Mumbai to see opening of first gin bar

Mumbai is set to see a new addition to its nightlife with the opening of the first gin bar in the city.

The lounge restaurant will be the first speciality bar of its kind to open in the city and will be located in the JW Marriott in Juhu.

The premises will be dedicated to selling only gin and will stock 30 different types of the spirit from around the world and may help to make Juhu famous for more than just its stunning coastline.

Gagandeep Singh, director of operations for JW Marriott Mumbai, said gin is not as well-known across the Indian market, but they hope the new bar will change that.

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Mumbai Literature Festival 'to have strong south Asian feel'

Travellers taking flights to Mumbai could be interested to hear that the city's forthcoming Literature Festival will offer a wide range of work from writers across south Asia.

This weekend, the first Mumbai Fully Booked event is taking place between December 2nd and 4th 2011, with associate festival director Namita Devidayal telling CNNGo.com that it will take influence from other countries in the region.

"It's a crossover festival focused on south Asia, curated in a way that brings people together from different fields via books," Mr Devidayal said.

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Mumbai delights in Bollywood flash mob

People who took flights to Mumbai recently may have been among those caught up in a flash mob event taking place in the city.

Around 200 dancers converged on Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station as part of a surprise event on November 27th 2011, where they broke out into spontaneous dancing to the music from the hit movie Rang de Basanti.

People in the station recorded footage of the event and it quickly spread across the country through YouTube and Twitter.

Organiser of the mob Shonan Kothari explained that she put it together as she had not been part of a flash mob when she had been in Europe and wanted to bring the phenomenon to India, which proved to be very popular.

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World Air Race 'likely to happen in Mumbai'

Many people taking flights to Mumbai next year could be planning to look out for more planes during their visit as it is through that the World Air Race is to be held there.

The Red Bull Air Race World Championship, Austrian Trade Commission and Red Bull Air Race company met with Chhagan Bhujbal, the Maharashtra tourism minister, to discuss proposals for the event to take place in the city.

If it is given the go-ahead, it will be one of ten cities to host the event in 2012, with races taking place over three days.

"Like Formula One, this sport does not require space, but people can experience the same thrill," explained Mr Bhujbal.

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Mumbai Film Festival set to begin

Travellers on cheap flights to Mumbai who love to watch the latest movies could get a head start by visiting the city's forthcoming film festival.

Organised each year by the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image, the event takes place between October 13th and 20th 2011, with a wealth of home-grown and international movies to be showcased.

The event will once again have a distinctly French flavour to it, as for the fourth year running it is to play host to the Rendezvous with French Cinema.

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Mumbai Comic Convention to attract cartoon fans

People in flights to Mumbai this month who are fans of comics could have a great time if they head to the Mumbai Comic Convention.

The second instalment of Comic Con India will take place on October 22nd and 23rd and follows on from the first successful event which took place in Delhi earlier this year.

Rather than a full-scale event, guests will be able to attend an express version, which has been created to promote local talent across several cities.

Many of the people taking part may not have the access to publishers or readers without taking part.

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Caught in jam, many miss flights in Mumbai

Although flights operated in and out of Mumbai airport on Monday in spite of torrential rains, many passengers missed their flights due to heavy traffic and bad roads.

Even though they started for the airport quite early, they could not reach the airport on time.

Devraj VR, 46, a resident of Mangalore, was in Navi Mumbai for 10 days with his family.

On Monday, the family left their relative’s house at 9am for the airport to catch their flight to Mangalore that was to depart at 1.45pm. “We reached the Santacruz domestic terminal only at 1.10pm due to traffic,” said Devraj.

“We were not allowed to board the flight. The airline has the next flight to Mangalore only the next day. Now we have to stay here for another day and we are looking for a hotel room nearby,” he added.

Maria Gnanam’s (40) family was also among those unlucky passengers who were stuck on the roads for hours and missed their flights.

“We were at Dombivli and had a flight to Trivandrum at 12.15pm,” said Gnanam. As there were no trains from Dombivli, the Gnanam family of five started at 7am. “There were no trains so we hired a cab for Rs3,000. But our cab broke down on the way,” she said.

They reached the airport at 12.45pm after the flight had left. “The airline has accommodated us on tomorrow’s flight so now we will either book a hotel room or stay at the airport. There is no point in going back to Dombivli as you never know when the weather will turn bad,” she said.

Even Gyanendra Singh, 36, and his friends from Lucknow missed their early morning flight to Lucknow as they were stuck in traffic.

“We were at Hotel Host Inn, Marol, and started for the airport at 5.45am as our flight was at 6.50am,” said Singh. “Though it is only a 30-minute drive from Marol to Santacruz, we reached the airport at 7am,” he says.

News Reference: http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_caught-in-jam-many-miss-flights-in-mumbai_1581112

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