Assembly Elections Maharashtra Results 2009 Ghatkopar East

Well as expected the result went in favor of Prakash Mehta of the BJP , he also created a record of sorts by winning 4 consecutive times.

This does show that the people of Ghatkopar don't expect much change and so stuck to the old method of playing it safe.

Virendra Bakshi of the Congress gave good competition, if either Raja Mirani or Virendra Bakshi would have been in the fray the votes split would not have happened and the Congress might would have won this time

The surprising thing is the votes garnered by the MNS and also  by Raja Mirani , shows people do want to have change & the contest is wide open ,but for now Prakash Mehta rules and people of Ghatkopar hope that he does more for this area and make Ghatkopar East a model constituency that the other should follow.

Assebly Elections Maharashtra - Ghatkopar East

Thunder strikes and lighting frights is all that is there for last 3 days. The south India rains have moved upwards to Mumbai and looks like it gonna rain and fill the lakes.

The surprise factor like in the rains is also visible when i saw the pamphlet of Raja Mirani as Independent candidate with the symbol of a broken coconut in a store. He was being potrayed as the candidate from Congress Ghatkopar East area for the Assembly elections 2009 of Maharashtra, but turns out that he did not get the favor of the Congress heads in Mumbai.

Instead the candidate is Virendra Bakshi, who was in 1994 the MLA here, nothing concrete happened when he was elected then and will happen if he wins He just shifted base after he lost the next term and was nowhere to be seen and now like the unpredictable rains he has come back .

Raja Mirani has an office near Ratna Stores and is a known face within the business community as well as the local Gujrathis and certain people who know him personally but he has not been a crusader or a social activist or like that which he portrays in his pre-elections posters.

But considering that he spends most of his time in Ghatkopar east and has friends and families here he has a better knowledge of the problems, the situations and the pulse of the people , more than Virendra Bakshi.

The present MLA Praksh Mehta is no less a force as he has won for the last 3 terms and now is a favorite to win due to the bungling of the congress.

Nevertheless whoever wins, the Ghatkoparites have to a have social activist or someone more professional to deal with the problems being faced.

1. The roads are a mess
2. The sewage problem in Garodia Nagar / Nath pai Nagar
3. The Deonar dump problems
4. Illegal hawkesrs and constructions in the main roads as well as other areas

The above are some of the problems , we need to have a change from the present MLA and fresh mindset to make better the lifes of the common people.

Ghatkopar Retail

Woah been too long since my last post. The better part of not being blog is that you learn so more of the real world.

The last 2 months was lot of activities and the colony saw a fair bit of festivities, with Raksha Bandhan, Dahi handi, and Ganesh Chaturthi.

The rains have played hide and seek and the FLU is all around, had a bout of the viral and was nervous all the same but it just got cured. The buzz in ghatkopar is the coming Assembly election with Prakash Mehta from BJP and Raja Mirani from Congress putting up banners trying to woo the voters.

Moving around to Station for the movie at Neelyog Square last night was quite intresting, the fact that the mall is near to station has not meant much of the Stores/Retail outlets in the mall.

The only saving grace is the Fame theaters and relaince Fresh outlets, the view from the Fame 4th floor lobby is amazing with unobstructed view of the ghatkopar station and west right upto the hills.

The malls is mostly empty and with the coming up of the Odeon R Mall which is also taken its time will mean that the mini malls near the station will stations will have to shut down.

As far as the retail outlets in Ghatkopar its mostly clothing which have opned up.

Will update more on the next .

Monsoon Mayhem in Mumbai

Waiting for the rains and then it poured on July 14th, Mumbai again came to a standstill. No matter how much hard earned tax-payers money is utilised (are they by the BMC) the situataion is still the same.

Just a down pour for 10 hrs and 200 MM of rains this time , remember in 2005 it was 990MM , but we were still struggling to survive, the Mithi river had crossed the danger mark and then it receded because the rains stopped, other wise it was disaster.

Garodia Nagar and the surrounding colonies were as usual flooded, and as written in my earlier post, this year it was more so because the BMC started tiling the concrete cover over the gutters post June 20th, and the mess and quality is less said the better.

Clicked few flooding photos of the day - couldn't take out the camera as it was very heavy rains and would have damaged it beyond repair.

Now the eclipse and the hide tide for the next few days will determine wheter the city be able to survive if the rains are heavy on these days.

The neighbours from the ground floor did not want to take a chance and few have them have kept some of their furniture's other stuff with mattress in higher floor residents homes.

But all in all a welcome relief from the unbearable summers and water shortage problems.

New Shops in Ghatkopar

Most of the shops in Ghatkopar east springing up is either Garments - Readymade for men / women or it is Opticians.

