Since I am in Mumbai, it is time to start a Mumbai Diary to note down my observations :-). SO here goes.
There is a new cab service started here called Meru Taxi. (http://www.merucabs.com). These are A/C cars which you call up via phone and schedule a time with the call center to send a taxi to your place. The interiors are clean and they have seat belts and a digital taxi meter which shows the exact fare that you have to pay (no conversion). They also have the driver’s name and photo and a GPS type device which the Meru Cabs use to take orders from call center about the next passenger to pick. The fares are only a little bit higher than the regular taxis. When the driver has started for your home, The Call Center will send an sms to you with the driver’s name and cell phone. We used this service a few times and have been happy with it.
The Village in Thane is a nice place. We went there to eat and I enjoyed the experience. They have tried to recreate a Rajasthani village inside the Eternity Mall. Its like a buffet system with choice of Punjabi, Marwari, Gujrati, Chaat, Pav Bhaji, etc Gola, SugarCane juice, etc. Costs about 300 / adult during weekday and 350 during weekend. A rajasthani singer will sing some songs and there is an artist who will do mehndi or tattoo for a fee. “Choki Dhani” is another such place that we got recommendations about.
The Royal Gardens Resort near Dahisar/Vasai is a small water park. Its above average. Not the best, but ok to go if you are in a group. If you are in a group you will have fun. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner is included in the package. They have about 4-5 pools with slides plus rain dance fountain also. 2 big Jain groups were visiting the park when we went. As in resorts here, they play loud DJ music. When they started the Gujarati Dandia songs, the Jain groups started dancing garba in the fountain. It was a quite a funny sight. 🙂
Stay tuned for more news on Mumbai. 🙂
From what I have heard from other folks in Mumbai — Meru’s service is good but they are extremely busy. Wait times to get thru are about 30 mins so do not bank on them for last minute travel/pickup etc.
We could get thru to the call center in 3-4 mins. But you need to plan ahead and give them a correct time for pickup. They will not wait for long if you are late.
It is hot in Mumbai for February. Folks here are saying Winter was non existent this year in Mumbai. Am drinking my year’s worth of water quota in this single trip. 🙂
Skywalks are IN. There is one built already from Bandra station to the roads outside. Its a pretty long skywalk. These are for pedestrians only of course. Another one is being built near Santacruz station. Hopefully this will reduce the pedestrian traffic outside the station.
Western Railway trains have a cool new purplish color.
There is an shortage of “coins” here. Sandwich stalls are advertising “Bring 2000 Rs worth of coins and have a grilled sandwich free”. 🙂
Swastik sandwich in Santacruz (W) is now having Mayo Sandwich. Also all menu option are available in brown bread with Rs.10 more.
Village was lot of fun with unlimited Sugarcane juice, gola in neat/clean enviroment. They had some authentic food as Panch Kuto, Kadai Milk, Rice Flour Khichi. They also had godiya for babies. Folks were having B-day/Anniversary Parties there.
There are various options available for Bus/train tickets like monthly pass, yearly pass, smart card, All over Bombay Bus/train combo pass, Unlimited ride one day ticket, etc. There is TV screen with ads near Ticket windows and inside bus. Though with two kids I haven’t got chance to travel in Bus/Train yet. 🙁 Kairavi did enjoy Bus & Train ride with Nani.
Its not only Western Railway new trains in Central Railway are also the new purple color. Have also seen new AC buses with huge (long) windows and automatic doors which are also colored purple.
We recently visited “Falafels” a vegetarian Falafel place in Colaba. They have branches all over Mumbai (mostly towards town and western line) and have been seen catering in some weddings.
Few things I noticed about Meru cab:
– Fare is less than cool cabs and they strictly go by meter. so, you will never be ripped off
– Terrible call center operation. several cab drivers told me that they were not getting enough fares and had long wait times between the fares. There is just a one way communication between the call center and the cab drivers. The drivers can never get through to the call centers.
– For travelers to international airport- the cabs do not take heavy luggage as just ~ 100 cabs out of ~1200 in the fleet have overhead carrier. If you need to go to the airport do not tell the call center how much luggage you have since, they do not permit more than 2 bags of size 21″ length. I lied to them about my luggage and when the cab arrived the driver was happy to keep 2 of my 3 bags on the seat. Of course, this was possible as I was traveling alone.
Overall, it is a very good service to have in the chaos of Mumbai. Learn to deal with it and you will be happy.
