ABC Wednesday - 'E' for Elephanta Island

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The Elephanta Island is a forest covered island off the coast of Mumbai, and a quiet and interesting getaway from the chaos of the city. It can be accessed by ferry from the Gateway of India. The island is famous for its Elephanta Caves ( a World Heritage Site), which are cave temples carved in the rock of the island. The temples date back to somewhere between the 5th and 8th century.

To go to Elephanta island, go to Gateway of India, an impressive structure facing the sea, and board the ferry to Elephanta, tickets for which are available at the Elephanta ticket counter, or from a person officially distributing tickets to passengers in queue at the jetty for the next boat to Elephanta. The first ferry leaves at 9 am and the last one at 2 pm and the frequency is every half an hour.

After getting off the boat, there is a walkway that leads to the base of the hill, where there are steps leading to the caves. There is also a mini toy train that will take you to the base of the steps.

There was a lot to the trip besides the sculptures in the caves which are in poor condition. The ferry ride was one of the attractions.
In my next few posts, I will show you around the island, caves, sculptures, the huge canons, shopping for sculptures, souvenirs and handicraft and not to forget the monkeys grabbing food from visitors and drinking Pepsi straight from the bottle. And also the speedboats and the ships and the seagulls we saw during the fascinating breezy boat ride.

For interesting photos of ABC Wednesday 'E' for

click below:

Weekend in Black & White : 5

Castella de Aguada (Fort of the Waterpoint), commonly known as Bandra Fort is a fort located at Land's End, Bandra.

The bridge you see in the photo with the fort is the Bandra-Worli sea link. It is the first cable stayed bridge constructed over the seas in India, and links Bandra in the Western suburbs to Worli in South Mumbai. The sea link reduces the travel time from Bandra to Worli from 60-90 minutes to about 20-30 minutes.

A visit to Bandra fort and a pleasure ride across the sea link from Worli to Bandra is a 'must do' for the Mumbai tourist.

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Our World Tuesday # 13 Mumbai Metro

Mumbai Metro

Mumbai Metro Line 1 VAG ( Versova - Andheri - Ghatkopar ) was inaugurated on 8 June, 2014. It was designed to reduce the traffic congestion in the city, and provide east-west rail connectivity.

Tokens and smart cards are available for travel. The frequency of metro train is 4 minutes at peak hours and 8 minutes at non-peak hours, Sundays and holidays.
The train timings are from 5:30 am to 12 am.

The route is as follows:

Versova - D. N. Nagar - Azad Nagar - Andheri - WEH ( Western Express Highway) - Chakala - Airport Road - Marol Naka - Saki Naka - Asalpha - Jagruti Nagar - Ghatkopar

Inside Mumbai Metro

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Ladies Compartment in Mumbai Local Train

A view inside the Ladies Compartment of new Mumbai local train. The train has a new look, purple and silver on the outside, and steel on the inside with comfortable seating, and good quality fans. The upgrade was long due and these 12 coach rakes have been welcomed by the commuters.

Saturday Photo Hunters Theme: WILD

WILD CROWD

Wild crowd trying to get into/get out of the train at Kurla station.

The commuters pounce into the train even before it has halted, with little thought for others around them. There is a mad rush to get in, even if it means shoving the fellow commuter out of the  train.

If you are at the station for the first time, make sure you avoid peak hours. People hanging  out of the train at the door is a common sight even during non-peak hours. If you manage to set your feet on the train, it is important to squeeze yourself inside enough to be safe.

For more details and photos on Mumbai local train travel, click Mumbai Local Train

Weekend Snapshot: Train Travel

This weekend we travel by train to granny's house (my mom's place) which my son calls 'Nani Ghar' and looks forward to meeting his grandparents. I have always been fond of travelling by train, and now my little preschooler does too. Our journey by train is about one and half hour.

Train journey to us means watching people get in and get out of the train and learning names of stations, observing hawkers call out loudly to sell their wares, some shopping and lots of skywatch through the train window. Also, we look forward to the bhel wala selling yummy bhel for Rs.5 a packet.
We both carry our own cameras, mine a Sony Cybershot and his, a toy camera.
As I click photographs, he imitates me and looks for an angle to take his shot
;-) and pretends he got a cool shot.
I make sure we are not travelling during peak hours and having fun.

Have a great weekend and lots of fun.

Train Ads

Advertisements on Mumbai Local trains have become very common nowadays.

Ads like this one 'A TV soap about shaadi- marriage, sasural - home after marriage, usually a joint family, sasumaa -mom in law' are best advertised on Ladies compartments, and increase the TRP of TV soaps. As soon as women passengers see a train like this, they begin to discuss the storyline and lo --the soap is soon popular.

This one 'Mera Sasural' is on all the compartments of the train.

Mumbai Metro

Work for Phase 1 of Mumbai Metro Rail Project Mass Rapid Transit has finally begun. This photo is right outside my mom's place on Versova Road. The first 11 km route of the Mumbai metro will be between Versova and Ghatkopar, all stations elevated, connecting the East to the West.



Anil Dhirubhai Ambani's Reliance Energy has bagged the project. Talks are on with major rolling stock builders like Alstom (France), Siemens (Germany) and Bombardier, which have produced vehicles for metro systems all over the world.

