Chota Kashmir and OP Lake in Aarey Milk Colony in Mumbai (Goregaon East)

Monday, November 21, 2011

One gets so used to the idea of exploring distant places that one forgets that often there are gems to be seen in our own backyard, namely Mumbai. It was with the intention of exploring our own city that Shailesh, a friend and former colleague, and I decided to set aside a day for the same.

We decided to visit Nalgiri Niwara Parishad, a hillock behind the Dindoshi Bus Depot in Goregaon (E). Neither of us had been there before.

We planned to meet at around 9 am at the bus depot. As always I was on time. Shailesh showed up 20 minutes later.

View of OP Lake

We boarded a BEST bus and bought a travel-all-you-can-in-a-day ticket for Rs 25. This ticket is valid until midnight each day. Sadly, the ticket has been withdrawn by BEST.

We waited for almost an hour for an empty bus to take us to the hillock and then decided to go visit Chota Kashmir in Aarey Milk Colony, a few minutes away from Dindoshi.

We boarded the No. 341 bus to epMulund from Dindoshi Bus Dot which would go via Aarey Milk Colony to Mulund. As always, the bus was packed. Luckily we found place to stand. Soon it was time to alight at the Aarey police station bus stop.

Ducks at OP Lake

The place was beautiful. There was greenery all around. The sight of coconut trees and other plants was pleasing to the eyes. Sadly the roads were very bad. Away in the distance we saw the Borivali National Park hillock. These splendid sights are just a few minutes away from the Western Express Highway. Shailesh was quite amazed with the slow pace of life here.

We visited the OP Lake on the way to Mulund on the Aarey Road. The lake is surrounded by all kinds of trees. Sadly I cannot name the trees as I know very little about plants. There is a boating service available at the lake along with some other entertainment for children. We also saw some cute ducks around. They reminded of the ducks I saw in Murud. To view writeup on Murud roadtrip visit http://merwynsrucksack.blogspot.com/2010/11/murud-roadtrip-includes-korlai-fort.html

Some people had come there to immerse the idol of Ganpati in the water. Ganesh Chaturthi is an 11-day festival wherein Ganesh idols are installed in colourfully decorated homes as well as at specially erected structures, known as pandals, in numerous localities. These idols are then immersed in the sea or lake amid a lot of fanfare.

Chota Kashmir

Tens of thousands of people turn up to view this final procession as numerous Ganesh idols are taken for the immersion. Traffic in Mumbai comes to a near-halt. (Stay connected to my blog to read about my Ganpati writeup).

We then headed to see Chota Kashmir on the other side of the road. After walking for about 15 minutes, we were at the entrance of the Chota Kashmir garden. We bought tickets, priced at Rs 10 for us and another Rs 20 for the camera.

The garden was green and beautiful. It was hard to imagine such a place in the concrete jungle that Mumbai has become. 

Another View of Chota Kashmir

There were various types of trees planted. Sadly, there were no signboards mentioning the names of the trees. We took plenty of pictures at this place, then took shelter at a shade built right in the middle of the garden.

This place was infested with couples when we arrived there but that did not dampen our spirits. We explored the garden and clicked some amazing pictures. Later, we had some refreshments at the entrance of Chota Kashmir and then decided to head home.

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