Walking on rainy Wednesday night saw 2 Optical Stores, Lawrence & Mayo the famous age old opticians from D N Road - Fort in downtown Mumbai has come up near the Home Mart Store in the same building. Huge place with good collections of frames .

The Other one is bang opposite it next to Mayur electronics - in compound the Ratna Stores.

Think its the new age distractions ( Mobile / Ipod / TV / Comp ) that people have got used to with little or no outdoor activity due to this many have eyesight problems .

Just in the vicinity of Odeon theatre to Ghatkopar station east and near west there on last count will be atleast 17 optical store. whew think it a big margin business that so many in such a short time have started this.

Mumbai Flooding - Garodia Nagar

Down and out for some time due to tooth surgery. It has been raining whole week here in Ghatkopar and is something very good for the people / country and agriculture.

Water woes has been the word all that we are hearing all around the country and with the coming of rains has brought a God sent relief.

Garodia nagar has been facing the same problems year after year , the BMC and the people just turn blind eye and move on, its only gutsy few who have stood up and raised the issue time and again, of these most of them are retired people past 65 years.

The residents have not bothered to see how the BMC and the utility companies do a shoddy job and run away, and consequence of all this the entire colony has to face.

The Local corporator has done little to see what the plight of the colony is , nor the MP or the MLA who by the way stays just a few minutes from the colony.

BMC started the cleaning fo the gutters on June 10th in Garodia Nagar and left all the debris/garbage on the roads and having had enough time with delayed rains which started only on June 24th the garbage is still on the road and now is a stinking slippery and dirty muck all over the road.

The BMC started tiling the concrete cover of the gutter which again started On June 20th and has still not finished, the result is the contractor has left all the sands/ left over mixed cement and debris without bothering to have it collected and packed off in the garbage trucks. The entire colony is filled with muck , most of which have blocking the opening to the gutter and water being collected all over the roads, making life miserable for the residents to walk, and vehicles passing by splashing the muck on people who have no choice but to walk that path.

Yet inspite fo this none bother to stop and ask the contractor to have the area clean up after the work .

They city and garodia nagar has witnessed many flooding, epidemic , health hazards due to all this, but not many will stop and take and initiate or come together to that some thing more can be done by just walking by and suffering quitely.

Back to School and Rains

Many of the readers have asked me to put some recent photographs of the area and also the old/new places / roads of Ghatkopar.

Well I will in a short time, i do take pix of the area , but as I am at work i don't really get to remove in daylight. Hopefully will do it on Weekend when I am free.

The sky is cloudy and the humidity is making the the summer more as heat waves of the north , very very hot and humid, life is miserable for everyone in Mumbai.

The schools have started and the kids are back to work, old school buddies, old teachers and the same old class room. I had a tough time in school when it used to reopen, it was always gloomy, dark cloudy sky, rains and the wet feeling was always a dampener for the nice summer holidays that had gone by.

The children nowadays are more used to it sitting in homes playing video games, surfing on the net, playing with mobiles so they don't really miss the outdoor games, the walks in the colony, the cricket matches and so and so forth.

Went shopping the other day to Reliance Fresh - outlet at the Ghatkopar station East at Neelyog Square Mall for some veggies and fruits, but was thoroughly disappointed with the spread it was not fresh and very few of the veggies were good , the fruits the less said the better, i felt the road side vendors have a better quality spread.

The Shoppers stop Spinach is also now in a bad shape , it had very few veggies and all were in state of decomposing so to say, the Golden Bananas were all rotting and yet the tag showed 24 Rs per Kg, what a pathetic show by the so called revolutionising the retail corporate biggies.

The truth is no matter what, it all depends how convenient it is for the shoppers to pick their daily veggies, fruits and grocery which is closer to their home. It hardly matters if they have to travel all the way just for the Air conditioned hall these retail outlets offer. After all the pricing is not a big draw as it is same or at time costly.

The nearby bargaining with vendors is a real hassle when it comes at your door vendors, but still the outcome is that now that the retail biz is down , the local vendors have taken the cue and know that the shoppers will come back them so they have jacked up the prices.

The Fruits are very costly and the most cheapest the bananas are yet again out of stock - the yellow ones, the Golden bananas is not available and the small Elia chi Banana which are mostly very very small and not ripe are being sold for a whopping Rs 20 a dozen, darn you have to see it to believe what a ridiculous price for that.

The old shop at Sati Krupa shopping at Garodia Nagar run by Dhanji gala / Ramesh his son is now given out on rent to their cousins and they have started the renovation work and in a months time will be ready with a swanky little outlet. Hope they bring back the customers who have now mainly shifted to Ratna stores or do their buying from Big Bazaar at the Ghatkopar station west outlet or at Home Mart at the Odeon veg market.

