Best Friends Day Out #MumbaiMemoirs
Weekends are good, especially when you are working whole week; and these get even better if you have your bff by your side. Yes, that was the weekend : bliss.
I woke up early, I mean early by the Sunday standards. I was meeting my BFF, R after such a long time. We had quite a lot in our to do list, apart from talking obviously. Moreover due to mega block, we actually had no other option. We boarded our respective trains and met at Dadar station. There wasn’t much rush as I have been told the case usually is before the mega block starts. As the train moved forward, my mind drifted to the palace of memories I had with my BFF. It’s after seven years that we are in the same cities and can actually meet up whenever we like, go shopping together, chill out over a cup of coffee, be awake for sleepovers, and many other things usual BFFs do.
As I got down from the station, I found her within minutes. Though we had always tried and have made it to meet each other atleast once a year , but catching up like this felt different, it felt good. They say it right, true friends never grow apart, they just pick up from wherever you left. Our chatter started as soon as we met. Though we already knew almost everything what’s been happening in our lives but there was a different experience retelling the same stories over and over again, but this time it was with an added advantage of gestures and expressions.
We went to Siddhi Vinayak temple. I had made it a point that it will be the first of destinations I’m going to visit in city, as soon as I had received the news of my posting in Mumbai. I had to thank Him for all the good that has come my way and seek the blessings for the way ahead. It’s been ages I have been to any temple, my heart needed some peace. The rush wasn’t as much I had thought it to be considering the Sunday morning. I guess everyone is busy with the Diwali preparations, the festival that was due kickoff the next day. After offering our prayers, we left the place.
Our next mission was to fill our grumbling tummies with some yummy food. She took me to one of her favourite restaurants in Bandra. We scanned the menu and ordered ourselves something delicious and then quickly grabbed a seat. The uninteruppted session of our non-stop chatter has already started while we were on the way. At times it felt like that we could read each other’s faces and complete each other’s half-spoken sentences. And at other times, the gap of these many years of not being together was visible. Sometimes it felt like that we know each other inside-out and other times it felt as if we were new friends getting to know each other slowly and slowly.. At times it was like we’re still the same as we were years ago and then the next moment it would turn out that we have changed so much. I guess that’s the thing about Time, it changes everything yet a few things doesn’t.
After having filled our stomachs with the sandwiches and our hearts with our talks, we started on the other mission. This time it was our mission to find a place of residence, which failed miserably as most of the people had gone home and there was no one to show us around. Luckily we got hold of one flat which we could visit. After getting half-lost on our way, we reached the location. The place did please but the locality didn’t, so we unhappily walked out. It would need another hunting trip, probably after the festival. We had met after such a long time that we just didn’t want to part our ways so soon and there was also some festive shopping to be done. We, very wisely, chose a mid-point to our place of residences respectively.
After more than an hour or so, we stepped in the mall. After an hour of some walking around and searching for just-the-right-thing we gave up to hungry tummies once again. Moreover, it was time to go home. Quickly (what we thought it was), we had our dinner. But the disaster was waiting for us just outside the mall. The new concept that I was introduced to that day was the long queue we had to follow before we got the Auto for the desired destination. What!!! That was my reaction. When after minutes we were no where close to getting even the glimpse of any auto, I started panicking. It was getting late by the standard time we have to reach home.
Seeing me panicking, she walked a few meters to fetch an auto for ourselves. She came back with one and I hopped in to reach the nearest local station. All this while, when the stream of our talks was reduced to a trickle, different thoughts occupied our minds. All this while I didn’t forget to keep checking my watch. Time seemed to be flying and we seemed to be crawling at the speed of a snail, courtesy weekend plus festival traffic. No sooner did we reach the station, we found ourselves running hard towards the platform but my injured foot wouldn’t let me even run (yes, while during the day I had slipped and it hurt whenever I tried walking faster, forget running).
Little did we know that reaching home won’t be as easy as we had planned it to be. The direct train was only after 45mins and that meant that I would reach home post 11. My mind was busy doing the maths, calculating how much time it would take and how late I already was. We decided to break the journey, even if it meant it was in reverse direction. I quickly calculated and dictated the decision, forcing her to board the coming train.
The coach was half empty. I had heard the city never sleeps and saw it to be true for myself. At This time of the hour I couldn’t have imagined myself to be out. She tried to calm me down but her words had no effect on me. I could see that even she was worried, worried for me. I kept on checking my watch every other second. Mobile network had decided to disconnect me at those very moments. The wind seemed to do little to soothe my nerves. I plugged in my earphones, hoping the music might bring some relief. I glanced out of the window, disoriented. Images of the huge buildings, with little windows of different lights, that passed by flashed in my eyes. It took me a few seconds to realise the reason behind all the colors those windows showcased. And when I did, nostalgia hit me. Those were the the festive lighting for Diwali.
Finally after more than hour of extreme anxiety, I stepped into my home. What was meant to be a casual meeting turned out to be quite an adventurous experience in the end. But then, all’s well that ends well.
What adventures have you faced in a new city? Share along!
Oh! Glad you were home safe. I also get worried when it gets late. New city – well many anxious moments but all resulted in good things. It’s all part of the learning game. Like planning what time to start back for home, what to do in case it gets too late etc 🙂
Enjoy!
🙂 alls well that ends well ..
my adventures have been aplenty .. will write them one day
Happy Diwali to you and family and Everyone around you .
Bikram’s
That was quite an adventure for sure, and you tell it so well:-) A day out like that with an old friend – as good as it gets….:-)
Happy Diwali! 🙂