Beach Freaks !!

City life is boring when you tend to like the nature and peacefulness in it. Had heard about many good places out of Mumbai which are worth visiting. So we decided to start exploring them. As I had said in one of my previous pages, Alibaug is one of the Mumbai's favorite getaway place where we can find some good sea shores with water sports and lots of home stays to spend a weekend. Just an hour in ferry from gateway of India and an hour again in bus/taxi will get us into the town. 

Alibaug is a small coastal town of Raigad district. Upon reaching there our first destination was to check out the town beach and a fort which is half a km in sea. The fascinating things about the beaches here is it vanishes at least once in a day !!! Hold on.. don't freak out.. what i'm saying is that they retreat... and to such an extent that you might start wondering whether really sea does exist here..!! Yeah its an amazing phenomenon to witness, the same place in two such condition. Usually sea will be normal with waves striking the shores and mocking at us about our helplessness facing its fierce and vastness. But as the flaring sun starts slipping from the skies, the sea slowly starts to retreat as if its following that setting sun, leaving behind fully wet and cool sand which gives a pleasant feel for our bare feet. I din't know before, that such things do happen!! The sea thus retreated has a sound sleep i guess, because it starts filling thus left, land of sands back next day again only when sun makes his circuit back to our overhead. And I heard that the retreat time varies, according to the moon phases. Hmmm.. Quite relaxed it feels when u have a stroll early morning on such a left over wet sands. I can recall when we stayed near Kihim Beach...

Harsha, Akshay, Karthik had left early for the morning walk, later me and Rakesh started to join them. They had walked a long way, because we couldn't find them from our sight of vision. I just couldn't believe the length up to which the sea had retreated. Panoramic-ally could see the sea shore gone back for at least half a km from the place where it was yesterday evening. Wow!! digesting the scenario, we starting walking slowly and searching for the trio who left us behind. We could see some people here and there scattered and enjoying the pleasant wind and weather of early morning, but among them where are these rascals who left us? in which directing are they? As we were about to stop searching from our eyes and walk on our own, I recognized a familiar light blue florescent shorts even from a km distant at 10'O clock ahead of us !! Rakesh gave a sarcastic hint of smile.. Haha.. Dumma (Akshay) !!! :P Who else could that be ?!! :P Let me tell you, that is the only time I appreciated his vague sensed taste about the dress color he chooses (lol..) We thus started sprinting towards them :) As the sea had fallen back, we could see many sea shells, small creatures which were left back. They seemed not least worried about their condition. Might be that they know the ocean is gonna come back to them and take to its womb...!! :)

After a long stretch of walk we decided to head back in half mind to leave such a peaceful place. Suddenly Akshay noticed something and he picked up a light brown colored stone like thing and started exclaiming "Special Stone !!!". Me and Rakesh stared at it in a bit of doubt minded. I glanced at Rakesh, I could see a hint of naughty smile on his face. Yes, he was also thinking what i'm thinking it might be !! :P Akshay now got a bit shaky and looked worried !! Still he repeated its "Special Stone.. Special Stone.." Me and rakesh exchanged a funny look and started laughing, in such a way that we just couldn't stop. Even though we were not 100% sure that its a recidue of a dog's poop.. but we were convinced enough.. (lollzz ). Akshay now dropped that and started walking shyly, but me and Rakesh were laughing like silly hyenas.. :D

Kashid, Akshi, Navgoan, Kihim, Varsoli etc.. are the some beaches we can find there of which, most are black sand beaches.. (its not as black as of charcoal). Here Kihim, Arnala (north to mumbai, near virar) beaches are more dark in color comparatively. Many will not prefer staying too long on those sands. If you ask why they are blackish.. yes.. its because of the pollution, oil spills.. mainly by ships that sail towards Mumbai port. Whereas beaches like Kashid, Akshi are better and have water-sports.. Sunil and Harsha are the front runners to try some adventure or to give a dip in the sea at least.  Even though we tried them all, but prefer enjoying the ambiance and just relax... Thus had spent some weekends continuously along these pleasant sea shores, playing cricket, taking a nap on the sands, having friendly chit-chat, walking along the shores.. still feels wonderful.. leaving a hint of smile.. while i recall :)

Mumbai Welcomes :-)

It was morning 5.15 AM when Harsha & I landed in Kalyan. All we knew by then was, to reach our destination - Pokhran road 2, Thane. Our induction in Mumbai was scheduled there and we had no idea of the distance from Kalyan to Thane. Having all fears and imagination of crowded local, with backpack and luggage in both hands, we decided to hire a rick who promised to drop us for 450 bucks. We weren't sure if it was a fair deal by then, but were relieved for the safe shipping of our heavy baggage  Driver seemed to be very helpful as he took us to the address, later to a couple of hotels nearby till we were satisfied and  settled in one which looked pretty decent for us.
It was Sunday and we just started inquiring the hotel manager about accommodations in Mumbai till Hari & Ashik who were coming from Mangalore joined us that afternoon. As we had no clue about our exact location in Mumbai, we couldn't help ourselves finding any accommodation that day. So it was just fun and giggles about our Bhubaneshwar experiences for the rest of the day.

Next morning, We were introduced to Mumbai in our induction and were posted to Andheri (only place in Mumbai which sounded familiar as I heard the name in teleshopping address in TV before). As soon as we were done with induction, Hari along with Ashik and Rakesh went out to catch a broker and look for the accommodation in Andheri while I and Harsha pulled out all phone numbers in the brokers list to check out the rent.
It seemed to be a fairly successful day as Hari & Ashik could find a broker who agreed to get a house on the very next day which was very close to Teligali- our location in Andheri. Having broad smiles on our face we confidently checked out of the hotel and shifted our luggage to one of our friend's place who along with 6 other friends stayed in his NRI uncle's empty space. We assured him that we would vacate his place late in the evening, as soon as we get the keys of Andheri house. He had no probs keeping our luggage but requested us to shift as they were already 6 in 2 BHK. We agreed and were proud of saving a day's rent of the hotel tat day.

As soon as we finished the day's training, we called up the broker and went to have a look @ the flat. It was a horrific sight as wall painting of an old flat was still on and they needed 1 more day to clear things for us. We couldn't bear anymore and went to Powai where another broker who was running a PG showed us a couple of flats. Although rent was a bit high, I & Harsha were fine with the deal as the flat was fully furnished. Hari and Ashik looked confused as they didn't want to travel. Even Rakesh and Delwin were against traveling, so we decided to part for a while.
As we went back finalizing things, it was 12.30 AM in the night and was Ashik's 23rd birthday as well. None of us imagined that his b'day was gonna be celebrated on road. After b'day wishes with lots of laughter and smile, we reached our friend's place in thane. We had to take bath @ 1 in the night as we knew that 12 people could never finish bathing in the morning and take a 7.30 bus.
After finishing the second day's training, we had to rush back to Thane from Andheri to shift our luggage. It was 1 o clock in the night when we finally settled in a room of unknown people who opened the door for us with lot of confusion. On the other side, Hari and Ashik too settled down in Andheri flat by 2 O clock that night.
One fact of Mumbai stands out - Neither you face any problem commuting @ 1 or 2 in the night nor do u fear of late nights as the city keeps buzzing all throughout.

Welcome to Mumbai -"The City that Never Sleeps"