Leopold CST Marine Drive Thane

There was a party this weekend. The party was big - 15 of my colleagues turned up. We went to a place called Leopold in Colaba. They make some of the best cocktails in Mumbai. The atmosphere there was awesome & some of the foreigners there esp. people of African origin danced in such abandon, and also with such grace, that we simply had to watch. After the party we were of course too late. So when we reached the CST station, the last train for Thane (the place I stay in) had already left. Some people left by taxis and autos to their homes. But I made a decision to stay back & leave by the morning train. Some of my friends also living in Thane decided to stay back too.

We stayed in the CST station for some time. The whole of the station had this sleepy feeling around it. We saw all the people sleeping on the platform and the waiting area. We saw many policemen (don’t know what they were there for) lazing around in different places. We saw the main station area that at any point of time had at least 100 people on it had become a vast empty space. We saw all those shops that were usually bustling with activity with shutters down. We had difficulty locating a chai wala (tea salesman – I always have trouble translating stuff. The translation gives a completely different feel to it). What we found was the tea container with the salesman missing. After making some appropriate noises the dude dozing nearby who was listening to a walkman got up. He gave us the two mini or rather micro glasses of tea and charged us 6 bucks for it. My friend in his inebriated state started to protest. I had to make him quite. We then stayed there for a while steadying ourselves & taking stock of what we had in store for the night ahead. It was then decided that we go to Marine drive.

Now Mumbai beaches and sea is nothing compared to Vizag, but it still has some life in it. We sat lazily on the small wall along the footpath, chatting, just looking at the vast expanse of the sea & the Mumbai night lights. It brought back memories from Vizag. The lights were especially captivating. I am not very good at describing the beauty I feel, so let me stop here. Soon it was morning - we came back to the station & left for home.