Ganapati Bappa Morya

With each passing hour the energy levels of the people accompanying the Ganesh idols goes up, the noise decibels can be heard even by folks on the 28th floor and the palpable excitement of being part of the most important festival of Mumbai is enough to carry you through the night till the idol is immersed in the water.

On the last day of this 10 day mega festival the idol immersion day known as Visarjan day all the roads leading to the lakes and the sea is clogged with long processions, music, dance and cheer. Over 250 community Idols along with tens of thousands of individual idols are ready for the final ritual of immersion.

Due to its dual social-political and religious significance Ganesh Chaturthi has acquired the status of a cross-cultural event. People from all walks of life participate in the festival. Statues of Ganapati is made varying in size between a few inches to over 25 meters. On ten different days the statue is anointed with various Aaratis and Abhishekhas alongside Vedic and Puranic Ganesha Mantras that are musically chanted. On the final day, large processions to the tune of millions literally throng river and sea shores to immerse the idols, chanting “Ganapati Bappa Morya Purchya Varshi Laukaria” meaning Ganapati our Lord, We look forward to welcome you next year.

Check out some of the pics and see the Mumbai way of life.

Eat Street in Jalan Alor

Street food is best enjoyed outside in open air amongst the locals with all the buzz and noise surrounding the food. I missed this in Lot10 and was looking for an alternative.
A short taxi from the Bintang walk is Jalan Alor street where  I saw lots of people and a very different street with many hawker stalls. Locals sitting on plastic chairs outside these rows of hawkers, sipping Beer, the hawkers shouting over themselves with the orders, piping hot food making its way to the plastic tables and a gala time being had by all.
I could see the restaurants offering a mix of Malay and Chinese dishes. Rice & Noodles, soups, porridges, chicken ,Pork, exotic seafood and more..menu seemed endless.
I saw several outlets serving alcohol and could see pretty much every Malay, Chinese and Thai dish imaginable, from grilled fish, satay’s and fried noodles with frogs’ legs. I kept walking all the way to experience the vibrant street looking at the signs and the dishes on the tables.
Check out a few pics..

Eat Street-China Town,Singapore

On one of the early mornings in Singapore, I decided to have Porridge and was ready to head to China Town..specifically to Tiong Shian.
Its a very spacious restaurant , simple in approach and design and always packed..good that it starts early for breakfast and possible to get a table, other times will need a wait.
Mainly frequented by the locals ,Tiong Shian serves many different types of porridge and claypot dishes.

Consider yourself lucky if you manage to get a table within 5 minutes of your entering Tiong Shian during the peak lunch or dinner time.

Or you could jump start your day by going there for breakfast.
Porridge needs no introduction and this is easily the best Porridge meal to start your tour day.
From Plain Porridge to other speciality Porridge with Century eggs, this is one place which will keep getting you back.


Location: Take the MRT to ChinaTown and you will find this opp CK Mall on the New Bridge Road.

Strp it up to Henderson Waves!

Standing 118ft above Henderson road I could see below tiny buses and cars moving along the road. The green foliage of the forest and park area had shielded virtually every man made structure around, some of the tall buildings managed to show themselves though,maybe trying to still score a point for balance.

At this early hour on a weekday, a solitude walk with no one around within a five km radius was exhilarating. The bridge is designed uniquely resembling seven waves rising up and down the deck.


The bridge was made to connect Mt.Faber and Telok Blangah Hill Park a few years ago, the walk is about 1/2 a km and feels like a board walk.
It had started to drizzle a little and I started to walk towards the Mt.Faber park.

From here I could take in a panaromic view of the city, the dense CBD and a rainforest that was slowly opening up through the haze.


Walking through the lush jungle canopy and for a while sitting on the many benches felt great.
A little ahead out of the clearing, I was surprised to see the Sentosa cable car station. I was not aware of this ride to the Sentosa resort island. Think not many people take a ride on one of the many cars gliding through the mountains, I didn’t.


I must have spent about 3 hours of the morning and enjoyed the quiet, fresh air and the lush green environment.

A Bath back in time!

“Every traveler has a home of his own, and he learns to appreciate it the more from his wandering” , so said Charles Dickens. Was that the reason he began to dislike Bath later on after writing some of his best novels there ? The other famous resident and visitor Jane Austen had similar views on Bath where atleast a couple of her best sellers were written, seems she found the place depressing and so unable to write.
These were some of my thoughts on the bus ride from Victoria coach station, London to Bath. A day earlier I had pre-booked a seat  on the National Express website and the bus started on time. It was a no-stop bus and took a little over  3 hrs to reach Bath.
Brushing aside the personal views of the two great literary geniuses, I decided to form my own opinion after my visit.
A few minutes before our bus reached the depot, there was a lot of traffic, cars and tourists were all lined by the sidewalks. This being centre of the town had a lot of cafes and loads of tourists relaxing adjacent on the lawns watching the Wimbeldon on the big screen.

I quickly figured out the Hop on Hop off stop and boarded the first bus coming my way. The fare was £24 and was good for two tours, one was the City tour and the other called Skyline which was a ride all the way up the mountain.
I was on the City tour bus, perched on a bucket seat in the open deck and ready to take in as much of the city as possible. Almost all the roads were one-way , narrow and congested. Our bus was stopping more than moving and I got more time to appreciate the stunning architecture all around. Roman archaeological sites and 16th century Churches and Bridges just waiting to be seen, all in the next 45 minutes of this ride.





After the City bus tour, I decided to see the No.1 reason every visitor is here, The Roman Baths. This is the site to re-live the 2000 yr history, the world of the Romans and Saxons, Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth, from the BC times to AD.
Inside the centre stands the Roman Baths, Britain’s only hot spring replete with a magnificent temple and bathing complex flowing with natural hot water even now. Bathing here is not permitted and many signs saying this can be seen. So much for hoping to bathe like a Roman!

Entrance is £13 and came with audio plugins for commentary. I followed a defined route through the complex.
Starting point was the terrace and could see the Baths down.
A lot of the Roman Baths extend under the modern ground level, beneath adjacent streets and squares, so was surprised to discover just how big the site really is. Descending through the complex from the terrace and finishing in the Pump Rooms to take a glass of spring water, found it warm and with some taste, unlike normal water.



Bath befits the status of a Unesco World Heritage site, many reasons and chiefly being the Roman Baths, stupendous architecture and landscape.

It was hard to leave this magnificent, historical and cultural city..I had booked my return on the late night bus back to London. Another day, another time.

Flight of the Pigeons

The cooing feathered flock has been replaced with the two legged odd shaped street dancers! Unlike the Pigeons who were quietly moving around the Trafalgar square fountain, this tribe of street dancers make their presence felt with loud music and their jumping jack behaviour, fusion dance as we call them. The affectionate children playing and feeding grains to the loved Pigeons are replaced with adults and their active cameras. At the end of the show, caps of the dancers go around collecting show money, the pigeons just go around fluttering their displaying their happiness to us having fed them.










Trafalgar Square is just not the same anymore and how can it be when peace is sought to be replaced with cleanliness.


Is there any reason to sit on the benches to look at the modern cacophony of street transport belching out invisible pollutants and tourists pointing out with their cameras?