1. The In-laws flew out Monday evening. We followed suit on Tuesday evening.
Changi Airport seemed thrilled to see us, relieved that this time we were here with our suitcases. In the last couple of months, it had seen us here often, but only to pick-up our house guests. This time, we were flying out ourselves, after a long break of 10 or more weeks. So there was much glee in the air and a spring in our step.
Flying with the little one after this long span of 10 weeks, brought to the fore new realizations. For example - for a while now her stroller has been redundant. Yet it still cannot be rendered completely obsolete, since there are times she's better off being chained (Oops did I just say that?) strapped I mean, to prevent her from speeding through the airport, as if she's in a 5K race or something. Also, flight after flight, she's becoming more of a seasoned traveler herself. Enough to know the path of circulation within an airport, that is associated with taking a flight. Now if only something could be done, to have her willingly sit strapped in her aircraft seat, every time we fly, life would be a tad bit more breezier for sure...
2. Aah that magical, multi-dimensional, multi-cultural Mumbai city of mine! Each time I land there, it's like a straight-up shot of adrenaline into the entire system.
We landed at CSIA (Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport) late Tuesday night. The airport - my baby and my dream project, seems to be coming along nicely. It appears that it will be open later this year, if all goes as per schedule. Cant wait to see my team's work up and ready, being used by the city and hopefully liked by them too.
3. Since we had landed the night before Holi, we passed many a 'Holika' fires enroute to the In-laws place. I was in the city after over a decade, during Holi and was certainly looking forward to celebrating this one with the Hubster and more importantly introducing the festival to the daughter.
Maharashtra has faced a drought this year and on account of the water shortage, this was to be a Dry Holi - the kinds that is usually played abroad. All of us (Hubster's side of the family, since mine was out of town) went to our local club in Bandra, for the Holi party. Here, amidst blaringly loud Bollywood Holi songs, much dancing, other club members and some 'Thandaai' and snacks, we brought in our 20 month old's first real Holi - played Mumbai style. Quite a neat freak this one, she didn't care much for the colours and even glared at us at times, for dirtying her white clothes with various shades of colour. Since she is quite the water-baby, we thought perhaps water would have made her more comfortable. She did enjoy the music though, amusing everyone around, with her dance moves and shimmying shoulders. I hope the next Holi might prove more enjoyable for her, as she will have a better understanding of the festival and hopefully be OK with the "mess". The 'neat freak' in me may have brushed off too strongly on her, I think. Gulp!
4. Re-connecting and meeting with friends, old and new in Mumbai is always something I look forward to, each time I return to the city. Inspite of this one being only a 3-day visit to the city, we spent most of our days out and about - doing dinners, drinks and lunches with friends, while we ran errands/ shopped and pampered ourselves on the side.
A special mention must be made for the all-girls brunch I had, with one of my bestie's and her sweet little 7 year old at Yellow Tree Cafe. I had heard good things about this quaint little Bandra spot, which seemed alright until the crostini's arrived on the table. They looked and tasted like mini-pizzettes!! Seriously? These are the moments that make me think, Mumbai has only partially arrived on the international food scene. I mean I understand the adaptation to suit the desi palate and all, but in my books it is sacrilege to try to pas off a crostini which is treated like a pizza! Naturally I sent them back to the kitchen, asking to speak to the chef, clearly letting him know that I was looking for Crostini's, not mini-pizzas. Whew!
5. While in Bandra, we also met up with two other friends who've moved to Mumbai from NYC a few years ago, at another restaurant called Basilico. Here I related to them, my crostini mishap from the afternoon at Yellow Tree Cafe and we figured we'd do a 'Bread Test' at Basilico. So strangely enough, we ordered Focaccia bread along with our drinks, much to the waiter's surprise. The intention was to taste the bread to see if it stands up to international standards. It did OK and we were left agreeing with our friends, that in general Mumbai needs to step up it's act on the authenticity of the international cuisine it serves.
Post drinks, our friends took us to their newly set up swanky office space in a site that I found oddly appealing on account of it's incompleteness. Situated bang in the middle of town, in Bandra's Pali Village, their office (They call themselves deCODE Architects) sits within a semi-demolished/ derelict building structure, that houses just one other home, other than their office, on the site. Only in Mumbai, can architectural opportunities such as this reveal themselves. Both our friends are now working on interesting projects and have big ideas conceptualized for their dynamic office space. We are super thrilled at their new pad and wish them luck in all their upcoming projects and ventures.
6. Mandatory must-do's on the list included dinner at the bestie's place where her 7 year old and our 20 month old bonded over random dances, snacks and senseless graffiti, thankfully only on paper. Ira, the smartest 7 year old I know, has written a beautiful poem for Zoe, ever since Zoe was born. Every time these girls meet, Ira sings the poem out aloud to L'ill Z who just blinks around wondering what it means. This time I was happy to catch the recitation on video and am sure this one is a keeper for life.
