Rhythm House: a tradition that really rocks:)

This is the new release (I think) called Nagore Sessions -- a compilation of Sufi type of songs from the famous dargah of Nagore, in Tamil Nadu. I read an interview with the singers and wanted to desperately to get my hands on it... being from the south and exploring Sufism also. I tried Landmark ... but u know, it is difficult to deal with the sales staff there -- some know their stuff, some don't. But at Rhythm House I know I will always find it. I ran into Rhythm House and looked out for that boy I always ask for such stuff (last time I wanted the Siddhar Cave music -- a Tantric, exotic compilation) and he knew where I will find it. I also found Vyas' fabulous Sattwa that way... another superb Satsangy music compilation... And this time asked him (his label reads AJAY:) and he asked another one, who seemed to know more... This one is Athik -- and he knew exactly which shelf I will find the Nagore Sessions in.. Wow, na?
I love Rhythm House. It rocks, man:)!!!

For details, go here...

Karma T-shirts: I lov m

I got a T-shirt with this mind-blowing image. It is a Karma T-shirt. I just lovvv it... It sort of sums up a lot of things about this country... The Karma T-shirt slogan says," Crazy about India." That too... sort of T-shirt that gets a lot of eye-balls (Tantra Tees can also be that way, though some of their PJs I find OTT... The sex ones particularly, and I am not even the moral police....

Where did I get it?
At Colaba Causeway... It is nearabouts the Bank of Baroda, a female clothes shop (called LOTUS, near Mc Donalds) that has been there for over a decade(I had got an expensive lengha for my daughter when she was just a toddler) It is manned (can u say that of a woman? ) by a lady who seems more keen on counting her stocks of embroidered clothes than selling this T-shirt. I had to practically wrench it from her (Poloma, are u reading this?:) before I could get the shop girls to hunt out the size of this T-shirt... they like the Tees soo much they don't want to sell it? They would not look up at all, from their precious stock. I had to keep pointing to this great sadhu hanging outside, on the glass, to get them to dig out a small sized for me. Already people are asking me for it. I intend to trek over to Colaba next week and buy a few more of these Karma Tees. Provided the lady obliges... What an idea, Sirji:) U can check out more on the Karma Tees on net, created by Madan Chhabria I think.

I will put up the photos of some more I just could resist picking up later on.
Contact number: 9320425272

A restaurant shuts down?

I hope this blog is wrong -- but I passed Kutty's on the Link Road and saw that the shutter is down. No message either as to what is wrong. I had blogged on how great the food was, the ambience too, despite the squalid location -- but then, most of Mumbai is squalid and we eat our pavs over which flies have shat and which have, in their turn, sat on some shit...
But to leave those fulminations aside, am just saddened to see the shutter down on Kutty's -- great food at great prices. And nice shiny-faced Keralite receptionist. Felt was almost in Kerala.
Sigh Sigh...

Elpehantine garlands, only from Tamil Nadu

My husband and I got married here Matunga). Apart from the register marriage (where the registrar HAD to be given a box of sweets:) we had several ceremonies, simple, often just the two of us and two stragglers, either family or friends... because we were Muslim and Hindu. I was cooking for the friends and families, so it was not a wedding in the usual fairy tale fashion -- but it felt right:)

Any case, we bought garlands hereabouts I remember, at Matunga's flower stalls. Those were small garlands unlike the usual big, elephantine ones that are on sale here... Tamils, it seems, like their women, and their garlands, big!

I remember in Tamil Nadu, my father, a government official, would often be felicitated at speechifying functions with these enormous garlands. For days the house would reek of mogra,jasmine, roses, and the intoxicating lilies. We little girls used to try to retrieve some of those golden threads, complete flowers ... but that was always an effort. It bothered me that so many flowers could be cut off for a momentary felicitation where the man, burdened by the garland, would keep it aside, not to look at it again. We human beings.
But at least at Matunga the garlands are being made for god. And for marrying couples.
For couples, somehow, that makes sense... some moments to be remembered in a flush of floral bouquet... moments that reek of jasmine, roses and sticky sweet lilies whose fragrance lasts and lasts...
But that day, this year, last month Matunga's flower stalls were smelling of roses. Hey, if there is a floral association to be made that with Tamil Nadu, then it has to be jasmine. That way Matunga has changed -- from mogra to roses:(

Mumbai T-shirts, and how famous are u?

