Juwal Bose Says

So this was the big event of the whole trip. I squeezed this one in and made everyone else follow suite. Let me tell you that such a trip attempt for 1 day visit from Mumbai to both the caves is something that is to be perfectly planned. We got in our Bus from Thane to Aurangabad at 11 pm at night which was Netha Volvo and the tickets ran at Rs450. We had the pleasure of knowing a tour agency who controlled the ‘Royal cars’ which had bus and cars arranged for travel. An Indica car with AC for the whole day cost Rs3000 and without AC it will be around Rs2000. (Royal Cars owner:9823533532, Mankesh Driver:9765449330). The AC was good and we were in shorts, all pumped up. We reached Aurangabad at 7am the next day.

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The indica was exactly at the spot where we were getting down, we had called the driver to sync up. Now we had to change and freshen up, this was something which we didnt plan ahead. So we had real problem finding a good accomodation for single day and it cost us Rs800, but could have bargained for less if we had time. After a superfast bath we left some of our stuff at the hotel room and started journey to Ajanta. Ajanta is 100 Kms from Aurangabad. Just before we reached Ajanta there was this local Dhaba where we had Poori Bhaji and Milk and it was damn economical.

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The driver told us that there was the Himroo handicrafts sarees available nearby which costed upto 11 lakhs per saree. The Abhi-Ash wedding bulk booked these ones from here, he said. Remnants of old forts and palaces were scattered all the way. We saw the Ajanta village which was enclosed in an old fort fence. We came to Ajanta valley where we needed to take tickets and some other passes. We gave signed agreement that our photos will be used for non commercial purposes. Also there was a ticket for using light inside the cave, which meant we needed to carry extra lights. If we dont have extra light the guides inside the caves had LED torches to help, but you needed to pay them.

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There are AC/non AC buses going up and down the road to Ajanta. You will need to take tickets for these too.

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Guys dont hire external guides, just buy the guide book for Rs20, dont offer anything more than this. The book depicts all the caves you need to visit and the total layout. The initial scene of the horse shoe cave structure was unique and you wont get to see something like this anywhere else. I cant possibly explain the caves and their architecture. There are loads of murals and sculptures inside the caves which are primarily Buddhist.

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In each cave you will get guides who will tell kinds of stories about the murals and how the cave was built. You can give Rs20 in each cave.

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There is a big reclining Buddha in cave number 26 and other good caves can be 9,15,16 and 21.
There is a viewpoint in the middle to the other side of the rived that flows below the horseshoe. There is this small hill which sits in the middle which offers good view of the whole caves structure.
But as we didnt have much time, we hurried back and even skipped the beer parlor at the bottom. Bargained with the shopkeepers around for some pictures of the caves and bought some to be framed later. Now we had to get back all the way to Aurangabad and the start for Ellora. So the driver was speeding away when suddenly one of the tyres was blown away.

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It was the driver who saved the day with his presence of mind and super fast tyre change skills. We skidded for 50 mts on the road until we came to stop. Ellora was 30kms from Aurangabad in another direction. We had our food in a near by hotel. The caves here was spread all around the place and there were Autos running among them. The caves are mixture of Brahmin, Jain and Bhuddha cultures. Hindu carvings were enormous and we just lost our ways inside Kailasa cave.

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We just get to think that these people had nothing else to do back then. Dont miss Cave 16-Kailasa, 6,10, 30, 31 and 32. We misses the Indraprastha caves which were a little far away. The driver had booked return tickets by phone and we saw Daulatabad Fort and panchakki on the way back. Panchakki is just a waste of time and effort, but daulatabad can be a hideous climb to endure. If you loose your step you are a goner.

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At Aurangabad we also had the pleasure to see the Taj replica, Bibi ka Maqbara. It was delightful for me to compare the structures as i had visited the Taj. It looked almost the same if you analysed from far away and thus didnt notice the size difference.

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The caves closed at 6pm, just in case and they are not open on 2 different days(mon/tue) respectively each week. We started back at 9.45 Pm and reached back at Thane at 8 am due to some delay with roadblocks.
We went for shopping the next days and saw 2 movies, Xmen Origins-wolverine and Terminator salvation. T-IV was an opening show at 7.45Am which we enjoyed in an almost empty multiplex with reclining sofa chairs. The journey ended when we got on train at 4.50 back to Kerala. The train journey was fun as we had this full gang of 150 ppl who got on this Garib Rath with out tickets. We had to adjust with them as they had missed their train and paid some money to the TT. These people were manual laborers coming to Kerala. It was so evident fro their expression that they considered Kerala like a heaven, like US for us. Amazing.

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This day was supposed to be a vegetarian day. We all were having a heavy stomach after the other day’s chicken bash. First stop was 4D cinema at the Orama 4D theatre in the Atria Mall. It was recommended by Eldhose, but i had say you save the money. Its a 3D film with physical feedback through the chairs and surroundings. We got our ass poked, face sprayed with water and felt air pumped at different points on the body. The cost of the show was Rs240 per person for 15mins. We saw that lots of tour planners have booked the shows and we had to wait till noon for our show. This one was among the default tour plan list for the Mumbai tour trips. After the show we roamed around the Rolls Royce with watering mouths.

