A little unplanned trip

This saturday I had planned to go to the Gateway early in the morning and take a snap of it minus the crowd. Each time I had gone before, there had been so much crowd that I get pissed off. The only time one can see the Gateway without the overwhelming crowd is early in the morning, so I am told.  On friday night I put the alarm at 6'o clock in the morning and went to sleep. The next day I woke up at 9. And for the major part of the day I rested my ass on the sofa infront of the television. Not happy, I tried again today morning and somehow managed to get up sharp at 6. Took a quick bath and rushed to the station to catch the train to Churchgate. An upset stomach caused some delay at the station but I did manage to reach Gateway before the junta started to pour in.

After taking out my mann ka bhadaas I went behind the Gateway to see if I can get a shot from there. But no, the place was not suitable to take a photo. But there was something else going on there that caught my attention. There were agents who were calling people to take ferries to Elephanta Caves. Caves! Tempting! Now I had not really planned for Elephanta Caves, you see. My plan was to click the Gateway and get back. I stalled for few minutes deciding what to do but then thought what the hell. Lets go! I checked out the rates. 120 Rs. Yeah, I had more than sufficient amount with me. And so I jumped on to the boat. The boat went on rocking, halting in between. I paid Rs 10 extra and went to the upper deck to have a nice view of the sea. One thing I wasnt prepared with my impromptu trip was drinking water. It takes roughly one hour to reach Elephanta caves from mumbai and the heat and sun can do things to you especially in this summer. I managed somehow, standing in the shade next to the drivers cabin. The steering wheel of the boat or whatever they call it caught my fancy and I ended up asking the driver if I can steer for a while. He refused saying that the engine is already in trouble and handing over the steer wont be a good idea.

The Elephanta Caves are up on a hill. You need to walk uphill for a while if you want to see those. I managed to climb slowly and steadily without losing much energy. There are 5 caves in total. The first cave is the one which has been carved out more than the others. I wonder why. The rest of the caves 2 - 5 seemed to be abandoned. As if they stopped their work halfway.  The pics are here. It was early in the morning at 9. There wasnt much crowd but there were few children who were running around in the caves thinking they were in some park! A guard told me its free for children below 15 years. I said they should start charging double for children. That should keep the place nuisance free.

There is also another place nearby called Cannon Hills. I climbed up that hill too. They have two cannons up there from which century I don't know. There was no information nearby but they seemed to be painted and maintained well except for the gears below which can move them in an arc.

I came down and had food from a restaurant at the base along with a beer. With nobody to say cheers to I sent few smses to my booze friends. The booze helped in walking back in the sun back to the boat. After we were back in the sea I went again to the driver and asked to steer. He agreed. And I was the driver of that boat for few minutes! Great!

Getting back home was not without incident. I slept in the train and ended up at Borivali, last stop. Caught the same train and got down at Goregaon. Back home my roomie commented that there is not much to see there in Elephanta. I disagree. There is so much to see there. All those rock carvings dating back from so many centuries. They were artists. They depicted life in those days on solid rock. Although some of us now do it with pixels, they did it with hand on rocks with their primitive tools. And to bring out expressions on a rock is a feat in itself. Appreciating them is the least we can do.

I ought to do more of these unplanned trips. And that too alone like i did today. No friends to pose for photographs, nobody to wait for and best of all nobody to tell you what to expect. The excitement is in seeing what YOUR eyes discover. what say?

PS:  was planning to post few pics here but the internet connection is damn slow. Have uploaded the pics in my picasa album here.