(Updated 2023)
Mumbai Underneath
In the monsoon-soaked skies above Mumbai, a plane ascended with the grace of a bird taking flight, its wings cutting through the dense humidity that clung to the world below. It was the year 2006, a year that would be etched in the memory of its passenger in the beginning of a voyage towards the sun-soaked shores of Goa.
Below, the city of Mumbai sprawled like a vast, living organism, its heartbeat rhythmic with the patter of incessant rain. The monsoons had transformed the landscape into a realm of liquid silver, where every street gleamed and every leaf dripped with the generosity of the clouds.
On board, the passenger pressed her face to the window, gazing down at the shrinking metropolis. The Gothic and colonial facades of South Mumbai’s architecture were now mere outlines, the iconic Gateway of India a shadow against the curtain of the rain. The local trains, the lifeline of the city, snaked through the urban expanse, their carriages filled with the vibrant dreams and dauntless spirit of Mumbaikars.
The aircraft trembled gently as it climbed, a faithful vessel braving the gusts that danced through the monsoon sky. It was an ascent that felt like a departure from one world and an arrival into another—a journey from the familiar cacophony of urban life to the serene whispers of coastal serenity.
Inside the cabin, a hush of anticipation settled over the travelers. Among them were holidaymakers yearning for the respite of Goa’s beaches, entrepreneurs seeking coastal inspiration, and locals returning to the embrace of their hometown. Each had their own story, a personal narrative that intertwined with the city they left behind and the destination they sought.
As the aircraft banked towards the west, the city of dreams became a canvas of memory below. The Marine Drive, with its necklace of streetlights, had faded into the mist, and the skyscrapers that punctuated the skyline of Nariman Point were now like the final notes of a song that lingered in the air.
The plane climbed higher, leaving the embrace of the Bay of Bengal, and soared over the verdant landscape that marked the passage to Goa. The world below was a blur of emerald and earth, a testament to the monsoon’s life-giving touch.
For those aboard, ahead lay Goa, a new chapter waiting to be written upon sands gilded by the sun, where the only echoes would be those of the waves and the carefree laughter of those who walked along its shores.
And as the aircraft pierced the clouds, breaking free from the monsoon’s grasp, a sliver of sunlight glanced off its wings—a harbinger of the golden days that awaited in the coastal paradise of Goa.
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