Seems like SSC is no longer preferred. People prefer their kids to goto CBSE/ICSE/International Boards/ etc. Some schools are slowly demoting SSC in favor of other Boards. Of course most of you could be already knowing this and I may as well be the last person to know about this :-).
Wish we had a chance to read this kind of diary all the time, & that way will not continue to get surprised (!!!hmm?) about this new stuff during my next trip to India. (Folks In India usually get used to this so fast and don’t tend to mention about all these things. So its nice to see Mumbai from a visitor KV point of view 😉
You guys have fun and keep writing 🙂
Honey, that is why one should make trips to India more often 🙂
Honey, you are totally right. Now that we have been staying here since a year, all these news/talks don’t fascinate us. It becomes part of our routine life.
Kellogs Real Mango cereals are yummy…instead of dried fruit pieces, Corn Flakes are coated with Mango flavouring.
Current Mahila Mandal classes trend(based on Patrika ads) is home made butter(like Amul butter), Chinese technique Cakes & Joy of Parenting.
I went to this how to make Amul butter at home class and also taught to make Milk Maid at home.
It is super duper easy to make Amul butter at home!!
Amisha, and the recipe is… “……?
or are you going to give that out by starting private cooking classes exclusively for NRIs who visit India? 🙂
We visited Oberoi Mall in Goregaon…….Its nice, well made but very expensive as it mainly has big brands…………………All we enjoyed was garma garm Gujrati Thali at Rajdhani…..Spoon the food court is nice has lots of options
We also visited that mall and felt like we are in US. Very big mall with lots of open space. The coffee shop in the mall reminded even Bhumi, of the airport coffee shops by the glass walls and open without any walls.
Amul Butter recipe:
Take melted ghee in a bowl. (Ghee SHOULD BE at room temperature and NOT hot)
Put some salt and a tiny-winy pinch of soda. Put 2 cubes of ice in it. And beat it with a spoon. After some time ghee will become of solid consistency and ice cubes will be separated from the ghee. Discard the ice cubes and your Amul butter is ready. You can put more or less salt the next time as you like.
I have proper measurements for everything with ghee 1/2 Kg or so.
Some observations/updates after the recent trip 🙂
1. Oberoi mall is huge – Aquaguard water filter system for public use, motorized scooter based mops for cleaning floors
2. Got a chance to try Meru Cab – 30 minutes wait for sure. And due to traffic the driver got delayed by another 20 minutes.
3. Impressive wedding photo albums – No traditional wedding photo albums anymore i.e the photos cannot be removed and re-inserted at a different place. The photographs are printed on colorful hard cardboard style papers. Each sheet has a mixing of various photos related to that scene. Each side of the sheet/paper costs about Rs. 350
4. This maybe known but new for me – 3 different popcorns (cheese flavored, caramel flavored, plain)
5. Salwar kameez seems so outdated – Jeans/leggings with kurtis is the kutchi/gujju style 🙂
R City Mall on L.B.S. in Ghatkopar is another huge, new mall.
It has iStore (Apple store), Marks and Spencer, Fab India, Home Store and other big name stores.
Its almost 10 days I am here. Just bored with traffic and pollution.
One thing we noticed this time was Kids area in various malls. InOrbit mall at Goregon has an amazing kids area for all ages.
They have one area for kids 1-3 years where various fisher price toys are kept and they have a small slide. They charge about 100 bucks for an hour. Nivriti had lots of fun there.
Raghu Leela Mall in Kandivali has this place called Jungle very similar to Jungle in California.
Yet to explore food and shopping!! More later
Am Surfing the net on a Tata Photon+ USB Modem. They are selling this as “Wireless Mobile Broadband”. Speed seems pretty good.
Alternatively Reliance is something similar called NetConnect.
Sat in one of those new trains. They are definitely a pleasure to travel in. Well lighted and good fan locations and good ventilation overall since they have removed any solid metal plates blocking the air circulation. Those have been replaced with steel pipe like structures. Also they announce the next arriving station in three languages (hindi, engligh, marathi).
Sat in a rickshaw with a digital meter. This was first time in such a richshaw. It gives the mileage travelled in km along with the total fare too.
Travelled thru the Worli Sealink yesterday. Pretty fast with no traffic. 50Rs at toll booth. Seems like I was in the bayarea for a little while crossing the Bay Bridge.
