When we got up early morning, all were lazying around… we were all tired by the trip… at last by 10:00 we went to Gurudev hotel for breakfast… I wish we had something at home, but my mom was not doing so great… I wish the day been as smooth as it started. Little did I know that it was only the beginning of a lot of running around…

ATM ATM
It started with me and ashutosh discovering that we had little or no money. The girls had been pushed in Gurudev for breakfast. The guys had to get some money now. So we walked towards the ATM near by. After 15 minutes of torture in the morning sun, a closed center welcomed us. The electricity had gone out. It was already getting late. Moreover, it would be so embarrassing if the girls had to wash the dishes too after having their full :p so we made a dash towards another ATM center in an Auto.

Well, as I told you, it was just the beginning. Two out of three ATM machines were down. So naturally there was quite a crowd. Finally a guy came out frustrated stating that his card was not being accepted. Uh oh.

Samatarian Ashutosh.
It is only when something happens, you get to see the good side of people. Ashutosh stopped him and said “arey bhai sahib aise nahi hoga, app aayiye try karte hain. Aapne theek se usko daala nahi hoga”. I could not believe it. Here we were getting super late, and ashutosh was helping him to check his card! If I were in his place, I would have not cared about it. Yes, I do care about people, but something like this, my patience runs out. The man smiled finally. It was working. He thanked ashutosh and said that if not for him, he would have had to travel to another ATM at station and he was in urgency of money. Samatarian Ashutosh! I felt happy that I knew such people and that they were my friends. Good job!

Railways Tickets
Once out of the place, I asked ashutosh to go to gurudev while I went to station to fetch the tickets. I knew it was going to be bad. I soon discovered that there was a huge line and it was not possible to get them before an hour. Thankfully feby was at Dombivili. I asked him to travel back to thakurli and fetch the tickets.

I got an auto and went to my place direcly. We were all gonna take a ride to thakurli in an auto!

Getting down at Kanjurmarg to dump our stuff
We finally crammed inside. Me, Ashutosh, Neelam, Neharika and Neetu. At last we reached thakurli. All this while I was feeling horrible that they had to go through this. Their visit to Mumbai and what a way to start! I introduced feby to them. One thing I would like to mention is the way people perceive humor. Feby’s most jokes went above their heads. It was a humor that could be enjoyed only by some I guess. Maybe we all had grown up reading different books.

Anyways, we got down at kanjurmarg to dump our stuff at this ‘payal’s house’ who stayed near Heeranandani. I never thought that the same night I would be meeting her with others and that she would bowl me over.

NCPA
We arrive at NCPA. Neelam insisted that she wanted to see it from inside. We could not really do that, but nevertheless we had some nice pictures clicked. Ashutosh is really creative in that aspect. There were some themes he suggested that were really cool!

Munnabhai Rocks!
We moved closer to the shore near NCPA , ‘Munnabhai Rocks’ – as Neeharika calls it. She is referring to the round energy flux shaped rocks that adorn the entire length of the shore… the one you can see in the movie Munnabhai MBBS… ever since she came, she said she wanted to see them 

At the rocks, neha and ashutosh ventured way too far. Neelam did not want to go further, so I plopped myself at a rock adjacent to her. A small girl tried to sell roses but I asked her to pursue neha on the rocks :p

Zafrans
As day passed by, we all got hungry and decided to crash in at Zafrans. Not before performing the famous “jack and jill” on the road, much to embarrassment of feby who wished earth would swallow him. At Zafrans we ordered food, both veg and non-veg. Neha admired the creative art-works made from dried food items in frames, hanging on the walls. Neelam taught us a new word – Chums, that apparently stood for periods. Hmmm.

McDonalds
After that, most of the time was boring because we did not have a clear idea as to what place to travel. We halted at McDonalds and sipped lemon tea. There were a lot of children playing ‘Musical chair’ inside. Neelam went inside to share the fun. I liked the fact that she liked children so much. Well. Which girl doesnt?

At the Mall
A time came when we all dispersed at the mall on our own. I avoided neelam and paid little attention to her (as if she cared). I stuck with ashutosh for a while as he insisted on getting his hands read. I did. Most of the things I told him turned out to be not right – as per his verdict. All I could say was that my observation stated what I spoke. Feby left after some time as he was getting late. Neelam and Neha both changed into something more sexy. At once I did not see any difference, but realized later that they had changed. I wondered at the top neelam was wearing. Just before when I saw that in morning, I wondered how can anyone fit in that. Now it seemed to cover all of her. As if it secretly adjusted to her body and fit completely. Strange. Neha was wearing something like floaters on her lovely dress that was equal to fashion suicide by all standards of Mumbai. We finally made our way out towards Juhu!

Crouching Tiger
The most funny part was that poor neetu had to crouch for about 30 minutes in the car to avoid getting caught by mama’s. I knew that Mumbai traffic laws were strict and if caught it could mean coughing up some extra dough. But then it was too much for the poor girl. Neha and myself shared a personal joke and talked by eyes over some incident that had occurred on our journey back home. Neelam was taking a comfortable nap and looked cute as usual. We reached the beach at about 9:45 p.m. It was a nice time to arrive.

Juhu beach
It was certainly the most relaxing time of the day. Time to unwind. Neetu was very happy that she was finally at the beach. Neha and neelam both wanted to try Paani Puri, and were eager to taste them. We did try them out a couple of ‘thela’s’ but none tasted good. I felt sorry that they had traveled all this way to taste this crap. It was only money making business and none of it tasted good. Infact the bitter experience at Bangalore with Pani puri suddenly seemed better after eating at Juhu. I wish they had tried it at Ghatkopar or Thane or kalyan. Or Emco.

