7th February, 2010
3.00 p.m, Sunday noon... As I was leafing through newspapers, my eyeballs suddenly grabbed the schedule of the ongoing Kala Ghoda festival and adrenaline rushed through my blood. In no time, I made up my mind to visit the famous KG festival!
Though born and brought up in Mumbai, I still was unaware of many historic places of aamchi mumbai, but only till Sunday!
The info on open-deck bus ride in the paper had interested me the most which was scheduled at 6.00 p.m. from the bus-stop located opposite the police headquarters at Regal Circle.
I took the 4.30 p.m. fast local from Borivali and reached Churchgate at 5.30 p.m. It's a taskkkk to get a cab from station, I tell you! After a much wait, I got a shared cab. I shared the cab with two young girls who looked in their mid 20s.
Essentially, its alienating or abnormal if a day in our lives go without brawling with our fellow species! On reaching the venue, the cab driver demanded 14 bucks. I took the initiative of paying him the fare. After receiving 14 Rs. from me, the driver asked for 14 Rs. from each of the other two girls.. phew! Though I was not in for the surprise as probably the cab driver was partially right on his part; but stillllllll... ;)))
The girls looked at me innocently as if asking help... I told the cabbie that the required fare is paid and he should NOT charge us more. The cab driver was reluctant to take the shit from me ;-)) hahaha. Inspired by the Bombay High Court that I had seen passing from the cab, I managed to put up an equally tough argument with the driver:-)) “Bhaiyaaa, agar main akele taxi mai aati toh aap kitna paisa lete?” The cabbie replied promptly and I pretended to put up a pissed off face and blasted him saying: “then mere saath 2-3 jann aur ho toh aap kya sab se chauda (14) loge!!”..
The girls by that time had got a bit anxious n so they paid him 10 Rs more! After alighting from cab, they justified by telling that these drivers are like that only.. blah blah..! (kya bolneka.. aisa kaisa karte hai yeh log!). And I didn't feel like reacting to their pity faces.. pleaseeee!!! I don't like miserable-looking girls who cannot stand up EVEN for a cab fare!!!
I cleared the petty incident from my head and started to look out for the bus-stop from where the open-deck bus was about to kick off. Being unfamiliar with the place, my eyes scanned every bit of the street, shops, signals, people; Regal theatre was in front and my eyes got stuck on it for few seconds. With the trend of multiplexes goin on in the city, the crowd flocking to single-screen theatre (after a loooooooooonggg time) was an unusual sight!! Ishqiyaa was the movie running in Regal. I rolled my eyes off the theatre and at the other side of the road, I saw a blue double-decker, roofless, motionless bus standing with people already occupying the top compartment...... I roaredddddddddd in excitement and jealousyyyyy and spearheaded toward the bus as if I was competing with P.T Usha on the marathon track!! Luckily, the signals were red and I reached the bus-stop in no time.
One more scene @bus-stop:
I was stopped from boarding the bus by a good-lookingggg dudeee from the event crew who had organized the open-deck bus journey ;-). I was told that to avail the bus ride, I should have a bus pass, which can be issued from the KG office and that all the tickets were already sold out… Ohhhh.. poor me!! I was dismayed by his response; however, I hanged on and quickly learnt that few guys at the bus-stop who like me did not own the bus pass were waiting for the crew guy to change his stern mind and give’em the permit for the bus ride.
It was already 10 past 6. After accommodating almost all the pass-holders, the non-pass holders were permitted the entry to the awesomeeee, super sexyyy, open-deck bus.. but my excitement was short-lived as we were asked to take seats in the lower compartment of the bus..aweeeee!! :-(( Any which ways, the bus ride was terrific. It gave us a complete 1-hour of joy ride round our aamchi mumbai - Gateway of India, Taj Mahal Hotel, Mumbai University, High Court, Victoria Terminus, Asiatic Society, Jehangir Art Gallery, Kama Institute, St. Andrews Church, Lion Gate, Apollo Bunder, Marine Lines sea-face, and many more.
One of the crew members was educating us with the history behind the architecture, heritage, and locations that were passing by. The event crew made a good effort to make the ride interesting and informative. But they made one grave mistake; they asked the passengers to come up with questions in case of doubts about the historical monuments of Mumbai… little did they knew that they were inviting trouble for themselves!! Lol! :-) The guys with whom I had boarded the bus were real bunch of nerds! They quizzed some surreal and nonsensical facts like what is the name of the uncle (statue of a man) standing in the premises of the Bombay Municipal Corporation office, which brand of glasses he use to wear, etc… hahaha! The bus ride was truly an exhilarating experience!!
After getting off from the bus, I found myself lost on the streets and kept on treading mindlessly. There were umpteen, brightly-lit, colorful stalls of arts and crafts sprouted at every corner. Swarm of people, rock bands, dance performances, photography, kids play, plant nursery, horse carriages.. it was all happening here @KG. People came, formed memories, and returned home with an enriching experience which will linger in minds for many years to come.
Thanks to Times Of India for displaying such a famous and undisputable exhibit every year.... hail TOI!
- A proud Indian:-)) (Self)
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