WHAT COULD I HAVE DONE IN MUMBAI???

Well, lets see... made my trip to mumbai over a weekend and the day I reached there I went to meet a very close pal. It was nice though I could only meet her for about an hour and half. I somehow like going to the mall in Malad... what was the name... yeah! Inorbit. Seem to enjoy my time there. Getting back to CST was a horrific time. Weekend breezes by with walks around CST and I must say there are quite a few nice musuems out there. For one there is the Reserve Bank of India Monetary Musuem (which I must add was inaugurated by the President of Indiain Nov. 2004!) and then there is the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (formerly Prince of Wales Musuem of Western India). Beautiful places...
Unfortunately in the Shivaji musuem.. which I must add has amazing artifacts.. there's one section just on paintings from the Sir Ratan Tata Collection. Most were in good condition and those I must add were framed with glass over them. The condition of some of the paintings horrified me. One painting "Landscape" by Jaques Grimmer from the Flemish School had the parchment literally billowing within the frame as the fan was facing it. I wonder if it will live through the year. Another one, "Portrait of Bresford Hope" by Sir Thomas Lawrence from the British School, had repairs done to the black portion which I might add were so damn apparent and the repair work itself was beginning to come off.
An interesting artifact on display in the musuem was the "Phurbu: Sacred Dagger". It was surmounted by a 3-headed Hayagriva. It was from Tibet and the blade had 3 sides. It seems the dagger was used by sorcerers for stabbing the demons of air(?). The 3 sides of the blade signify the 3 virtues - charity, chastity and patience which are capable of destroying the 3 vices - hatred, sloth and lust.
A small painting in another section which was an "Illustration to Annarushataka of Amaruk", Rajasthani, Malwa, 1680 A.D. had a nice section in sanskrit. Can't type in sanskrit out here... if you can.. I don't know how. The translation was also provided:
Where frowning betrays anger;
where silence is the only punishment;
where stolen smiles are only submission;
where the covert glances are only requirement;
behold in that love distress has found place.
Thou rollst at my feet,
but the anger of a naughty maiden like me does not abate.
Another thing I used to do when taking walks about CST was to drop in for a movie if there was a show about to start. What the heck mate... anyway I'm walking about alone... might as well check out a movie. Saw "Fun with Dick and Jane" and "Holiday". The former is a Jim Carrey movie with the by-now-typical-Jim-Carrey-slap-stick-humour. Didn't like it. The latter comes very close to being a remake of "Dirty Dancing" which gave Patrick Swayze his huge hit. I guess the fact that it isn't a conventional hindi movie story-line makes a good excuse to watch it. Except for the fact that there is no climax... the storyline is barely visible... all that interspersed with some nice dancing and OK songs.
"FUN REPUBLIC" in Andheri... another hangout in the pool room (also the permit room where ONLY beer and breezers are served!) Dev Saab! ol' buddy from IMS and in Mitsui O.S.K. Lines now... used to hang out with me over there. 125 bucks for 30 minutes of pool!!!!! INSANE! Come to GOA! 60 bucks an hour mate! (of pool!)
And of course the innumerable shops in CST selling you every piece of equipment you need to take on the ship. They know what I have to take before I even ask them! All they wanna know is if i'm deck-side or engine-side. BAH! I'm a Marine Engineering Officer!