The Taj - A Labour Of Love...

Despite having lived in Mumbai for 10 years, I hadn't visited her. Despite having adored this beauty for so long, I had never experienced her. 

I am talking about the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. The first time I saw the beautiful structure was way back in the early 1980s when the UK edition of the Illustrated Weekly carried a feature on the best hotels of the world. The Taj was featured in it. I was absolutely smitten and awestruck. 

My Dad told that this beautiful structure was in Mumbai, or Bombay as it was known then... and I wanted to see it myself, with my two little eyes...

The first I laid my eyes on it was in 2003, when I visited Mumbai for work. But I didn't get the chance to visit it. After moving to Mumbai in 2004, I saw the Taj many times but it was only last week that I got chance to visit this amazing place, a structure symbolic of my city, Mumbai, and India as well, a symbol of our fight against terror.

We drove into the Taj to attend a function early last Saturday.... After the function was over, we took a round of the property...

The jharokas are reminiscent of a Rajasthani haveli....

While the architecture is in typical 19th century European style, the interior was distinctly Indian....

Such a regal structure....

Anyone would fall in love with these sights

Surely those men who attacked the Taj were madmen and they deserved the end they finally met...

Wonderful jaali-work in the lobby...

The grand staircase...

The dome from the grand staircase...

The bust of Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata..

Legend has it that he decided to build the hotel after he was refused entry to one of the city's grand hotels of the time, Watson's Hotel, as it was restricted to "whites only"....

As fate would have it, Watson's decayed over time and is a dilapidated structure, but the Taj still stands strong after a century...

The very look and feel of the property shouts out loud that it is a labour of love.... you can sense it, you can feel it...

And the way the Tatas restored the property after the 26/11 attacks speaks of that love and that steely resolve to give us the best....

We dropped by at the Sea Lounge for a cup of tea...

A lovely view of the Gateway of India made the experience very exciting...

The Sea Lounge was replete with old world charm...

The waiters seemed to be oldtimers here.... and made us feel as though we were at home...

This kind of hospitality is a rarity these days... in hotels that pride calling themselves modern and contemporary...

The oldtimers' hospitality at the Taj would embarrass their younger counterparts in the newer hotels with the superiority of their service....

Larry entertained us with his lovely renditions of classics on the piano...

And finally my tea came - I had the Monkey King Jasmine Tea that had come from afar, China...

Complimentary coconut cookies came alongwith the tea - these reminded me of my Mom's legendary baking skills....

After splurging on a rather expensive tea (I wasn't complaining, as the hospitality more than made up for the damages), we took a walk on the Apollo Bunder....

This was the scene of a bloody massacre on 26/11... people jumping out of these windows... smoke belching out... firemen rushing to save whatever they could...

Hope we never see that here, or anywhere else in India...

But it is indeed a feat how the Tatas restored the property after the Pakis screwed up the place...

We walked around the promenade enjoying the views... Indeed the Taj heritage wing is an imposing structure, but the adjoining high-rise wing is no less impressive...

Indeed, whoever has seen the Taj will forever remember the Bombay of yesteryears, the Mumbai of today and terror we faced on 26/11.... Indeed the Taj has been, is and will be a labour of love...., a love that's timeless...

Thank God it was Saturday!

Sometimes one just wants to escape .... escape from the reality ... freshen up oneself, get out of the routine.

And that's precisely what we did yesterday.... we tried to, for a moment, forget what's coming up and tried to live the day. A week passed by since both of us had been down with a bad flu, a few months had passed by of trying in vain to get what we rightfully deserve .... and what the hell....Saturday was the time to break loose. Well some what!

Again it was one of the days when we missed the gym again, but could there be a better day to binge? I guess not.

After a late breakfast of oat porridge, boiled eggs and poha, we headed out to Inorbit Malad at 1 PM. Gosh - what discipline - breakfast at 1 PM???

The recession is here for sure, so we thought we ought to cut our costs right? So we parked our Dreamliner at Hypercity - the parking coupon is redeemable against purchases at the store - and we walked down to Inorbit, a couple of minutes away.

Got into Shopper's Stop for window-shopping, we could not help exclaiming how fast things have come back to normal after 26/11 - the mall-rats were back, finally!!! But the security was pathetic as ever. While I was frisked reasonably, Neeti went through casually - do we give a damn for security?

To compensate for our inability to visit our gym today, we sauntered up and down Inorbit for about an hour, fairly briskly, burning those calories stored in the flab and then as always, a cuppa was what was needed! So our pace quickened towards Coffee World, where we consumed a few more calories alongwith some refreshing Assam tea - afterall the company was great, to chai ho jaye!!!

While enjoying our tea, we were preparing for the worst - making contingency plans just in case Mr. Kasab's mates walk in with a few crackers - we quickly mapped our escape routes, etc. etc. Fortunately for us, Mr. Kasab's mates probably haven't yet commenced their voyage on the high seas!!!

And then, Halleluiah!!!! It was time to head to my temple - the meat and poultry section of Hypercity, where I have to dutifully pay my obeisance, everytime I am in the vicinity of Malad!!! Picked up some pomfret - thank God, Neeti has finally given in to the joys of a carnivorous existence, after over 3 years of my patient convincing!!!!!

And what recession are we talking of? People are still splurging - filling in trolleys with goodies. Now what's the truth? No doubt inflation has hurt us all. No doubt malls were running empty till about two weeks back. How was today different? Perhaps, people who were sick and tired of being at home after the attacks suddenly loosened up and vented out their feelings by mall-ratting. Perhaps, people were lulled in by the "comfort" that we've have a great three weeks and no attacks. Sure this would be a great research topic for a psychologist! Whatever it is, we have forgotten all this so soon, far too soon that it pains.

And it was time for another cup of tea, this time at the Brio. My hypothesis has always been to protest against bad service. This time around the service at the Brio was far far better. Neeti has been saying for the last 3-odd years that I always sniff out bad service, like a lion smelling its prey in the air!!!! Whatever it is, we as a country have a long way to go before we learn what good service is - a long subject that's better left to another blog.

And we headed back - I had a date with my barber for my long due haircut (Gosh! People at office thought I had changed my hairstyle! My style statement was getting blown to smithereens - I needed a haircut, badly!!!).

I joined Neeti at Lokhandwala market, where she was indulging in her favourite pastime of bargaining. On our way out, we chanced upon "Guru da Dhaba" in one of the by-lanes. I had been hearing of this nondescript joint on the foodie forums online for at least 2 years, as one of the most remarkable joints for "homecooked" food. Naturally we were tempted at the thought of rajma-chawal, kadi and arbi. To top it all - the ambiance was just like "home" (read: North India) - an elderly Sardarji - dressed in white with a orange-yellow turban, sat at the counter listening to soothing Gurbani!!! And the food, well, basic but delicious!

And it was time to get back! Thank God it was Saturday!