Mumbai Lens – Page 4 – My Favourite Things

Mumbai Lens: Haji Ali Dargah

Posted on January 17, 2012August 15, 2014 by sudhagee

This blog post was featured in the “Around the Blog” section of the DNA newspaper published on January 23, 2011 (pg.6).

We almost miss the narrow entrance to the Haji Ali Dargah hidden amongst the many stalls. Actually, that is not really the entrance to the dargah itself; it is the entrance to the only path that leads to it. The path has stalls selling flowers and sweets to be offered at the dargah on one side, and beggars with unimaginable physical deformities lined up on the other side. It is nearly 4.30 in the evening and we (a friend who is visiting from Delhi and I) have joined the many people making their way to the dargah. For both of us, this is our first visit to the Haji Ali Dargah.

Just outside the main entrance to the dargah, we pick up some flowers and sweets from one of the stalls and join the separate queue for women. The din, the crowds and the organised chaos that is normally associated with such places vanish when we enter the dargah. Inside, it is quiet and peaceful and when our turn comes, we make our offerings, say our prayers and move to one side.

My friend wishes to take some photographs of the dargah, but we are not sure if it is allowed. Though there are no signs stating otherwise, we are still hesitant to take out our cameras. A caretaker at the dargah notices the cameras around our necks and our indecision, and mimes that it is alright to take photos.

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Mumbai Lens: The Gorai Pagoda

Posted on December 29, 2011March 31, 2014 by sudhagee

Some things are “discovered” serendipitously, like the Gorai Pagoda.

One Saturday morning in January 2010, I found myself with nothing to do. I was Borivali to conduct a training session on report writing, which had got cancelled at the last-minute due to an outbreak of food poisoning amongst the group I was supposed to train.

I didn’t feel like returning home or going for a movie or visiting friends who lived in the area. I wanted to see and experience something new. As I was standing outside the training centre mulling over various options, I saw a bus heading for Gorai Jetty. And I knew where I wanted to go—the Global Vipassana Pagoda a.k.a. the Gorai Pagoda, a place that I had only heard about but had not visited.

A short and sharp auto rickshaw ride later, I was at the jetty buying a return ticket to Gorai Island for a visit to the Pagoda. As I walked towards the waiting ferry, I saw this shimmering golden pagoda rising in the distance, almost like a mirage.

I spent so much time looking at the beautiful,magical and ethereal pagoda and taking pictures that I missed the ferry and had to wait for the next one to take me to Gorai Island for an exploration of the Global Vipassana Pagoda. But that, dear reader, is matter for another post. 🙂

Mumbai Lens is a photographic series which, as the name suggests, is Mumbai-centric and is an attempt to capture the various moods of the city through my camera lens. You can read more posts from this series here.

Mumbai Lens: The Asiatic Library

Posted on November 30, 2011March 31, 2014 by sudhagee

This blog post was featured in the “Around the Blog” section of the DNA newspaper published on December 7, 2011 (pg.7). 🙂

The iconic building of the Asiatic Library of Mumbai, also called Town Hall, was recently in the news for a rather sad reason. Renovation work, which had begun in 2008–2009, had been stalled due to unpaid bills amounting to nearly 2 crores ! (You can read more about this here). When I had last walked by this beautiful building one August morning earlier this year, there was scaffolding on the sides, scraped and chipped paint on the ground, and blue protective sheets covering the exposed parts. Sounds of repair work could be heard even over the traffic.

asiatic library 1 — The entrance to the Asiatic Society Library

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Mumbai Lens: Bats at my bus stop

Posted on October 7, 2011March 31, 2014 by sudhagee

If you happen to be at the Punjabwadi bus stop in Deonar (Mumbai), just outside Saras Baug society, do pause for a minute. Or two. Over and above the din of the traffic, you will hear another kind of noise—lots of screeching and screaming. No, no, don’t look around for the source of this noise, look up into the trees and this is what you’ll see:

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Mumbai Lens: Misty monsoon avatar

Posted on September 1, 2011March 31, 2014 by sudhagee

Quick ! Tell, me, what images come to your mind when you think of monsoons and rains in Mumbai? The waves lashing the Worli seaface or Marine Drive. People wading through (at least) knee-deep water. Submerged tracks. Buses and taxis still plying in spite of heavy rainfall. Victims of landslides or collapsed buildings…

I present to you here none of these images; instead, what I present here are lesser seen images, avatars, of Mumbai. Images that almost made me feel like I was somewhere else.

Mumbai monsoons 1 — View from Nehru Centre one rainy day

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Mumbai Lens: Chaos !

Posted on August 16, 2011March 31, 2014 by sudhagee

For a Mumbaikar, crowds and Mumbai are often mentioned in the same breath. But sometimes, and I must admit here that such times are very rare, the sheer crowd volume can shock even the most die-hard Mumbaikar as I found on August 14.

I had a friend visiting from Delhi and she was rather keen on seeing the Gateway of India. So, after a morning spent wandering around Ballard Estate, Kala Ghoda and the Fort area, we arrived at the Gateway of India to see this.