glad to see we are all doing good and are in decent health!

I also met a cat that does yoga in Mumbai..

and another cool cat that is happiest when in Mumbai..chillin.. this one misses the beauty parlours a lot when in the US. If San is sad and needs to cheer up, all she has to do is go to Mumbai, eat pani puris and vada pav and get some henna, facial , handial, leggial etc. and voila.. we have happy San again!

Just like that three days gone and it was time to fly to Chennai ...

Life goes on

First, to all who sent me emails enquiring about family in Mumbai after the attacks, appreciate the thought. All of our relatives are okay.

These days we just go "so what if our relatives are okay and alive? They are still shut in their homes in absolute fear, knowing that they could be victims on the next round of terrorism."

We spoke to San's dad and he was very emotional. Bombay is an acquired taste for me. Had only been to the city for a couple of days in my first 25 years of life. Then got married to San and now visit Mumbai on every India trip.

Over the last ten years have come to love the city. More than that, finally understand why San's family loves the city the way they do.

My FIL loves the city like he loves his kids or parents. This time when he said "well, it is a full scale war out there! Things are slowly returning to normal in the rest of the city." , somehow this time he was not sure if this one would be forgotten and "life would just go on".

On a side note, the press coverage of the events when seen from the US Media is horrible! Absolute garbage!

People who have no clue about India, Bombay, Kashmir, Terrorism give expert opinions and commentary on what is going on to the broad American audience.

A crying shame!

Our thoughts are with Mumbai right now.

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Bombay eats..

As is customary with every Bombay (Mumbai) stay, we visited Mahalakshmi. This is one beautiful and simple temple on the ocean front with the idols of Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati juxtaposed.

After we visit the deity, we go behind the temple to see the little Hanuman and Ganesh idols (they look like two mini temples on the backside). Right at that corner is one of my favorite eats. The samosa and tea stall, with benches that have an ocean view.

The menu is shown for your drooling pleasure !!

Mouth watering stuff. I have got to stop this habit of posting about good eats just before going to bed! All those stomach acids, can't be good.

Like Homer Simpson says "Hmmmmmmmmm... yummmmmmmmmmmy"!

Wah Guru Wah !!

Watched

Guru

last night with my MIL at the Sion CINEPLEX..

You cannot beat watching a great movie in a great theater with the right ambience..

Still cant get "tere bina beswaadi.." song out of my head..

don't want to!

ARR rocks !!!

This experience more than made up for not watching Hindi movies in the US with all the babysitting duties. Go watch this movie if you get a chance..Worth every penny!

India has come a long way.. the movie watching experience here is a lot better than watching it in an AMC !!

You order tickets online and a delivery boy gets the tickets to your house !!!
You order snacks and coffee online and it gets delivered to your seat in the intermission !!
The theaters are absolutely clean and the sound quality is near perfect!
and the audience is well behaved !!

Hats off to Mumbai Cinema !!

Of Jasmine flowers and Mike shoes

San Francisco

Hong Kong

Bangkok

Mumbai

Goa

Ahmedabad

Chennai

Thiruchy

etc.

etc.

Baby doing her business after a 15 hour flight in Hongkong amidst a beautiful backdrop!!


Fill up the blanks to be done by : Daddy Narayanan

Jr. enjoying Jasmine flowers..


Daddy's new Mike sandals. Purchased from a street corner vendor who probably sells more shoes and sandals than all the shoe stores in Santa Clara put together !! Price : 5$ !! Keebok, Adibas were available as well !!

Currently enjoying the land of Jasmine flowers and Mike Shoes..

Will catch up soon..

In other news, Jr. who has never killed an insect in her entire life (thanks to me teaching her that killing innocent spiders or ladybugs is wrong), came to me today and said
"that mosquito came to bite me again. I swished one guy away and I killed the other guy so he wont bite me again!". Two proverbs need a rewrite..

Hell hath no fury than a girl bitten!
Once bitten, twice:you die !