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These Bombay Days

October 28, 2024

A whirlwind four days in Mumbai is coming to a close. Every time I visit I’m struck by what a vast array of things there are to see and do - not even counting the typical sights. While not wanting to wade into a Delhi vs Mumbai debate, it’s hard to resist the charms and bright lights of Mumbai. It might be sentimental for me, having lived in Mumbai for three years, but when you consider the dining scene, contemporary cultural events and general cultural and linguistic milieu (Mumbai being home to people originally hailing from all parts of India, in quite equal parts), I’m definitely shuffling to the Mumbai side of the spectrum. I also think the lack of standout historical sites in Mumbai works in its favour. Unlike Delhi where there are more sites than you can cover even in three full days (let alone the one that most people give it), Mumbai has only a few in the same league, and therefore many visitors naturally look beyond and find experiences that somehow are both everyday and extraordinary at the same time. I can give this visit as an example - in the space of 72 hours I:

  • Visited a community education centre where we talked with the founder and staff about their approach to English teaching and learning (this being research for a school we support in central India).

  • Went for a fine Italian meal at Gusto, very groovy atmosphere, and sat next to Bollywood actor Shrusti Hassan - how Bombay can you get!

  • Up early to relive my glory days with a run around Mahalaxmi Race Course. Thankfully this green space is open to the public each morning. It’s quite something to jog the inner track with horses being trained and skyscrapers all around.
  • Delighted in finding a Melbourne-style cafe, more because it was open before 8 am than for it’s Melbourne feel (most cafes in India don’t open until 10 am - a constant challenge for a hopeless fiend like me)

  • Prepared as best I could with my limited travel wardrobe for lunch at Bombay Canteen - my running and current favourite Mumbai restaurant. If Gusto is groovy this is next level.

  • It’s a large plate, small serve type place, but the small serve is something to savour. Some of the notable dishes included avocado papdi chat, oxtail and marrow uttapum, a wild mushroom biriyani and a coffee rasgulla sundae (to those of you who know something of Indian food, you’ll note the innovative twist to the classics). The drinks list was long and alluring. I partook purely for research purposes.

  • The evening took us to the newly opened Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre. Truly a world class cultural venue and a great variety of events - dance, theatre, music and art exhibitions. We saw a stunning Odisha dance performance called Yoga in Dance by Rudrakshya Foundation.

  • The next morning up early for a temple visit and blessing followed by breakfast at Gurukripa, famed for its samosa chole. A certificate on the wall proclaimed 250,000 orders delivered, and I’d believe it!

  • Later we wandered the streets of Matunga, the suburb where I lived. It was a blast to visit the old favourites - street chai, fresh coconuts, ice cream.

  • We wrapped up the day catching up with friends from my ‘footy days’ - a time when I helped organise Australian Rules Football games at Shivaji Park and beyond. It was great to see the young boys who started playing more than 10 years ago are now bigger, fitter and better than me.

Can you see what I mean? Any of these experiences taken on their own is relatively unremarkable (eating, a temple visit, a dance performance), but collectively and thanks to how diverse they are they stretched my sense of time and generated a feeling of awe about this city - how it finds a way to function, the industriousness of people and their desire to improve and stand tall, the traditional sitting so comfortably next to the contemporary. I will never tire of visiting Mumbai, and no matter how many times I do, I am sure there’ll always be something new to experience (and eat!). Thank you Mumbai.

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