A few months ago a couple of artists got together to paint a wall in an old East Indian village in Bandra, seeing this more artists joined in and painted a few more walls. These bunch of artists started "The Wall Project" and they periodically group up to transform a boring space into a conversation piece, not just limited to the queen of suburbs but spots all over Mumbai seem to come to life with colors.
Today the wall project has grown big, comprising not only artists but anyone who is willing to take up the brush to freshen up the dull walls around the city and add a dash of colour to it. The wall project recently got permission from the BMC to add life to the wall stretching 2.7km long from Mahim to Matunga along Tulsi pipe ride.
The best part is the youth of the city get the freedom to express themselves as well as pass on positive messages to society through art. Lets take a look at some of the creatives at Tulsi Pipe Road.
Unfortunately some of the art has already been covered up by movie posters and advertisements. Its kind of sad to see hard work and meaningful messages going to waste like this. But hopefully this can be tackled by more people joining the wall project and paint more walls across the city.
You can join the wall project facebook group and stay in touch to get details of their next painting project.
Mumbai with development at every nook and corner, it gets rare to come across places or objects to set you back in time. Bhavika recently decided to take a stroll through Kotachiwadi, a wadi (small cluster of houses like a village) that is a heritage spot in Girgaon after Chira Bazaar.In the heart of the city Kotachi Wadi boasts of houses designed with the old-Portuguese style architecture. Founded in the 18th century, only 28 of these houses have survived out of 65, the rest have given way for new skyscrapers. Most of the houses are made of wood, they have large verandas in the front, a courtyard at the back and an external staircase to access the next floor.
It feels like you have entered an old Goan village with big houses and tiled roofs. It has a very calm atmosphere unlike the hustle and bustle of the city just a road away. When you are on the Girgaon main road and enter Kotachiwadi its like entering a time machine that takes you back in time from this modern era.Kotachi Wadi was mostly inhibited by descendants of the original inhabitants of Bombay mostly Christians and Maharashtrians, but now its seems theres a mix between Gujaratis and Marwaris as well. The best time to visit Kotachi Wadi is during Ganpati or Christmas where the narrow streets and houses are decorated.
Don't forget to visit Anantashram, an eating house famous for its Malwani and Konkani seafood in Kotachiwadi.
A brightly colored verandah of a house, embellished with figurines, ethnic wall pieces, bird cage etc. 
I felt like a 6-year old on entering the lush green Hanging Gardens, on the slopes of Malabar Hill in South Mumbai (that's also the reason why its called Hanging Gardens). My mom use to get us here to play in the park and see the hedges shaped into animals. This time looking at the vast expanse of greenery (a rare sight in South Mumbai) my eyes lit up. A lot has changed since then, Hanging Gardens or Ferozeshah Mehta Gardens Gardens is much more cleaner and well-maintained with variety of colorful flowers growing in the park. I was amazed looking at the vibrant colors, there were some plants which I had never seen before. Hanging Garden is quite huge, although Malad Mindspace Garden is bigger than this, and is a popular attraction among tourists and people from outside Mumbai.
The animals made from hedges greets you on entering the garden.
One of my favorite plant sculpture was of the Hindu god, Hanuman holding the mace in his right hand and Dronagiri mountain in the other, and his tail had flowers growing on them.:) 
The beautiful red flower with multiple petals, it looked really pretty! There were rows of such flowers, unfortunately I don't know the name, but I was spellbound by its beauty. Next to these were yellow-coloured buttercups gleaming in the sunshine. 
Moving on from there were attractive bunch of Canna (Italian Group) called 'Yellow King Humbert' 
I din't realise the giraffe was eating grass until I saw this picture, wonder how long it took them to grow hedges and then shape them into different animals? 
I really envied those who stayed around here and had the privilege of taking a walk in such a lovely park. Evenings it does get crowded though as lot more people come, but am sure its possible to find a quiet spot. Pink and white daisies added to the visual treat. 
After seeing half the park in the hot sun, Clyde decided to rest under the bougainvillea tree. 
