Temple hopping in mumbai

Fanaswadi balaji temple:the latest in our temple hopping in
Mumbai. Bhooma had come calling a few days back and the dyed in the wool bombayite that she is, was recommending a visit to the temple. She said it is a very old temple, a la south indian style and quite nearby, a stones throw from charni road station. Yes. I did know charni road is quite closeby.
So the three of us went marching (by taxi) on a saturday evening. The place was relatively free and we were given prasad of 'pongal' and also laddus!The sannidhis of Venkateswara and Padmavathi thayar were well maintained and also very tastefully decorated. The surprise element was a sannidhi of ranganathar, a miniature version of ananthapadmanabhaswamy temple( yes, i have not been to srirangam, so only this comparison to the temple in adyar can be truthfully drawn, okay?).It was very satisfying to be given the traditional teertham, shadari, tiruthulai, and on a saturday evening, gave us a very good sense of well being. The temple is very clean with verses from the gita adorning the walls of the prakaram and also dasavatharam stories depicted as portraits above these slokas. That the place was swarming with ayyangar vaadhyars in tengalai nammam who gave us very good welcome, added to a sense of fulfilment to athaipatti.It gave her a chance to proclaim, how she hails from patrachariar family!
Two weeks back, we had been to mumbai devi mandir near crawford market. The city is named after this deity and amma highly recommended a visit to this temple. It is in a very crowded area and not only that, the route to the place is also through dense traffic what with muhammad ali road having its quota of handcarts crisscrossing the road. The temple as such is not very large and had gold all over the place!
Mahalakshmi temple is a must visit of course; the location facing the sea is a delight and the way down below the main temple to visit hanumar and vinayaka temples takes one right on to the sea.Have been there on more than one occasion; no car parking available in any of these temple areas, so it is either taxi, or kumar dropping us there and vamoosing, or the driver who keeps making rounds of the street till we finish the darshan. Pedas are offered as prasad here, much to the amusement of prashant, who keeps mentioning it quite often.
We were planning to go to iskon temple today, but kumar is playing hard to get, so it will have to wait. It is quite a distance from where we are staying, so taxi is not a preferred alternative(as such).
Will keep you posted of other visits to temples , including shiva temple at walkeshwar(it is actually malabar hills, but called walkeshwar temple!)