On Sunday 3rd of April

In the train, off to Churchgate

Waiting to catch a glimpse of the Cricket Stars residing in the Taj Mahal Palace

The Gateway of India

The Taj Mahal Palace (India's Most famous and oldest Hotel)

♥ Lara  from Incredible India

Why are you in Mumbai? Why did you go to Mumbai? Why are you not in Kerala with your flat mates?

These were the questions I was asked...
Everyone was wondering why I had to visit Mumbai on such long break.

I did not fall in love with Mumbai
Hyderabad has my love and would be my lover for a very long time.

Mumbai, I visited because of a promise
I am not one to make promises, because once I make one, I do all I can to fulfill the promise. I made a promise to my Ugandan friend, Berna to see her before she leaves India.
I bought my ticket the same day I got back to Hyderabad from Goa.

Had I known the importance of April 1st and 2nd, I might not have visited Mumbai on the date or would have gone by road. It is was the eve of the Cricket final between India and Sri-lanka.

The flight which was supposed to be 10 minutes earlier ended up been 35minutes late...the plane had to hover for another 40mins and my 1: 15hour became 2hours. All these delay was caused because President and Prime Minister of India at the time of our takeoff, were landing at the Mumbai Airport....I finally got to my friend's flat at 1am IST after several minutes of trying to locate the street.

My weekend in Mumbai I must say was really beautiful, one of my best moments since I came to India. Not like there were really exciting places to visit, but the joy of spending the evening with other Nigerians, speaking pidgin English, eat our local dish and just laugh about things made it really memorable and beautiful for me.

I got on the train for the first time in my life in Mumbai, when the guys were buying the train tickets and talking about 2nd class coach, I had the inter-state trains in mind, only for me to get on the train and have to stand and be squeezed in between men....the train experience was not that bad except moments when I am squeezed between guys.

I got to spend time with my naija family, eat Amala and Ogbono soup on Saturday, Eba and Okro soup on Monday....I got to watch the Cricket final for 2hours in a bar in with some of the ACERS and few Mumbai Interns. Even though I did not understand jack of what happening on the screen,  I jumped and screamed with them once in a while, for every other minute, I was completely lost.

It was so much fun having dinner and watching the excitement of the Indians after the game came to an end...The excitement was contagious and I was in such a happy mood...

On Sunday, I went to the Elephanta Caves with two friends and even though, I am bored from seeing temples in India, I enjoyed the company of those I went with.

Break fast on saturday

Yeah, the boys turned to their cook, made Egusi and Okro Soup for my friend, Chinedu.

Chinedu, Adonis (Benin Republic) and I

Lily and I

I, Feyi and Lily

Amala, Semo and Ogbono Soup, .

Thanks to Feyi for providing Elubo and Lilly for making the Amala and Soup.

TCS Naija family, Damola, Chinedu and Feran

The Churchgate Train Station

Yeah, at this point, I was lost, bored and struggling to stay awake

And the next day was the trip to the Elephanta Caves
Pictures in the next Post
All Pictures from my friend's camera

♥ Lara  from Incredible India

                 Super excellent

Except you read the WELCOME TO INDIA IV: MUMBAI (EXPECTATION SETTING) post, will you understand my joy.


From hatred to love, I wrote in that post that I hope and pray he falls in love with Mumbai.
I am so glad, he has finally opened his heart to the beauty of Mumbai.
Not that things have changed in Mumbai,
not that the way of life in Mumbai is different.
But he has decided to look beyond the dirt, the poverty and the fast life and enjoy Mumbai.

I will be the spending my weekend in Mumbai with friends and this time, I intend to explore the city. The Gateway of India and the Juhu beach are the must see of Mumbai according to an Indian Colleague.

This time around, I hope to also explore the beauty of Mumbai and also fall in love with her just like Mustafa.

♥ Lara  from Incredible India

He thinks she is in love him
She is not.
He says he would only hurt her
He would only break her heart.
But there is no heart to be broken

Yeah, She likes him
She knows it is different with him
But she most definitely knows it is not love
Yes, She have never been in love
She does not even know what it feels like to be in Love
but she is sure this is not love.

She is a mess
He is a mess
A mishmash of them is disaster worse than the tsunami.

He is a constant reminder of She
He is her mirror
The mirror with which she see her world
He is her image
Even though dreams are different,
They are one and the same.

He, She will get over.
The strong hold he has on her shall be over in time
They have no future together.
She has to break the bond
For true love waits at the end of the street.

♥ Lara

The world is sad, Japan is in rubble...
I broke down when I heard the news, as I was numb.
I was useless last Friday, more like the world stop moving and 
Nothing made sense to me at that point and all I could think of was to get on the next plane to be back home with my family.

But in it all, I am grateful for every single moment.
In the simple things of life, I find joy.
I have nothing to say or do, but be thankful.
.....
It's been a week, since I got back from Goa.
Road trip was not bad, it is pretty much safe to travel by road all night in India...only issue for me is that, the roads are too narrow, but both ways no issue.
Goa was fun, it was nice meeting up with fellow interns again.
My flatmate decided the best place to teach me to swim was on the beach, which was really salty and i had my eyes burning...After plenty persuasion, I went jet-skiing with a friend, but no matter the grammar, I did not go para-gliding with them...like seriously, limit dey to my adventurous life...

Best time for me was the last night which was spent on the beach with about 7 other interns....It really was cool, discussing our varying cultures, religion and view of the Indian society.
Even though, I lost my iPod to Goa, I really had a nice experience.
All pictures are from friends cameras, I did not have time to be taking pictures, too much going on.

Hyderabadi Interns

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breakfast on the Candolim, Goa

My Friends, Feyi and Chinedu from Mumbai on the road in  Panaji

The Viva Carnival, Panaji

Off to the Viva Carnival, in Margoan

At the Viva Carnival, Margoan

♥ Lara  from Incredible India

Being doing a lot of first time since I got here, tomorrow I get to embark on my first time ever night journey and longest road journey. I and fellow ACERS(TCS) and few Hyderabad and Mumbai interns are of to Goa.  Goa is the tourist paradise...it is time for the Carnival of Goa and I am so excited to get away from Hyderabad for the weekend...I long to see a beach nowaways, the rate at which I get excited about a beach, you will think, I used to sleep there back in Naija.

An Indian colleague sent this as a mail to me at work and I laughed so much, some where giving me side-eye... Thing is, this actually reminds me of the craziness back at home.

Doesn't this remind you of Yaba market, Lagos

♥ Lara  from Incredible India