The Bou Bhaat

I returned home yesterday after a very successful “Baashor Raat”. Meanwhile my cousin had spent the day at his in-law’s place. I had asked him about how he planned on surviving the first day at his in-law’s and he promptly answered, “Main to safed jhanda dikha dunga. Chup chaap baitha rahunga. Jo karna hai kar le bhai!” Apparently that’s what he did :) The “Vidaai” happened in the evening and they returned to my cousin’s place. Yesterday was the “Kaal Ratri” where the bride and the groom are not supposed to see each other. Damn! Where the fuck is the “Suhaag Raat”? This is not done, specially when you get married after waiting for twenty-freaking-nine years! Lol! But that’s what happened. He was thrown out of the house and he stayed at the other place that had been hired for guests.

Me on the other hand, had an extremely interesting evening. I met up with a friend I had made online many years ago. I never thought that we would meet but then again one should never say “never”. :) right? Anyways we spent a very nice evening, did a mini-dinner and called it a night.

The “Bou Bhaat” was today. It basically consists of a few rituals, few extremely stupid games and a lot of opportunities for all the aunties to have a gala time at the newly wed’s cost :P It is then followed by the groom’s grand announcement that he takes the responsibility of the girl’s “Roti aur Kapda” and a quiet announcement to himself that he would also be responsible for all the mistakes he would and would not be committing for the rest of his life. :P The main “Bou Bhaat” is basically the point where the new bride serves food to all the member’s of the house. It is sort of a symbolic event where the bride takes the responsibility of the house.

Spent the whole afternoon lazing around, chit-chatting. We were to have the reception in the evening. Now my cousin was to have 2 receptions, one on the day of “Bou Bhaat” for people in the neighbourhood and people from the girl’s side. The second was to be on the next day at a hotel. I would be obviously missing it as I had to fly back on Sunday, i.e. tomorrow. The reception went on pretty well but we had to leave early as it’s almost an hour and a half drive to our home. So we left midway :(

The Shaadi

So my cousin’s hitched! :) We were to reach Konnogor by 6:00pm. Went and got myself a new sherwani. Pretty nice looking red sherwani :)

Well as per updates from my cousin, he was woken up at 4:30 – 5:00 in the morning and force fed a lot of curd and whey. Since he wouldn’t be getting anything else to eat the whole day, he stuffed himself as much as he could. I had initially decided to dress in formals at the wedding and wear the sherwani on the day of “Bou Bhaat”. After talking to my other cousin, I realized that the marriage would be a better occasion to show it off than Bou Bhaat. As a result, when I landed at the the marriage hall, I was dressed in a red sherwani, getting roasted and my internal temperature about 10 degrees higher than outside, all thanks to my zazzy sherwani.

Entered to find my cousin sitting almost alone except for a few of his friends. He was obviously of least interest to us and everyone else. We were more interested in meeting his better half. And that’s what we did!

The great Indian marriage is obviously a torture ritual for the bride and the groom. They have deviced it in such a way that anyone who has been through it once, will promise never to go through it again ( except for those few individuals who like to inflict torture upon themselves by going through it again and again! ). The marriage begins with a small puja which sort of represents that we are notifying our ancestors about it and asking them for their blessings. My cousin was then taken to the main area where everything was supposed to happen while we were trying to finish the snacks that we were given. Me and the rest of the guys were pretty hungry and so instead of accompanying my cousin, we stayed back and ate :P

This turned out to be a pretty good opportunity for the “Ladki-party” to steal my cousin’s shoes. For those who are not aware (eg my uncle aka my cousin’s dad), its a silly ritual where the bride’s sisters/cousins steal the groom’s slipper and then demand money in return. A case of slipper-nap.

The shaadi went on for quite sometime but not as long as the standards suggest. The pandit apparently was on a fast-forward mode and he wrapped things up pretty early. But my cousin had to go through everything and the smoke.

