Mumbai [warning: VERY long post]
As mentioned, I headed to Mumbai on Thursday morning. The flight from Bangalore to Mumbai is about an hour and twenty minutes, just enough time for the cabin crew to serve a meal [yes meals are served on EVERY flight!]. Some confusion before I left because I wasn't sure if I would be able to catch a cab at the airport since after the attempted bombing at Ayodhya, there had been calls for nationwide bundh [strikes]. I was slightly concerned because this Ayodhya issue is potentially very volitile, and Mumbai can be a pretty volitile city in these situations. However, all was good - there was no bundh in Mumbai, and Alhamdulllilah, I got from the Airport to Yusra's apartment with few problems.
However, I had a real stud for a cab driver. I had asked him to take me to Bandra [a Mumbai suburb], to Mehboob studios [apparently a landmark]. He nodded his head vigorously, and off we went. He attempted to make some chit chat, trying to figure out if I was a local or not, starting off with, "Garmi bahooth badgaya" [Its gotten really hot], continuinging with, "Char din se baarish nahin padi" [It hasn't rained in 4 days]. So I was like, oh he wants to discuss the monsoon - so I try my darndest to carry on conversation in Mumbai-ite fashion, failing miserably because after my first few words he looked at me like, You have no idea what you're talking about. So I shut up, I learned my lesson. We're getting relatively close to where we need to go, but this hero is taking side streets, etc. that I'm sure were absolutely unneccessary, and finally turns around and says, "Aap ko rastein malum?" [Do you know the way?] And I'm like DUDE - you said you knew where you were goin!, and convince him to ask someone for directions. Of course people think he's an idiot coz he doesn't know where he's going, so I ask him if he knows where Mehboob studios is, to which he replies, "Haan, par zara public sein bhi poochna hain!" [Yes, but you should ask the public for their opinion] sounding very much like a politician -- to which I laughed [not to his face!]. In between he stops for gas, ASKING ME for gas money - I looked at him with an absolutely incredulous look like - are you out of your mind!!! He got me to my destination, alhamdullilah, but totally screwed me over on the deal! First of all the meter read 16.20 [which translates to Rs. 230], he says its 162!!! Which would have made my ride over a thousand bucks! after conveying to him that I wasn't born yesterday, and that I know how to read the meter, he delivers another bollywood line, "aap samajke batao" [you figure it out and tell me] THEN has the audacity to ask me for Rs. 300!!! GRRR. Anyhoo, alls well that ends well.
It was SOOO awesome to see Yusra and her family, have never really hung out with them so this was good opportunity. And Yusra got to show me around Bandra, take me to all the cool places to shop [um, I am not a shopper!] - but I did look at some cool beaded bags, and chappals [which I ended up buying]. More than anything, it was a great experience in practicing my bargaining skills. At one point we brought this dude down from Rs. 675 to like Rs. 150! What a rush!! :-) We ended the afternoon by stopping off at this awesome chaat place - getting some sev puri and bhel puri, AND some fantasmic sugar cane juice!
Headed back to the apartment, grabbed the rest of the family, and headed to Carter Road for some real Mumbai treats. Yusra's mom grew up in Mumbai, and her Nani lived there for over 50 years so they know their stuff! We strolled around near the water, looked for some golas -- similar to snow cones -- when we couldn't find them, we decided to start w/some chaat. Now, the stuff I'm talkin about is the real mumbai chaat -- the stuff off the hawker carts -- yeah dude, we weren't messin around! Anyhoo, we hit up some paani puris, some more sev puri, dahi puri -- strolled about a little more, found the gola guy -- and hit 'em up. Now, they were pretty good, but Saara insisted that the ones at Juhu were better. I didn't have anything to compare them with though ... so all good. We ended w/some super bhutta [corn] roasted with lemon and chilli masala! Couldn't think of a better way to end the evening! Headed back to the apartment and chilled, Aunty's birthday was on Friday so Yusra's cousins came over with flowers and stuff, chilled and chatted -- it was so cool to see Yusra in that family kinda setting, I'm so used to seeing her at school. Not that its a big difference or anything, anyhoo - random observation!
Friday - after a quiet morning at the apartment [aka in India-speak - flat], I headed into the city to reunite with the parents -- mom was in the hotel, dad was out at meetings --- stupid Hutch messed up, and I was without a cell phone grrrr. But all was good - mom and I headed out to the Gateway of India, I had never been -- and it was pretty cool, mom and I did the touristy thing, got some dude to take pics of us standing in front of the Gateway, etc. We were both kinda flabberghasted that it was built in like the 1800's because King George V and QueenMary were visiting. Its a huge, imposing structure -- fantastic architecture, and it draws visitors from all over. Its right in front of the Old Taj Hotel [If I'm not mistaken, one of the first Taj's in the country], which in itself is a gorgeous building - wish I could have gone inside! On the way back to meet dad, we stopped for a couple of minutes at what mom calls a Bombay culinary landmark -- Bademiya's -- which is basically a huge cart, with like five guys manning three or four grills, piled high with chicken and mutton seekh kababs, tikka's etc. aaah, just the aroma is enough to make you go nuts. Since we were heading to dinner soon, we just wanted to pick up a quick snack, so we grabbed a roll to go ... simply amazing. 'nuff said.
