Exotic vegetables, on your pavement

I discovered this amazing vendor, off Khar Station, sitting along Hotel Jewel Restaurant and Bar (yes, I think it does say it is both hotel and restaurant:) on Khar's 2nd Road, where SV road (off Shamrao Vittal Bank) leads you to the station. He has EVERYTHING u want, I mean in terms of exotic vegetables... Avacado -- see that ripe and ready one. First time I am seeing this ready avocado in suburban Mumbai. Otherwise these fancy malls keep stuff half-ripe and u pick it and pray that damn thing ripens in your home. Btw. unripened stuff (that you ripen) are not as healthy as those which ripen naturally on the plant.

All those exotic things u want for your Thai curry recipe -- galangal, kaffir lime -- he stocks them. Just five bucks for a pinch you need... Thyme (in Rs 5 sachet), rosemary, fresh basil, lemon grass, cocktail tomatoes (for just Rs 10!!), dried mushroom (that last for years, he assured me), leek, asparagus.. everything. Zucchini too...
Great place if you are adventurous about food or health conscious. I used to be both, once upon a time. Nowadays, I am just a splurge who does not eat what she buys! But check out this corner for all your exotic veggie needs... What I liked was that he was not highly priced as are the supermarts or food marts that stock these things. Earlier I used to think them as rich rather than exotic, just going by the marked up prices of these things:) I have decided to, after chancing upon him, live on soups, mushrooms, grass and the rest of the stuff I have so wanted for long... I will visit him once a week and stock up. Yippee! You can be poor yet exotic now... when vegetables wander over to your pavement. I guess vendor encroachments do have their uses.. I am not going to join any crusade against them in the near future...

All things exotic

(Above: Snow peas)
(Zuchini, avocado -- raw and ripe)

Exop

Now I am also a Warli artist

As a deprived kid (who refuses to grow up) I always splurge on arts-for-kids kit. I have bead-makers, clay kits, moulds, mirror makers, science kits, and anything else you can think of. I simply cannot resist them. I always was artistically inclined (ha, we all think that) and only reason did not become Husain was because I was deprived (ha, we always think that too:)...
Any case while trying to pick up some prosaic notebooks for my daughter I saw this amazing Warli kit.. Resisting it, since these days I am mostly broke (being a yoga teacher) I returned home. But, then, that kit and my deprived childhood colluded together so much so that I was dragged back to that very same stationary shop and had to, simply had to, pick up this Warli kit for kids. I love it: it has clay thingies on which you may paint, but though I still have not laid ink on clay, I bought the kit for the book on how-to Warli yourself.

While a journalist I had wandered, with one of those agents who work these tribals, in Adivasi land and saw those amazing Warli wall pieces (natural paints like mud for that red tint) that the Adivasi women paint on those simple hut walls. Apparently done on some major occasion, like a wedding. But you know how human kind works: these women did it for free and for the love of it, and for being part of the community and all that. But the minute it got itself as commercially paying, the men step in and become cat of the walk:) See how most famous chefs are men? So also, in Warli art most of the painters who do the commerical pieces are men -- they are the one who get to Germany or Europe or wherever else the agent would take them, to showcase tribal Indian art.

Any case, it was fabulous to wander about in Adivasi country, huts far from one another. Where, in that rolling green -- hillocks and soft valleys and an occasional sliver of a sparkling waterfall -- that makes rural Maharashtra so beautiful and heart-stopping, you are lulled into sushegaad ( a state of mental siesta:) by the sight of lazy dragonflies floating over rich, tall grass. And in that seeming emptiness be surprised by a lone hut, and even more happily surprised by its hidden flare-up of this rich art. Glorious. It was what made journalism so fulfilling for me, those days:)

Any case somebody who liked that article of mine gifted me a huge Warli painting -- It had amazing scenes -- a woman being dragged by her man, by her hair!! Physical encounters.. Stuff like that you normally don't see in the clinically cleaned up Warli art available all over... it was a piece that told real stories. Apparently, real Warli art has these double entendre too... stories of money lenders, land-grabbers (from a rich, shrinking community in Mumbai) who would bribe these simple men with a bottle or two of alcohol.. Where such a conniving man may be shown as a rat etc.. That sort of real stories. But that painting of mine, which was layered in that special way, got burnt in the terrible fire in my house. My loving husband, sweet of him, later replaced that with another huge Warli piece. It adorns my hall wall -- but it is a tame one, compared to the riotous and rambunctious one I had...

Any case if you wish to gift a kid a nice kit, then this Wah Re Wah Warli is a good bet I would think -- I paid Rs 349 for my piece. There is a smaller one on offer for Rs 225...
Check out this link for what else the kit contains etc... It is marketed by Pegasus international I have this number on my kit, in case u wish to place an order: 326651661..

Happy painting...

Cafe coffee day: wake up call:)

(The image of the Carter Road cafe is from this site)

Say I earn a piddling small amount for a class.. What do I do with it? I splurge it at this coffee shop. Do I love it that much? Actually I do it because I like to take on Bandra classes and when waiting between two classes, since mostly I have no place to go, I go here and sip on a large Ethiopian coffee... It is a good sip, satisfying.