We also celebrated the bestie's upcoming new gig, as part of which she gets to travel the world in the near future. Naturally, an entire bottle of Chianti was downed within a few hours. I am elated that she will be coming to Singapore in a few weeks!
7. The SIL & BIL took us out to dinner to the classic Mumbai Mughlai establishment - Copper Chimney at Worli. We were celebrating their new home and their new ride. The food was exemplary and the service divine, as one usually expects in such high-end, landmark eating establishments in Mumbai. To add to the experience, the little one decided to be well-behaved at the restaurant too, which in hindsight we figured, wasn't really required. For in most restaurants in Mumbai, one tends to overlook misbehaved toddlers simply because there are so many of them. I know, I know I have a lot to be thankful for since mine is considered 'better-behaved' than most according to other parents, but still. There's no harm in aiming higher now, is there?
8. One night Hubster and I took off for a quiet walk around his home. I had never really seen Shivaji Park up close and personal so we decided we would take a walk around the park, so Hubster could show me around. Hubster has been a Bandra boy all his life, since it is there that he really grew up. His parents moved to Shivaji Park only a year or so after he moved to the US. Yet he knew more about this neighborhood than I did.
We treated ourselves to Tibb's frankie's and roadside grilled sandwiches, before we set out to the Natural's ice cream parlour nearby to sample the fresh fruit ice creams that they have always been famous for. After digging into their Mango and Chikku flavours, we walked under a full moon, hand-in-hand, circling the periphery of the park. To the urbanist in me, this was the ideal social space that a city can give back to it's people. To the sporty Hubster, this was where some of his heroes played cricket before they became the Star Cricketers they are today. Both of us had our own individual associations with this large urban expanse of open space and we agreed this was indeed a great space to grow up around and have access to, in this part of the city.
9. The FIL decided he'd take me on a food tour of some of Mumbai's classic restaurants to continue our foodie-adventure that we embarked upon with him and MIL in Singapore. So one morning he led all of us to Sharda Bhavan in Matunga, especially because I cherish a good South Indian fare for breakfast. Sweetest gesture ever!
In this establishments old world charm, we devoured Idlis, Vadai's, Dosai's, Uttapam's and filter coffee. It was nice to see an old Mumbai food house maintain it's menu, quality and level of service even in today's day and age. It's fan following was evident, in that it was completely packed, by regulars who eat here every day, for the last number of years of their lives. A classic case of a good, much-loved, simple and reasonably priced restaurant, running successfully even today.
The next afternoon FIL took us to Gypsy Chinese - another iconic Chinese restaurant in Dadar, a short walk from Hubster's home. Here we stuffed our faces with fried rice, Chicken Manchurian and Schezuan noodles until we could have no more.
In Singapore, I had casually mentioned to the FIL, that I wanted to eat Parsi food in Mumbai, this time. Hats off to him for trying to arrange the best possible Parsi culinary experience for me, in Mumbai. He called his foodie friends to confirm which of the three Parsi restaurants that he knew of, were personally tried and tested by them. He even got them to tell him their personal favourites from the menu of each of those places, so we could pick accordingly. Unfortunately, we did not have time to go relish Parsi cuisine this time around, so that one will have to wait until the next time we visit the city. That and our absolute must-have which we did without, on this trip to Mumbai - the Vada Pav, that too from Kirti College. The next trip will start with the above two for sure!
Eating out with the FIL especially in Mumbai, is like a 'lunch & learn' all by itself. He recounts stories on the history and politics of Mumbai, shares knowledge acquired from books and their writers themselves. I can already tell he's going to make for a great storyteller for Zoe with his immense knowledge of every aspect of Mumbai city, from it's history, geography, sociology to it's myths, eating places, players and leaders and his animated, voice-modulated expression of it all. In him, we have our own in-house go-to guy for anything and everything Mumbai-related for sure.
10. We bid Mumbai adieu to head to Delhi for the remainder of our India trip. Pops (my dad) was joining Hubster, Zoe and I on this flight there. Mom was already in Delhi - in Greater Noida more appropriately as we found out later, at my Aunt's place. We were going to have a mini family reunion (and yet another gastronomic excursion of the city) the next couple of days there.
Zoe's a lucky girl as she's had the opportunity to hang out with both her Grandparents, Great grandparents, a few Aunts and Uncles and a few friends, one after the other, almost all through this month, that too in three cities. This is sort of a microcosm of what the big picture of her life looks like right now! She'll hardly remember this phase of her life when she grows up, although with my extensive written and photographic documentation, that might be impossible. Yet I do hope, that if and when she does understand how the first few years of her life were spent, she will be thrilled about it. And most importantly, will be happy to know that of all the suitcases we traveled around with, the most treasured was the one which had her in it!
On that mushy note, that's it for this week. The next week begins in Delhi & Greater Noida and ends in Singapore. So stay tuned!
Love,
Shweyta
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