The marriage got done around 11:00 pm and mostly everyone had completed dinner by then. The bride-groom then had an extended dinner for an hour and a half while we waited for them to return. We have a ritual called “Baashor Raat” where all the young folks from both the bride and the groom’s side stay awake all night, along with the newly wedded couple and generally entertain. Usual games, antakshaari, dumb-charades, etc. So that’s what we did and it was super fun, especially dumb-charades :D

I got back home today. Though I have attended quite a few marriages, I never participated in a successful “Baashor Raat”. This was the first one. Pretty happy about it.

The Arrival

Landed in Calcutta yesterday evening. My trip from Bombay was good, though a little long because of the stopover at Nagpur. Personally speaking I hate the airplane seats. They are extremely uncomfortable. At least Indigo makes sure that they reach on-time. And they got pretty airhostesses :) Unfortunately watching pretty airhostesses get boring after the initial half hour. The first half of the flight was pretty quiet and peaceful. There was an elderly lady and a young guy in the seats before me. The lady could be his mother or an aunt. The guy was probably in the airline business. He kept explaining various things. The lady was one of those typical sophisticated Bengali ladies, the ones who have an accent even when they speak Bengali. I don’t know if others can make out the difference but these are the ladies who usually are educated, are over exposed to Rabindra Sangeet and a lot of art and literature. They love to enunciate, speak softly and yet firmly, mostly wear spectacles, speak of foreign countries as if they are just across the street, usually hold the reigns of household and also have the liberty of talking on behalf of their husbands in family/friend gatherings.

The second part of the trip was a headache. A man probably in mid-fifties and a lady probably in thirties installed just behind me. I heard the lady say that it was an extremely pleasant surprise that they bumped into each other. I soon realized that it was an extremely unfortunate incident for me. Both were part of the same extended Marwari family and they yapped continuously for the next 1 hour 15 minutes of flight time. I forced myself to sleep in the middle but not for long. They spoke of schools in Doon/Nainital and their quality of education, Marwari food, multiple sclerosis and how the guy booked a full 5 star hotel for 12 days for his brother’s marriage. I must have died at least twice during the whole conversation out of sheer frustration. I need to get myself one of those IPods to save myself from such misery.

Oh I forgot to mention that I think I saw Minisha Lamba at the Bombay airport. She was standing alone in a book store. I looked at her and she looked back and probably noticed my confused expression of wondering whether it was really her. Well I could have easily asked since no one was around but me being me opted to get back to the books :P

I turned into “Chakroborty” from “Chakraborty” as soon as I landed at the Cal airport and got myself a pre-paid taxi. It felt good to sit in the huge yellow ambassador once in Cal. These things are really comfortable. I remember one of their advertisements long ago. “Mercedes – 200 km/hr, Ambassador – 200 potholes/hr “. It was probably one of the most honest ads :). As I zoomed off home, hundreds of hoardings greeted me and told me about the new and developing Calcutta. The number of hoardings were really astounding, I don’t think Bombay can beat Cal in this department! The driving sense is still pathetic. I am a little used to it now thanks to my experience in Pune. Reached Ballygunge station and got off. And I suddenly found myself surrounded by Bongs. I always find it a little unnerving to see so many Bongs for the first couple of days during my Cal trips. In fact I go to shops and continue my standard modus operandi and converse in Hindi and then realize that I can actually talk in Bengali. It takes me a little time to get used to.

My cousin’s shaadi will be at a place called Konnogor. We have decided to stay in our house at Ballygunge and attend the marriage from here. All my cousins have reached and are at the central venue. I am contemplating staying back tonight so that I don’t miss out on the fun. Well my cousin’s have decided that they are no longer interested in batting and are literally throwing off their wickets. Another cousin of mine, he’s a little older than us, who was my last glimmer of hope has also just lost his wicket. He’s getting hitched on 26th of January 2011. So that’s another trip in the making. This time to Bilaspur :) That has made my parents a little more edgy :P Peer pressure apparently.