Dinner was at Khyber, a mughlai place - their seekh kababs didn't come close to bademiya's, but their reshmi kababs were AWESOME! the usual makhani fare was also on, and some super-duper garlic naans. mm mm good. ending with some kulfi, it was the dinner that was totally unneccessary!!! Crashed at the hotel, mom woke us up at 6.30am [jetlagged!] and we headed out to marine drive for a walk, which was nice -- mumbai is usually SO muggy, but that early the weather was fantastic. very bangalore like, cool, breezy - comfortable.
The day was interesting for a couple of reasons ... one, we walked around Bombay University for a little bit, just checkin out the sights, admring the cool architecture, etc. two, our first REAL stop was a Bandhini [variation of tie-dye] shop that has been around for almost a century. Its in a little tiny road, off another little tiny road, next to one of hte thousands of masajid in Mumbai. We make ourselves comfortable, and the guy [third generation in this business] begins to show mom some black and red bandhini sarees, and in a bit, begins to pull out colors at my request ;) . It was awesome, he explained how the prepare the material, and the process. Apparently it takes ONE YEAR to make a saree, each knot is hand tied, and dyed - tied again, dyed again, depending on how many colors it goes on and on. If you see the intricate designs on the sarees, you'll notice that they're patterns of colored dots that form the design. Each dot [barely a millimeter in diameter] is where the cloth has been tied, there are thousands of dots on each saree. No wonder it takes a year to do!!! The cloth comes tied together, and to open it out, two people must pull the cloth in a specific way in order to undo the ties. The string/thread is so strong that it could give you a really deep gash, and can withstand alot!
After a couple of hours with Bandhini-man, we headed back to Marine drive, and stopped at a Gujarati vegetarian place for lunch, and had some super thali's. A thali is basically an all you can eat meal - they give you a large steel plate, and several small steel bowls. A server comes around and fills the bowls with various dahls, vegetables, curries, etc. Accompanied by several varieties of pickles, rice, roti's [bread], AND desert -- this thing is worth it! you get to taste several different dishes, and get a fantastic full meal, um ... a little too full sometimes ;) The servers at this place were so nice, whenever mom and I refused something they'd look at us really upsetand say, but what are you going to eat! Never mind that we had had about three helpings of rice just before the last attempt! I'll say this, Indians will try and feed you until you BURST. So come with an extra appetite!
next we headed to Crawford market, specifically Zaveri Bazaar [Jewelrey market], which is a MAD house. People EVERY where, its like a sea of people just walking around, hawkers knudging each other for a spot, fruit sellers settling on the side of a car to sell their wares, you name it and I saw it in that Bazaar [market]. Crawford Market itself is a glorified Russell Market [more details in future posts], except it charges some very upscale prices. But the range of fruit available is simply amazing ... in addition to staples like Apples, Oranges, Grapes, Banana's, pears, etc - you also get lychees, mangoes, custart apple [AW amazing!], dude - you name it, we got it! This is why I love coming home -- the range of culinary possibilities is just ENDLESS! :)
Our evening ended at the Shanghai Club at the Grand Central Sheraton - Chinese fare, the Chef is an honorary Bangalorean, and is itching to come back :). After dinner, I met up with Puja [she came an hour late in true desi fashion] at the corner coffee shop that was open at midnight, and buzzing with activity. We caught up with each others lives, at least as much as one can catch up with in an hour, over cold coffee and chocolate mousse [a HUGE mistake coz I was STUFFED!]. As every conversation with my Bangalore buddies, we discussed how Bangalore was being overrun by call centers and crazy drivers, and how beautiful old bungalows were being torn down only to have monstrosities take their place -- but we came to the conclusion that no matter how much everyone tries to play off the facade of Bangalore's so much cooler than it was, deep down inside they're still the same, and somwhere in all the dust, honking and unfinished flyovers, Bangalore warmth lives on.