This section on Versova road is in the middle of the road, and obviously causing traffic problems. You can see the 7 Bunglow Bus Depot Mall in the photo. Also, a large number of traders at the Andheri market will have to be relocated to give way to the project. Promises are many. We have to wait and watch if they are implemented.

Gold Cab

Mumbai Gold Cab (P) Ltd. launches a fleet of yellow taxis in Mumbai to be leased to taxi drivers. The fleet of taxis is divided into three segments according to the type of vehicle
- basic (Maruti Esteem, Tata Indigo and Hyundai Accent)
- medium (Mitsubishi Lancer)
- luxury (Toyota Corolla)
For every 1.5 km distance covered, the tariff would be Rs. 15 (basic), Rs. 19 (medium) and Rs. 24 (luxury) as compared to the blue cool cab which charges Rs. 16.50 every 1.5 km and the black and yellow taxi which charges a minimum of Rs. 13.
The cabs will be available on demand through fax, sma, internet and taxi terminals.
The company provides 24 hour service.

This cabbie volunteered to pose in front of his Maruti Esteem cab when I asked permission to photograph his cab.

Outside Andheri Station

After the rains stopped, I left mom's place to go to Andheri station to get into a train to reach home. The roads were still wet and the rain did not stop people fromm moving out. It was very crowded even after 9 pm in trains today.

Traffic Jam

This is a common sight in Mumbai. This is traffic jam at Chembur, on the way to Dadar from Navi Mumbai. Earlier, this was considered normal during rush hours (office hours usually from 8 am to 10.30 am and from 5 pm to 8 pm). But this photo was taken at 3.30 pm.

Automobile sales have gone up in the already overpopulated city and we have to face the consequences.

Hutch PCO's IN BEST Buses

BEST bus customers in Mumbai can now make calls to any destination in India while travelling.
BEST is into a partnership with the telecom service provider Hutch, with plans to install its PCO's in more than 1,700 buses. The Hutch PCO is a GSM-based phone, for commuters to make local, STD and ISD calls using one rupee coins.The PCO"S and Hutch drop boxes (for cheque payment of Hutch phone bills) are installed behind the driver's seat. More than 100 buses have already been fitted with the PCO's.

Local calls are charged at Re.1 for 20 seconds, STD calls at Re.1 for 20 seconds and ISD calls at Re.1 for 6 seconds.
Passengers have welcomed and appreciated the initiative taken by BEST, and look at it as modernization of travel in BEST buses.

CST (VT Station)

This is the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (commonly known as Victoria Terminus or VT Station) at 5 pm in the evening, when the office crowd begins to rush to the station.

Fruit Sellers At Sanpada Station

These are fruit sellers at Sanpada station carrying baskets of fresh fruit from Mumbai's wholesale fruit market in Vashi. Sanpada is the nearest station for the wholesale fruit and vegetable markets, and the Agriculture Produce Market in Navi Mumbai.
The wholesale vegetable and fruit markets were shifted from Mumbai to Vashi in early 1996. Many small fruit sellers across the city ( Mumbai and Navi Mumbai) come here and buy large quantities (one to 5 baskets) of seasonal fruit and sell it in local markets or along the roadside in the city for a daily living.

Mumbai Train At Peak Hours

The Mumbai Local Train Week ( extended to 9 days till today) would have been incomplete without this photo.

The Mumbai train is always overcrowded at peak hours in the morning and evening. Even women in the ladies compartment travel like that in the photo. I won't blame people standing near the door coz I do it myself. I stand near the door facing the direction in which the train will move, to get breeze. In a crowded train, it sometimes gets suffocating inside if you are not seated near the window.

Along The Railway Line

This is what annoys me the most in my city (but I couldn't upload it for the Feb 1st theme). I took this photo from the train near Chembur station on harbour line of Central Railway. All along the railway line, you will find drains and canals filled mostly with polythene carry bags and also empty wafer packs, chocolate wrappers and all possible rubbish. This muck is what did not allow the rain water to drain into the sea on 26th July, 2005 and claimed over 400 lives. Doesn't really look that dangerous, does it? And blame the municipal authorities if you like, but I've seen municipal workers go knee deep in the muck and clean it up, only to find it worse in less than 2 months.

A. H. Wheeler Book Stall

You will see the A.H Wheeler bookstall at every station in the city, and also at stations outside Mumbai in India. From Classics to love stories, newspapers, magazines, comics and books in English and regional languages, it's all there. The reading culture it has instilled among travelling Indians is beyond praise.

Ladies Compartment

The ladies compartment in Mumbai local trains is also very crowded in peak hours. This photo is of a ladies compartment in an Andheri bound train from Churchgate in the afternoon.
You will find women and young boys selling all kinds of articles like hair clips, bindis, fancy key chains, bangles, money purses, and sometimes even salwar kameez dress material. Some of it is good quality stuff and a good bargain too.

Mumbai Local Train Week

Mumbai local train is the lifeline of Mumbai. If you visit Mumbai, you must experience a ride in the local train. Try avoiding peak hours. This week will be Mumbai Train Travel Week. The Mumbai local trains carry more than 6.1 million commuters on a daily basis. It has the highest passenger density of any urban railway system in the world. Overcrowding is a major problem, especially during peak (office going) hours.

Mumbai Double Decker Bus

The Mumbai Double Decker Bus looks similar to the London Double Decker. There is one conductor on each deck, and the conductor on the lower deck makes sure that all passengers have alighted and got in.