Halloween USA style

India is a country of celebrations and Festivals- and most people feel that festivals are enjoyed in India like nowhere else.
True to some extent. Festivals like Makar Sankrant (kite flying) and Holi (colours) are eagerly awaited by children. So is the case in USA where Halloween is looked forward to by children and also by the grown ups.
Preparations start in advance.
Houses are decorated. Costume parties are arranged. Carved pumpkins can be seen strategically places in lawns and porches. Children will spend hours preparing for the scary dresses. They will go from house to house asking for "trick or treat?"
Here are some glimpses.

Typical front lawn

Decorating the house

Most sought after costume

Trick or treat

Pehchaan kaun

Sorting out the booty...........

Sewri Fort

I rely to a great extent on Wikipedia while gathering information. Same goes here for Sewri Fort.
 It was somewhere in the 17th Sentury that it got constructed on the island of Parel, overlooking the East coast, primarily as a Watch Tower.
"It had a garrison of 50 sepoys and was managed by a subedar. It was also armed with eight to ten cannons." says Wikipedia.
The fort is so hidden by buildings around it that I had to ask for its directions when I was standing right at its base! There is a Dargah on the Fort, and its board can be seen more prominently.  Though it is supposed to be a Grade 1 Heritage Structure, there is no sign board or a map giving directions or any information.
It is quite a small area, compared to other Forts in Mumbai. The structures/Storage/Rooms etc are also very differently built. The Govt has messed up by plastering most of the surfaces (maybe the work of restoration was given to some small time contractor), thereby destroying and damaging the originality of the fort.
The Fort is used by children from the nearby area to play cricket or to just loiter around. There were also signs of left overs indicating pot smokers using it - may be after it was dark. On the Eastern side RCF factory chimneys can be seen, and the hazy white/pink spots are the famous Flamingos.

The Entrance

Children playing cricket,

The way up

Mahul, RCF

Against the setting sun

Towers in the distance

Coming closer fast

Relaxing on the Watch-Tower

The wall writing is not Harrappan!, and the boat is also from this century

Gilbert Hill

"Gilbert Hill is a 60 m (197 ft) monolith column of black basalt rock in Andheri, Mumbai, India. The rock has a sheer vertical face and was formed when molten lava was squeezed out of the Earth's clefts during the Mesozoic Era about 65 million years ago."-Wikipedia. Gilbert Hill was declared a National Park in 1952 by the Central Government under the Forest Act. Everything is forgotten now. As an Andheri resident, I am lucky to see this Monolith straight out of my window. Unfortunately it is being mercilessly defaced by the powerful builders.
Compare this to a similar National Monument in USA:
" Devils Tower (Lakota: Mato Tipila, which means “Bear Lodge”) is a monolithic igneous intrusion or volcanic neck located in the Black Hills near Hulett and Sundance in Crook County, northeastern Wyoming, above the Belle Fourche River  Devils Tower was the first declared United States National Monument, established on September 24, 1906, by President Theodore Roosevelt. The Monument's boundary encloses an area of 1,347 acres (5.45 km²). In recent years about 1% of the Monument's 400,000 annual visitors climb Devils Tower, mostly through traditional climbing techniques.^{[1]"  Ref Wikipedia}

^{As I come closer to the Hill}

^{The climb up is not too difficult}

                                                                                      ^{Temple on the top}

                                                                 Towers of Jogeshwari...

                                                            Thats Juhu in the horizon

There is a slumlord, somewhere down there

                                                       The setting sun

Some wild flowers on the hill

and a regular visitor

and the hill as it was, may be 50 yrs ago (this photo credit Wikipedia)

Kanheri Caves @ Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Mumba...

Kanheri Caves, inside the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, were carved out between 1st century BCE to 9th century CE. Most of the caves were meant for study/meditation and some as living quarters for the Buddhist priests. Small canals and cisterns can be seen all around. Its a very good half day visit for all of us who live in this concrete jungle. Most of the Mumbaikars have been there more than once. Those who have been there before, will find the skyline changing fast. Borivali skyscrapers have come up at a distance, and even the shining Vipassana Pagoda in Gorai can be seen clearly. All the same, there is plenty of greenery all around and some friendly monkeys too

                                                                The way up the caves...

                                                              Some amazing work

Dark patch in the foreground is water storage tank

                                                          columns with carvings

Keeping a watch?

some inscriptions

some interesting work station

Spiderman??

 Towers of Borivali...coming closer and closer