First Time Mumbai

    It was summer 2010, the first time I went to Mumbai for vacation and to renew my passport. I, my sister and my parents visited Mumbai for 3 days.

   The first thing I saw in Mumbai was Haji Ali dargah. It was so crowded with people that, I can barely see the entrance of the dargah. Then we stopped at the hotel first, and then went to the consulate general. The consulate was not so far from the hotel. Near the consulate there was a bookstore, named “Crossword”.

   The next day, we went to the “Gateway of India”. It was awesome, and in front of that was the “Taj Hotel”, so grand and beautiful. There was an island near Mumbai called the “Elephanta Cave”. It has got its name when the Portuguese came and landed there. The local people call it “Dharapuri”. We can visit there by boat. When we got there we saw a lot of souvenir shops with cute and cool stuffs made out of marble like jewelry box, small statues, etc. A medium sized jewelry box costs around Rs.250 if you want it in cheaper rate you have to bargain. The box I bought was made of green colour marble stone with flower on it. There were also boxes carved out from white marble. It was beautiful. The entrance ticket differs for foreigners and for local people.

Taj Hotel

   The way to the cave was long and weary, there were a lot of steps to the cave, but the journey was very interesting. During the journey up to the cave, on the side walk there stood a lot of souvenir shops. They sell different kinds of cute and interesting things like stones, chess board from marble, postcard book, book about the elephanta cave, toys, statues, etc. In the middle of the journey, we stopped at a restaurant (better be called as food stall J ).

   At last we reached the cave, we visited the first cave. The first cave was the most grand. Inside the cave there carved 3 Gods out of the wall of the cave. They are called “Trimurti”. Inside the first cave, there stood another cave-like building. I didn’t visit all the caves; I’ve visited only 4. But the most grand is the first one, the rest has no idols of Gods, I think.

   We got back by boat again. When we back, we saw flamingo (if I’m not wrong) flying across the sea. It was a very beautiful scene. I can’t forget that. The boat stopped for a while to let the passenger see the birds. I think that must be those birds that migrate every year because of the climate.

   Visiting Mumbai was a memorable moment for me. I would like to visit it again. Maybe next time…