(Gandhi shares space with SRK, Salman and rocking Mumbai)

(Different ways, different colours, to say `I love my city, my Mumbai'.
(The unbranded T-shirt that is becoming quite iconic:)
To know if you are relevant historically or culturally, if you are curious about such things, then you would def walk along Colaba Causeway and see if your face grins back at you from the T-shirts at those pavement shops.

You can see that terror and violence around the world has made Gandhi even more relevant today. He rocks, amongst tourists. He must be the most easily recognisable Indian around the world. And thank god the association with him is something elevating, like peace and non-violence.

The others who matter, typically enough, for Mumbai are from Bollywood: SRK and Salman... equally relevant, in that they seem to share equal status. Though amongst posters you will usually find Salman rules -- those steroidal muscles is a big draw among fron-benchers even today...

The next most rocking `face' you see is that of Mumbai. Since my last visit and this, definitely Mumbai-centric T-shirts have increased. All the beloved places, some touristy that I have not visited for centuries (like Gateway) are all there... and of course that I-Love_Mumbai which seemed to have got an iconic status since the terrorist attack, has the pride of place. These cost Rs 100 each... priceless, though:)

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)

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:)

PVR mall at Goregaon

I prefer InOrbit Mall to PVR. But since the latter is close by and since my daughter is becoming a mall rat, we often end up at PVR to catch a film and gorge at its food court. So this is I, at the PVR cinema, looking up at the six-pack of Aamir in Ghajini, a film which I chose not to see btw since it is so violent and I find such films overwhelming ... and traumatising (having seen the Tamil version with Surya in the lead). Apparently the Hindi film is not so violent, whatever that may mean in terms of degree..

Any case to return to PVR mall review. I find though at this mall though there are tonnes of brands, most products are high end. Even Reebok, I found that my modest Kandivli had some nice, inexpensive gym wear at affordable rates (there is a 40 per cent flat discount on Reebok products and I found the yoga mat I like very much has actually become costlier over the last few months -- from 700 rs -- post discount -- that I spent on it, to now rs 900 -- so I am rather wary about this discount business). The PVR Reebok had high-end stuff which I, despite my bad wastrel spending habits, could not think of buying. The may be the only reason I like to visit PVR because I do not spend so much plastic money there. But Peter England had such a fabulous sale that I bought a pile of very sexy clothes and bags and accessories and spend only Rs 2000. My idea of a good buy:)

Any case, the PVR mall is over-crowded. Mostly visited by mall rats who do not want to spend or buy anything but come just to soak into that Mumbai-crowd-energy that draws people like magnets (even on flyovers). Also, you are constantly walking over elevators and staircases, going round and round, in a leg-crunching fashion that makes me very irritable, especially when u want to duck wannabe city-slickers and Mumbai casanovas who want to hit on women and little girls who insist on wearing shorts to such places .. The toilets are also rather crowded (on the food court floor) and imagine waiting inside such a stuffy place...

And the worst, for which I really hate Mumbaikars, happens here: q jumping. At the food court that is very common. All queues encourage this. I had a sort of showdown with the Falafel counter staff for allowing men to edge me out.. I have to duck the elbows of some loutish men (usually pointed at the soft spots in a woman's anatomy). So while u duck them, the q-jumpers jump the queue. Since you cannot teach such boors any manners I ticked off the Falafel staff. Who, whether deliberately or not, after that kept me waiting for even longer and then again, forgot to give me the dessert, so that I was fuming and my dessert felt sour in my mouth.. Really. I am determined not to eat anything further at that counter till my anger chills off...