Lol!! I never knew that finding a partner is such a big deal! My Dad has started using his social networking skills to find me a mate while I am using all my skills to avoid such confrontations :P

Trip to Shirdi

Back from Shirdi. We left yesterday morning, ie the 14th of August. Reached Shirdi around 3:00 pm. Nowadays, we generally follow the protocol of finishing the Darshan in the evening itself. Its a lot emptier and and more peaceful. The mornings feel more like goat-herding.... hat...hat... phurrrr... !! Thats what the guards keep doing. Pushing and pulling you like one of the coconuts you offer.

My first trip to Shirdi was pathetic. Someone had given us a brilliant idea that we should just take the bus in the night, reach there early morning, do the puja, eat something there and take the same bus back. I will kill the bastard who suggested that! If only I could remember who it was. All my "bhakti", spiritualism, faith, belief, whatever you prefer to call it, went down the drains. Unfortunately it was also some special day because of which it seemed as if the whole of India had descended there. By the time I got done, I just wanted to get out of there. Seriously speaking I was so unsatisfied that I actually felt tortured and irritated.

Since then, this is my 3rd or 4th trip (don't recall actually). And all of them have gone well. Yesterday's trip was similar as far as the crowd was concerned. Crowded as hell! But this time we were smart. We didn't even attempt to get in to the line. We preferred to do the "Mukh-Darshan". The three of us spent some quiet time there, immersed in our own thoughts. And then we spent some more time inside the complex, relaxed and happy.

My last trip was on New Years. Now as I already said before, I have my doubts about the existence of God, though I believe that there is a powerful energy which can be tapped into. I feel as if Shirdi is a portal to access this energy. It could be an hypothesis which I have developed to satisfy my lack of faith in the concept of God. But I still do it. It just gives me hope to carry on, as some would put it, fooling my brain to accomplish my goals. :P

Well as human nature goes, I presented my long list of things that I need to accomplish, specially the ones which I didn't have complete control over. But then again, everytime I go there, I see all the people there, those who have come from far away, extremely poor and somehow managing to spend the night there, so that they could see Saibaba. Seeing them, makes me realize that I already have so much! What else could one ask for? I have enough money to spend a decent life style, I am able bodied and have an above average head on my shoulders (even if it isn't too far up above average), I have my parents who love me, a work that I like doing (no matter where I do it) and life is generally peaceful. Really can't think of anything else to ask for. There is only one thing I need right now and that is what I ask for. The rest I know I can manage.

I feel humbled seeing all the misery there and yet I feel and respect the faith they have, faith that Saibaba can help them out of it. Maybe that is the hope they require, to make there lives better or give them the power to fight on. Everytime I go there, the place just reminds me how happy and fortunate I am. So now I just ask for non-materialistic things and a little spiritual guidance.

15th Aug is my parents marriage anniversary and this time they spent it in a quieter and more spiritual way. I liked it, though I would have preferred had we left today, instead of yesterday. Would have been less crowded. My dad tells me this, every 15th Aug. "India got her independence and I lost mine!" This time he didn't say it.

The hit bird!

It was not until I joined Zeus, did I first get on a plane. And it was with Chandrashekhar that I had the priviledge to fly my maiden flight. Now though, today's post is not about that particular flight, I might as well add a little information about it. It was our visit to ANURAG (a part of a defence lab) in Hyderabad for some project we were doing.

To tell you the truth, I am a little scared of flying, just for the plain fact that if I go down from there I am going straight up. And heights scare me. So everytime I look out of the window and see clouds, or the serpentine rivers running through green and brown patches of land, or just an irregular growth of concrete, I am awestruck and at the sametime a little scared. Turbulence just acts like a catalyst to my fear equation. And the seats are bloody uncomfortable.

But the fact remains that flights are a boon to mankind. It saves time like nothing else. Breakfast in Bombay, followed by a lunch in Calcutta and you could throw in dinner in Delhi if you are up for it. Its been a long time since I have travelled in a long distance train. Everytime I think of the amount of time I would save, my miser monster just gets pumelled into oblivion :P

This happened during one of my trips to Calcutta. I was going to visit a family friend's (Andy) wedding. I was to travel to Calcutta with his brother Sandy and cousin sister. The three of us boarded our flight to Bhubaneshwar. It was an indirect flight. Bombay to Calcutta via Bhubaneshwar. The first part of hte journey was pretty ordinary. No problems till we reached Bhubaneshwar. The fun began after that. We sat in the plane for quite sometime (I think about half an hour) before it started. I think the best part of a flight is just at take-off and at landing. That's the only exciting part. This trip had a little more excitement than usual.

