I stood in the sweltering Mumbai sun, waiting anxiously for my plate of piping hot pav bhaji to arrive. It had been a few minutes since I'd placed my order, and I could hardly wait to finish my day with this indulgent treat.
It was almost hypnotic to watch people scoop up bhaji (a mix of potatoes, tomatoes, capsicum and cauliflower cooked in spices) with warm pav (dinner rolls) slathered with unmentionable quantities of butter.
The butter dripping from the pav, the setting Mumbai sun and my chilled lassi almost made me forget that it would take 2 hours on a very crowded train to get home to Ulhasnagar. A Mumbai day trip was no mean feat; it had to be meticulously planned and executed well. But it was worth it.
Even the harshest critic of Mumbai agrees that there's a certain charm about this part of town with its gothic architecture, hole-in-the-wall restaurants, and many cafes and food stalls.
I used to come to Mumbai to borrow books for my English Literature classes; the food and sightseeing were incidental. After alighting from the train, I always found myself in awe as I stood in the grand Victoria Terminus, or Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus as it's now called. Designed by British architectural engineer F.W. Stevens, who built many other prominent buildings in Mumbai, it has stood the test of time.
Architecture in Mumbai. Source: Bhavna Kalra
The 60-minute walk from the station to the library in Nariman Point and back was peppered with pitstops, ending opposite the station where I'd dig into a plate of pav bhaji at an eatery called Canon.
The first stop was at Cafe Excelsior, an Irani cafe known for its special chai, a sweet, milky concoction to sip as I watched the morning rush. Some days, if I'd skipped breakfast at home, I'd order the cafe's decadent mutton puffs, flaky-based pastries stuffed with mutton mince, or a plate of brun maska, a bread with a brittle crust and clouted with butter, making it perfect to have with tea. If I had money to spare, I'd also have kheema pav: goat mince cooked with spices and served with a thick, soft loaf of bread.
On days when I miss roaming Mumbai's streets, I think about mopping up kheema with bread; it's enough for me to want to go back home.
On days when I miss roaming Mumbai's streets, I think about mopping up kheema with bread; it's enough for me to want to go back home.
During some visits when I was in a rush, I happily picked up two vada pavs from Aaram Vada Pav eatery, just a stone's throw away from the station. Then I'd make my way to the library, chomping my way through the deep-fried crispy potato patties or vada that were encased in a pillowy soft pav (bread) and flavoured with different chutneys. The hot vada melted in your mouth and the chutneys upped the flavour with every single bite.
There were times when I'd stop at Apollo Bandar to gawk at the magnificent Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. As a dishevelled and broke student, I never had the opportunity to enter the doors of this luxury hotel.
Pav bhaji is full of flavour. Source: Bhavna Kalra
The next best thing was to buy a cold drink from a shop nearby, find a place overlooking the building, and stand there and daydream.
The next best thing was to buy a cold drink from a shop nearby, find a place overlooking the building, and stand there and daydream. The cold drink of my choice in those days was a milk-based drink called Energee that would go down a treat on a hot summer's day.
Sometimes I took a detour to Cafe Mondegar, which was famous for its vintage jukebox and walls plastered with cartoons, sketched by renowned Indian cartoonist Mario Miranda. If friends accompanied me, we'd pool money together to share a pitcher of beer, which we enjoyed with free, salted peanuts. We hoped our parents wouldn't smell beer on us when we got home.
A bottle of Energee got me through the sweltering Mumbai heat. Source: Bhavna Kalra
The hustle and bustle of a big city somehow never bothered me. Every road that led to the college library had a food cart or a restaurant that was known for something special, which made choosing where to eat a rather tricky task. Mind you, none of these restaurants was fancy and the food was as cheap as chips. But they were the only thing I could afford in those days and they filled my belly.
