Of Uran and Kulfi

Sunday, 25th September 2005

Sis picked me up and took me to my usual bus stand in byculla. But till now I had not noticed the little passage that leads to the market. It was a small rectangle. The far side had a fresh chicken meat stall. The stalls looked very much like what it would in Colombo. The chicken stall was an experience. You give the weight you want and they will select a chicken and give you a number to come back after a short time. This is because they need time to kill it. Yes. That’s right. They have live chickens they kill, skin and chop to the size you wish. By the time we came back it was number 30. They have quite a good business I presume. But its enough to make any a vege. IN the meantime I went to the meat market, which is an adjoining hall. Here one side is meat and the rest is fish. All manned (?) by big, beetle-chewing women. They each had their own cat (or was it the other way round) lording over the fish from their favourite perch. The most number of fish that I could see or at least recognise were small finger to elbow length sharks. Being me, I touched or rather stroked them. One way was smooth and unexpectedly a bit slimy. The other way was very rough. And sandpapery.

Train. My first train ride. Bough ticket to VT. Had apple while waiting on platform 4 – the nearest to the entrance. Was told that there would 2 be stops, but I didn’t know that this was an express train. So when the train stopeed, I was waiting for it to move on. It didn’t for a long time. So I quickly ran to the dustbin adnd threw my apple core and ran back. I quickly walked a bit back to see how the electrical lines were connected to the train and quickly walked back. Wa getting a bit worried, cuz I knew that trains don’t hang around too much at a station. After 5 minutes and asking someone, I realised that all the while I was waiting for the trin to go to VT, I was actually at VT! People were getting in to go back the way the train had come cuz this was the last stop.

Got out the side entrance and walked to the front. The station is amaaaazing. Old gothic arcitecture. Large hounds as gargoyles. Funny looking monkeys, lots of turrets. Very impressive. Actually looking around, all the building are like this. Its amazing.

Went to the GPO. Another old building but on the side of VT. Very much like Colombo post office, but larger. Climbed upstairs but was told it was closed and only for employees.

From there, I took the side streets, instead of the main road towards what I though other sights would be. Nice to see the place waking up. Barbers on the street using dangerous looking blades and scraping away at chins. People carrying their groceries. Temples busy and cows being fed. Watching my head for rubbish that are thrown off the top floors of apartments. Its so much like pettah, its amazing.

Came to the open and main road. Walked along side the reserve bank of India and came to the mint. Walked around there and down a nice looking lane. Very Baudhaloka Mw type, with large streets and trees. A couple of street cricket matches were taking plae. But they players seemed to be slightly posh, not street kids. A guy on a bike shouted to me in perfect English asking me if want to smoke hash. At least that’s what it sounded like. He could have just been asking for time???

Came to an old naval museum called Ballad Bundar. Amazing to see the maps of Bombay during its island stage and transformation to the present city.

Went further down to the cruise terminal or entrance to the docks. Can’t enter without a pass. So walked back the way I came and suddenly found myself at the foot of the amazing public library.

This is something like the town halls you might get in Washington etc. It’s a huge white washed building with a large floight of stets, and lots of big pillars. There was a door open so I crept in quietly. Why do you always feel like whispering in a library? Was reading the papers when I heard the man locking up the place. I almost fancied the idea of being locked up in this place and exploring it. But I called attention to myself by coughing loudly. The man came running to me and asked me “oh bhai…” what are you doing here. The library is actually closed on Sunday. But he got to talking and let me read seeing that I was not from here. He was quite impressed that I could speak Hindi and more so that I was from SL. Seemed to thin that we were living in the stone ages, cuz he asked me whether we have trains, how we travel and told me that Murali was an Indian. So “Goodness gracious me like” I almost laughed.

Right in front of the librabry is Horniman Cricle. The heritage buildings around it are also circular following the curve of the park at this junction. Inside the pak is a nice tree covered relaxing area. Few rides for kids. People on benches etc. Outside next to old well is the banyan tree that was the first stock market in Mumbai.

Along the road in front of the entrance to the circle is St. Thomas’s catherdial. Its supposed to be the oldest here. As I drew near, could hear the choir. Wanted to check it out. It was a(no surprise) amazing. Old church and architiecture. Lots af great tombs and old dead ppl. The choir was practising, so I sat in the same chair that Queen Mary and King George the 5th sat on in 1911, right next to the pew that Mother Teresa sat on in 1983. Tried to close my eyes and imagine the time way back then.

Went on further towards flora fountain, with a statue of the Greek goddess of water. It would have been more impressive if there was actually any water in it. On the opposite road (towards churchgate station) was a no. of pavement book stalls selling pirated books. But hell, they were all new ones and I which I had the urge to buy them all. The Harry Potter series, Paul Cohelo (of the Alchemist), Dan Brown, Catch 22 etc. These were between 50 to 150 and bargainable.

Paid 2 bucks to get my pen knife sharpened. Now its fucking sharp.

In the afternoon, to a whole bunch of kids, Me, sis and huzi bhai with 7 other kids fitted with difficulty in a Maruti van. We went to the gateway on India. It wasn’t as impressive I imagined probably cuz I imagined it to be bigger. Also there was such a large crowd. Lots of hawker and interestingly people carrying camera’s (nothing so interesting in that), but these people will take you pic and supposedly post it to you. Alas, our boat had just departed and there weren’t anymore. Since we were set on going on a boat, bhen got us going to Ferry Wharf.

Here we took the 5 pm boat. It was an hour to get there. And our destination was URAN. Not an island like we had thought previously, but actually mainland India. From there we took a 3 wheeler ride (170/-) to the beach about 10 km away. We thought that we should take 2 of them and told the driver as much, but to our surprise, he suggested that we all go in one. We were even more surprised when we all managed to fit (11 of us). These guys are obviously used to it. It was slightly bumpy.

There was nice hikable hilly area, but closed for public belonging to the navy. The area looked like a poor seaside town, cuz it smelled really bad. This was really village, cuz you could see it was poor. Wild pigs running around, people on the road selling fish, low lying land and it smelled a bit weird. Although it was a good change from Bombay. The beach was by the side of a natural gas company.

What a beach. It kind of sucked yar. Black sand. Not brown or golden. The waves were puny little fucks lapping up against my feet. Could walk in a bit sea-wards. The kids and all else enjoyed themselves. I wouldn’t have like to bathe here cuz of a drain emptying closeby. The sky line of Bombay could be seen quite well. I am a bit confused as to what part of the sea I am looking at (was it the Arabian sea?)

Went back when it was dark. Was there in time 5 minutes before our boat arrives at 8. The ride back was awesome. The top open deck was quite, feeling of nice open space and antachari in the background. At the bottom, we managed to sit our selves at the front end of the boat. It was travelling much faster so could feel the bumps a bit more. Quite proud to know that one of huzi bhai’s cousins has swun this entire stretch from Uran to the gateway of India (against the tide/current) in a total of about 18 hours. Cool.
On our back, tired as we were, was amazingly cheered by the stop at Gupta’s Kulfi and ice cream where we got ourselves half a kg of butter scotch ice cream and kesar and pista kulfi. The kulfi is so amazing, its crazy.