Our plane had gathered quite some speed and I was just about done prepared for take-off, when there was a sudden bang followed by a sudden break (if it hadn't been for the seat belts I am sure I would have been sitting in the seat before me) and sound of screeching tires. Everything happened within a couple of seconds I guess and the plane came to a halt. The captain soon announced that it was a bird hit and that it would be sometime before we were in the sky again.

We waited for almost another half an hour when it was decided that the passengers had to disembark, so that the engineers could do a thorough check-up and the passengers were getting pretty crabby sitting inside for such  a long time. Sandy messaged Andy about the bird hit and told him to convey the news to our parents who had already reached a few days before us. Andy promptly replied, "oh damn! How's the bird feeling now?" :P

The wait was long and I hate waiting. But there was nothign else to do. So I decided to explore a bit and soon saw something interesting. The Indian Airlines suggestion box being put to good use :D

Awesome right!? I was so very amused by it. Made the whole bird hit thing totally worth it. Not so good for the bird though :P Fortunately, all the rest of my flights have been pretty normal and mundane, but that was indeed a not so normal experience :)

Picnic at Karjat

Had a very tiring but awesome day! There is no way I can sit and write today about what I did. My legs are aching like crazy and I am super tired. I just wish I could sleep immediately. But can't :(

Anyways the thing is that we had our company picnic and we went to Karjat. Basically went and halted at a place called Prakruti Farms and from there trekked to see the Kondane caves (something like that). Shall put the details later. It rained throughout the day and I got drenched through it all. Believe me when I say it, spending the whole day in a pair of wet jeans is not fun. Not fun at all! But it was an experience anyhow :)

Played football in the rain and completely covered ourselves in the mud, mainly because we spent most of the time on the ground thanks to the continuous rain and the excessive amount of mud. We then went and cleaned ourselves in the baby pool (by the time we got cleaned up, the baby pool was more like a pond, muddy!). We then jumped into the swimming pool with t-shirt, jeans and everything. :P Spent sometime playing water polo with a football

Had an awesome lunch where Mihir and myself managed to eat chicken which we later realized was not for us but for another group :P Too late suckers!!! Good thing I had loaded my plate on the first go itself :D hehehehe!!!

We then played a lot of Table Tennis and had a pretty good time :) The evening got a little boring since we had all got very tired and we just wanted to get back home. My situation was little worse since I had not carried an extra pant and though I changed into a dry t-shirt, I had to continue sitting in my wet jeans :(

Reached back home at 9. Waiting for Dida to come now. Mom/Dad went to pick her from the airport. Will put up photos and write in more details tomorrow.

Taj Mahal

The Taj has fascinated me ever since I was a kid, partially because we had a tiny replica of it and partly because it is so popular all over the world that it is a symbol of the country. Talk about Paris, the Eiffel Tower comes to mind, mention egypt and the sphinx falshes before you. Taj is exactly the same for India.

Most people I know had seen the Taj. Worse was the feeling when my I realized that each and every foreigner with whom I spoke about India and who have visited India had seen the Taj. Its a pathetic feeling to hear about places in your own country from foreigners and not getting an opportunity to see it. After years of lamenting and "I-really-want-to-see-the-Taj!" statements I finally had an opportunity to see it in October 2009 when I managed to make a trip to Delhi and places around it.

To tell you the truth, I was extremely unimpressed with Agra and the approach to the Taj. Small roads, traffic, crowd, dirty and pretty pathetic. Its highly possible that the road we had taken was the worst of the city but it was a one day trip and we had planned Fatehpur Sikri and Taj on the same day. So it was a pretty hurried trip.

