My day is ending on a great note. I am sitting in the drawing room watching TV ( the movie without a Clue),using the wireless network we set up earlier in the week after spending the perfect mumbai day.
The morning began with a sumptuous south Indian brunch. We had invited old neighbours for lunch. They are gujarati and love my mom's south indian cooking.So we had a great brunch - masala dosa, rava idli, sambhar, coconut chutney, coconut rice, curd rice(my neighbours favourite) and fantastic mouth-watering hot jalebis from Jalebi Center.
Of course, the drone of the Indo-Pak cricket match was constantly in the background. Everyone in my family watches the boring cricket including my grandparents. My grandad gets really angry when we change the channel to watch other sporting events. Today being an exceptionally good day for sport - India-Pak with Afridi going mad, SL thrashing Aus and the Aussie Open had some great upsets. Roddick out to Baghdatis. Roddick did not really play very well at all. It seemed like that he did not have enough confidence to go for his shots. With his forehand he was attempting to rally and keep the point going against Baghdatis. It was amazing how players play so poorly when low on confidence. Ivan Ljubcic is the exact opposite - there isn't any other player on the tour who is on a bigger high. He has won the Paris Masters, Davis Cup and then the Chennai Open before coming to the Aussie open. He beat Tomas Johannsen in straight sets as easily as Federer would beat leander Paes!
Coming back to cricket in my house, things havent changed since the last 10 years.We still eat and watch cricket and once in a while you will find a serious conversation being interrupted with "oohs" and "aahs" and exclamations like "great shot" or"class". Even today, when I return to Wallace I feel like I am 10 years old.
So, after gorging ourselves on some great food and decent cricket,brother dear and I decided to go for a walk to the Flea Market in Ballard Estate as part of the Mumbai festival.So,I bought a churchgate return for Rs.8/- (there was a time when it was Rs.4/-) and for old times sake ran down the footbridge to catch a local that was just coming in. We reached churchgate and walked towards Flora Fountain and Akbarally's. Dear Brother who is now attached to senior consul needs white shirts. So, Akbarally's it was! For some reason I always remember Akbarally's with softie icecreams. I had the distinct impression that there used to be a machine in the store, but it seems I was wrong.
Post crash course in cotton varities by bored floor staff we settled on a shirt and left to walk past Horniman circle and towards Alexandria Gate and Ballard estate in seaerch of the Flea Market. It was to be open from 2pm to 3am.
While looking for the market, we found Ballard Bunder, right opposite the Port Trust building and the War memorial. Its a lovely place with a reasonable well presented history of Mumbai.Its great to see the map of Bombay before reclaimation started. If you want to have a look at the gaping hole that existed right in the heart of present Mumbai this site has a few maps. Anyway, it was lit and looked very nice. In my 20 years of living in Mumbai I have never seen it. I wrote a long comment in their guestbook suggesting that they showcase it better during the rest of the year. We then found two nice parsi ladies who were also out on a Sunday evening in search of the elusive flea market. They informed us that the BMC hadn't got permission to have the market. Of course, no one bothered to inform the rest of the world.
Similarly, INS Vikrant was the scene for a wine-tasting event and we thought we might pop in and have a look. However, again Mumbai Times failed to m mention in their write-up about it that it was by invitation only.
Anyway after this rather pointless walk we decided to head towards regal to explore the idea of watching a movie. With our choice restricted to a slightly scary and dubious "Things to do before I reach 30" and a depressing "15 Park Avenue" we ventured instead to the food festival on the pavement opposite V&A museum.
D introduced me to American Corn(Makhai/Bhutta) in Delhi and I introduced it to dear Bro. He liked it and which made us bolder as we decided to walk down marine drive from Churchgate to Chowpatty. It was a long walk and although we thought of sustenance in the form of Croissant, I was reluctant to spend 30 bucks on a really bad chocolate croissant.
Past Gaylords, rustoms and pizzeria we reached marine drive. Walking along marine drive brought back memories. Marine drive hasn't changed at all. Sunday evening is still the time when everyone comes out to meet friends. Its a free sitting place and their are very few of those left in Mumbai.
We then took a train from marine lines to charni road and then spent 15 minutes trying to cross the street because my comrade-in-arms refused to use the footbridge. So,we waited for 10 minutes for the lights to turn red and then crossed right in the middle of the road.
Chowpatty - that for which Mumbai is most famous.Bhel puri on Chowpatty - the ultimate tourist thing. So we had some bhel puri from Bhim Singhs thella. Its definitely not recommended. Instead I would recommend Badshah's stall,especially for his pani puris.To top of the day, we had mango kulfi from Kulfi center opposite.
Now,if you are lucky enough to come to Mumbai and not find me here, this is one place to which I would definitely recommend a visit.
Dont leave Mumbai without having some of this guys kulfi. Its mind-blowing yaar!!
Then the train ride back and with a satisfied sigh slipped into my sleeping bag(the sleeping bag is another story - as soon as my brother realised that I will spending the majority of my time in the UK, he decided to do away with the second bed in the room to accommodate his guitar equipment. I ask you, is this the way you treat your brother???)
2 comments:
hey-lo,
one really vital q. what on earth is gaylords??? sounds like the name ben stiller had in meet the parents?
please enlighten the ignorant (and mildly shocked) calcuttan.
on the question of tennis: just watched davydenko win a five setter against marathon man hrbaty and then clijsters struggle against schiavone. i know u dislike the women's game, but with roddick and hewitt gone, and nadal, safin and agassi not playing, the men's draw looks really boring. on the other hand, tomorrow davenport plays henin and if hingis wins today, it's hingis versus clijsters. just in terms of personality and pulling power, much more entertaining.
just my two cents.
and umm. p.s. are u seriously telling me that u have been evicted??
Gaylords is a very hep restaurant in Mumbai right opposite CHurchgate station. Its where the celebs,intellectuals and technocrats come for dinner in South Mumbai.
I agree that the womens tennis is slightly more interesting but look at the mens tennis. Lots of seeds have been knocked out. IN womens tennis the seeding works to perfection because of the humongous gap between the top 15 players and the rest. Sharapova beats Hantuchova in straight sets, davenport and mauresmo cruise. And if you watched the mens tennis compared to the womens game you notice the huge difference in the level of play. I mean women rally for 20 shots and then there is an unforced error. ITs really boring,while with the mens game the matches are far better quality.
My two cents as well( and I am still sleeping on the floor)
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