I’m off to India and Turkey for a couple of weeks today. I’ll be livin’ la vida Sepia: riding the Delhi subway; hanging out in Barista, Bangalore, and the new Indian malls; watching a Govinda caper with jeering rickshaw-wallas in the upper stall; eating at the original Bukhara Grill and trying Indo-Chinese cuisine; buying clothing which flatters the desi palette; checking out the WiFi at the airports; and generally basking in the economic liberalization everyone’s been banging on about.
I’ll also be doing a literary tour of Bombay. After having read New York novels for fifteen years, it was a relief to anchor the figurative Manhattan in plaster and stone. And after seven Rushdie novels and an entire oeuvre of diasporic literature, I’m tired of names without faces: Colaba, Bandra, Breach Candy, Cuffe Parade. I feel like the clerk in Hyderabad handling parking tickets from the midwest, I’ve got an intimate map of a terribly remote place.
I’m halfway through Suketu Mehta’s Maximum City, a tome about the seamy side of Bombay, its ganglords and dancing girls in modern-day slavery. It’s quite interesting, though leaden in parts; it’s not always deftly written, but it’s a fascinating read. What’s most useful, though, is local knowledge; the best spots for vada pav, Maharashtrian food, sherwanis and Bom Bahia sunsets.
Know of a quintessentially Bombay experience? Help me pop my Mumbai cherry by leaving it in the comments.
Elco Arcade, Bandra, best on a Sunday nights with massses of folks and families out and about, great pani puri and other good eats.
Reading Maximum City right now as well, terrific book, for a non Indian and one time visitor of Bombay it’s a wonderful insight and adds colour to some of the things I observed but couldn’t place or contextualise (being non-Indian).
Incidentally you might be interested in a book called Shantaram by an Australian writer called Greg Roberts, he was on the run, having escaped from an OZ jail and spend over a decade in the Bombay underworld, they’re making a movie about it starring Johnny Depp?. This book plus MC have many parallels.
In Delhi there is an art gallery called Nature Mort run by a New Yorker, terrific contemporary Indian art.
Love your work.
FYI: Suketu Mehta is on Fresh Air on Monday Dec 6.
There’s a cafe in the ground floor of the Jehangir Art Gallery that I’m rather attached to (for somewhat personal reasons). I don’t remember the name of the cafe, but it’s pretty easy to find. (It might even be listed in Lonely Planet India or the Rough Guide to India)
Also — Elephanta. You have to go to Elephanta. (It was mentioned about 30 times in Midnight’s Children… ) The sculptures in the caves on the island are pretty nice. When I went there, we had, quite accidentally, an ideological tour guide, who repeatedly ranted against Hindutva. Warmed my cockles.
And: Batchelor’s Ice Cream (and smoothies), on Marine Drive. It’s open late. Lychee ice cream!
Oh, and Crosswords Books. There’s a branch at/near Malabar Hill now. Alternatively, you could try the Bombay “Strand”; just like in New York, it’s primarily for people who are trying to look “serious.”
HAVE FUN!
If theater interests you try and catch a play at the Prithvi Theater in Juhu. Follow that up with an Irish Coffee at the Prithvi Cafe.
Visit Dadar in Mumbai it’s a whole city by itself(bias=I grew up there!) -D. Damodar Mithaiwalla on Dadar TT Circle for classic Indian Sweets -Kailash Lassi under Dadar(E) station footbridge -Wada Pav on Dadar(W) station -There are also many Zohorastrian Agiarys(Fire Temples)in Dadar etc. etc. Enjoy:)
Yes do visit Elephanta and try to learn about attempts of the Portugese colonials to destroy the place “a heathen abode for the worship of the devil”. The remarkable thing about Bombay is that there are so many people in one part of the city who have had nothing to do with another part of the city. Colabans who have never been beyond Churchgate and Ghatkoparites who haven’t been to Cuffe Parade – Ever! There are two (or many along the spectrum) Bombays. At one end is the Western slice that people talk about all the time in the books movies etc., and at the other is the Eastern slice – that is distinctly uncool but pulsating in its own way. The last person of distinction to write about all slices of Bombay was of course the great Dr. Ambedkar. His intellect that was birthed in Mhow, MP, was nurtured in Baroda, honed up and polished in NYC and London and reached its peak in Bombay. The best of his writings, his lectures, his speeches all happened when he was based in Bombay. Read about Jinnah in his “Thoughts about Pakistan” who is now (in 1943) known as a congregationalist in “Null Bazaar and Dongri” and visit those places. Visit the old Wadala tram depot around where he lived (beautifully recreated in Jabbar Patel’s movie which otherwise was entirely off the mark), the millworkers’ colonies (most of which are now run over by housing blocks for the affluent. Take the Central line, Harbour I (VT to Andheri) and Harbour II (VT to Mankhurd) not just the Western Line (pretty alright). Visit Katachiwadi and the old East Indian (the traditional Marathi speaking Catholics) neighborhoods; the old Jewish neighborhoods. And around Dadar don’t miss a visit to the Shiv Sena HQ and on your way back towards the Charles Correa designed Church (overlooked by Prabodhakar Thackeray’s stony stern glare – you see Bal’s father was one of those numerous anti-brahmin(ism) social reformers of the early 1920s along with Savarkar – in parts- and the Raja of Kolhapur) and don’t forget to stop by at Prakash Lunch home where you can have the best Sabu Dana wada; wada pav; Puneri Misal; Usal and Chaha – the sign board is in Marathi, the check comes written in Marathi with Devnagari numerals (Hindu numerals!) – well if all that is still there! Visit Kalyan, Thane, Mankhurd, Belapur etc. all on the other side of Bombay. And now swing across to Chembur, Matunga, Sion – all the South Indian South Indian eateries, and thereon to Antop Hill and Dharavi. You can spend your entire vacation in Bombay and still not have seen anything. Have a good time!!