It was supposed to be a full moon on the day we had visited. Now, I am not sure whether Taj is open to tourists for a longer period of time on days of full moon but that is what we heard. Though the timings mentioned at the counter said otherwise. The queue was HUGE, both for the ticket and entrance. Was amused to see the foreigners being charged super high, not that I cared. I would have probably, had I come to see it with a few :)

I was happy to see that they don't allow cigarettes, matches inside the premises. My Dad on the other hand wasn't. I just laughed at his sorry face when they threw his pack in the dustbin. God knows how many times I have wanted to do it :)

The main entrance or the Great gate as it is called was massive with intricate designs and patterns inscribed all over it. The geometric patterns and designs are so beautifully carved that it really mesmerizes you. The thing which really surprises me when I see these old buildings is the level of detail and the consistency. A wall filled with a particular shape seems flawless. Each unit shape is exactly similar to the next. I do not know how they managed to do it. But the scene which took my breath away was the following

I was spell bounded! There were hundreds of people around me but they simply disappeared. I felt as if it was just me and the Taj. Such was its beauty. And as I walked (rather pushed and pulled) into the garden past the entrance, I just felt peaceful. I realized that it was so much more than I had imagined. It just seemed mesmerizing. I have heard people say that its turning black and this and that and blah... blah! But at that moment nothing mattered. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen and there was no doubt in my mind about it.

The only problem was that it was super crowded and once I got over the initial wonderment, I needed to get good photos of the place. I also wanted to see it up close but my parents weren't that interested as they had already seen it before and they had no intentions of standing in a queue to see the inside. I, on the other hand decided that I would see as much as possible. I went up and stood in a queue which was unbelievably long. The queue had completely circled the Taj and when I had joined the line I was near Taj's entrance. Which basically meant that I would have to take a complete circle before entering. I did not give up though a part of me really wanted to get out of there.

I went in saw the resting place of Mumtaz, though didn't find it that impressive. The work on the marble was awesome but couldn't take good photos (it was actually not allowed) due to lack of light.

I had a lot of time to see the Taj from its four sides while standing in the line. The work is really magnificent and I read that the Taj was actually adorned with precious stones. Though its just colour now.

I tried to capture the grandeur of the Taj in the following photo but I don't think its posible to capture its beauty. You really need to go there and see it. That is the bottom line :)

I came back to see mom and dad sitting on a quieter part of the ground on a bench waiting for me. I went and joined them. I had decided that I needed to visit the Taj with more time in hand. I would have loved to just sit and look at it for a while but we were running out of time and we needed to get back to Delhi.

This was the view I saw from where we sat. There was a lot of things running through my mind then. Things were happening and had just initiated before my trip began. What better place than the Taj to sit and mull over stuff?

Before leaving the place, made a small promise to myself. Next time I come here I am coming with the girl I love. :)

Panchgani

I try to leave town during the year end. Its this weird idea I have developed that if I do that, then I have a great action packed year. Fortunately its been true for the past 3 years. So I shall continue with the tradition.

The 2008 year end was an interesting one. That was the last time the 3 Stooges went out together. It was one of those rare occasions when I was taking the initiative while the other 2 were cribbing and being major pain! Usually it was always the other way round. Nicholas would plan something, Sameer would agree and I would crib and crib till they forced me to join them. It was crazy. I kept trying to organize the trip, but we were just not able to decide on the days that would be convenient for all of us. We each had our limitations. I wanted to get back on the 31st so that I could spend the New Year with my family. Sameer had his issues and Nicholas had his.

Anyways somehow we managed and it was decided that Nickso and myself would leave for panchgani on the 29th of December night and Sameer would join us on the 30th. We would then be returning on the 31st. We had also thought of going to Mahabaleshwar but then that got cancelled for reasons mentioned below.

