She Said “Come to Mumbai for My Birthday.” Obviously, I Went. 🎂🌧️

The journey

This Mumbai trip had exactly one reason behind it—

Rhea's birthday. 🎂

I wasn't sitting at home thinking, "I really need a Mumbai vacation."

It was more like, my friend is celebrating her birthday in Mumbai, so obviously I'm going.

Rhea lives there, so instead of booking a hotel and doing the whole tourist thing, I stayed with her, which honestly made the trip ten times better.

I reached Mumbai on 17th July, one day before her birthday, and the moment we met, it didn't even feel like I'd travelled somewhere.

It just felt like I'd temporarily moved into her life for four days. 😭

The first evening was super chill. We went out for food, drove around for a bit, came back home and then somehow stayed awake ridiculously late talking.

Which was slightly stupid considering the next day was her birthday.

But birthday excitement > sleep.

The next morning was basically:

HAPPY BIRTHDAYYYYY. 🎂😭🤍

We started the day slowly, did the birthday hugs, pictures, calls from family and all the usual chaos that comes with birthdays.

Then Rhea and I went out together.

And honestly, that entire day was less about "exploring Mumbai" and more about just spending her birthday together.

We went around Bandra, stopped at a café, did some shopping, drove around in the Mumbai rain and obviously took an unreasonable number of birthday pictures.

Since it was July, Mumbai weather was doing exactly what Mumbai weather does.

One minute: drizzle.

Next minute: completely fine.

Five minutes later: RAIN.

Eventually we stopped trying to protect our hair. 😂

But the actual birthday celebration was happening that night.

Rhea had planned a club party, and this was also when I got to meet a lot of her Mumbai friends.

Before going out, getting ready itself became an event.

Outfits everywhere.

Music playing.

Rhea changing her mind about something approximately every three minutes.

Me repeatedly saying:

"Bro we're going to be late."

And obviously...

we were late. 😭

When we finally reached the club, a bunch of her friends were already there.

Some I'd heard about before.

Some I'd seen in pictures.

And some I was meeting for the first time.

Within an hour though, it didn't really matter.

Everyone was there for Rhea, everyone was in celebration mode, and the entire night became one big birthday party.

There was music, dancing, cake, endless pictures and Rhea somehow disappearing every ten minutes because another friend had arrived and wanted to wish her.

At one point I remember looking around and thinking:

Okayyy... this girl knows A LOT of people. 😂

The best part was seeing her genuinely happy.

You know those birthdays where the person isn't stressed about whether everyone is having fun and they're actually enjoying their own party?

It was that.

We danced until our feet were done, took some genuinely nice pictures and approximately fifty terrible ones, and laughed over things I don't even remember anymore.

By the time we finally got back home, we were exhausted.

Makeup half gone.

Hair completely finished.

Feet hurting.

Voices questionable.

Perfect birthday night. 😭

The next morning started VERY late.

Nobody was pretending otherwise.

We eventually dragged ourselves out for food and spent most of the day doing a much calmer version of Mumbai.

That included Marine Drive, because no matter how many times someone living in Mumbai has seen it, apparently when a friend visits, you have to go.

And I'm glad we did.

The weather was grey, the sea was rough because of the monsoon and there was this crazy wind that made taking a normal picture almost impossible.

So we just sat there.

Rhea and I talked about the previous night, laughed at the pictures and videos, discussed which friend did what and basically reconstructed the party because certain parts had become one giant blur of music and people. 😂

We also spent some time around Colaba and South Mumbai, ate way too much and did a little shopping.

But because I was staying with Rhea, there wasn't that tourist pressure of waking up early and covering ten attractions.

If we wanted to stay home for an extra hour, we did.

If we randomly wanted coffee, we went.

If it started raining, plans changed.

And honestly, I loved experiencing Mumbai like that.

Not entirely as a tourist.

More like I was just hanging out with my friend in the city she calls home.

By my last evening, the birthday madness had completely settled.

We ordered food, sat at home and talked about everything that had happened over the last few days.

And suddenly it felt weird that I was leaving the next morning.

I came to Mumbai because Rhea was turning another year older and I wanted to be there for it.

The cafés, Marine Drive, Bandra, monsoon drives and South Mumbai were all amazing.

But they weren't really the trip.

She was.

And honestly, I'd travel again just to see one of my closest friends ridiculously happy on her birthday. 🤍