AAAND Now I'm home, although it was a cool couple of days, I got rather sick of Mumbai and AM SO SO SO HAPPY TO BE HOME! Farook Mama and the family came over for a visit -- Ishaan baba was SOOO CUTE as usual! We chatted over samosas and chai, and some fantastic mango icecream [or so I'm told], ended the evening with Ishaan being himself and playing the charmer w/mom, clinging on to her as the rest were leaving!!! With this I shall end, apologies for the abrupt ending, and somewhat messy posting - but its 3.20am, and I'm BEAT! LATER ya'llz!
However, I had a real stud for a cab driver. I had asked him to take me to Bandra [a Mumbai suburb], to Mehboob studios [apparently a landmark]. He nodded his head vigorously, and off we went. He attempted to make some chit chat, trying to figure out if I was a local or not, starting off with, "Garmi bahooth badgaya" [Its gotten really hot], continuinging with, "Char din se baarish nahin padi" [It hasn't rained in 4 days]. So I was like, oh he wants to discuss the monsoon - so I try my darndest to carry on conversation in Mumbai-ite fashion, failing miserably because after my first few words he looked at me like, You have no idea what you're talking about. So I shut up, I learned my lesson. We're getting relatively close to where we need to go, but this hero is taking side streets, etc. that I'm sure were absolutely unneccessary, and finally turns around and says, "Aap ko rastein malum?" [Do you know the way?] And I'm like DUDE - you said you knew where you were goin!, and convince him to ask someone for directions. Of course people think he's an idiot coz he doesn't know where he's going, so I ask him if he knows where Mehboob studios is, to which he replies, "Haan, par zara public sein bhi poochna hain!" [Yes, but you should ask the public for their opinion] sounding very much like a politician -- to which I laughed [not to his face!]. In between he stops for gas, ASKING ME for gas money - I looked at him with an absolutely incredulous look like - are you out of your mind!!! He got me to my destination, alhamdullilah, but totally screwed me over on the deal! First of all the meter read 16.20 [which translates to Rs. 230], he says its 162!!! Which would have made my ride over a thousand bucks! after conveying to him that I wasn't born yesterday, and that I know how to read the meter, he delivers another bollywood line, "aap samajke batao" [you figure it out and tell me] THEN has the audacity to ask me for Rs. 300!!! GRRR. Anyhoo, alls well that ends well.
It was SOOO awesome to see Yusra and her family, have never really hung out with them so this was good opportunity. And Yusra got to show me around Bandra, take me to all the cool places to shop [um, I am not a shopper!] - but I did look at some cool beaded bags, and chappals [which I ended up buying]. More than anything, it was a great experience in practicing my bargaining skills. At one point we brought this dude down from Rs. 675 to like Rs. 150! What a rush!! :-) We ended the afternoon by stopping off at this awesome chaat place - getting some sev puri and bhel puri, AND some fantasmic sugar cane juice!
Headed back to the apartment, grabbed the rest of the family, and headed to Carter Road for some real Mumbai treats. Yusra's mom grew up in Mumbai, and her Nani lived there for over 50 years so they know their stuff! We strolled around near the water, looked for some golas -- similar to snow cones -- when we couldn't find them, we decided to start w/some chaat. Now, the stuff I'm talkin about is the real mumbai chaat -- the stuff off the hawker carts -- yeah dude, we weren't messin around! Anyhoo, we hit up some paani puris, some more sev puri, dahi puri -- strolled about a little more, found the gola guy -- and hit 'em up. Now, they were pretty good, but Saara insisted that the ones at Juhu were better. I didn't have anything to compare them with though ... so all good. We ended w/some super bhutta [corn] roasted with lemon and chilli masala! Couldn't think of a better way to end the evening! Headed back to the apartment and chilled, Aunty's birthday was on Friday so Yusra's cousins came over with flowers and stuff, chilled and chatted -- it was so cool to see Yusra in that family kinda setting, I'm so used to seeing her at school. Not that its a big difference or anything, anyhoo - random observation!
Friday - after a quiet morning at the apartment [aka in India-speak - flat], I headed into the city to reunite with the parents -- mom was in the hotel, dad was out at meetings --- stupid Hutch messed up, and I was without a cell phone grrrr. But all was good - mom and I headed out to the Gateway of India, I had never been -- and it was pretty cool, mom and I did the touristy thing, got some dude to take pics of us standing in front of the Gateway, etc. We were both kinda flabberghasted that it was built in like the 1800's because King George V and QueenMary were visiting. Its a huge, imposing structure -- fantastic architecture, and it draws visitors from all over. Its right in front of the Old Taj Hotel [If I'm not mistaken, one of the first Taj's in the country], which in itself is a gorgeous building - wish I could have gone inside! On the way back to meet dad, we stopped for a couple of minutes at what mom calls a Bombay culinary landmark -- Bademiya's -- which is basically a huge cart, with like five guys manning three or four grills, piled high with chicken and mutton seekh kababs, tikka's etc. aaah, just the aroma is enough to make you go nuts. Since we were heading to dinner soon, we just wanted to pick up a quick snack, so we grabbed a roll to go ... simply amazing. 'nuff said.