Went to 2 Marriages where in they had this concept of a lady server for every food table. Once you get your initial plate of food and sit down, that is it. After that you can ask the lady to get you whatever else you need. This was something that I had not witnessed before in any previous marriages.
Food variety at marriages continue to evolve with several new dishes (Chhoka ni Panki, etc).
The upcoming movie “3 Idiots” is heavily being marketed here. They have a clothing line series based on “3 Idiots” in malls here.
Even James Cameron’s “Avatar” is being promoted in good amount here.
I read it recently behind a rickshaw.
Capacity – 3 Idiots
🙂
You get a smartcard for trains now. You can goto a touchscreen at various stations and print your own ticket. Very efficient. You can recharge it from time to time.
Interesting projects going on in construction line here. One project boasts of a jogging track (enclosed one) on the 46th floor (which is essentially the terrace).
Another boasts of an elevator system that opens directly inside the apartment. :-). Say bye bye to privacy.
We visited B. R. Prabhu Garden, off Shivaji Park in Dadar. The park is quite nice with a very good play structure and sand pit. It
offers great view of the Bandra-Worli Sealink. Thanks to Sonal Dedhia for suggesting this park.
Later we went for dinner in OvenFresh. Continental Restaurant with
Mexican, Italian and Medditerranen dishes with a very US like flavor. Thanks to Sneha for suggesting the restaurant.
Smartcard Kiosks are at practically every station. One does not have to wait in line to recharge the smart card. Its a no-brainer for anyone who travels by trains to have one.
As for new food in weddings — Sizzling brownie with ice cream and mixed fruits in chocolate sauce (all on the sizzler dish) and
chocolate fountain (basically a flowing chocolate fondue) with the
normal fondue accompaniments (bread, cake, fruits)
Sometimes the smart card vending machines do not work, so we need coupons to back up.
If you are going to travel frequently the 5 day tourist pass costs Rs 105. I buy that to save myself from queues and validating machines.
I happened to attend a wedding at Nallasopara. The charitable organisation conducts wedding for a flat fee of Rs 15000 that includes the hall and food for 200 guests. Found this a stark contrast to the grand weddings where Jyoti caterers charge 800+ per plate and not even interested if there are less than 1000 guests.
New Yorkers was the first restaurant to offer Sizzling Brownie….its just amazing……
Weddings now have a whole new dessert counter with brownies,cakes,mousse and lot more………….
Thai,Japenese,Lebanese,Choclate Decoration,Cake cooking classes are the latest trend
I went and ate at a wedding catered by Jyoti caterers. They had all cuisines ranging from Mexican, Thai, Chinese, Italian, Indian, etc. One wonders how can one person eat so much variety.
Unfortunately I got sick after eating something at the wedding. :-(.
The new trains are more airy because they pump oxygen rich air thru the overhead vents.
Skywalk construction is on at most stations but stopped midway at certain places due to protests by locals and shopkeepers. Have still to walk on one.
Maybe you ate too much Prashant, at the wedding :).
Smog level in Bombay is very high. We were at Sealink and Juhu beach little before sunset. And at both places visibility was very poor due to smog. Also there was article in newspaper that few international flights were cancled due to smog.
Train is still best mode of commute. No pollution and fairly predictable travel times. With richshaws and buses pollution is bad, traffic is bad and you can easily reach your destination 45 mins to 1 hour late.
Traffic is the most frustrating aspect of Mumbai commute.
Water is currently a problem in Mumbai. BMC is trying various techniques to conserve water. Since rainfall was low this year, Mumbai has the risk that the available water may not last till next rainy season.
BMC will experiment with 1 day per week water skip for each of the areas. Thus Mulund will get no water at all on Fridays starting second week of Jan.
Even now all buildings get water for only very limited time.
Fake Currency Notes of 500 and 1000 are in the market and one needs to be careful about them. As it turns out I have been handed couple of fake notes during my stay in India.
I am not sure how KVites in India are dealing with this issue. (Checking every note? )
If you are visiting India then you may want to watch this documentary on how to identify fake notes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIM36U2R2Hc
Our very own Khabar Patrika has started giving photos of the deceased in color and all the ads can also be printed in color. Our Patrika now looks more like a mini newspaper. 🙂
Thanks for keeping us updated on Mumbai news Amisha. Please keep posting. :-).
In a sense KaVita is our Patrika of the Silicon Valley. It also rhymes with Patrika. :-). And fortunately we have been in technicolor from the start. 😉