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We had some simple doughnuts at the food cafe and no one was feeling particularly hungry. We had a walk about the worli seaface. Here too te water looked damn filthy. Cousins were keeping the distance while small kids were enjoying the sea water sprayed from the sea face.

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It rained heavily on our way back, but then we never minded. There were couples everywhere enjoying their private moments and sharing it with us. Rain didnt matter to them too. We tried vegetarian food by trying pau bhaji, onion oothappam and stuff. Then we went to Juhu beach, the all so famous celebrity residential beach. The beach was crowded like no tomorrow. It was majorly normal people and indian tourists. No celebrity was seem anywhere and we missed foreigners too.

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The beach was huge and there were more than 10 football competitions going on among the local gangs all around the beach. We had a walk along the beach which made us realise how withdrawn the sea really was. Water was supposed to come upto the cocconut groves and it was like 100 mts withdrawn at that time. Tides would have a big effect on this beach.

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Majority of the city traveling was done in the Honda City with Jubind Driver ‘Mama’, who turned out to be best in the business. Traffic in Mumbai is one of a kind, you just got to see it to understand. First visit was Victoria Terminus or the Chatrapathy Shivaji Terminal. We got it without a ticket and saw metal detectors and policemen/policewomen on alert. Lots of trains having their last stop here and huge crowd was coming out in the morning time. I just could not imagine a better place for those terrorists to chose, no one would miss in such a crowd.

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We went to Manish market and Crawford Market in search of game cds and saw all kinds of electronic, textile and other goods there. Jubin then took us for his treat at a Zafrani hotel. We ate all kinds of chicken – Mughal, Afghani and what not. After this it was time for hanging gardens, which no one should try if on a tight schedule. On the way was Chowpatty beach and Marine Drive.

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We had a relaxation session at the hanging gardens, where there was nothing much to see. Then we went to fashion street near oval maidan which is the famous stadium of sachin tendulkar. We bought lots of cheap dress from the street for low prices as Rs100.

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Then we visited the terror attack places, the famous Leopold cafe which was full of foreigners. At the Taj there was huge Indian crowd who were mostly tourists. We could take a boat to elephante caves from here, but we chose not to as it was already late. The renovation work for Taj was in progress and we could see the floor which was on fire.

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The Gateway of India was just infront of the Taj. The sea water looked real bad and was dark brown in color. Water was sprayed into the roads as the waves smashed to the seaface. We decided to enjoy the night view of Taj with the lights on.

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We went to Bademiyan open air roadside restaurant to eat and had a bash with all kinds of chicken items.

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Thus day 2 ended with out much crowd seeing. We were disappointed but at the quality of the crowd at Mumbai, we expected more colors.

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Had a great one week getaway to Mumbai with my brother and cousins. The idea was there always, but i could not find the right time as all my cousins were engineering students and getting a vacations and making it coincide with a week break in my time schedule was near impossible task. But then we got
the break in june and me, my brother jeevan and cousin ashwath were on our way to mumbai. We
had our aunty and cousin jubin, who is now having his training in federal bank after his engineering.
The tickets were booked by ashwath and he was the original tour coordinator. So we took the netravati train from Ernakulam and got on in the general compartment. Although we could fo to the AC as we had booked the same train to mumbai, i was kinda hesitant. The general trip was a killer and we all were mashed up in the heavy crowd till we reached trissur. At trissur we were joined by vijay and ashwath. Vijay was the other cousin and had come to see us. He had this wish to join us but had
classes. The tickets were booked in tatkal and i had my berth in B1-52 and the other 2 had in B2. We
had booked normal tickets too which were always in waiting list and we had to cancel it.  had bought some 3/4ths to wear in Mumbai as they were alien to our regional ‘mundu’. Shaym had chappathy and bread with cheese and tomaro curry which was kinda intuitive from Mani aunty. Chappathy wrapped in tomato was a new thing to us.

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I woke up at 6 when the train was traveling though goa. It was beautiful, it was greenery everywhere.
I never felt that i ever exited kerala. It was my first konkan experience. I had always traveled in
the other routes and exiting kerala was always painful as we had to endure barren wastelands and
rocky mountains with thorny bushes scattered everywhere. THis was a totally new experience, nature in
all its marvel. We saw viaducts and hundreds of tunnels. Passing through tunnels were really fun for
the firsttimers. For once it will be total darkness, then there will be a ray of light, then blast of
light.

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Lots of farmers were working in the fields below and we all enjoyed the beautiful kerala like
sceneries. Then after some times the tunnels started to be a boring sight. As we approached Mumbai it started to rain. It was the first monsoon tain in mumbai and we thought our trip was spoiled. But it
was a welcome sight as it broke all conventions that i had about bombay.We couls see low lying mist, and slow rain. There were no big bldingd or any industrial look to the place. There were mountains
looming above and around the city. I never thought i could see mountains and greenery inside a metro. We were welcomed by a last tunnel as we approached thane station. We saw numerous suburban trains rocketing past us.

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Jubin was there to welcome us and we took off to their flat at Raheja gardens in the honda city. The
day was for resting and we started to see the T20 finals which turned out boring. So we went to Rmall
which was a mall nearby, it was claimed to be the first mall in India. We had a whiskey for Rs10
Getting back we had a great talk with each other catching up and planning for the days ahead.

Now onto day 1.

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