Hopefully the rains will bring some relief to this heat and humidity, but at a price with the water logging and filth and the contamination of drinking tap water.

Rains In Mumbai and Flooding

Long Hiatus again , cause it time to get prepared for the rains, specially if you reside in Mumbai / garodia nagar, ghatkopar.Well the first showers were here in the morning today, the roads were wet and small pools of water collected on the roads.The morning air had the earthy smell, like it always does when the first showers fall on the soil.

Come rains in Mumbai and the people start running for taking all the precautions so as not to get trapped in the now infamous Mumbai flooding that have become such a regular thing.

The gutters / drains have now been cleared to some extent by the BMC in Gardoia Nagar albeit late or must say very late. But the debris removed from the gutter is still lyin gon the raod as it has not been collected by the dumper.

I don't understand the working schedules, timelines of the BMC, this is the 4th year since the flooding of 2005 which made Mumbai a death trap. Yet the BMC fails to implement a schedule to clean and tar the surface and potholes much before the May deadline.The cleaning of the Garodia Nagar gutters began just last week, and this also is being done by the contractors hired by the BMC, their work hardly monitored or supervised by the men In BMC and is left entirely to the contractors, who are totally hand in glove with the ward officials and pay good amount of money to the officials to see that they don't give a bad report about the same.

For long the gutters were not covered , so it was much easier for the ALM sweepers to clean them as and when they had the time. Now with the BMC taking over the cleaning of the same and with the gutters being closed / covered with concrete with very small drain covers it does not give much space to clean the gutters completely, thus accumulation of rain water is always there.

With the main Nalla, route of the water that pass into the large chambers / channels to the sea is covered with debris and illegal construction on these areas and squatters have made this problem more acute.

The BMC has time and again always blamed the utilities and other agencies working for the betterment of the roads and infrastructure as the main source of the flooding and pothole problems, this is not entirely wrong as most of the utilities specially the telecom companies and the electrical power companies dig at their own will and hardly take the effort to cover the roads in a proper manner , or quality of material ,without any knowledge of civil work the contractors of these companies make a mess of the nice and evenly tarred road, resulting in water logging and pot holes with the first rains.

Coupled with the Potholes, untimely or no cleaning of the drains gutter, poor scheduling, the lack of responsibility from the BMC as well as the utilities and also the general residents poor civic sense to adhere to have a proper disposal of dry wet garbage, Mumbai has become the richest garbage dump city of the world .As for Garodia Nagar, the ALM's were doing a good work with proper coordination and with little or no help from the residents they had still managed to keep the colony nice and clean.

But the residents most of them highly educated, cultured and knowledgeable are still bad when it comes to civic sense, the dry wet garbage disposal which was time and again shown and demonstrated by the local housewives , and men and children has not made any sense to these so called clean and knowledgeable residents.

The most basic problem is the segregation of dry wet garbage at source , in own homes many still don't do this and unless we have this system in our very homes and each and every individual becomes more responsible for what is happening in our homes and neighborhood , we all will be walking in dirty , goo (shit and urine filled drain waters coming from our very own toilets and ours neighbors , our children will go to school in the same waters, working people dressed up in best of clothes and shoes will just ignore and without looking down in the shit will walk and go to and come home as if it was nothing but plain good water.

Happy shit and urine filled monsoon to all of Mumbai, may all of us enjoy each others shit and urine and may God bless Mumbai with all the best diseases & epidemic.

Mumbai General Election 2009 results

Time for the new Central Government formation is going on in Delhi.

As for the Mumbai North East Constituency the results were really surprising a very closely fought, like I had mentioned one couldn't rule out the possibility of surprise winner.

So the results are as under

Candidate

Party

Votes

Total Votes

Sanjay Dina Patil (Winner)

NCP

213505

654870

Kirit Somaiya

BJP

210572

654870

Shishir Shinde

MNS

195148

654870

Sanjay Dina Patil is now the new Member of Parliament (MP) representative from Ghatkopar area.

The following is a quote from Mumbai Mirror .

NCP MLA Sanjay Patil scored a surprise win in a closely fought contest against the BJP’s Kirit Somaiya and MNS’s Shishir Shinde.

“It does not matter whether I won by a single vote or a one lakh margin. I have won and will work for the entire constituency. This is the victory of the Congress-NCP-RPI alliance. It isn’t my individual victory. We were expecting to win in any case,” said Patil, beaming with pride.

“The constituency faces infrastructure problems because of the rising population. Raging issues include load shedding and water shortage in Shivaji Nagar, as well as problems with the dumping ground. I will address all these issues,” he said.

Meanwhile, his opponent Somaiya chose to stay away from the counting booth right from the beginning, probably anticipating what was to come.

