Well you've traversed the world's cities and taken those delightful city tour: But for visiting tourists and resident Mumbaikars, other than the foodie places malls and shopping streets, the city i considered quite bereft of any real culture stimulation. The truth is Mumbai is packed with history but is so overtaken by the lure of mammon that the more subtle delight have got completely overlooked. Namaste City Tour is trying to straighten the record with its regular city tours. You've heard of Mani Bhavan or then again have you (it's the abode when Maliatma Gandhi resided whenever in Mumbai), or do you know the history of Dhobi Ghat (that's where the British soldiers had their uniforms laundered with not a single piece of clothing getting addresses crossed) or the Prince of Wales Museum (with its varied and rare pieces ? of historical value)....

While every major city of the world has its customized sight seeing tours be it the double decker red hop on and off bus in London and Manhattan, or even the Parisian city tour, in Mumbai finding a customized city tour was near impossible. So when you get a call from Naini Mehta of Namaste City Tour to traverse the varied sights on a half day tour of South Mumbai, you jump on to this bandwagon to see how customized and comfortable it can be, especially with city temperatures taking a harsh beating with the sun's hot rays. To give it a desi touch, tourists are

welcomed with the traditional vermilliontikka, garland (making sure that the guest

Sights to Wander

is not allergic to any ot the scents) and at the end of it all, an Indian memento exchanges hands as well. So there we are in an air-conditioned mini van with around six of us making it to our first port of call— Dhobi Ghat. Informs Naini Mehta, "This place has become so well known with foreign tourists that they ask us to take them to Dhobi Ghat." Shilpa (professional government licensed guide) our guide for the day, gives us the low down on the old world launderette workings that sustains itself even today. All that it now requires for its final cachet of fame is for Prince Charles to visit to put it in the favoured list a la dabbawaUahs. From there we cruise to the two storeyed Mani Bhavan, which we are told has

become a must-visit for foreign tourists because while Indians may give the Mahatma mere lip service, the rest of the world is still awed by his life and deeds. The quietude of his Mumbai dwellings which belonged to his friend Zakaria has a letter written by him to Hitler; a doll museum which depicts real life instances in Gandhiji's life like the Dandi March; and a library which has famed sayings of the man himself like 'All men are born free and equal', 'Life is greater than all art'. From the Father of the Nation's Mumbai residency to the 125-year-old Walkeshwar Temple, it's a walk through the history of Jains in Mumbai. With words of caution like if wearing spaghetti straps (cover up!), do not disturb the prayer proceedings and remove your footwear. "These are things that we always advise tourists," says Naini Mehta. The ususal suspects; Hanging Gardens, the Gateway of India, Thief or Chor Bazaar (to the delight of the foreigners) the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (one of the oldest Gothic structure and one of the live heritage buildings where two to three million people transit through), we do the rounds. With no waits from one spot to another, the pick-up very prompt, one does not feel the stress of waiting for everyone to finish. It's more like one is waited upon. With nuggets of information about the history of Mumbai being. given, like how the dabbawallahs function so meticulously, we make our way to Philips Images at Colaba with its exhibits of reprints of old Bombay where water and more water was the norm till modernization and reclamation of land took over. The Prince of Wales Museum, of which we got nuggets of information of how an armour of Akbar the Great was with the museum for years without them deciphering the written text on it and thus being ignorant of the fact of who it belonged to! Tours.ire catered to individual or group requests and with relatives of the royal family of Kuwait making it on the tour, the organizers are looking ahead to newer innovative ideas. Like there was the Valentine guided, yes guided tour that met with much success. On the cards is a children's tour with puppetry thrown in to keep the kids entertained. Full day tours of Elephanta Caves, Temple tours, Bollywood tours and more will make this a Mumbai darshan to look forward to. For more information log on to: www.namastecitytour.com Tel: 022-23888711 / 9323652111. Mail – visitus@namastecitytour.com TEXT: STARDUST GONSALVES PHOTOGRAPHY: GUSTASP IRANI