The Great Mumbai Breakfast

The really long travelling time in Mumbai can make you really hungry. Getting up early and running to office to be on time is a task and cooking or having breakfast is near impossible feat to achieve. Having breakfast means sacrificing 5 minutes of extra sleep and sacrificing 5 minutes of extra sleep is a big no no for must of us. We have been time and again told by our parents that breakfast is the important meal of the day. You realize it is necessary for you to keep you going ,specially when you have a hectic travelling ahead of you. Also you need something quick,filling and something easy on the pocket. A big thanks to so many food stalls serving yummy breakfast in almost every nook and corner of Mumbai. The best part of these food stalls is that they are next to stations and bus stops . The food i must tell you is fresh and really good. My favorite is idli, medu vada sabudana khichi and missal pav. So if you are a tourist in Mumbai and have no hurry for reaching office, still you must try these yummy delicacies.  

Sabudana Khichdi with coconut chutney topping

Menu

Medu Vada

Idli

Upma

Poha

Mumbai Monsoon- The Other Side

Well they say the best time to visit Mumbai is the monsoon time. Well it is true though but for touirst who have come to visit Mumbai because people who have to go to work its a different challenge all together. It is like preparing for a battle once you leave home and no gaurantee of reaching home on time. To prepare for the battle you need an Umbrella this is a must other wise the battle is lost, extra pair of clothes, food for munching as you will be travelling 2 hours extra every day maybe more, water resistant footwear and a towel. Well i don't wanna sound stupid for not liking monsoon as i love the weather, the cool sea breeze and high tide at marine drive. The Tides are so high that the water comes on the road. Enough of good stuff back to travelling woes, Traffic jams are the worst enemy and to add to that there are craters on the roads which further add to the slow moving traffic. A funny statement about these potholes during monsoon was BMC workers are secret NASA agents and creating moon like surface for their operations on Mumbai Roads. Trains run slow, run late and that adds to the already crowded trains. I mostly travel via ac bus to work and during monsoon time it breaks down frequently and don't think ac buses are empty they are as full as Mumbai local. But one positive thing about this place it people never stop, Mumbai never stops. People having 2 Wheelers wear raincoats over there formals or wear there night suits and change into office clothes on office washrooms. The bosses don't complains for coming late during monsoon :-) . But the best part is the garma garam cutting chai and pakode after reaching office makes you alive and then you can enjoy the rains from office window till the time you don't have to leave. And when it rains heavily you spread rumours leave office early today its raining heavily. So u reach late and leave early not a bad deal. The battle starts again on way back home but thats Mumbai monsoon for you no matter how much we crib ,we wait for it every year.

Sukha Puri

Sukha Puri

Well we all talk about the famous Pani-puri ,Vada-pav and Bhelpuri of Mumbai. Some how the complimentary snack Sukha Puri is neglected. If anyone has eaten a spicy plate of GolGappe in Delhi  you ask for a papdi dipped in meethi chutney. Well after a spicy Pani-puri plate in mumbai you get Sukha-puri without asking, its like a thumb rule here. This contains aloo (batata) , Sev and special masala in Puri(gol gappe). It is really yum and most of the times one is not enough, Many times people just order the whole plate of it,i am one of those people who can polish off a plate of this :-)
So if you are in Mumbai ask for Sukha Puri! If you like it you can order for a plate of it seprately.

Getting Down from a Local

Monday, January 9, 2012

Well whenever my friends from Delhi visit me in Mumbai i make sure they travel via the lifeline of

Crowded Local!

Mumbai "Mumbai local". Its a shame if u visit this place and don't travel in the local. Even well know celebs & politicians travel in it though in the non crowded ones and surrounded by body guards but trust me that is not fun at all. One of my friend visited me and i showed her around and then gave her an option to travel by train to save money. So we decided to travel from CST to Vikhroli via local. We boarded the slow local( not speed wise slow, it just has more stops) the sitting places were full perfect for her to experience what it is like in a crowded local. I took up my favourite place near the footboard where the back is supported at least one side of your body is protected . Gradually as  the stations passed by the train started getting crowded and we saw the live example of India’s increasing population and to add to our bad luck was train was running late so more and more people were hopping onto our Train. I was travelling with a girl who had no idea of what was going on, but people i tell you are damn sweet that they make sure that you are made to feel secure when travelling for the first time. So we were 2 stations away and i knew my friend was scared about the fact that how will she get down as we could hardly move our hands, or any other part of the body, I guess people sensed (well you would experience it too if you are in such a situation) they asked if we wanted to get down on the next station ,gradually and slowly we moved through tiny spaces and managed to squeeze through people and finally we got down keeping in mind people climbing up, then pulled my friend to the corner as people are in a hurry to climb the train and at times people are pushed back into the train. Well she was in a mild trauma for a second that how we got down and i just told her this is an automatic service people push you in and push you out. That is a crowded Mumbai local for you :-)