We reached at a really odd hour the next morning (it was more like night) at Panchgani. We were sleepy and it was cold! We hunted for a place and somehow managed to get a hotel. We had made plans to see some place at sunrise but once we hit the bed, nothing else mattered. When we got up, we realized that we couldn't survive there for a single hour. The place was "YUCK!" and there were bed bugs. So we decided that we needed to find some other good place. I am not sure why but we had actually budgeted our trip. Anyways we hunted around for another hotel and then we chanced upon Mount View Hotel. It was just awesome! An old house with a fantastic view. Just the perfect place for 3 friends to catch up on life.

We walked around Panchgani enjoying the weather and the sights and sound. Reminded us of our trip to Sikkim. Sameer joined us in the afternoon and we ended up eating the "Laal Dabba Chinese", remembering our college day chinese dinners. :D We then went to a place called Table Top, which is basically a huge flat area on the top of the Panchgani hill.
Obviously we took one of the usually not take routes and ended trekking up to the place. Really nice place to get a panaromic view of the surrounding hills, lakes and the city.

By the time we came down, it was almost dark. We roamed around in the town for a while and then headed back to the hotel. Played a lot of Table Tennis, arranged for a camp-fire that we hand planned for the night and then headed out for dinner. Came back after dinner and made ourselves a cozy little fire and then we started chatting. No idea how long we chatted but it covered a lot of areas.

Just like our days in the fourth year of Engineering when we would go for dinner to Bahadur Sheikh naka and then walk down to a nearby bridge and then spend an hour talking about everything under the sun. The warm fire in the cold night really felt very good.

The next morning we went around investigating the surrounding areas and ended up modeling quite a bit :) Pretty impressed with the outcome. Well the problem that came up was that we wanted to get back but Nicholas kept insisting that he wanted to stay. He wanted us to stay back too. The reasons became apparent later on that year but we each had our prior commitments. But we were both glad that he had a very interesting New Year that night :). So in our own ways we all got what we wanted.

I guess that's how things are. Its all alright at the end :)

Sense of direction or the lack of it

Some men pride themselves for their sense of direction, some are so proud that they would probably put it on their visiting cards and then there are those who just rely on google maps/wikimapia and modern technology. I belong to the last category. To tell you the truth I have very poor sense of direction. It takes me at least 4 - 5 trips before I am remotely aware of the area that I am in. No wait! I would be lying if I said that. I would actually require 10 - 15 trips before I am confident about my way. Cities confuse me. I lose my sense of direction. The streets look same, landmarks keep changing, total mess. And then there are those million traffic rules (which of course no one follows in India... I try to and fail miserably)

Women on the other hand usually don't harp about their sense of direction, though they are generally pretty good at it. They also have a habit of asking for directions when they sense that something doesn't seem right. Men, I guess are not comfortable doing so. I too am a little uncomfortable asking for directions. When alone, I have spent a lot of time driving/roaming all over the place, expecting to find the destination miraculously, in spite of the fact that I know I have no clue as to where I am. But usually, I end up asking for directions sooner or later.

My Dad on the other hand has a weird way of asking for directions. He does everything possible to get us lost. Firstly, he'll not ask for directions properly on the phone before leaving home. He basically looks out for the closest place he knows, when directions are being given and then completely filters out the rest of the information. On reaching the place, he is clueless and his standard dialogue is, "Yahan se aagey kuch to bola tha!". He'll then conveniently blame me for not being responsible enough to hear the directions. Anyways, to maintain "peace and harmony", my usual response is, "Hmmm...". We then stop and ask for directions. After a lot of , "haan! achcha to aagey jaake left", "ok! aagey se right kya?", "kya? 2 signal chodke teesre pe right?", he'll turn to me and say, "Kuch nahi samjha kya bola, tu seedha chal!"

Me, on the other hand, is a directionless fool on a different level. I am not comfortable going to a new place before finding out each and every turn and corner on the internet. If I haven't done research, I am usually very restless, irritable and basically a pain. Ask me to take you to a place I know and you'll mostly reach without any problems. Sitting beside me and directing me is not an easy job either. Very few  people have successfully done it. You cannot tell me to take a turn when we are at the turn. I must be informed at least a 100 metres ahead. Statements such as, "We should have taken that turn" after crossing the turn is a definite no - no! It is more difficult driving with women sitting beside because they cannot make up their minds. I don't like that. Decide first and then tell me. I do not have an "Undo" button while driving.