What I love about this spot?

• Great view, far enough to miss those fellows defecating along the seashore and far enough to make pretend that this coastline is divine.
• I love it that it is no-hassles spot where a woman can be alone and not get stared at as if she is a pick-up... In India that is so sick, with most men simply unused to the idea of women hanging out on their own. And woe betide that sad woman who is also a yoga instructor with muscled arms (like I), with a boho look (again, like I, with gemstone bracelets, strappy tops, and weird jute bags) that for some strange reason seems to, in the deep recesses of suppressed Indian male psyche, flash come-hither signals. So, here, at this coffee shop that is not such a bother, I am allowed to sip my coffee without having to look over my shoulder.
  

Though the variety is good, I stick to my Ethiopian because it is big and allows me enough sips over an hour or so. Occasionally, I have my laptop with me and typing out my pending columns.

What I do not like about it?

• Non-functional loo or barred loo -- always it is not to be used, mostly, no water supply is the excuse. Waaah!
• No breakfast... what sort of a coffee shop is that that does not even have a sandwich for sad sacks like me?
  
• Often, unbelievably, I am told the shop (though buzzing with shop boys inside) is NOT open because there is no Water Supply. Earlier, I used to think I was being turned away for my boho look, yoga mat and muscles et al making the boys nervous! I mean after my yoga class off Carter Road, around 8.40 am when I walk in to wait, I am told this. A coffee shop that does not function by eight thirty on a Saturday morning?? Give me a break...

But I still go there and hang out...

Khadi stuff, wow to buy

Khadi Gram is holding a 50 per cent discount sale on its fabrics. Which are, btw, rather highly priced. Some are designed by Nift (fashion school) students but I did not find anything that gripped my soul.
But at the Khadi shop, on Irla Road, I always pick up some fabulous perfumes (yes, simple oils like rose and jasmine and spice -- for Rs 80 to Rs 124) and great uptans (face packs which my mom and hers used:). And massage oils and natural soaps. They make great, elegant gift packs. I usually buy a few for such occasions, but become too attached to gift them away. Mint soap, panchakarma soap, diamond (yes!) soap, silver soap, gold soap etc... And sandalwood perfumes... and they also have aroma oils, rather costly, but original stuff I believe.
It is a nice great place to browse about if you like Indian stuff and natural products. One can go completely berserk! Here is the contact number, in case u want to trek it there: 26714320. It is near Alpha mall. Car parking is a hassle, but there is a municipal pay and park close by. Btw the one off Fort, though a bit dark and dingy, can surprise you with some interesting stuff. It has metal works, nice kurtis, and artefacts ...

At the Irla one, I even picked up Dead Sea salt for some 100 bucks. Have to yet open it, but it is a great spot for female stuff. For men, the good old staid khadi kurtas in the same cut. But it can, I believe, make its own personal statement. Btw. khadi is also the place u buy the national flags in various sizes. We own quite a few. Two tiny ones with their onw metallic flag staffs held on firm tiny stand. Also, two huge ones which my husband acquired after industrialist Naveen Jindal won a case for ordinary citizens to fly the flag as a matter of fundamental right:)

Horse is cheaper than a Nano here

See what I spotted while house-hunting off Santa Cruz. Nobody was bothering to even notice this old man seated on a horse, with a large bag of some kurmur (must be that, or cotton, how else could he have held it so lightly aloft over an unprotesting horse). He was trotting off someplace quietly...

Btw though Nano is a one-lakh car and its selling point is that, and which is what makes its rivals sweat, when u book it you will find this clause: it says price will depend on the rate prevailing at the time of delivery. What that means is that your Nano is not Rs 1 lakh after all:)

But I plan to book it any case... I like small cars... It makes me feel harmless. Apparently for men cars are an extension of their personalities, which is why they like `em large! While cell phones have to be small -- the smaller the cell, the bigger the man!

Real estate: the real picture?

Free MySpace Animations!
Did you know?
I saw some media-manipulated story on real-estate prices. You really cannot go by what some papers say since each industry has become media-savvy and knows how to pull strings. Projection is everything in certain quarters. Not good to bitch, now that I have left the trade, but journalists in the business papers specially are given tonnes of carrots by PRs and industry-leaders. Big-time gifts. Once you accept all that how much can u write honestly?? Any case that's not my bizness any more. House-hunting for someone else I found that some interesting things: that since real-estate prices are dipping, thanks to recession and no takers, builders are holding on to property and

• preferring to give out plum property on leases. This way some money (good money) is being made while they will wait for the tide to turn.
  
• In fact, the rent, somebody tells me, is likely to dip even further, by 25 per cent maybe. So, if you are looking for a premise on rent and if your business allows you to wait, you can get into contracts with those buildings still under construction and six months down the line know you got yourself a deal.
  
• owners are ready to step back from the earlier insistence on a year's rent as deposit amount. They are ok with five to six months.. since companies are unwilling to shell out such big money any more...

More such wisdom as I continue to house-hunt...