A recall of one the significant events in my last 2 weeks in Mumbai...
As I neared my flying off dates, I was constantly reminded of my bond with this city. 26yrs and I had never before felt so attached to the city.
I was again going away - from my home, my friends and most of all my city... Mumbai
Initially, I had started off writing this blog, trying to cover the Kala Ghoda festival, later only to realize that Kala Ghoda was just one of the colours of this city.
Being a photography enthusiast, I thought that it would be nice to capture some moments to be carried on as memories.
Places which had been long forgotten or hadn't been visited for the lack of time this city offered; I thought it would be a nice idea to revisit them.
So I gathered some friends; organised a get together and to be a bit formal and look serious, came up with a detailed itinerary about the event I called a photo-walk. Some 30 odd people - known and unknown alike, registered for it. It was unexpected and till the day of the "photo-walk", I was worried as to how would I control such a crowd and carryout the "event" as planned rather than have a chaos.
Fortunately or unfortunately, on the day, only my known friends turned out (whichever way you want to look at it). The crowd was controllable and soon the small group of mine were roaming about, around Churchgate and Fort and clicking whatever was in sight.
Finally after a lot of loitering around, we finally had a quick McD brunch and were joined by another group. This one was roaming since 6 in the morning and so some of them went home while others stayed back. Soon it seemed that long lost friends had met.I cut the itinerary short and started for Elephanta caves immediately.
The ride on the ferry was a mini photo-walk in itself. People posed, everyone of us wanted to prove to ourselves that yes we could click. But yes we all could photograph. Whether we had a camera or not, it didn't matter; what mattered was that we all were full of ideas to relish upon.
Elephanta had its own charm - a small toy train, hell lot of steps and finally the sight of the caves; not that its divine, but the sight from the top of the small island hill is breath taking.
Small shops lined the both sides of the stairs, that led up to the caves, giving the young photography enthusiasts millions of opportunities to test the skill and capture the sight in the most mesmerizing way it could have been possible.
The cave had its own charisma; provided us with the window to the rich ancient culture. I had been to Ajanta and Ellora, late last year. But every time I saw these caves, it always left me with a very intriguing question - how on earth did they manage this feat in those days??? Back of my mind I knew that there weren't any answers.
PDA is now common in my city. It shows the unique bonding one had for the other even if life has been too fast for us to even look at each other; so we just find time to bond, whenever life throws an opportunity.
After roaming around for hours in the caves, the group gathered again and we had the much needed group photograph.
Tired as we were, after the entire days ordeal, we scavenged the hilltop for a restaurant. We finally gorged upon the food that the lone hotel on the hilltop served and rushed back to the "last" ferry for the day from the island.
Our ride back on the steamer was unlike the one we had while going to the caves. Anyone hardly spoke; the day seemed to had drained our energy. But the surprise guests who visited us injected life back into us - the beautiful aerial friends of the sea; seagulls.
As the sun began to set we had a wonderful view in front of us - the island city. The sun began to dive into the city's skyline; it seemed it bade farewell to all of us in the ferry, specially to me and we let the mesmerizing sight sink deep into us.
As we neared the city, another wonderful sight awaited us - The Gateway of India. I would like to credit the British for having thought of such an ecstatic name for the stone monument. After some good captures, we settled down to disembark from the ferry.
Everyone was tired, but the faint glimpse of smile was enough to convince me that the things were in place and everyone would have cherished the day as I had planned.
I reeled through my days catch and was filled with a strange sentiment looking at the photographs - something perhaps that just cant be described in black and white.
It just can be felt - in my city, my Mumbai....
As I neared my flying off dates, I was constantly reminded of my bond with this city. 26yrs and I had never before felt so attached to the city.
I was again going away - from my home, my friends and most of all my city... Mumbai
Initially, I had started off writing this blog, trying to cover the Kala Ghoda festival, later only to realize that Kala Ghoda was just one of the colours of this city.
There were several others which needed to be captured... The last time I tried to do that, I found one blog to be not enough...
Places which had been long forgotten or hadn't been visited for the lack of time this city offered; I thought it would be a nice idea to revisit them.
So I gathered some friends; organised a get together and to be a bit formal and look serious, came up with a detailed itinerary about the event I called a photo-walk. Some 30 odd people - known and unknown alike, registered for it. It was unexpected and till the day of the "photo-walk", I was worried as to how would I control such a crowd and carryout the "event" as planned rather than have a chaos.
Fortunately or unfortunately, on the day, only my known friends turned out (whichever way you want to look at it). The crowd was controllable and soon the small group of mine were roaming about, around Churchgate and Fort and clicking whatever was in sight.
Finally after a lot of loitering around, we finally had a quick McD brunch and were joined by another group. This one was roaming since 6 in the morning and so some of them went home while others stayed back. Soon it seemed that long lost friends had met.I cut the itinerary short and started for Elephanta caves immediately.
The ride on the ferry was a mini photo-walk in itself. People posed, everyone of us wanted to prove to ourselves that yes we could click. But yes we all could photograph. Whether we had a camera or not, it didn't matter; what mattered was that we all were full of ideas to relish upon.
Elephanta had its own charm - a small toy train, hell lot of steps and finally the sight of the caves; not that its divine, but the sight from the top of the small island hill is breath taking.
Small shops lined the both sides of the stairs, that led up to the caves, giving the young photography enthusiasts millions of opportunities to test the skill and capture the sight in the most mesmerizing way it could have been possible.
The cave had its own charisma; provided us with the window to the rich ancient culture. I had been to Ajanta and Ellora, late last year. But every time I saw these caves, it always left me with a very intriguing question - how on earth did they manage this feat in those days??? Back of my mind I knew that there weren't any answers.
PDA is now common in my city. It shows the unique bonding one had for the other even if life has been too fast for us to even look at each other; so we just find time to bond, whenever life throws an opportunity.
After roaming around for hours in the caves, the group gathered again and we had the much needed group photograph.
Tired as we were, after the entire days ordeal, we scavenged the hilltop for a restaurant. We finally gorged upon the food that the lone hotel on the hilltop served and rushed back to the "last" ferry for the day from the island.
Our ride back on the steamer was unlike the one we had while going to the caves. Anyone hardly spoke; the day seemed to had drained our energy. But the surprise guests who visited us injected life back into us - the beautiful aerial friends of the sea; seagulls.
As the sun began to set we had a wonderful view in front of us - the island city. The sun began to dive into the city's skyline; it seemed it bade farewell to all of us in the ferry, specially to me and we let the mesmerizing sight sink deep into us.
As we neared the city, another wonderful sight awaited us - The Gateway of India. I would like to credit the British for having thought of such an ecstatic name for the stone monument. After some good captures, we settled down to disembark from the ferry.
Everyone was tired, but the faint glimpse of smile was enough to convince me that the things were in place and everyone would have cherished the day as I had planned.
I reeled through my days catch and was filled with a strange sentiment looking at the photographs - something perhaps that just cant be described in black and white.
It just can be felt - in my city, my Mumbai....
