Bitten by the Bombay Bug!

In a memorable coincidence, on our way back from Shirdi/Nashik early Sunday morning, on the last day of our attachment, just as we had paid the last toll and were entering Mumbai, the MP3 player started playing “Bombay Bombay- Tararararumpum”. Little would anyone have thought that in a matter of just 2 weeks, we would be overcome by so much nostalgia and emotion – the city does this to you – and *that*, coming from a die-hard Chennai’ite, is quite something.

Here’s a quick recap of what I did over the last 2 weeks, apart from hectic work-days, gold seizures, interrogations and snooping that is. wink emoticon

Day 1 – First Vada Pav
Day 2 – Kailash Parbat + Marine Drive
Day 3 – Siddhi Vinayak + Bandra_Shopping + Carter Road
Day 4 – Bade Miyan + NH10 Premiere
Day 5 – Mahalakshmi + Haji Ali + Gulshan-e-Iran
Day 6 – Some_ mall_in_Bandra + Service Dinner
Day 7 – Daman
Day 8 – Juhu Beach + ISKCON + Santa Cruz + Carter Road (again)
Day 9 – [Airport Night Shift]
Day 10 – CST + Holy Pilgrimage of Mumbai Local at Peak Hours
Day 11 – Mumba Devi + Gateway + Leopold Café + Taj + Double-Decker
Day 12 – Farewell Call on C’s/ADC’s
Day 13 – Shirdi + Nashik + Shani Shingnapur
Day 14 – Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (Maratha Mandir) + Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (Rajdhani Express)

What I find immensely satisfying is that on most days, I returned to the academy much after 12 AM and travelled by the local as much as possible. Though I find it a little embarrassing that having spent 2 weeks in Mumbai, not a single disco/pub finds mention in my “hung out” list, given that I’ve been occupied enough even otherwise, I think I’m excused.

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Being part of Zone 3 meant that our default_hangout_group size was reduced to 5, but despite that, I did manage to spend time with many others as well. The only regret I have is that I couldn’t spend more time with more people. Still, I loved the time I spent with whoever I got to. 

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Wherever there was company, it was wonderful and wherever there wasn’t, I could tolerate myself enough not to feel bored or irritated. grin emoticon

On the professional front, the Mumbai attachment well-and-truly marks our arrival into the Service – while we had our share of fun, it is the work ethic that we learnt in this city that impressed upon most of us.
As the Mumbai-Delhi Rajdhani chugs out of Mumbai Central, each of us is sure to have left a small part of us behind and taken a large part of Mumbai with us, hopefully thopefully to return some time in the not-so-distant future.

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