We all had our share of fun going in the waters till knee-deep. I was reluctant to go inside primarily because I did not want my jeans to get wet. But neelam insisted and pulled me along. How could I say no to her? But that was not all. It turned out to be far better than I would have imagined. We gently held hands and strolled the beach while pulling neetu along.

A beautiful conversation
To many it might seem that I enjoyed my time with neelam hand in hand. But the truth was I was very lucky to see a beautiful conversation between two sisters who cared and loved each other a lot. It was a conversation that was filled with reluctance, generation gap and concern. I felt like a spirit who was hovering around them, oblivious to them.

As we walked along, I could sense neelams thoughts. She wanted to ask a lot of questions to neetu but was unaware how to frame it. So I slowly pulled out questions that would make neetu speak out more. Finally after about 20 minutes of treading along, neetu told neelam ‘Didi I always wanted to tell you but I was worried ki aap Gussa hoge’. In between I purposely sqeezed neelams hands to see sense her flow of thoughts. She was totally into the conversation that told her the transition of her younger sister into a teenage girl who’s innocently dating for the first time.

Though I had more serious talks with people helping them analyze their feelings, I had never come across a situation. Overall the walk left a beautiful impression on me. I was lucky to be there really. After that talk, neetu gained a special place in my heart and I wished I could be always there for her when she would need any help.

Auto Ride
Finally, we debated on the point of what to do whole night. Ashutosh had a flight at 3 a.m and the others at noon. We thought of taking a guest house / room for a night and spend some hours in peace. But As I told you in the beginning, the day was full of running around.

We took an auto from juhu to ghatkopar. Neelam and neetu again were subjected to what I call as ‘Fourth seat’. (for my Bangalore friends – it is a term used in mumbai locals, where the fourth seat is the person who sits at the edge while all seats meant for three people are occupied. As aptly said in the touching marathi movie – Dombivili fast, when the lead character is shot in the local train - “sahib, I have spent my whole life as a fourth seat.. can I please sit by the window”. On the contrary in a first class compartment of a local train, you cannot sit fourth seat. It is considered as second class and people will give you a disgusting look as if you are a chawl resident who doesn’t understand unspoken rules of the higher class).

So, finally Neelam and neetu, poor people, again sat uncomfortably while we zoomed from one place to another. Getting back at ghatkopar and after stopping at about 4 guest houses, we realized that there were no rooms available.

So we all convinced ourselves that it was ok to disturb our Hiranandani guest at this odd hour since we were in distress.

Payal – A damsel out of movies.
Now don’t take me wrong, but when I first entered the place and saw payal, neelams good friend, my jaws dropped (mentally). She was that perfect looking girl from the magazines. Well, she was wearing a sporty military style top, and looked gorgeous. I wondered if she modeled for Victorias secret. This is not in sense of any bad thoughts. But you must understand that she looked damn good.

We all got formally introduced and she started talking generally about this and that. On such a note, ashutosh expressed his inclination towards finance. She was from the same field. She then started asking him a few questions here and there. From the way she spoke it was clear that she was beauty with brains. What confidence, what composure. Wow. I wished for a moment I could drag all those silly girls i knew by their hair and throw them at her feet. She could easily wash away most of the pretentious females floating on nine clouds. Perhaps I am exaggerating my view on her.

Whatever, I could not take my eyes off her. I am sure she would have noticed the way I starred. How can I explain my habit. For a moment I thought she was the most amazing female I met in recent times. Then neelam slowly came by and sat on a chair opposite her. She had just washed her face and looked so charming. Instantly the spell broke around and I thought she looked so pretty like that. More than payal. But you know how I am. Any beautiful person I see, I go like wow. Some call it signs of a lecher. Some call it male chauvinism. I call it form of appreciation. I was not being rude or crossing my limits was i? Well. Having said that, lets move further.

Sandwich gesture
Now this can be an overkill. But after debating on relations, adultery, fetish, sex games and exploitation within family, we started getting tired. Neelam went inside and soon came out with a couple of hot toasted sandwiches. I was like ‘What! Well, I mean , well why, wow , ah you shouldn’t have, you, dear, .. huh’. I mumbled coherently before saying thanks with wide eyes. Gestures like these are not common even in generous city like Mumbai. (I said not common. All mumbaikars, don’t come back at me.). It is not common for people to take pains for making things like these at a guests house. Whatever you feel, i was mighty touched. It was so kind of her to do that. She won my heart. (A taureans way to his heart is through is stomach – hehe).

Cold shoulder to Ashutosh?
Don’t go by the title. Nothing went wrong. Just that neha was tired by all the traveling and now that she realized how she was in the whole trip, she put a defensive ‘I don’t care and give a damn’ stance towards ashutosh. Or so I thought. At a point, there was this gentle subtle cold war that you play, was evident between neealm and ashutosh too. It was not harmful but it was not pleasing either. In all and all, I could feel that the way it went, he felt kinda bad. Parting ways, he wanted to hug neelam and did, but somehow I felt that he did not quite like something. I felt a bid odd. Perhaps it was just in my mind.

Good night!
At last, it was me and neelam left awake. I knew from the looks of her eyes that the poor girl was tired and needed some sleep. Kind as she was, she bore for some more time talking about this and that. Finally, after an hour or so, I felt that it was stretching too much. So I started to make a move. At times when you see and spend such good times with your old friends, you feel a lot closer. But then maybe they don’t share the same sentiment. I was thinking, ‘when I say bye to her, I will hug her and give her a kiss on her forehead’. But then dude. I said bye and walked away towards the lift.

Back in train, I slumped in the empty first class compartment and looked out towards the early morning sun rise. At that time, the sun pretty much looked the same in lonavla during sun set. Orange hues and beautiful warm light. The chugging of the local train at the sweet morning wind dissolved my spirit and made me one of those million mumbaikars traveling to their destinations. I was happy I made this trip.