Mumbai reminds me of my trip to Bangalore with Gaboli about a year and a half ago. Lots of great work, good food, gut busting worouts, old friends to meet and some fabulous memories to re-kindle. My sister, Tarini, came to Mumbai over the weekend as I headed back from Aksa (where I was with 3.2.1.). And that helped kick off some special times.
I rode into Bandra with Arnab and Lara and hit up Global Fusion for an animal protein filled buffet. The sushi and the pepper chicken had me kicked. Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf now brews a mean de-caff and as I waited for my cousins.
Saturday morning I transferred to Colaba and waited for Tarini to land. As soon as she did we ran to Britannia at Ballard Estate to get soli boti and berry pulav with Arnab. We were a tad early and had to cool our heels with coffee at the Kalagodha Café – what a great little place.
The afternoon Tarini went on a stroll down Colaba Causeway, pretty much buying the city for me. I ended up getting a pair of shoes, a fancy set of shorts and a few shirts that bumped up my net worth a few notches. We dined at night with one of our favourite Masi’s at the Taj – quite a treat setup by Bhupinder Uncle.
The white wine put us to good sleep and refreshed I hit work for a while on Sunday, not before we’d chugged through a scrumptious breakfast at Woodside Inn. We met some friends in the afternoon, walked down the length of Marine Drive post that and dined at Leopold. I failed to the charm the host enough to get a good table but the beer wore the soreness off. Over the walk and dinner Tarini and I had a pretty nice chat about my life choices and career – I might have shocked her by saying I had no major life plan. The night was still young so we headed to AER at the Four Season’s – another one of Arnab’s superb recommendations. The view and the whisky sour made Sunday quite cheery. We wound back in a taxi to the room via Moshe’s and its sinful cake. Going back to bed quite full and happy.
Its taken me a day of work and a humungous workout to get to a point to be able to go over the weekend and I cannot believe its just been two days in Mumbai.
Apart from the fact that 3.2.1 has been intense, I’ve had a lot of memories walk into me at Mumbai too. Great ones but a lot of them! The walks on Marine Drive, admiring the David Sasson library building, the corners of Colaba, the feel of Carter Road last weekend and walking in and around Mumbai. Today I took a train back from Dadar where I was working and walked from Churchgate to Regal Cinema. I ran into Oxford Book store – and I remember going there a few years ago to pick up a book on Greenspan. The 2008 crash would happen after that and change so much of Green's legacy…. The fact that the mind remembers so much makes me feel old. Or maybe its that I did not know I remember so much but that I manage to. In body I might be younger than I was then.
And there is the fact that I love Mumbai. Its professional taxi services, polite drivers and roadside vendors (almost everyone responds with a welcome), polite 5 star security and lack of aggression in your face. It helps that I've stayed with my cousin or with Dad’s help at some of the better parts of town – but getting out has been a pleasure. I wonder if I could every live here though and not get rubbed off by the pace of Mumbai’s life. Maybe by then I would have perfected the art of finding a pace within myself.
Still, I love the fact that some cities hold out so many great memories and I feel like ‘its on’ everytime I land there. Mumbai and Bangalore; thank you for always being so nice. Here’s to more times with old friends over the next three days and some good work winding up this internship!
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