Personal website of Mithun Divakaran, a guy you may or may not know -- or like.
Date: January 20, 2025
I began my day stopping by Antilia, the tallest and most expensive private residence in the world. After that I walked all the way to Malabar Hill.
Upon leaving, I asked the staff at Pramod Navalkar Viewing Gallery if they knew how I could get to Marine Drive from there. I was told there is a bus stop just a short walk from the viewing deck.
Date: January 16, 2025
After a tiring first day in Mumbai, where I saw Gateway of India and Elephanta Caves just a few hours after landing in Mumbai, I had a good night’s sleep and felt well-rested. I was staying at Pals Hotel in Parel.
There was some poha, thepla (both Gujarati dishes), corn flakes, and tea. It was enough to get rid of hunger, that’s all.
I went back to my room and did my work for a couple of hours. I didn’t really have anything planned to go see today so after I finished my work, I decided to head to Phoenix Palladium Mall — Mumbai’s most famous mall.
Just as with food, I’m shocked to see Uber cost a lot less in Mumbai than Bengaluru! I didn’t know how to get to Phoenix Palladium using public transport and the car ride only took some 20 minutes.
Palladium is not Mumbai’s biggest, that would be Phoenix Marketcity in Kurla, but Palladium is the premier mall in what is considered ‘downtown Mumbai’.
Continue reading “Mumbai: Phoenix Palladium mall and skyscraper-gazing around Worli” »
Date: January 15, 2025
After not traveling anywhere in 2024, I began 2025 with a trip I had been planning for months prior. When Coldplay was going to play in Bangkok in 2024, I read rumours about the British band bringing their Music of the Spheres tour to India. So I held back from spending way too much just to go see Coldplay in Bangkok.
Tickets went live on BookMyShow on September 22, and although I struggled to purchase tickets, luckily I had a friend who got one for me. As luck would have it, the tickets arrived just a few days before I had to leave for Bangalore, and so I took the train to Calicut to meet my friend and got my entry tag.
I have already published the blog post about the Coldplay concert in Navi Mumbai, so now I’m going to begin my Mumbai series with all that I saw in the few days I spent in India’s financial capital.
Past midnight, I took an Uber to Bengaluru’s Terminal 1, which is now all domestic.
I booked with Akasa because at the time of booking, I got a fare of ₹3591 ($42/€39) including luggage and meals — which I thought was a good deal. More importantly, the flight was supposed to depart at 8:10 AM and arrive in Mumbai at 9:50AM — which I felt would have been a perfect to start my day and check-in to my hotel. Then one month prior, I get an email from Akasa Air saying due to a schedule change, my flight time was changed to depart at 3:50 AM and arrive at 5:35 AM! Grrrh 🙄
But while passing through security, I was sidelined and asked to take out an old mini mosquito bat that I was carrying. I was told that I would have to keep that in my check-in baggage because a device that can create electric shocks cannot be allowed on board. I told the guy it was old and not very strong but security wouldn’t allow it. So there, if anybody is wondering if mosquito bats are allowed in hand baggage on flights within India — the answer is no. I ‘gifted’ the security staff my old mini mosquito bat and walked to my gate.
Sadly it was served chilled but other than that, it tasted good. Cafreal poi is a Goan (originally Portuguese) dish — basically meat stuffed bread pockets.
Continue reading “Mumbai: Visiting CST and Gateway of India Early in the Morning” »