The worst thing that I have done as far as going off-direction is concerned, was when Nicholas dropped me off at VT (I prefer calling it that than CST) at the platform and then I took a wrong train. I was to take the train to Belapur (BR), instead I got on a Bandra (B) local, thinking that it was a typo :P.

Strangely, I am a lot more in sync with my location when I am in nature. I have never got lost in any of the hill stations, be it during treks or any other activity. I somehow manage to get back on track in nature :) There is a possibility that I may have not been rigorously tested in nature. Who knows?

Bandra

I was shocked in my first year of college, around 2000, when I heard that my friend Sameer, being a Maharashtrian and living in Bombay all his life had never seen the Gateway of India. It was just unimaginable. It took Nicholas and me almost a week before we came to terms with the fact that such a thing was actually possible. It was with us, I think, that Sameer made his maiden voyage to the Gateway :)

Fast-forward 10 years to 2010. I have lived in Bombay for many years and I have never been to Bandra. And apparently that is where everything cool happens :P. Anyways this trip came about due to a number of factors. The first reason was that my ophthalmologist friend suggested that I pay a visit to the Mount Mary church. The second reason was that I needed to exchange a book with a friend that we had been planning for almost a month. The books are a topic by themselves, which I'll discuss on another day. For starters just google Dr. Brian Weiss. The third reason was that I had not been to any place interesting in quite sometime and I needed to do some photography. So all these reasons made me push myself out of the house and head for Bandra. Loved the trip to Bandra thanks to the NMMT air-conditioned bus.

It was cloudy throughout which made the weather bearable. I was a little worried about the church timings but was really glad to find out that it was open when I reached.

I have always loved the architecture of old churches. Was decently impressed with this too. Though, the churches at Goa are just plain awesome. The interiors were interesting too with Christ's story illustrated all around the walls.

I sat there for a while and generally tried to gather my thoughts. I observed that a lot of people were present  (I guess it was because of the fact that it was a Sunday). I also realized that people from all faith came there to pray. The fact that a lot of them were leaving there shoes outside the church made it very clear. It was funny to see a guard telling people to wear their shoes inside rather than leaving them out. Obviously most people would find the idea of wearing their shoes inside a holy place sacrilegious and so they left them out.

Observed the people, prayed a bit, clicked some photos and waited for my friend to come. I was pretty satisfied with my trip so far.

I first came in contact with this friend of mine during my kitten incident (Refer to my old posts) and since then we have only met online and this would be the first time we would be actually meeting. She had promised to show me around Bandra and so thats what we did when we met. We first went to the Bandra Fort which was the saddest fort I have ever seen in my life. I don't know if I missed something there but from what I saw I am sure Belapur Fort is bigger than that :P

Though I did manage to take a couple of photos there. I wanted her to pose in front of the Taj Lands and take an excited touristy look wala photo, to which she said she would rather die than do that :) She in fact suggested that I do it. Now I think I should have done it. Hmmm... next time maybe :)

Took a couple of photos showing the very famous Bandra-Worli sea link. The crowd made it really sad. There were people all over (mostly couples :P). And I actually was startled finding people at weirdest locations :D

Walked along band-stand for a while and had some sort of a light-very-late lunch. I had a really good time there and we ended up talking about a lot of stuff. Now some seriously freaky thing happened at the end of it. In one of my previous posts, I had mentioned about how I keep seeing 11:11 in a lot of places numerous times in a day. The number patterns have started increasing now.

We were about to leave when she suddenly tells me that for sometime now she has been seeing number patterns over and over again in various places. I was very amused and asked her about the 11:11. Apparently she keeps seeing 444 apart from 1111. It was good to finally meet someone who saw similar number patterns :) We exchanged some more stories about where all we see the numbers and then before we left she asked me what time it was. Guess what the time was? It was 4:44... :)