A day in Mumbai

I had to catch flight on 1AM at mumbai airport, I could’ve picked train that would take to mumbai by night but this was not the first time I have to go to mumbai to go somewhere else. Every time I have visited mumbai is to only leave the city pretty much immediately to go somewhere else. This time around considering anyways I would be wasting a day by taking late train(as lazy me would only waste morning part instead of doing something productive) I took early morning Vande Bharat at 8:14AM which would drop me to CSMT at 2:20PM.

My friend Anand drops me at the train station we say bye to each other and I head for platform. Train was already there on platform 1(The only electrified line at Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar Railway Station). This Vande Bharat used to start at Jalna junction previously but now has started from Huzur Saheb Nanded station to expand it’s services. I remember taking same train two years ago when it was I think new at 5:40AM in the morning. The great thing about it has very few stops and average speed and overall cleanliness is better than other trains. I found my seat which was near a windows then proceeded to on to get comfortable and enjoy the journey.

As tradition for every premium train in India, I was given a 1L water bottle, Usually they should also provide me with News Paper but looks like workers at train have been realizing most people don’t read them so they only handout if someones asks for it. Before the Manmad junction arrives I was served the breakfast. Which usually consists of Dahi, Poha, Sweet Cake, Sabji and Methi Parantha. I finished everything other than Sweet cake. Then while enjoying the views I started reading the book I brought with me “Zen in the art of the Archery”. I also asked the staff at train for the complimentary tea. I was only able to finish about 30 pages before I was served lunch by the staff around 12PM. The lunch included Dahi, Ice cream, Poli(roti), Sabji, Dal and chawal. Just like breakfast everything lacked salt to my taste and they dont provide you with extra to season to your taste. At this point the the rhythmic motion of train making me fall sleep so I just took rest till my station arrived.

Around 2:30PM I reached the CSMT station. I took some time to walk around and see this historical building as I never been at this station before. Around the station all the buildings were also really pretty and were in that british era like architecture. From there I decided to take a walk till Gateway of India. Now usually this should take you 20-30 mins, but I took my time getting off track and seeing random stuff on streets including cats so I took about and hour to reach there. In blistering sun I was finally able to see the Gateway of India and sea. It was larger than what expected. It was also under some maintenance. I also did not require any ticket to enter this place.

After that I grew hungry and spotted a subway nearby(Although being in mumbai I should’ve tried something new). Taking some rest then I took a cab to marine drive by then it was around 5PM, the route in the cab to Girgaon chowpathy was pretty with Mumbai’s skyline and sun setting on it. I took some walk around Girgaon chowapthy and then settled near the marine drive to watch the sunset. It was beautiful to see it settle over the skyline and then night comes. Then I proceeded to have tea on the other side of the road and then head back again as one of the Mumbai’s friend recommended me to have Pav Bhaji at chowpathy. After I had Pav bhaji I decided now it’s time to head to airport where I would finish everything and take some rest. I knew there was a metro line that takes you to terminal 2 of the airport directly but due to line being so new some locals when I asked where confused about it. The cab to airport was more than 600-700INR so I decided to just take walk to nearest metro station(Aqua Line) and check It was about 15 minutes and once I reached there I was able to get ticket to airport(Which was 60INR only). I think Aqua line is the only underground metro line in Mumbai so the station is huge from inside. Finally about in 25 mins I reached Terminal 2 after that it was pretty much struggle to stand in lines for one and half hour then to wait 2 more for my flight. But I did get good rest so I dint mind anything.