I forgot Suleiman Mithaiwala in Mahim and Chandu Halwasia on MA Road. And in Colaba check out Kailash Parbhat!
Can’t seem to find my post so posting again. If it is a repeat – pardon me!!
Yes do visit Elephanta and try to learn about attempts of the Portugese colonials to destroy the place “a heathen abode for the worship of the devil”. The remarkable thing about Bombay is that there are so many people in one part of the city who have had nothing to do with another part of the city. Colabans who have never been beyond Churchgate and Ghatkoparites who haven’t been to Cuffe Parade – Ever! There are two (or many along the spectrum) Bombays. At one end is the Western slice that people talk about all the time in the books movies etc., and at the other is the Eastern slice – that is distinctly uncool but pulsating in its own way. The last person of distinction to write about all slices of Bombay was of course the great Dr. Ambedkar. His intellect that was birthed in Mhow, MP, was nurtured in Baroda, honed up and polished in NYC and London and reached its peak in Bombay. The best of his writings, his lectures, his speeches all happened when he was based in Bombay. Read about Jinnah in his “Thoughts about Pakistan” who is now (in 1943) known as a congregationalist in “Null Bazaar and Dongri” and visit those places. Visit the old Wadala tram depot around where he lived (beautifully recreated in Jabbar Patel’s movie which otherwise was entirely off the mark), the millworkers’ colonies (most of which are now run over by housing blocks for the affluent. Take the Central line, Harbour I (VT to Andheri) and Harbour II (VT to Mankhurd) not just the Western Line (pretty alright). Visit Katachiwadi and the old East Indian (the traditional Marathi speaking Catholics) neighborhoods; the old Jewish neighborhoods. And around Dadar don’t miss a visit to the Shiv Sena HQ and on your way back towards the Charles Correa designed Church (overlooked by Prabodhakar Thackeray’s stony stern glare – you see Bal’s father was one of those numerous anti-brahmin(ism) social reformers of the early 1920s along with Savarkar – in parts- and the Raja of Kolhapur) and don’t forget to stop by at Prakash Lunch home where you can have the best Sabu Dana wada; wada pav; Puneri Misal; Usal and Chaha – the sign board is in Marathi, the check comes written in Marathi with Devnagari numerals (Hindu numerals!) – well if all that is still there! Visit Kalyan, Thane, Mankhurd, Belapur etc. all on the other side of Bombay. And now swing across to Chembur, Matunga, Sion – all the South Indian South Indian eateries, and thereon to Antop Hill and Dharavi. You can spend your entire vacation in Bombay and still not have seen anything. Have a good time!!
I forgot Suleiman Mithaiwala in Mahim and Chandu Halwasia on MA Road. And in Colaba check out Kailash Parbhat!
Also: -Shivaji Park & Beach(sunday evenings) -Rani(Victoria/Jijabai)Baug in Byculla= a zoo for the bold in spirit! –Yoga Institute in Santa Cruz(E) for some calm in the bustle http://www.yogainstitute.org/
Thank you all! I’m logging in from Istanbul and pasted this cornucopia straight into my Bombay itinerary. Much appreciated.
Philip, my pleasure!
There’s also: – Victoria Terminus, Rajabai clock tower, the high court, Bombay University buildings, Prince of Wales museum: all lovely old Indo-Western fusion buildings within a short walk of each other – Gateway of India: also the embarkation point for ferries to Elephanta – National Gallery of Modern Art: down the street from Jehangir art gallery – Juhu beach and Chowpatty; eat bhelpuri or pani puri if you feel brave 🙂 – Marine Drive/”Queen’s Necklace” at night – Bandra fort: ruins of a Portuguese fort on the seafront
Have fun! Yamini
It’s called Samovar. And it’s as cosy as ever. Do visit the art gallery as well, and the pavement gallery outside. If you’re going to be in around January, you’ll catch the Kalaghoda Festival around the corner. Though i’m told that this Jan it’s morphing into an all-Bombay festival. Crossword is now a chain. There is a branch as the foot of Malabar Hill, under the Kemps Corner flyover.
For a lovely book-hunting experience, try the pavement vendors around Flora Fountain (a.k.a. Hutatma Chowk) and on the road from Fountain to Churchgate. And also New and Secondhand near Metro.
You may want to try a meal at Britannia, or some street food, or just plain budget eating. Or you could chill at one of the city’s beach resorts. And if you’re feeling up to it, maybe take a late night bus.
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Do mail if you want more info. Let me know what you’re looking for exactly.
Samrat in Churchgate for Gujarati thali
Gurukrupa in Sion for bhel puri
Trishna for Indian Chinese
Oh, and while you’re in B’lore, definitely eat at Paratha Point on Dickinson Road.
stay out of trouble. coppers are mean there