After convincing my parents for months, finally 2011 became the year of my first solo travel. Though I wanted to go to the mountains but my dearest creators wanted the location to be near home, safe and a place with good internet and transportation connectivity so that I don’t get lost. The location decided? City of dreams, Mumbai. I had hired a taxi to take me around the city. After a full day of Mumbai Darshan, the driver said, “Madam chalo Sea Link dikha deta hu, phir hotel pe drop kar dunga.” It was almost sunset and the office rush was on. Tired but still curious as to what is this marvel that had been in news recently, I agreed. The sun had started to set as we reached. Set against the orange sun, the “marvel” stood strong.
People all over the city were driving away to reach home. This is where it struck me why it was so special. The bridge stood on water, held by cables holding the weight of the city of Mumbai. This bridge was not only bridging physical distances, but also distance between people, places, cultures.
Till then I was feeling like a tourist in the big city. At this point I felt what travel meant. It meant letting yourself go to things bigger than you. Let it be the natural elements like the sea under the bride, the orange ball of flame, the sun setting against the bridge or the man-made ones like the bridge itself.
This man-made marvel was created using 0.1Million MT of cement from Ultratech, thus I can easily say that ABG played an extremely important role in my life.