Someone else who was having a nice time hopping around in the garden was the squirrel. Caught you! One of them got into the giraffe through the hedges, he sure knew his way around. 
Another nice sculpture of a man seated on an elephant. 
Statue of political leader and activist Pherozeshah Mehta, after who the garden has been named, and a shield, which we thought was a map of the garden. 
Hanging gardens also has bit of history attached to it, it was laid out in 1881 over Bombay's main reservoir, which were extended to hold 30 million gallons in 1921. No wonder the foliage has grown so well here:) Casuarina tree trimmed into layers.
You will find sunflowers too here. 
What you about to see is unbelievably gorgeous, some rare plant that has such vibrant colours. I was speechless when I saw this, am sure you will be too! 
Red, orange, purple, yellow, green, an absolute floral delight. 
A thick reddish maroon bush growing in the middle, under the blue sky this one looked like the flame of the garden. 
A sundial that measures time by the position of the sun. This one was flat surface on which the sun casts a shadow to indicate the hours of the day. If you look closely at the picture, you can see it was 20 minutes past 11. 
Next to the sundial at the center of the garden was the clock tower. There was a message engraved at the bottom of the tower which said, "Experience confirms that friends who regularly meet and walk in the garden have remained healthy and fit for the day. Spread the message of good health through friendship for generations." 
This was by far the best of a man ploughing with two bulls, wonderful work. 
Here's another one of camel trying to sit, while the crow eats from a used tetrapack. There were lot of crows around, as they had built nests in bushes. 
A plant shaped into a mushroom growing in the middle of a trimmed path. 
A garden trellis to give some shelter in the scorching heat. It was a short walk which led to a dome-shaped structure with creepers on it. 
While walking towards the exit, on the periphery of the garden was the Jackfruit tree and Cannonball tree. In the image below you can see a giant-sized jackfruit waiting to be removed. 
Pictures of animals plastered on the fence of the gardens, that's become a symbol now to recognise this place. Just opposite to Hanging Gardens is Kamala Nehru Park that has the famous Old Woman's Shoe, we plan to go there on our next visit. 
Since its on the slope, right outside Hanging gardens you can get a stunning view of Chowpatty beach and entire Marine Drive. You can come here either before noon or evening, you can get a good view of the sunset. 
We were extremely delighted with the outcome of our impromptu plan to visit Hanging Gardens, if you close by and haven't been there, you know how beautiful the place looks now. How to reach Hanging gardens?
If you stay in the suburbs then get off at Charni road station, take a cab straight to the gardens from Walkeshwar road to Malabar Hill. There are many buses as well that operate in this route.
It was one of those days when I thought of accompanying my mom to the Jain temple in Byculla, moreover with the intention to revisit this old temple which I use to go to as a kid with my parents. Situated in Motisha Lane (formerly called Love Lane) near Byculla police station, Motisha Jain Derasar (temple) is more like a temple complex and beautiful too. On full moon day (Poonam) several devotees throng the place to pay respect to the replica of Palitana, the pilgrim place for Jains in Gujarat where the first Jain apostle (tirthankara) Lord Adishwar or Rushabh Deva attained nirvana.
It is believed that Lord Adishwar's chief follower and several devotees attained nirvana on Palitana, so ideally people visit the pilgrim place on that day. Those who can't go, would visit a temple which has the replica of Palitana. (the image on right is the small replica of the holy site)
This temple has always been crowded, but surprisingly, that evening not many people were present. In the image below you can see the replica of Palitana, which has cluster of temples located on the Shatrunjaya hills, built by generations of Jains over a period of 900 years, from the 11th century onwards. It reminded me of the days when I use to climb 3800-odd stone steps to reach the top of the hill, admiring the scenic landscape and feeling at peace with the tranquil surroundings.
