Took both the kids riding atop the Chetak. The ride itself was thrilling - thanks to TMC/ MMRDA/ BMC. The Chetak literally galloped all the way Thane-BKC-Thane. On the outside sat a big model of "44" on one side and a behemoth shore battery on the other. Stepping inside, we were greeted by the trio of naval officers one in smart salute and the other two with a whistle ready to show us the drill.The info kiosk on the left itself was well a bummer - darn it made me feel old - really O-L-D !!!

Whatever careers they had to offer stopped at 22-25! But then the next was the "Frogman". The "boys" were very nice ad asked my son to try on the suit, flippers, life vest etc. etc. I regretted then that my cell didn't have the camera. Daughter dear stayed away politely telling them that she had seen it all in a movie called "Blue" and knew how to use it all !

(Kids these days). A corner had some info on medals won by Navy and also one one Shri. Dhonde who circumnavigated the world. Plus a fibreglass sailboat and a rubber raft with starboard engine was wonderful to behold. The pavilion was lined with wooden models of various missile boats. You could handle a 9mm, INSAS, an LMG, couple of Carbines (a la Dharmendra) etc. All were chained and paddocked for safety with firing mechanism removed. Then of course there were Surface-Surface, Surface-Air missiles prominently displayed along with a huge torpedo that my sonny mistook for a submarine and asked me if he could sit inside. The daughter who is older and more mature and had been listening to whatever the naval officer was telling her scolded the younger bro saying that it was in fact a bomb that was used against the submarines and hence looked like one to fool the submarine!!! Wonder how they interpret the data this way ! All thanks to cartoons, I think

At that very moment, in the next stall a lady was asking if the huge barrel that looked like it was made of very strong iron was used to store fuel on ships and if it could withstand all the "bullet" fire that the enemy was attacking with ad the young lad in white without a hint of emotion (or sarcasm) explained to her that it was a "mine" - a type of bomb that floated in the sea. Then of course she had many Qs about how it worked etc. - we moved to the"INHS Asvini" stall. That's the naval state-of-art hospital. The couple of boys there did a complimentary check-up on BP, Ht-Wt etc. and came out with "Sir your BMI is very high. You need to shed off at least 30 kilos. We advise exercise *TWICE* a day till you reach your goal. (Now I didn't feel so bad that I was not in the navy)" I thanked him but my son was insistent that they do everything to him that they did on his "Baba" - so the lads humored him too with "Arre you are fit to join the navy. Why not join in tomorrow ?"

My sonny nudged me to scoot. They also had basic display of couple of Geiger counters to detect radio-activity plus other detectors to detect chemical biological agents and appropriate anti-dotes plus the special suits to be used for counter-measures. There was a mini-cinema that ran a short movie on the 1971 naval war. We saw the movie on "The Killers". Both the kids enjoyed live action. After ascertaining that the ship that was tore was of Pakistani "team" the kiddo would go "Yesss". Had to see the movie again...

For some reason th emovie skipped the INS Khukri incident. Then of course was the "shop". Tees with Vikrant on it came in quite cheap (only INR125 each), plus the pens, key-chains etc. for mementos were OK and cheap too. We ended up with 4 Tees, a couple of key chains, a couple of pens etc. The books however were very expensive.

You had a turret 'salvaged' out of a Pak sub sunk off Vishakhapattam in 1971, a radar, a gun turret with two big guns etc. etc. On the way out the info kiosk guy offered a couple of small scribbling pads (with" to do") and a couple of car-scooter stickers and a few sheets to write down school timetable that had sea harrier pictures. All in all, naval stall was a wonderful experience. What made it even more marvelous was that my daughter asked me "Why didn't you join the Navy?" That Q made the entire trip "wasool".
For the IFGian taking his wife along - in the same MMRDA ground you have pavilions of furniture, appliances, FMCG, luxury cars etc. which we skipped - no interest & no time. Skip the food stall if you can - substandard fare at more than twice/ thrice the price.
This is open till 9th of October and closes at 9PM daily till then. EssDee1972's tip worked about going on weekday and had no problem with the scooter parking. Entry fee for adults is INR 50. Good luck and enjoy.