Even after the results were declared, Somaiya did not speak to the media. "

# Important to note is the highlighting of the point of the garabge dump at Deonar, which has now become a very big health hazard issue for the local area.

Hope his support will help us to take this issue, what with the High Court which has given an order whereby the BMC has been asked to take several mesaures to see that the Deonar garbage dump is propeely mainatined and the burning of the waste is not done and also to look for alternative site as the Deonar Garnage Dumping has reached its saturating point and its almost upto the height of 5 floors.

Mumbai Airport

Garodia Nagar , Andheri , Ghatkopar, Powai Photo

Mumbai Thane Voters List Check your name in Voter List Website

One of the Important Websites for Mumbai Voters List is listed below it is the voters list as per the Mumbai , Thane Collector Office.

This information was mentioned in the HINDUSTAN TIMES - MUMBAI EDITION dated 29.4.09.

So please check here for your names Mumbai Voters, General Election 2009. This link is handy anytime you have to check your name.

FOR CITY AREA OF MUMBAI - http://mumbaicity.nic.in

FOR SUBURBS OF MUMBAI - http://mumbaisuburban.gov.in

FOR THANE CITY - http://thaneelection.com

Alternatively you can call

# 1290 (only from MTNL landline - if you are based in the City areas from COLABA to MAHIM)

#022-26513682 / 26513683 - if you are based in the Suburbs

#022-2534215 - for Thane, Vashi, and Kalyan

Some important websites of NGO who are doing a wonderful job of educating the general public

Jagrut Nagrik Manch - www.jagrutnagrik.com

Jaago Re - www.jaagore.com

Mumbai Votes - www.mumbaivotes.com

Vote India - www.voteindia.in

For all Garodia Nagar residents the polling station is at the P G Garodia English High School

Election 2009 - Mumbai North East Constituency

General Elections 2009 is a declared and will have the First Phase starting tomorrow.

Mumbai is a hotly contested region for all the politial parties, and for that they would go all out for the win win situation.

Ghatkopar comes under the MUMBAI NORTH EAST CONSTITUENCY and not surprisingly is a very big one. This election is going to see not much contest for the reason that the constituency has been divided and the standing MP Gurudas Kamat is now contesting from North West. That leaves Kirit Somaiya of the BJP a clear leader from the start.

Though not much of a difference it makes but it would have been better if NGO like AGNI would make a political party and have prominent people from the public stand and fight the elections.

Agni has been doing its bit for arranging the MEET YOUR CANDIDATE events to help people know more about who is standing . Apart from Kirit Somaiya , i really dont know who is contesting along with him. So let me do a google seach and find out......

Ok here is the list:

Areas
Bhandup Chembur Ghatkopar Govandi Kanjur Marg Khindi Pada Mankhurd Mulund Trombay Vidya Vihar
Vikhroli

Voting Day : April 30, 2009

01. Ashok Singh - BSP
02. Kirit Somaiya - BJP
03. Sanjay Dina Patil - NCP
04. Shishir Shinde - MNS

05. Dharmpal Meshram - Independent
06. Manish Jade - Ind
07. Namdev Sathe - Ind
08. Narayan Rokade - Ind
09. Pankaybhai Shah - Ind
10. Prakash Kamble - Ind
11. Sanjay Dhaku - Ind
12. Diksha Jagtap - Independent
13. Jayesh Mirani - Ind
14. Sunita Tupsoundarya - Ind
15. Tatyasaheb Revdekar - Ind
16. Vishwanath Patil - Rashtiya Samaj Paksh

Of the 16 - 4 top contenders for the post is from the main political party, the surprise winner cannot be ruled out for MNS candidate Shishir Shinde, and also NCP candidate - Sanjay Dina Patil.

So lets vote and get the right candidate.

Eating Out in Ghatkopar

BIKANER SWEETS: Ghatkopar Station East side (Patel Chowk)

Seems like food is one thing that no one will complain. The new outlet opened of Bikaner Sweets is one big huge place. Situated near the Ghatkopar Railway station East side, at Patel Chowk is really good to see .

Its neat, clean, open, spacious and most of all it has a variety of dishes you can eat as well as taken home.

There is paani puri counter, the chaat counter and also the entire range of the Bikaner fashan and sweets. Pricing a little on the higher side but then for the clean and quality stuff one has to shell out more.

Vegetable and Fruit market

Vegetable and Fruit Market in Ghatkopar

Well having been to markets for our daily source of vegetable and fruits its been an really changing trend that is now becoming a nuisance value for most of the pedestarians who like to walk on the footpath or as they say in the US Sidealk (well for those Mumbaites who might not be familar with this term) it is a path in on both the side of the road which the half a feet higher from the main road where motorist drive. This path is used for walking only and not for any vehicles.