And then, at the Peter England counter, where there was a ridiculous double Q which kept merging and dispersing and where, whenever I asked someone if there was one Q or two, they looked through me or over my head as if I was an alien who they were pretending was not there: what is wrong with these people, are they so shy? Or ill-mannered? Or illiterate? Then, one short fellow skims past me, and past another genteel gentleman importantly, jumps the Q right there and then, in front of me and into my double-trouble q!! Oh, I could not bother. I had a feeling that that Fellow Up There (God, no less) who likes to laugh at me, was chuckling and I was not going to add to his laughter can by starting to fume. So I ignored the q-jump and joked about it to my genteel neighbour. We laughed again, when that short lout in front threw the one pant he was buying into my neighbour's spectacles, almost blinding him. I felt better laughing than fuming. That is the only way to survive in this city.. whose microcosm that PVR mall is... which u must avoid if you want to avoid those flashy, wannabe crowds (I am part of that too, visiting it, no doubt:)...
Phew, I feel tired just thinking of them...and seeing myself of part of that breed...

Linking Road, Yeeks...

(Empty stretch along Linking Road, before the shops open. I noticed the wires hang bulbless before the shops. Obviously, the bulbs are removed when the shops shut, to prevent theft!!)

I used to live in Bandra for a long time, on St Paul Road, off Hill Road, in a dilapidated bungalow (which continues to crumble as I occasionally pass it now). My spouse-to-be and I were there as PGs. Yes, I belonged to that rare tradition-breakers (for middle-class, I am talking about) who had a live-in relationship before it became permanent. And it was NOT all that wild thing Indians think live-in relationships are: usually it is rather a mundane convenience, commerical convenience too: since both of us worked on shifts we hardly even saw each other:) But like I said, in Mumbai, though all my immediate colleagues and middle-classly clerks and office staff knew of it, nobody made a song and dance of it. Nobody treated me like a fallen woman or whatever it is they say about such `bold' women in our country:) Which is why Mumbai was so liberating for me, from stifling Chennai which, despite its intense pretense at insularity, can be rather nosey about such things. But apparently these days rooms/flats are difficult to find, for live-in couples. Which goes to make my point, Mumbai is becoming boring and stuffy, like the rest of India.

Now to come to Linking Road specifically. Even those days when I was wide-eyed new to Mumbai I never did much of shopping around Linking Road. I found/ find things there on the pavements, pretty tacky. Unlike some `wow', `I-must-have-that' moments you get in Colaba or even Hill Road (not so often, that stab, these days). I remember reading a while back that there was some nasty eve-teasing moments when the shop-keepers were caught ragging the girls from the schools near by. So, I don't have a great liking for that stretch.

But somehow my kid got into her pretty head she must visit a particular shop for a particular pair of shorts that her particular friend had. And so there we were, before the shoppers took over the pavements. We located the shop: I explained to my kid that most of the stuff on the rack at that particular shop with that particular appeal to her particular friend seemed like discards!! So we sauntered off sadly from there and went to another shop, off KFC. She liked a top on the mannequin. And the boys undressed the mannequin. And then, till my kid tried on the top and we left, say ten-15 mins, the shop-keepers deliberately did not dress that topless mannequin. Their behavior indicated that they had slipped into a crude moment: they were walking around it, fingering the mannequin. And though one could not come outright and say this was eve-teasing at its worst, something like that was happening. At around eleven am or so, and with few women still out on their sprees, you could be in the minority in that male-dominated space. Not a pleasant experience at all. My innocent kid did not notice. But I felt that sort of capped my Linking Road experience. And convinced me that it has nothing of appeal to me, before, now or ever.

Colaba calls

Sigh! I have been having the Colaba-itch. Completely keeping off South Mumbai since I shifted to back-of -beyond Kandivli, I have not been visiting it as often as I did, while working at Nariman Point and earlier at VT. Unlike Fashion Street and Linking Road and even Hill Road, which have largely metamorphosing into some sort of a low brow stuff (largely), Colaba has managed to retain its exoticism and exclusivity (in terms of what you get on its streets, I mean). So, since visiting it after the terror attack, I have lately begun to re-experience the Colaba craving. Never mind that Mcdonald there has no toilet, no seating place and the only toilet, shared by other shopkeepers is too seedy, soiled to be worth more than a line here. I feel most uncomfortable in this Mcdonald due to its pace, some sort of rest less energy that stampedes my enjoyment of the French Fries.
I love Colaba, never mind that is is full of pimps who keep propositioning to my husband, despite my domineering presence. Never mind the drug dealers hovering around, thinking my fair-skinned husband and daughter to be foreigners in search of a joint!! Since I look and talk and walk like a local I have never been subjected to this seedy attention. Last time, when my husband decided to walk his talk and took a national flag along the path covering those spots hit by the terror attack -- because it outraged him that some cowardly twerps from elsewhere exploited the openness of this city and used it just to vandalise its soul -- from VT onwards to Oberoi, , I walked beside him, to take off some of the attention he was drawing with his serious look and his huge flag:) I think he was also making some point about how a Muslim (I) and a Hindu (Him) could live together in peace, and love. But since I am embarrassed by such outward shows, I felt that having done my wifely duty I could leave him at some point, where his friends joined him. So, I shrugged him off at Churchgate (his friends joined him there) and moved to Colaba for some gemstone windowshopping. Had a blast. Till I tried to call my husband and his phone kept ringing and ringing. Standing off Cafe Mondegar I felt a bit lost, and felt stared at, in a strange way that can happen at such places, by people on the look-out for such things. Colaba is that sort of place: one time, safe. Other time, something creepy can crawl out.

