The most captivating smile !

South Mumbai has its own air, an air which is hard to define in words and can only be felt by a personal visit. It’s always a treat to visit the far south end of Mumbai once-in-a-while. This is true not only for the far living residents of Thane & Navi Mumbai, but also for those who stay in places like Juhu & Andheri and claim to be staying in the heart of Mumbai. Something changes when you hit the Victoria Terminus (VT) station and move further beyond. Whenever I pass through VT, its palatial heritage beauty reminds me of the interesting as well as scarcely known history of Mumbai, as to how this archipelago of seven islands, then known as Bombay, was placed in possession of the British empire, as a part of dowry during the marriage of a Portuguese princess to a British prince !

Yesterday being the fourth Saturday of the month, when we all had time at our disposal, and also the rain Gods were resting a little bit, we embarked on our sojourn. We had decided to visit the Siddhi Vinayak temple at Dadar (one of the most popular shrines of one of the most popular Hindu Gods) and then after that play it by the ear. It was a bit of a surprise for my son when I offered him to drive our car on the roads of so called ‘Main Mumbai’ (that’s the name given to the city by the people who live across the creek). Having recently acquired a learner’s license, he has been measuring the roads of Navi Mumbai almost every single day on our second car, however it’s always exhilarating for any lad of eighteen to get a chance to drive his ‘dad’s car’ and that too on the roads of a city where any slippage in rules, even if minor, can get a you a fine, especially over weekend, when you find more traffic policemen all through the route, than even on the weekdays.

Our first halt was at the toll gate, no I’m not talking about ‘toll gate’ ‘toll gate’, but the McCafe at Belapur, where we invariably stop, whenever we have to move from Kharghar towards Vashi. In my estimate, although Starbucks would be most popular in India (most of the times there is no place to sit inside the outlet; sometimes I wonder whether it’s the aroma of the coffee or the ambience or the strength of the wifi network which keeps the youth glued to their seats!), MCafee is more value for money, yet delivering a great cuppa. And this particular outlet has some air, not to be confused with South Mumbai air, but you know what I mean. Our car just stops there and doesn’t move forward until we enjoy a coffee break.

After sharing a set of basic tips on driving in Main Mumbai, as to what to do and more importantly, what not to do (which were seen more of instructions than tips by my son and as usual mostly ignored), we started our second leg of  journey of a relaxing weekend. He took off the car with a jaunty step and I could see the euphoria building-up on his face. It reminded me of ‘my days’. Perhaps this is what we call as passing on the baton. Many of you, unfortunately mostly men (this is ‘our’ territory) would agree with me that it’s so very hard to sit on the front left seat of a car , notably when driving is one of your passions. The absence of steering wheel in the front and that of the life-saving ‘gadgets’ at the feet is like an abyss.

We thanked our stars, as would many do in any city of burgeoning population and proportion as Mumbai, to have found a ‘decent’ parking ‘very near’ to the temple. It was a no brainer that on a rare non-rainy day at the fag end of June, dashed with the flavour of a holiday, the temple was full of devotees. It’s peculiar in Mumbai that when it rains cats & dogs for a few days with no respite, one seriously yearns for a break, however when the rain stops, it’s sweltering. Fortunately the ‘darshan’ were quick and we were out in less than an hour.

Having given a miss to the breakfast, we decided our next pit stop to be ‘Café Madras’ at the King’s circle, a South Indian eatery, which perhaps is more known for the contrast between the elite crowd it attracts vs its laid back demeanour, than the sumptuous mouth-watering and finger-licking meal it offers. The condescension on the face of the owner, who stops you at the entrance to take down your name and invariably asks you, at any time of the day, to wait for min 15-20 minutes, speaks volumes of its popularity. Once inside it, we simply decided do to full justice to the uncommon opportunity available at hand.

The cool breeze of an AC, the humming sound of tyres of a moving car, the mid-day atmosphere, all of this after a full stomach can be lethal for any driver. To shake the drowsiness such an ambience would create; we decided to play loud music on ‘gaana’, an app which today arguably offers one of the best repertoires of multi lingual songs. By the time we were down with a few numbers, we were at Colaba Causeway. Being lucky once is a chance, being lucky twice is no less than divine. You know what I mean; we got a fantastic parking place, without much effort! And that’s how we started our fourth leg of the journey.

I’m sure many of the men, and surprisingly a few ladies too (I’m not joking!), would avoid over-crowded commercial street shops; shops offering such an immense variety of daily wear items, that is almost unparallel in the entire world. That’s what aptly describes Colaba Causeway. Another striking characteristic of this market is that even you being a man, if you dare to take a plunge or two inside it, rather than avoiding it, it engulfs you, and next time you tend to enjoy the trip through very much inside it. It’s a different matter altogether that you any ways can’t avoid it, because your lady wants you to accompany her, praise whatever she likes, not say yes to buying all that she mentions as ‘like’, yet be prompt with your wallet to pay for what she really likes as her ‘like’! I think the success (or failure) of we Indian men lies is how skillfully we differentiate between these two situations and how fast we act.

In the next two and a half hours, contented with picking-up our individual ‘likes’, not to mention shelling some big bucks at the Adidas-Rebook combined store due to an ongoing 40% sale (another thing which any conscious Indian man and of course woman cannot ignore; it would simply be ‘imprudent’ to do so!), we decided to take a final stopover at the tea vendor shop, bank upon the beginning of Colaba Causeway, who offers ‘special tea’ with a uniqueness of lemongrass in it.

While enjoying the sips, we were reflecting upon how satisfying the whole day was until now, when we spotted a family of three, a young boy of around five to six years, sitting upon the pavement with his parents, insisting upon them to buy something for him to eat and they tending to ignore him, possibly because of lack of money. Normally we would ignore such sights, perhaps not because we are not concerned, but because of our inability to help all of those who are in such a given situation and many times because of having a doubt in our mind whether the situation is genuine or made-up. However yesterday my wife took the initiative to put at rest all such doubts and moved towards the next shop to buy the boy something. Strangely the boy picked-up the hint and jauntily came running. As my wife handed over a pack of biscuits to him, he gave us a smile with a twinkle in his eyes. It was the most captivating smile for us in the recent times, which will remain etched in our memory for a long time, if not for eternity !