Anyway buying veggies is near the Odeon shoppng complex the road behind the theater. This strech has now been used for last 20 years by veggie vendors to sell their stuff. this market is costliert among all the markets in the Suburb. The vendors are rude to all those who don't fit thier budget standards (mind you they look at the buyers and then wait at what and how much you buy ) if you buy 1/4 kilo and all then you don't fit in thier scheme of business. This is neo rich market only for the rich.

Move down a little bit towards the Tilak road near Bhatia Wadi Hall - here the vendors are reasonable yet at times they too get pricey . All types of veggies and fruits , one needds to bargain and you do get a good deal. watch for the weighing here (well for that matter everywhere).

Moving along the path towards the station on the same strech is the biggest market which is bigger and is somewhat a better qauilty of veggies and fruits. Though for most Garodia / Nath Pai Nagar residents this is a little far market, but here you do get reasonably priced stuff , good quailty.

Then there is the Pant Nagar market the one which starts from the Left of Patel Chowk nd goes all the way down till the ration office road. This was a very good market for buying fish / meat and eggs and also veggies and fruits. But over the period this is not a favored of the marktes. Its crowded and its dirty. Fish and meat used to be really good quailty but not anymore. The market is frequented mostly by the Pant Nagar residents , and also for wholesale buying for a week or more for larger families. The pricing is much lower than all the markets in ana around the East of Ghatkopar.

The farshan wholesalers are all based in this market near, the frying of locally made wafers , chips, chakli, sev, chana, and chewda, and all types of snacks , mostly used for Bar and resturants as munchies are all made here. Its cheap if you buy from here but watch the quailty of oil is something one needs to watch out for. Not the best of quality .

The coming of Branded Retail outlets - like Spinach near Shoppers Stop , Subhiksha near L N Metha (now closed down), and the new Reilance Retail starting near Station East Mall , has made a lot of difference the way one shopped for the groceries and veggies/fruits. But the reall fun is the bargaining with vendors which is and art to be larnt for the local ladies (specially the Gujrathis ladies ) who will cajol , shout, plead, to get the best possible lowest rates and the right quality.

The danger of making fast buck and not caring for the well being of the common man has lead to lot of veggies being washed in dirty gutter water, fruits being rippend artifical with carciogenic chemicals (cancer causing) . The use of chemicals to ripen Bananas / Mangoes is used so openly and balantly that most of the green bananas are now dangerous to eat. The clever use to market the the costly variety the Golden banana (big yellow) taking advantage of the consumers situation has made life much more hard for the common mans fruit to be eaten without any fear.

Much more use of chemicals in our daily use vegetables and fruits in the next post.

To read more on how much chemicals we eat just do a google search with the term " chemicals we eat" and you will be surprised what is the real threat to our nation and our future generations.

Save Earth - Switch off your Lights for 1 Hour

The Save Earth initiate which has become quite popular the world over has its impact on most of the nations who look forward to do something to see the world is a better place for our children too.

It was an SMS that put me into action that night , though i had read about it in the paper - what with Aamir Khan advt. So me and my family too the time off from 8.20 pm 9.30 pm. The lights went off but not the fan as it is th heat in Mumbai is now unsually 4-5 degrees higher than the earlier years.

This is now something which one should not ignore the Global warming which we see , hear, read and many a times discuss is really coming true . Last years 10 degress celcius temperature in the winter month of January in Mumbai was one such signs -as many who have lived in Mumbai have not experinced such cold.

Saving Earth is only possible if we start now. Let try and do our bit little bits - but Billions of bits can make a big byte and diffrence not just for us but more importantly for the future generations (our children)

One of the website that really made me learn something is the site www.earth911.com a site dedicated to recycling of daily use and other interesting ideas.

Shopping Malls In Ghatkopar

R CITY Mall - Ghatkopar West : Near Presidential Towers , it is near to the Godrej Gate , just before the Cafe Coffee day outlet , just before the left turn to Kailash Complex to Hiranadani.

Click On Image for Larger view

Dear Me, the road to progress is fast and furious for this quite area which was mostly industrial one. The strech from Ghatkopar staion west near the Shreyas theater and towards Vkhroli onthe LBS marg. The changing secnario is really amazing . Was passing by the road and the newly opened R CITY Mall was huge conplex structure with a beatuiful semi circled shape and huge columns and glass windows much bigger then the one in Mulund R mall .

The lights in the night focusing on the building made it look rally awsome. This is really one good shopping paradise this suburb can baost off. As most shopper had to travel to Mulund to R Mall or Nirmal Lifestyle so the coming of this shopping paradise makes sense as the entire Ghatkopar east / west can now have a gala time. The mall was packed to capacity this weekend and made sense with a big weekend due to Friday being a bank holiday.