Any case, this blog is about the Mario Miranda T-shirt I picked up at Mondegar, for around Rs 210. It is the Salaam Mumbai visual (see my side-bar), that typifies Miranda and Mumbai. I love it, though have not yet worn it. It has a nice line about beer and cheer. Yes, Mondegar is that sort of place. Nice food, limited menu but wholesome. Beer and some old music. You know what I mean:)

Mall-o-mall: review of Thakur Mall

Free MySpace Animations!

Kids in Mumbai no longer weep for a beach outing. I remember feeling a rush of freedom as my husband and I trundled off in our old omni with our kid in tow (her doll-house, her beach kit, her entire paraphernalia taking up a full suitcase) towards the lovely beaches hugging Mumbai: Ali Baug, for one. But nowadays, being a typical Mumbaiya she wants her outing only in the airconditioned environs of a mall, as our credit cards collectively takes a beating since we end up doing the only thing you can in a Mall: shop!

But each mall has its own energies. InOrbit has a way making your unloosen your purse strings: both my husband and I sigh with relief when we allow a weekend to pass without an Inorbit in our orbit. But PVR, thankfully, does not make us spend at all: the other day I spotted a cheap shell bracelet I picked up off the Fashion street being sold for Rs 1200 in one of its fancy shops. Well, nobody likes to be fooled. So PVR, despite getting lots of footfalls (its food court has slurping foodies' energetics) does not get much in terms of shopping windfall I guess. Price tags are not conducive for shopping....

The other day, on the say so of some of my husband's friends, we landed at Thakur Mall: very low brow stuff with high brow price tags. Lots of brand rejects, having a dusty, unsold look. At Woodland factory outlet, my husband finally found a reason to whip out his credit card. But even there we had to convince the unconvinced shop assistant that the pair he was selling us was not really matched... That sort of shopping experience, you understand. The food court is a shame. The only counter where some Indian food was being sold had a shaky cockroach wobbling on it... Mercifully, we got a masala chai for Rs 10. And replenished our irritated souls with two chais each. But though Inorbit food court may be high-priced it does not have this moth-eaten, sad, cockroachy look.

At Thakur Mall, since some shops (like Woodland and we thought Mcdonald, though the latter we later discovered actually has an entry inside) have entrances outside, we had to keep passing the security at the main entrance. The lady looked morose, grabbed my upper arm so tight that it ached the rest of the evening. After finishing checking with me, it was her way of indicating where I was to go!! By lifting me by my arm and pushing me to where I must go!! I was too tired to tick her off any case they say these checks are for our security. But can we have some polite checking... It is annoying to have resentful security staff! The other day, at Thakur cinema, for a morning show they actually had a male guard check female bags!! How is that!! ?? I told him that they simply must have female guards do that! He grinned at me cheekily.. Imagine if he dug into my bag and picked up a tampon or a sanitary pad?? A village boy unused to such things and I may have to explain what it was?? Some of the female guards are also clueless: the other day the woman guard at the PVR theater wanted to know what my credit card-holder was all about: it is this sort of lack of training or civility that gets me!!

Any case, as I can see not all malls are going to be able to survive the meltdown. I for on am happy, because that will mean our Mumbai kids stop being such bores and start thinking of a life beyond the mall...