Saturday, May 26, 2012

Bombay - Salam Bombay - 1999 Tour Diary

This blog is dedicated to my sweet Akka....Prathibhakka on her birthday!!!

Shashi wrote a beautiful letter on 26.07.97 from Bombay describing his sweet heart as "Fair, Tall, & Rich, and Degree in First class.

Loki reserved train tickets to and fro Bangalore-Bombay in the beautiful summer of March 1999. Loki, Venki, and myself were excited to meet our pal in mumbai happily living with his sweet heart  after his marriage on 30th Nov 1998.

On a Friday night co passenger screamed "aap ka station aa gaya...aap uthar jaayiye..."...we got down..auto brought us to , Godrej residential colony in LBS maarg.

Prathibhakka welcomed us with a charming smile.  After refreshing, and coffee, and snacks..four of us went to near by travel office to book a "Mumbai Darshan - Ek Din" for sunday.

"ishq huva...kaise huva..achha huva" the song melodiously playing in the deck.

This is the song perfect for the beautiful, adorable, admirable  couple in our friendship circle!!!

Shashi said "guys will be going to the ESSEL World morrow, we have to be ready early morning"...

Morning we were on the run to the Essel world.  Four of us exchanged our memories right from the high school days, were laughing like mad guys...Prathibhakka was observing all of us.  The words told by shashi about his wife was running in my mind but in reverse order...First class,  Rich,Tall, Fair...I was not in any of those worlds. 

But as the day progressed, i started believing She was the lovely sister anyone can have in this world.  Relations may not be by blood..but by feelings also.  I salute the god for giving such a kind hearted, affectionate sister who cares for my growth, well being in this world.  She will be one of many who is  happy with my progress ((????)) in  the life all these years.

We had a very nice time in Essel world, almost we went and played every game.  It was a fun all the way.

By the time we reached in the evening, our body was fully tired, but i was feeling proud to get a great sister in my life!!!!

Next day morning, we were on time for the sight seeing.  The guide in broken english, and perfect Marathi, Hindi started explaining each and every bit of Bombay.  

"Aap aadha gaav bechkar..Bombay me 20 x 30 site kareed saktha hai"
"Left aur Right mein dekhiye leelavathi hospital"
"ye hai Boot Gouse"
"aap aada ghante ge baad idar aajaaiye..  bus udar khada rahega"

Sight seeing bus took us to so many places, Mahalakshi Temple, Gateway of India, Marine Drive (Queen ka Haar), Iskon Temple, Jawaharalal Planetorium, Juhu Beach, Noriman Point, Film City (From the bus itself),  few places where the epic serial Mahabhaaratha was picturised, Big B's House Prateeksha, Lata Didi's house under the flyover, few film star's house and so on..

In the bus from morning to evening there was only one movie song playing with high decibel "Bade Miya Chota Miya"...when we got down, we were memorising those songs all the way..hahahah

We came back to the house, our master chef of "egg fried rice" venki was on the job, he dished out delicious spicey fried rice. Shashi advice "Makkala chennaagi tinni..close to 24 Hours praayana maadbeku"..his words came true hahahahahahahahahahahahaha

We got in to an Auto Riksha, where there were almost 10 guys including us in it.  We were just guessing who would be handling the handle bar, but till today we didnt know, coz there were four people sitting (????)  in the driver seat..................:-)

We dumped our luggage, and got in to our seats.  Night just passed, as we were bloody tired.  Woke up next day at around 8.00 AM, somehow passing our time.  

"Where are you going?" an elderly woman asked us.  

"Bangalore, we came here to meet our friend in Bombay, we are going back"

"I came to my son's house, and am a Doctor, returning back to Bangalore with a maid" she told her story.

Clock ticked slowly, it was around 2.30 in the afternoon, she opened her lunch box, and she invited us.

Forgot to tell you, we had spent each and every rupee in our wallet during those two days thinking that the other guy will have some amount to get the food in the train...only when stomach started screaming, we realised that no one had money in their packet except few coins to manage to get back to home from Majestic Railway Station...:-( 

Initially we refused to share her lunch box, but our hungry defeated our ego, and I voluntarily accepted her lunch invite.  what a delicious curd rice it was...just awesome (It is not that empty stomach doesn't know the taste).  By seeing am enjoying the lunch box, venki decided to jump in to the box.  both had nicely..but loki for some strange reason was quiet for the last 24 hours. We thanked that old lady, and asked her what is her name.

"Annapoornamma"...

We saluted that god..there can't be any better name than that...Annapoorna the goddess of serving the food for the needy.

Till today I remember her at the time of my lunch break.  My prayer to god, let her live happily forever.

The station Guaribidanur came in..in the platform there were hot idlis being served, Myself, and Venki couldn't resist, we emptied our purse, and took 2 idlis with spicey chutney.  What a fine Idli!!!!

We reached Majestic, collected 10 Rupees from Loki, and safely reached Home!!!!

I got it printed the photos and shown to the friends, and thats it, till today, the photos are not with me anymore. With great difficulty requested Shashi to scan the few photos, and the result it is appearing in this blog after a marathon 14 years!!!!



  • Akka you are so affectionate
  • Akka you are so talkative & down to earth
  • Akka you are the one we can talk to anytime
  • Akka you are the perfect pair for our friend Shashi, who is so admirable, affectionate friend we have
  • Akka..every success am achieved/Achieving/Will be achieving will be dedicated to my parents, my family members, my beautiful friends (Great BODS), and to you!!!
  • Akka you are so simple...

The shashi words about you in the letter changed my thoughts after the trip:                      
  • Fair : In thoughts no bias
  • Tall : In your affection
  • Rich : In friendliness, admirable
  • First Class: Sister every brother like to have!!!


This blog is a gift on your (.....th) birthday!!!


We all tell you one thing in big voice


"AKKA WISH YOU A GREAT BIRTHDAY...AND A GREAT YEARS AHEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

3 comments:

  1. Nice travel log. I enjoyed the narration and good pictures too.

    The station you have mentioned was Gouribidanur, is 12 km from my village.

    Pl. Visit my blog too. :-)

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  2. Thank you Badarinath for visiting my world..Nice to know you are from that part of Bangalore...Our great teacher H. Narasimhaiah had been laid to rest in that city in National High School..Somehow i had been attached to that area..I keep visiting Ghati Subramanya...Nice to get to know about you..
    Will step in to your world too...

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