SO ladies the big bazaar hungama is now closer to you and alos the all the branded shopping you need not travel far during this summer vacation .

Hotel & Restaurants in Ghatkopar

Beginning to get slower as the summer has begun, the winter is gone and summers can be real problem here in India , specially with the mushrooming of buildings all around Ghatkopar and Garodia Nagar , it makes this place look like a jungle of Concrete.

But some good news went on the terrace for a walk and saw a beautiful site, the entire road stretch was covered with tall green tress and the branches spreading all over the road, making it look like a dense forest/jungle somewhat like Amazonian.

Well so to continue the Hotel stuff,

Hotel Bharat Cafe

Opposite the railway station on west is also an old but most famous and frequented places for travellers for a quick hot Tea/coffee snakcs and meals. This was a run down building and the hotel was small albeit the area now occupied by the Cake & confectionary shop was a family room where there used to be 3/ 4 tables. The paint on the walls was not so great and wherenever I used tyo go with my family back in the 70s and 80s it was somewhat small for all to sit.

This hotel had a great samosa and idli/dosa chutney that we used to love. The meals was also good after a movie at the Odeon or Shreyas theater. Time and money has made a lot of difference to this place its huge with seating capscity on the graound floor more than 150/200 the first floor for Airconditoned comfort and family area. The cake shop, the outside where used to be a small area for seating is removed for road wideing work.

The place is bustling with people all through the day & night, good food and value for money.

Hotel Sandeep:

The hotel run by the other brother of Bharat cafe is a bar and restaurant. one of the only place after hotel Meghadoot that was serving liqour back in the 80s. Nice place to spend an evening for drinks and family meals speacially for non-vegetarain food.

The terrace area is mostly used for birthday and other functions and mostly the Mangalorean families organise their functions here. I have had attented to many of my freinds here.

Hotel Vishwakarma:

This again is a hotel run by a Shetty family. Presently run by a good friend whom i met through a common friend. Nitin has been taking keen interest of running this hotel and has done fantastically well for the business. Presently the road to this place is a real mess with the Metro rail project work being carried out and pillars all but have taken the entire road, the area is like a mega construction project. There is hardly a place to walk by this road. So one has to be careful entering into this stretch.

Nice hotel with great food and lots of cold beer to have, it was an evening place for us professionals to have a cold beer and talk about days works and ideas.


Tags : Hotel Bharat Cafe, Hotel Vishwakarma, Hotel Sandeep Ghatkopar west Garodia

Garodia Nagar

Hotels & Restaurants in Ghatkopar

I know many who might have reas this blog would wonder where are the hotels that we had good dinner or a south indian snacks. I will come to those Hotels in this post.

Okay hotles were not so a big thing in Ghatkopar, sadly very few though they catered a very tatsy delicous food to one and all. To begin with I will start with ..

Hotel Popular
This Udipi hotel started in a small corner shop of a residential building near the old L N Mehta Typing Classes. It was very small just a few tables and the owner had a great way to welcome his guest then known by names. The tea / coffee with the usaul hot Idli / Vada served in plantain leave which still continues is a great delight to the eye as you are served. The Mukgapudi (masala mix with oil) and the coconut chutney with the tasty hot spicy sambhar was such a speacial way to start your mornings.

Though the regulars swear by the cutting chai and the special that is served. As the clientel grew the expansion began with tables and chairs being put to the right side of the building compound , starting a small 2 tables it grew to more than eight and as time went by they had the area covered and very soon they had enclosed on all sides and now in its present form is a big extentionn which has more than 10 tables enough to accomodate 25 people. As time went by this hotel gained popularity most of the nearby shops had thier tea and coffee ordered from here and as Home delivery started the orders began to roll in. Its a good place for South Indian Dishers with the not so recent introduction to the menu the Rasam Vada has the Guests wanting for more.

They have the Pav Bhajji counter also and my personal feeling is that this is better than the Achija Pav Bhajji on Tilak road. But don't take my word you have to eat and decide , also the reuglars have a good night out Friday nights and weekends its just the palce you have to rush in ealry to avoid waiting to get a table. All in all great place for South Indian Dishes, neat, clean, well served with the waiters very freindly and also the fast home deliveries make it a good hotel.

Hotel Samrat:
This hotel bang opposite of the railway station on the east side is also a good Udipi hotel, though now they serve Punjabi and Chinese dishes also. Great begining to this hotel some 20 years ago, their Batata Vada is special ona way that the batter after being fried comes up so crispy and tasty that makes you go for more and more, A good deal to start with the mornihn chai. Though i have found this hotles dishes a bit too spicy , whether it is the Dal or the Subzi or other dishes they tend to make it a bit to spicy and that makes it little difficult for someone who prefers non spicy stuff.

