On Sunday i.e. 17th the Seva Niketan gang- me, Antonio (Doc), Lakshya, Oneal and Mayank went to Akse beach situated about 5 KM from Malad railway station near INS Hamla. The road leading to the beach is bordered by lush greenery. The board bearing the warning that it is dangerous to swim at the beach doesn't deter people from doing so. The last occassion on which I went to this lovely beach was in June when I spent some groovy time at this beach with Vivek. The beach appeared as appealling to me (as it was in June) and Mayank was also impressed by its vastness and the rock formations which imparted a pristine look to it- we took of our T-shirts headed towards the sea. Lakshya joined after sometime. Doc and Oneal refused to venture into the waters - the doc cited a tendency to develop rashes and Oneal refused because he deemed it an insult to the great beaches of Kochi to venture into the murky waters of the Mumbai Sea. The water, the sunshine, the rocks all made it a great experience. Another thing about this beach is that unlike Juhu and Girgaon this beach is not so crowded (thanks to the fact that it is relatively less known) and it's much more vast. Having spent some great time at the beach we headed towards Byculla and decided to dine at Shalimar restaurant, Bhendi Bazar (near J.J. Hospital). The claim to fame of this restaurant is (1) you can get awesome Mughlai food here at very reasonable price and (2) it is owned by Azmi Junior, the son of Abu Azmi the Samajvadi Party unit president and also a Rajya Sabha MP- I understand he's the current boyfriend of Ayesha Takia. The food here was really good and filling- especially the rabri and the banana-shake. However, as the cliched saying goes- all good things muct come to an end; my stay at Mumbai is drawing its end. It feels really sad to leave my Seva Niketan buddies but at the same time I feel happy at the thought that this stay turned out to be really meaningful- I earned the acquaintance of so many nice people, the internship was a relly good learning experience and last but not the least I received the news of Pankaj Bhaiya's placement as a senior consultant with E & Y. I'll leave the great city of Mumbai tomorrow with sweet memories.
