Amitabh Bhachan , Kishore Kumar and Juhu beach

First a self confession , though my job involves  travelling all over india  and  i make it a point to  visit  at least some place of historical interest  in the last four years  i was shocked to find  that  i  hadnt  visited the famous JUHU  beach of  mumbai  in this filmi  capital  of india  .  This  i realised when my cousin landed up in mumbai and i  wanted to take him some place in mumbai  ...And Juhu beach was paradoxically closest to the place i stayed during my recent visit .

Juhu beach  is  in the western suburb of mumbai  and the word suburb  is an understatement . Its one of the poshest areas of mumbai  and the per square feet rate  is approximately 30000 per square feet  for  land  while kochi  gods own country  financial capital  is  just  5000 per square feet  .Many  film actors  stay  in Juhu   including Amitabh bhachan , Ajay devgan  ,Deols  ... And for  me   walking  along this beach takes me back in time  when  one of my favourite singers Kishore  Kumar stayed  near  this beach .  And  this  same beach must have  been the backdrop  of  so many offscreen romances  of  my favourite  film stars  of yesteryear  whether  they stayed  near  this beach  or not  ....

So  there  i  was  getting  out  of an autorickshaw  on the juhu beach with my cousins  .  The beach  is  crowded but  considering the  population of mumbai  it was really  as i  put it " pleasantly crowded " with enough people to give  the  atmosphere of  a lively beach while not too crowded  to suffocate  you  .  My mumbaikker  cousin  a  foodie himself  wanted  me  to try  the chaats and  golas available  in Juhu beach  ....
I was of the impression that  beach chaats will  be  unhygenic  to  the core  but  to my surprise  i found  around 50 neatly arranged shops  quite clean  selling  chaats ,  different varieties of golas  etc .  By the way  this gola  is a sort  of ice stick made of crushed ice and  has a dipping of  various flavours . The  one we tried involved condensed milk  ...yummy .  (having  beach food  however  is  of course under  anyones personal  risk taking  appetite  .. only  this place is cleaner  .. the risk  remains  ...  )  Chaats looked very  inviting but since we had  a dinner  appointment  skipped the chaat part  ...  The  area  has  bollywood  music  coming  from  speakers and songs  from BODYGUARD film was  on it  ..  Is  Salman Khan  around  ??  Possible  as it is  mumbai  ..Service is excellent  .. Have  you ever got  refill  of  a  thing like condensed milk  when  your  initial dippings are over  . Even  five star  hotels will charge you  but  this is  Mumbai  service  at  the best  ...........

We  started walking  along the beach  and we passed along  interesting  sights  including  stuntmen  practising  somersaults on the beach  . For in mumbai  , film  is  a  vocation .  And  of course  ,  the  people  from different parts of india  speaking  in all the different languages  .  The beach  especially the  northern part  stretches  behind  five star hotels like  JW Marriot  and  Juhu Centaur  . Juhu  Centaur  is  a beautiful hotel which is shaped like a ship  . Then  there is  the  arabian sea  and  you can see the  ships  lights  as  mumbai  port is  nearby  .  The  sky  shows  the  india  shining  story  with  every  2 minutes showing jetairways  , kingfisher  ,indigo   flights  clearly  as  the  airport  is near  the beach   ...

We  walked  for  around  one hour  on the beach  ,  me  again going  back  in time  when  Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi   yes  Mahatma Gandhi  was  staying  near  Juhu Beach  when he was practising as  a lawyer  in  Bombay  High Court  .

And  back  again  to Kishore  Kumar  .......Tande  hava  yeh  chandni  suhaani  .............yeh mere dil  ..............and  i  walk  on  .... promising to come again  .............Juhu  is addictive.........