Two Seven, Too Soon

It has been just about a month since the last post, yet it feels like a whole lot has changed. For one, I have tuned a year older, I am now 27. And the effects are showing. I just came back from a cycling round at East Coast Park, we were eating at a Starbucks because Old Town White Coffee has closed (the horror!). I loved the Old Town cafe, as mentioned in multiple previous blog posts, and I myself brought so many patrons there. I wonder why they still closed down. Anyway, I looked at the scrambled egg and cheese sandwich at Starbucks, exclaimed “huh, I can make this at home”, and immediately realised that is such an old person thing to say. The birthday itself was spent in Mumbai, the city of dreams. In fact, the entire first week or so of my favourite month was spent in Mumbai. It was a work trip, I feel the need to reiterate because as per my Instagram it doesn’t seem so. I worked out of the Mumbai office, and had meetings throughout Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Bangalore in the second week before crashing back home. I reached out to a couple of people in Mumbai, hoping to make the most of my week there and was so pleasantly surprised at the number of people who were willing to spend time with me, especially considering the hour-long commutes required due to traffic. College seniors, classmates, their spouses, colleagues and even a friend from my undergrad who responded to my story (this is why I post so much, people!). For quite a few reasons, I did feel quite lucky, blessed and pampered this month. 

I started the big day at the famous Siddhivinayak temple in Mumbai, where I received blessings (I hope) and some delicious modak-shaped kaju katli. Then my friend Nuhad and I did a cafe/restaurant crawl throughout Bandra, starting with Benne (good dosas), Subko (good coffee), Tanjore Tiffin Room (great ambience, decent food) and quick visits to Chantilly (decadent cheesecake) and Bombay Sweet Shop (delicious sweets). We stopped by touristy spots like Bombay Art Project Murals and Carter Road, where we watched the famous Mumbai sunset. In between all this, I also managed to shop at Hill Road (obviously), before meeting a couple more friends for dinner at Foo. Needless to mention, I ended the day with a very full belly, and as cheesy as it sounds, a very full heart. In fact, that entire week, I had lunch or dinner at different lovely restaurants - Burma Burma, Eve, Blah!, Soulfry, all of which were especially picked by each friend that accompanied me. I managed to catch a heartwarming play at Prithvi Theatre as well (also thanks to Nuhad). I think the only bucket list item I missed out on was the Irani Cafe. On my first day, I also did the extremely touristy thing of visiting South Mumbai to cover the Gateway of India, the famous Asiatic Library, the Taj hotel (revived meaning after watching Dhurandhar) and the CST terminal. Again, this involved gorging on vada pav and pav bhaji, courtesy my friend Harish who happens to be (very coincidentally, I did not think of this at all okay) a very talented photographer. This paragraph still doesn’t cover all the restaurants I visited, so yes, I did really REALLY make the most use of my time in Mumbai. I do not take my travel opportunities lightly, but at some point in life, I would like to just chill by the hotel pool. 

Then came Ahmedabad, where I made a quick stop at one of my favourite places, where this blog began - IIMA. I met up with a good friend, Harshil (not to be mistaken with Harish) who also made time on his birthday to meet me after almost three years. Campus felt familiar but like a distant memory, like I have lived so much since I left. And it also felt unfamiliar because of all the changes, barely any restaurants remain the same and the entire old campus is shut. Then came Delhi, which was a very short stay but enough for me to notice the difference between the same brand of hotel versus Mumbai. The Mumbai one is efficient, full of business people in pantsuits at the breakfast buffet. The decor is sleek and modern, and the lobby is always displaying the sign of an ongoing conference. The Delhi, or rather, Gurgaon one? The decor has such regal vibes, matching some of the older historic architecture of Delhi. The hotel is luxurious and makes sure you know, while the guests are rich families and tourists. I didn’t have enough time to make more leisurely observations, and barely any time at Ahmedabad or Bangalore. Although I did manage to meet my first best friend in Bangalore for a breakfast catchup - that is a must. 

So, finally, after all this in just two weeks, I finally arrived home to Singapore yesterday. The familiar Lunar New Year lighting at every hawker centre and HDB entrance greeted me. My own bed seems like heaven after spending so much time on delayed flights the whole week. I thanked my stars that I was never drawn to consulting, and slept for nine hours straight. Of course, the shopping and gifts meant I had to buy a second suitcase, learning a costly lesson to not unreasonably avoid check-in baggage. The baggage is always going to be there, isn’t it? I spent my Valentine’s Day with my baby niece, who tried to say “Vah-ah-ah” back to me too. She is smarter now, making a beeline towards me when I come bearing chocolates. While this month brought so much positivity and opportunity, the hibiscus plant I bought in January to elicit positive energy has almost died due to my two-week disappearance. Ah, well, one can only try.