Each Jain temple has a main idol and this one was dedicated to Lord Adishwar. Svetambara Jains, a sect in Jains, decorate the idol with silver or gold foils, ornaments of gold or silver, costume jewellery, beads, gold or silver leaf, pearls, precious stones and flowers. The decoration is pretty elaborate particularly during festivals and religious occasions. These offerings are renewed daily as a gesture of devotion, sometimes by the priest or the followers. 
These are images of other Jain tirthankars, adorned with colorful turbans. It was also the last day of the nine-day festival called Navpad Oli (that's why the decoration), where the devout Jains follow a special type of fast where they eat only once a day. The food contains only cereals and pulses, not sprouted, without any spices, salt, oil, butter, milk, sugar, ghee or curd. 
Devotees making offerings to the lord as part of their worship and some are chanting prayers.
Jain temples are generally considered to be beautiful, with their intricate carvings and fine marble work, depecting a story or events from the holy scriptures. This is the nicely designed dome of the temple. 
A better look at the interiors of the Motisha temple, this was when I was asked to stop taking pictures, probably because lot more people started to come in. 
These are the sculptures on the temple walls on the outside. 
Another look at the architecture and structure of the temple. 
A short walk from the main temple was another temple dedicated to Jain scholar and monk called 'Acharya', unfortunately I don't remember his name. But the temple was exquisitely decorated that it glittered. 
From there we went towards the last temple which had idols of deities and footprints of tirthankaras. Deities or Yaksas (male) and Yaksinis (female) are considered to be the guardian deities and believed to have supernatural powers, looked after the well-being of Tirthankaras. This reflected their presence in Jain temples as well around the idols of Tirthankaras. The image below is of Padmavati devi, the dedicated deity of Lord Parshvanath, the 23rd tirthankar (in Jainism there are 24 tirthankaras). Her color is golden and her vehicle is the snake with a cock's head, which is visible in the picture below. She has four arms and her two right hands hold a lotus and a rosary. The two left hands hold a fruit and a rein.
There is a story that Padmavati devi along with Yaksha Dharanendra protected Parshvanath from the evil force when he was in deep meditation. Only Padmavati devi is revered more by the Jains. That's why you will find Lord Parshvanath always represented with the hood of a snake shading his head and the Yaksha Dharanendra and the Yakshi Padmavati are often shown flanking him. This is the idol of Nakoda Bhairav, tutelary deity of Bhairav. He is worshipped before the beginning of journeys to avoid obstacles and to protect from evil powers. Some people believe in that, while some don't.
That was the end of my visit to the temple, we left at the right time, just when more people started pouring in.
Destined to be the next landmark in Mumbai the Bandra Worli sea link is a massive 8 lane suspended bridge that will connect Bandra to Worli, this is a bright move in many ways for the city but with our raging monsoons and the sea level rising it does not provide a very comforting feeling.But lets first take a look at the positives, anyone who has traveled to work by road would know the chaos you have to go in every day not only between Bandra and Mahim, but expect jams at Dadar, Tulsi Pipe and much more. The immediate benefits that come to mind is less jams, less fuel consumption, less pollution, less environmental damage by heat etc.
But since both the routes will then converge to the same old Pedder road, makes me wonder whats going to happen there.Lets take a look at some of the details of the mumbai sea link that was expected to be completed in December 2008 and is still under construction to this day, but its getting there and is expected to be inaugurated on May 1st .
But the high toll of Rs.45 per journey makes it rather steep for a person who frequents up and down everyday, it works out to approximately Rs. 1,800 per month, it could be steep if it saves you only 25 minutes of your time as estimated.
Lets take a look at the Bandra Worli Sealink from another perspective,
So it seems the sea link has generated an interest not just across the country, but around the entire world, but this is development is at a much slower pace as compared our neighbour China. For the Olympics in Beijing, the Chinese created three four Metro lines connecting various parts of the city together in a span of two years. In Mumbai the Versova Ghatkopar metro plan was approved by the government in June 2004 and work started two years after that and is estimated to take another three years to get done.
Progress seems to be on the minds, but the speed at which its happening is questionable, but we do hope this helps Mumbai become a greener city to live in!