2nd March 2025
Saptarshi and I headed to Bandra station, bought tickets, then watched in awe as every doorway (except on the ladies only carriges) were so full, they had 4-6 guys holding on outside the train. We tried in vain to push onto a couple but agreed we were never going to get on. We ditched the tickets and went and grabbed a taxi and headed off initially across the Sea-Link bridge to Worli
First stop was the richest man in Indias Daughter’s house
Checked out many of the cities unique buildings
An absolute standout for me was Dhobi Gatt, which is the most condensed set of individual laundry businesses you’ve ever seen. Courier motorbikes zipping in and out continuously. Thousands of deliveries in and out every day. It is the true definition of organised chaos. I don’t think anyone knows exactly how it works but everyone knows their part and just gets it done.
Next on the tour list was No. 1 stops Daddy, the richest man in India’s house, all 26 storeys of it
Now this security looked like a pretty genuinely intimidating private army. Set up with Semi Auto Shotty’s, assuaul rifles and pretty obviously more toys to play with if the going got tough. Saptarshi was trying to hold me back but I knew they wouldn’t just blow me away with nothing more than a phone in my hand so I had to see if I could get some close ups.
I get up near the security gate of the driveway and a very well spoken, nicely dressed man came straight across to tell me I couldn’t film there. He politely explained that if the images ended up online, it could help plan an attack. Fair reasons I thought and readily agreed. Funny but with the army behind him, he probably could have asked for a kidney!
Our next step on the agenda was Marine drive. The promenade of the area. Clearly the place to be and quite the tourist area.
Our last real stop was the Gateway to India and the Taj Mahal hotel.
Saptarshi thought it was a magnificent buildingand saw it as his dream to go in there one day. We wandered around and took photos for a while. Certainly Saptarshi was right, a truly majestic building
I said to Saptarshi, c’mon, we’re going in for a drink. He just said no. I asked what he meant and he explained a place for that is not for Salaried workers and they wouldn’t let him in. Check the pictures above, he was well dressed, nice shirt and trosers, good shoes and very neatly presented appearance. I on the other hand was wearing pretty worn shorts, my dad’s polo and oliver’s Work boots. Always one to give things a shove, I said C’mon, we’re going in. You could’ve knocked me down with a feather as they welcomed me and a burly security guard puts his hand up to stop Saptarshi. My brain just immediately says “Pigs Arse”, you’re not knocking him back, he looks twice as well fitting as I do. I looked at the security guard and made sure he understood we’re a team and either go in together or we both walk. Instantly he accepted us together, as friends should be. We had a lovely time, sitting at the swishest bar in all of India.
We had a truly great time Hob-Nobbing it with the best of the best. After that, we went for a stroll around the High end shops. We trotted into a shoe store and asked if they had any good boots like mine for Saptarshi. As we wandered, we ran into a group of other Dentzz patients, traded stories and wandered as a group. It was really a special day .
After that, we went back to being normal citizens and caught the train back to the Dorm.