They have have recently done thier interiors and this makes it look more airy and bright and also more space for tables. Clean kitchen to look from the outside, quick service , they also have home deliveries but they tend to avoid places Like Garodia Nagar / Natn Pai nagar if the order is less than Rs 150/- . Here again Weekends is a palce to be early like by 7 Pm to avoid being on the waiting list . The Airconditioned Section on the First floor is a place to have dinner with family. Very freindly the owner always on the move , wishing and making people comfortable. This hotel ahs a good practise of having 20 galsses of water filled round the clock adn kept on the side table outside for thirsty commuters , travelers who walk ina have thier thrist quenced and thank the owners for proiding them. If you are on the a look out for dinner or lunch this a good place to be.

Hotel Prakash:
Again one of the oldest of Udipi hotels in Ghatkopar, this is on the right section of the Odeon Building the Odeon Shopping Complex, a big and most visited area n Ghatkopar East this place did have some buzz till the late 1990s , after the owner passed away the 2 sons started to manage and over a period of time with the coming of food stalls opposite the building and also the decline in the taste of the food made here it lost out a lot of guests. The only people making it to the hotel were the Couple who could spend time in the AC secton which was nice and cosy and dark to spend some quality time of coochy cooing. Having lost on lot of business the Younger son who now manages did the next best thing of doing up the Interior and now the Hotel has a nice big bright and spacious look. This is good as the soon to beign PVR Multiplex in place of the old Odeon Theater will bring lot of guests who would either perfer to avoid the Costly multiplex counters. Though it has stiff competeition from the stalls outside it has its own mix of customers who prefer this to the roadside stalls.

Hotel Pooja:
This hotel again a Udip joint - gosh al this Udipi natives really made a lot of money here in Mumbai my catering Idlis and dosas. Though it was a really good hotel for sometime it lost out with not making changes to menu. Like may Udipi they also started the Pav Bhajji Counter with Chinese dishes and all and also the the standard Punjabi mix , this led to the guest moving away to try nd find more delicacies and different taste. I must admit with the growing of the the new age generations and the TV channels dishing out the varied countires delicaies peoples taste buds also needed more than the Idlis and dosa and the Navratan kurma. But time and again this will change and so did Pooja Hotel they also redid the place up and have a nice and cosy feeling to it, This again is a great place for love birds to spend quality time on the 1st floor section , just tip the waiter good and does not bother you.

Hotel Meghdoot :
Time for some change so we move to Ghatkopar west, this hotel was the first non verg ctaering hotel in Ghatkopar, great menu and good quality food, speacilay the Butter Chicken and American Chop Suey, I really a lot fo quailty meal with my family back in the Seventies and Eighties and also some with my friends spending huge amounts of money (Rs 300) for birthday dinners and all. Though it was a big burden to have parties on birthdays it did good to have change with non veg food. The owner was a great guy and the interiors was good. Chilled beer and good food was always a big draw. Time have changed though personally I have not visted this place in years. Nice way yo have your dinner if you perfer Non Veg in this mostly vegetarian dominated hotels area.

Hotel Neo Welcome:
How can we miss this place bang opposite the Ghatkopar Station west near the Jhunjunwalla College, as they say the Master yes this place is comsidered the Guru of Udipi Hotels. One of the oldest it still gives you gerat value for money. Real tasty food and all the more at a very reasonable price as it tries to cater to all the sections of the society so they try to avoid increasing the prices. The rsult being that though it is the oldest and one of the most visited hotels they have not rally taken to the idea of doing up the place and this makes a little too akward to see that many a new hotels have sprung up and having a bright , airy , clean eating place always makes the guests comfortable.

Hotel Guru
Just as the name Guru of Udipi hotels the owners of Neo Welcome who own this hotel as well named it Guru. This hotel was the king of Gujurathi Thali. They served the concept of unlimited eating with puris and dishes rolling in as you could muster to gobble up as much as you could, Though the idea was to cater to large families who would love to spend an evening eating outside and also not miss out on thier favouirte home food they made it look so homely and tasted good food that people loved eating here. The Aam Ras and the Hot Puris was the best dish , also the dal and rice with different veggies would make you wonder what is to be had first and what last , Nice a clean place , great eveings with family and friends were spent here on various occaions.
Though with price rise the food quantity also started to diminish and what with the use of Soda use one would just blow with just a handful of food , Sadly the use of Soda (as it is called) to make you feels fluffled up really did not helo and it doesnt, this place lost its glory over time. Have not been to this place for a over a long time so don't really know how it is today.