Dinner was at Khyber, a mughlai place - their seekh kababs didn't come close to bademiya's, but their reshmi kababs were AWESOME! the usual makhani fare was also on, and some super-duper garlic naans. mm mm good. ending with some kulfi, it was the dinner that was totally unneccessary!!! Crashed at the hotel, mom woke us up at 6.30am [jetlagged!] and we headed out to marine drive for a walk, which was nice -- mumbai is usually SO muggy, but that early the weather was fantastic. very bangalore like, cool, breezy - comfortable.
The day was interesting for a couple of reasons ... one, we walked around Bombay University for a little bit, just checkin out the sights, admring the cool architecture, etc. two, our first REAL stop was a Bandhini [variation of tie-dye] shop that has been around for almost a century. Its in a little tiny road, off another little tiny road, next to one of hte thousands of masajid in Mumbai. We make ourselves comfortable, and the guy [third generation in this business] begins to show mom some black and red bandhini sarees, and in a bit, begins to pull out colors at my request ;) . It was awesome, he explained how the prepare the material, and the process. Apparently it takes ONE YEAR to make a saree, each knot is hand tied, and dyed - tied again, dyed again, depending on how many colors it goes on and on. If you see the intricate designs on the sarees, you'll notice that they're patterns of colored dots that form the design. Each dot [barely a millimeter in diameter] is where the cloth has been tied, there are thousands of dots on each saree. No wonder it takes a year to do!!! The cloth comes tied together, and to open it out, two people must pull the cloth in a specific way in order to undo the ties. The string/thread is so strong that it could give you a really deep gash, and can withstand alot!
After a couple of hours with Bandhini-man, we headed back to Marine drive, and stopped at a Gujarati vegetarian place for lunch, and had some super thali's. A thali is basically an all you can eat meal - they give you a large steel plate, and several small steel bowls. A server comes around and fills the bowls with various dahls, vegetables, curries, etc. Accompanied by several varieties of pickles, rice, roti's [bread], AND desert -- this thing is worth it! you get to taste several different dishes, and get a fantastic full meal, um ... a little too full sometimes ;) The servers at this place were so nice, whenever mom and I refused something they'd look at us really upsetand say, but what are you going to eat! Never mind that we had had about three helpings of rice just before the last attempt! I'll say this, Indians will try and feed you until you BURST. So come with an extra appetite!
next we headed to Crawford market, specifically Zaveri Bazaar [Jewelrey market], which is a MAD house. People EVERY where, its like a sea of people just walking around, hawkers knudging each other for a spot, fruit sellers settling on the side of a car to sell their wares, you name it and I saw it in that Bazaar [market]. Crawford Market itself is a glorified Russell Market [more details in future posts], except it charges some very upscale prices. But the range of fruit available is simply amazing ... in addition to staples like Apples, Oranges, Grapes, Banana's, pears, etc - you also get lychees, mangoes, custart apple [AW amazing!], dude - you name it, we got it! This is why I love coming home -- the range of culinary possibilities is just ENDLESS! :)
Our evening ended at the Shanghai Club at the Grand Central Sheraton - Chinese fare, the Chef is an honorary Bangalorean, and is itching to come back :). After dinner, I met up with Puja [she came an hour late in true desi fashion] at the corner coffee shop that was open at midnight, and buzzing with activity. We caught up with each others lives, at least as much as one can catch up with in an hour, over cold coffee and chocolate mousse [a HUGE mistake coz I was STUFFED!]. As every conversation with my Bangalore buddies, we discussed how Bangalore was being overrun by call centers and crazy drivers, and how beautiful old bungalows were being torn down only to have monstrosities take their place -- but we came to the conclusion that no matter how much everyone tries to play off the facade of Bangalore's so much cooler than it was, deep down inside they're still the same, and somwhere in all the dust, honking and unfinished flyovers, Bangalore warmth lives on.
AAAND Now I'm home, although it was a cool couple of days, I got rather sick of Mumbai and AM SO SO SO HAPPY TO BE HOME! Farook Mama and the family came over for a visit -- Ishaan baba was SOOO CUTE as usual! We chatted over samosas and chai, and some fantastic mango icecream [or so I'm told], ended the evening with Ishaan being himself and playing the charmer w/mom, clinging on to her as the rest were leaving!!! With this I shall end, apologies for the abrupt ending, and somewhat messy posting - but its 3.20am, and I'm BEAT! LATER ya'llz!
posted by zai5h at Sunday, July 10, 2005
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home