Trip to Mumbai: Second visit to IIT

Well I am sure u all must have read Aseem’s post on a trip to IIT powai (if not plz read it) and must have really enjoyed reading it as it was magnificently put-up.

We did have trips after that and I would like to share some inside experience. Yes.. We had an opportunity of staying at IIT this time and it was’ heaven on earth’ experience. The Jalvihar guesthouse at IIT –B is where we had our stay and I would say it was no less than a 3* hotel. It had a fountain at the frontage with swans’ seafaring through a pool of water neighboring the fountain. The calm and compassionate Powai Lake showing its very existence was on the rear side, housing a spectacular lawn. All rooms were on the first floor. There was a dining hall with buffet system (though we always preferred Gulmohar). The hotel authorities admonished us not to venture near the lake late night or we might be in the headlines, the very next day (leopards are the dominating species there).

The room matched all standards. At the front-right, there was a table with a study lamp (of course of no use to us). The room, equipped with a/c, though meant for two, would have cost just 50 more for extra bedding. The windows were huge and curtains hanging from their pelmets showed the glaring beauty of Powai Lake. Just imagine, all this, for just Rs250 a day, but we did have hell lot of trouble to get this luxurious room since we didn’t have the ID cards tagging us as external project students at IIT-B. Therefore, it was not before 4 pm that we did manage to get that room. As we advanced towards the guesthouse we had glimpses of the elite IITians, some of them wearing T-shirts of the respective companies, (google, Microsoft..Etc) they were placed in.

Crack of dawn at the campus was awesome. Since I woke up a bit early, I was the only lucky one to experience it. I had my morning tea and briefly glanced through all the newspapers. The news was as usual with Politics filling up most columns, the news digest with some cartoon (that too political) by R.K Laxman. One of my friends had his eye stuck on Page-2 of TOI (the masala newz). Soon we realized that we have a meeting with our guide at the IRCC (industrial research and consultancy centre) building, so we performed our daily ablutions and headed towards it.

The IRCC attached to the school of management (SJMSOM) was never the less, a paradise. Since we reached a bit early, we managed to have a half maggi and an ice tea. A gorgeous girl at the campus café shop was puffing a cigarette, which left us astonished. Soon after then we had our meeting. With labs being closed that day (as GEC, Saturday is a holiday there), we couldn’t do much there and we left back to our rooms. We had finished with our work at IIT. 2 of our grp members boarded a Volvo back to goa while we had plans to chill out. Therefore, we hired a cab to vicroli where one of my friend’s cousins was staying. We had planned a night stay there in godrej colony, a massive one, with life so peaceful and poles apart from the typical hastening one, the Mumbai owns.

The first chill out venue was CCD at ADLABS’ huma (kanjurmarg) and then we headed our joy towards the most happening place, “Nirmal Lifestyle”, one of the biggest malls in Mumbai. I’ll have to improve my vocabulary to express it in words. Everything over there was very ostentatious. Apart from those glitzy showrooms, it had “sachin’s”, a restaurant owned by sachin tendulkar, with a batsman hitting a six, as an insignia. We were wondering, how much a tea would have cost us there. The mall had a multiplex named PVR, with 8 screens where we planned a movie out. The show was at 10.30 pm so we thought of some window shopping.

Bluffed by the name of the movie “snakes on the plane”, (never knew it would literally mean snakes on the plane) we had no option but to watch it. The movie was so ferocious and inconceivable that I had to wait for the intermission to gulp some air. Also surfing the net was at the back of my mind (there were PCs for surfing and LCDs, which showed trailers of the upcoming movies). Though we couldn’t enjoy the movie, we did enjoy our outing.

The next day we did visited some places, Hiranandani gardens being one of them. Again, you’ll have to take a trip to Mumbai to experience the stuff. We did some shopping and headed back to our place. Later in the evening, we boarded a Volvo back to goa.

The whole trip was remarkable!!!