Bombay, not so blue

Grey skies. Peeling paint. Dilapidated buildings. A little forlorn. A little forbidding even. More concrete. Less green.

And yet, Mumbai is a city i can't get enough of.

I reached on Monday afternoon (you remember the goof up?), and went on a really long drive across the city to New Bombay.  To meet a really old friend. Befitting. Considering i was meeting him after 14 long years, what was 30-odd kilometres? We traveled back at the end of his work day to pick up another old friend from her workplace.

WTF! The day is going alright after all :D
After chai at her home and a lot of discussion we headed to WTF in Khar... mid way for a lot of people who were going to be meeting each other for the first time. I was anxious without cause... because everyone got along just along fine. Nothing like a cozy place and a little alcohol to make everything alright. Bollywood and politics and advertising, lots of spicy food, some gossip and music that was not too loud made for a fantastic evening. Of coure,WTF is very casual, with fairy lights and nothing too glossy so that made it perfect for me! And you can also wear your favorite denim short skirt in Bombay, even if you have to use public transport to travel.

Going to town
The next day my friend had me picked up. We then headed to 'town'.  Spotting star's homes on the way we went on the Worli Sea Link which is the one of most beautiful parts of Mumbai for me. Sadly, i couldn't stop to take pictures, because you really can't do stuff like that in Bombay...

Driving around 
We drove around, stopping to take pictures - old pretty buildings, shady avenues, green trees, people driving like normal people do, even a little bit of blue sky, and not so much traffic.

Must do's that i did 
A walk on Marine Drive, lunch and beers at Cafe Mondegar's, street shopping on Colaba, tea at the Gateway of India, more tea at the Taj Palace was part of the lovely but pretty tiring day.
(Don't my coral pants look lovely?)

Dinner and drinks
Another friend to meet. Another WTF to visit. This one at Versova. Rather nice but pretty crowded, maybe because it was Friday evening. Dinner at Mia Cucina next door followed where i feasted on Mango Pana Cotta. The food was apparently good too but i was too tired to eat. And we spotted a starlet here - Shruti Seth! So another Bombay essential - check!

Versova
After an entire night of yapping (i still can't believe we met after 14 years and still had so much to talk about, just not filling in the blank spaces about what we have been up to, but we could talk about life and work and books and songs) we headed to the rather dirty Versova beach. Except it was beautiful in parts. Like boats on the sea, and of course the waves. And the blue blue sky.

More food and more shopping
A short nap later and lots of laziness on my part, my friend and i headed out again. This time for lunch to Urban Tadka. A very kitsch and colorful place, the food was spicy but good. The jalebi rabdi dessert was my favorite part of the meal.

We headed to Tresorie at Infiniti Mall for a gift for the other A, I couldn't find anything, but honestly, i was sleep walking by this time! We had little time but a trip to Lokhandwala yielded a pair of loafers (turned out to be the wrong size, i was that zoned out!). I did some window shopping - beautiful footwear but i had already picked up 5 pairs for myself in Colaba so i resisted.

We went back to Versova, packed and left soon to catch that bus to Goa. But that's another story, for another day.