Night lights

As the day turns to night,

Glows an amber light,

Not of the warm sun,

But something magically fun.

 

Cafe spotting in the centre of the south

This wasn’t a history tour today nor was it site seeing. I had ten seconds to take this picture from my smartphone before hopping into the cab standing infront that took us home. We could’ve walked, it being a beautiful day. What is this building? It’s the central railway station. A longer post about Victoria terminus is here.

When you are not in a hurry like the average “mumbaikar” ( Bombay-ite) and its not yet peak traffic time,( and the weather is fine), its a pleasure to be here. With the crowds shifting to the suburbs, the south island of Bombay is an island of peace on the weekends. We learned last evening  to our dismay, that our favorite ice-cream shop had shut shop. Ditto with a food chain we had just discovered. Now the nearest we can go for an ice-cream, is near this monumental structure. And if you be nice to the taxi-wallah, he is very well behaved too and will drop you wherever you want. Being a local-ite has its advantages. You learn more than one way to get to the destination. And all the bylanes too! People recognize you when you go for a walk. And chances are that even in a so called crowded place like Bombay(south) you can still run into friends or neighbors. Maybe in some ways unnoticed, South Mumbai is shrinking.

Victoria Terminus : A Unesco World Heritage Monument

There are millions of people who pass through this building that is a railway terminus, each day to travel across Mumbai. I wonder how many know that this is a unesco world heritage site. This was designed in 1887 and is fairly reminiscent of Gothic revival style sprinkled with Mughal style.

This picture was taking from my Mumbai home at a time when I didn’t know the historical relevance of this building. It had struck to me only as a lovely building in the view that time. The closer I zoomed in, the more the details left me awed. That is the beauty of architecture. The vision of the architect, Frederick William Stevens stays forever as an inspiration to the city. And to me.