Gee thinking of more to wirte but guess what its Holi - day and holiday and need to take a quick nap and refresh up on more to wirte of the hotels,................Still to wirte about Bharat Cafe, Hotel Sundeep, Vishwakarma and more , Come to think of it there are good number of hotels so to speak. So folks time for a break will wirte next post more ...also do comment of\r write in if you know more about nice places you have eaten in Ghatkopar (east + west) ...

Gardens in Ghatkopar

Sorry again for not writing in for long, had a computer problem and tried fixing it and then all when haywire. Ok so where to go next on the map of Ghatkopar.

GARDENS IN GHATKOPAR
Fine the gardens of this area is something that i can write somethign about. Surprisingly you would say why is Ghatkopar west area not mentionted or written about in details. Yes its true I do have this tendency to move eastward. Seriouly i live in th East so know more about this side of the railway track and moreover am familiar with its surrondings not that West of Ghatkoapr is not know but will do wirte. Readers of this blog who know more please to write in and will have the thing put up.

So back to garden and yes there were none in good old days , yes there were open (Maidan) grounds brownish mud, or swamps which were over a period of time fileld with the debris . This helped the kids use the maidans for playing cricket (ah the only thing that is often writeen about) and all sorts of other games, used for morchas, dharnas, and sarvajanic (community) gatherings. Indeed all those who grew here are either good cricket commentators or verbal coach to all and sundry who paly actively now.

The biggest ground being the Pantnagar hall grounds that is the ground opposite the now Ration card office. This is close to the Shivaji technical school anymore hints. It is still clean , brown mud, lots of matches being played here and more so kids have a good open ground to enjoy themselves. This ground is mostly used by the old pantnagar residents. Then there is more ground which were developed due to pressure form Khairnar the then Municpal Commisionar who warned that if the said open area given the plans of development were not used then he would take over and make something on it.

Lions Community ground - Garodia Nagar , Ghatkoapr East
So we had the Lions community ground in Garodia Nagar, which was our only place where we would have matches , this used to be a muddy , dirty , garbage dump in the corner , and the Lions community centre was using it to their benefit to make lots and lots of money by renting it out as marraige functions. SO this became a wastland in the night with all sorts of rubbish and foul smelly rotten left over food dumped after the funtions and for days on the neighboruing societies suffereing all the this. To end this all there was morcha and appeal filed in the courts and finally the residents won adn this is now converted into a very very beautiful , walking park cum ground. There good landscaping done, nice trees, good water fountain, and most of all people use it for walking and being happy and healthy and meeting freinds and having a good time after all the hard work they do in home/ office/ school and so on a so forth.

Then there is a garden near the Police Chowky or to say the lane that comes from walking behind the garages on the 90 feet road, the juciewala , this is the lane that has some 14 building s and societies like Chandini, Kailash Dhara, and more manage this garden. Beautiful garden now , but ofr years this was a garbage dump, smelly as usal and not of much use. But come toghter few like minded people and lot of hard work and paitence and this had developed into a good garden.

Varsha Ground
Then there is Varsha Ground, the small yet beautiful ground where Bhaskar and Navin and all the other guys from buildings surrounding them making use of this for cricket. The ground was all half garbage dump half swamp, converted into cricket grounds by the hard work by the guys who loved what the always did- cricket and made most of it. We had a great time playing most of the afternoon matches here with the Bhaskar team, as mornings we had to paly teams from Garodia Nagar viz, Shivgeet, then Jyothi bldg, Chaaya Nirmal, and some more. Great way to spend your holidays and sundays . After a few years this ground too was converted into a nice beautiful garden.

There is the Nath Pai nagar ground near behind the Pancholi Hospital, this was mostly swamp and can't remeber how long this was a wasteland then slowly and for good land shark started dumping debris to use it to illeaglly occupy the area, Sadly and for good it never materialsied and the ground was convereted for playing cricket, very dangerous to paly here as lot glass and broken tiles were there and taking a catch or playing barefoot was really risky. Now taken over by the Skih community and managed by them and has a good green centre and a huge walking area, sitting benches and a area where Ducks are kept. Just behind it the traffic police depatment has created Childrens Traffic Signal and trainng ground.


Rajawadi Garden
Well then there is the good old Rajawadi Garden , still nicely matainted and used by all and sundry for walking, and expressing their love to their loved ones and at night ina dark corner someone enjouing his share of the Local arrack.


Lions Garden 60 feet Road
Anymore hmmm. well yes how could if forget the Lions Garden near the Arshiwad Hospital, the garden we all used to call the helicopter garden as there was a big stone helicopter in there, and a Bofor type shell launcher. This was the best garden for kids and is still used and is good for all the people for al the residents around.

Well folks need some break and will do some more psot about the area.