Rediscovering Town

Baghdadi (Colaba)

This is a small restaurant, quite an old place, not flashy, simple to the point of being considered unworthy of entering, but the food is mind-blowing! Whatever gravy, meat you choose to eat, you must have the tandoori roti, it is as big as a plate it itself, and it's hot and soft. For those of you who're not familiar with this roti, typically even at the best of places, this roti (unless buttered) becomes hard and stretches like rubber the moment it is cold, but at this place, it stays soft forever! and trust me, if you don't have a great appetite, this one roti is more than enough for you! :) The chicken is tender, and it's cooked really well, all in all a great package deal!

Badshah Juice Centre (Crawford Market)

This place is very famous for their (obviously) juices, while I haven't tasted any, I've heard they're really good. But the other day I had the Royal Falooda here and I can't stop raving about it! It was awesome. Nothing unnecessary in it, no rubbish essence and all, it was just perfect, yummy sabja, rose syrup, sevainya, milk, ice cream... :) a must have for the falooda enthusiasts!

Kala Ghoda Festival!

Last year I'd written about my experience of the festival, and today as I went for this festival, there're host of other things that I've explored! I went to see the festival and the nearby places, with a friend of mine, and the glimpses of our visit are here!

A few shots of what caught my eye, and some amazing work done by the artists. As I walked down the road towards Colaba, we saw a couple of artists painting a building, sitting on the sidewalk, just to watch them paint like that was exhilirating to say the least! Then we walked towards the festival and saw these artists painting on canvases, I've managed to grab a few shots of the paintings that he'd just done and I think they're amazing!

The festival itself was full of people, food stalls, artefacts, ranging from furniture, to showpieces, chappals, bags, books, greeting cards, and the likes. There were a lot of NGOs who'd set up stalls to generate awareness as also to publicise their range of products, the proceeds of which would help them in their efforts.

A couple of performances were taking places, however, unlike last time, where I'd seen Sandip Soparrkar perform with his troupe, this time, I didn't manage to see any such performance!

Well, maybe, I'll go there again, sometime this week!

Raindrops are falling on my head...

"Row row row your boat,
gently down the stream,
merrily merrily merrily merrily,
life is but a dream"

While this used to be just another nursery rhyme we learned at day school, it's now going to become the mode of transport for those in Bombay!

No kidding, just two days of rain and everything is clogged and the pace of the city is lost, 2 years ago on the 26th of July, we had this enormous amount of rainfall which literally brought life in this city to a standstill, and we're still struggling to be one up against the rain gods.

Every year, we hear promises about the new maintenance and drainage systems that are being "planned" and "implemented" but still it just isn't enough! It was raining since evening and by 8 pm all the roads will clogged and the auto rickshaws wouldn't work 'cause they couldn't wade through that water, trains were off schedule and people (like me) who were within walking distance from their homes had to wade through those waters on foot!

I'm now beginning to think that we should be re-scheduling our calendars and have two months of monsoon off instead of the summers!

And maybe i should be taking those long overdue swimming classes, it might just come in handy!

(The image is that of the waves lashing at one of the promenades)

5 Best Places to eat in Bombay!

For so many days, I've been debating about which 5 restaurants deserve to be the best in the city according to me, so for now, this is the list, (i might update it later though!!)

1) Red Box Cafe

It's a restaurant in Bandra, near Turner Rd. and it's one of my best places to eat. The ambience is fun, music is loud and peppy (like a disc, but not rock or anything, it's hip-hop, indian mix, country, and lots of things, they've actually got a d.j. who keeps changing songs and all..) The food is delicious!! Right from Sizzlers, to Pasta, to Main Courses, Burgers, Starters, Pizzas, they've got it all.. and it's all very reasonably priced.. As far as the desserts are concerned, they've got a good collection of pastries, My personal fav is the chocolate pyramid.. (just too yummy!!) The whole feel of going there, makes me want to go there again and again.. It's meant for a young crowd who don't mind the smoke or the loud music... ;)

2) Urban Tadka

This is at 4 Bungalows, Andheri. It's designed like a modern Dhaba.. Slightly expensive for the younger crowd, so preferably go with Family!! but food is typical punjabi! and very tasty.... even the Lassi is served in brass containers! they've got a cot (khat) hanging in one part of the restaurant for show as well! A must-go for the Punjabi Experience

3) Cafe Leopold

My townie friends would curse me if i didn't mention this place... It's been there for all these years and has had it's own share of publicity every now and then.. Even Gregory David Roberts (Shantaram) mentioned this place as one of the busiest places in his novel.. It's a great place just to get the feel of being in such a happening place.. and of course, it's the favorite location for the foreigners.. Somehow all of them seem to have this on their city maps! The location is good, especially the fact that the ground floor space is open on two sides! The food is nice, nothing extraordinary, but it's better if you want to have steaks or the likes..

4) Badshah Pani Puri Wala

I know i'm talking about restaurants, but if you're a chat freak like me, then you have to visit this stall at Chowpatty, Charni Rd. Go only here.. it stands out from the rest because :
- It's hygienic
- It's very tasty
- The service is great!!

5) Sardar Pav Bhaji

This is at Bombay Central, it's a very small place. No interiors or ambience of any sort.. Simple food eating place.. It's Pav Bhaji is the only reason why you should go there, for the simple reason that,
- Their Pav Bhaji has no added colour that's why it is brown
- That's all there is to it!

Well that's my list of favorite restaurants, i'll come up with an updated list maybe next month! :) Enjoy!

5 Things you might not know about the local trains

1. The dirt and garbage from the platforms which is sweeped by the workers is thrown on the tracks; thus generating more work for the rag-pickers or merely pushing the dirt under the carpet (carpet being the bed of rocks)
2. The floors of the trains are cleaned by the beggar children and the passengers willingly pay them money for their "services"
3. Surprisingly, there isn't any need for the beggars to clean the first-class compartments; either the people there don't litter or the railways ensure that the compartment is clean
4. Most of the railways stations have toilets for men only, and if you're lucky to find one for the women, check again, there might be a lock on the door!
5. There's a queue for everything :

- For the window seat there are "claims" so the moment you get one, you're flooded with requests about where you'll get down so that they get your seat, it's the most common reason for an argument as well!
- There's a claim for the "fourth" seat as well.. (There are only three seats)
- There are proper queues for exits at stations, in fast trains especially, if you are in the wrong queue you've missed your stop! literally...

This happens only in India!

BBC NEWS | South Asia | The Boeing 737 stuck in city road: For close to 5 days, this huge airplane was stuck on a road in Chembur.

Update: Funnily enough, this plane has disappeared as mysteriously as it appeared.

Namesake

The movie has just released in India and it's enjoying full houses at least in Bombay. This movie brings to life certain aspects about the culture that were so prevalent earlier and have defined many of us and our brains in more ways than one.

Beautiful characters, smooth screenplay and some great acting ensure that this movie lives up to the expectations (after having read the book) Also this movie is good from the sense that it portrays the Indianness and the feeling of alienation in a sense that's actual and also comforting in a way.

I especially loved the way each and every detail is brought to life from the book and how the editing is done, this movie is amazing not because it conveys exactly what the book did, but because it achieved the same or maybe more emotions, story and the everything in much lesser time and in a pleasing manner. There wasn't one scene that was extra in the whole movie and the whole essence of the book was well captured!

Usually i'm all for books but this time i have to admit that the movie is almost as good as the book. Obviously the book gives you more lee-way to imagine but then the movie does give a vivid and unexpected picture. the actors being mature and without pre-conceived notions help to the extent that they are able to gel in with the characters.

all in all, it's a good movie to watch and think about.. :)