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Archive for March, 2010
Things to do in Mumbai – Synopsis of my Fun Plan! (PART I)
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This is going to be a touristy kind of post. So this is not for those who live and work in Mumbai… because I’m sure they’d have seen and done these things every time an out of town relative or friend popped by. This is for those who come to Mumbai for a holiday or for those who like me needed to put together a touristy plan for visiting relatives.
I had friends and family from abroad visiting Mumbai for 4 days. In order to make the most of those days I got on to Google, Facebook, and Twitter and got a ton of suggestions on what to do in Mumbai. Below are the some of the highlights of the ‘Fun Plan’ that I put in place!
Gateway of India and the Taj Mahal Hotel
Built in 1911 to commemorate the visit of King George V and Queen Mary, the Gateway is like the Statue of liberty… the first sign of Mumbai for travelers coming from afar. It’s a beautiful structure and the usual melee of tourists, pigeons, hawkers and the majestic view of the famous Taj Mahal Hotel makes it a nice starting spot for a Mumbai Darshan. Also the whole angle of 26/11 shootings adds to the touristy value and now guides there will tell you where they saw the terrorists, how the gunshots reverberated through the air, how the Taj burned on that fateful day etc. Worth one visit for all non Mumbaikars.
Walk to Flora Fountain and CST station (And Shopping at Causeway)
The whole allure of South Mumbai is this old world charm that exudes from the buildings there. Just walking down from the Gateway towards the CST station is a pleasure. On the way are street vendors selling everything from paintings on a leaf/ bus tickets/ rice grain to collages, handmade jewelry and all kinds of other artsy stuff. Flora fountain itself is a little bit of a disappointment, with all the algae stuck over it and without water it just looks like a lonely warrior in a sea of human traffic. The CST building is impressive with its stain glass windows and impressive architecture. A must photo op for the visiting folks.
Dhobi Ghats
So this is where ‘Munna Bhai’ is supposedly shot…. But after I saw the place, I wasn’t sure there was enough place for the cast and crew to even stand. The place is a bunch or rectangles filled with water and half naked men beating the hell out of clothes. The clothes line where the clothes dried was interesting… it seems as if the clothes were clubbed according to their shades!
More tips on what to do in Mumbai coming up in Part II of this post!
Librarywala.com – a Great way to Read!
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The minute I read about libraraywala.com, I knew that it was the perfect answer to my ‘buy- read – and then do what?’ problem. Every time I am in a bookstore, I’m not worrying about my credit card bill, but about where I will find storage for my new books. Also while I am an avid reader, I don’t have to own a kazillion book since I don’t re-read books too often (there are so many books to read… how does one finds time to re-read something?).
So having an online library with hundreds of titles, queing my books and keeping them for as long as I want was Awesome! I got a free trial membership for a month and tried my hand at the model and totally loved it! I even found a ready to que copy of a ‘difficult to find’ book (Haroun and the Sea of Tales by Salman Rushdie). The pick up and drop is hassle free and the delivery boy is courteous and calls before the pick up 
The membership plans are probably a little pricey compared to your local physical library (the cheapest plan will see you putting out Rs 499 as registration, Rs 499 as a refundable security deposit and a monthly charge of Rs 139 = Rs 1137), but having the convenience of getting the books at your doorstep is worth the extra cost.
Librarywala currently operates in Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore and has plans to grow to other cities soon. So if you are in these cities and are a book lover… try it!