Bombay Wrapup

Here’s some miscellaneous photos from Mumbai.

  

I got a couple shots from the eleventh floor of an apartment in Versova neighborhood.  It’s such a nice view I had to include them here.   

You can see Juhu beach in the distance.   

Another nice view, of the samose at Gurukripa restaurant in Sion neighborhood.  (A long way to go for samose!  But, I wanted to become familiar with riding the commuter trains and the trip there demanded a midway transfer.  Obviously, I managed.) Though Gurukripa is famous for its samose, I also had some batata wade (potato fritters). 

Batata wade are often eaten in sandwiches, like a spud burger, but here I had them with chickpeas. 

More snacks: 

Chana Bread is a bun smothered in chickpeas and crispy noodles, etc.  Eaten at Kailash Parbat. 

Bhel Puri, maybe Mumbai’s most famous snack.  Puffs, crisps, chutney, onions…eaten up with a spoon. 

Pani Puri, again at Kailash Parbat.  The same idea as posted below in the photos on gol gappe–a crisp puri filled with potatoes and whatnot, filled with spicy water and gulped. 

Here’s a sweet snack, and one I really enjoyed.  Kailash Parbat’s kulfi falooda.  Kin to the more refined rabri falooda I posted about at Giani’s in Delhi, this version includes kulfi amidst the cream and noodles.  For some reason, I remember really disliking falooda the one time I ate it in 1988.  I’m glad my palate has become more accomodating.   

Across the eastern bay from Mumbai is Elephanta Island, home to caves filled with ancient statuary.  I bought some of these fruits to munch on the way up to the caves.  If I understand correctly (?), these are ber fruit.  They taste like dates, around a pit, but are sour.  The ber wallah offers you salt to dab them in.  I ate them without. Ber fruit, by the way, are very popular with the monkeys that live in the neighborhood.  I thought it was great fun feeding my monkey friends until one misguided chap tried to mug me and I had to deliver a stern warning that jumping on visitors wasn’t polite.  Stefin admits she was worried about this incident, though I still find it amusing.  At least, more amusing than watching the monkeys drinking discarded bottles of Coke… 

While I was in Mumbai, the city celebrated Ganesh Chaturthi, the birth of Lord Ganesh the God with an elephant’s head.  After days of celebration, the idols which have been the center of adulation are brought to the sea to be submerged.  Thousands converge on Chowpatty Beach (and elsewhere) with images sometimes reaching stories high.  These roll down the sands and into the water, where they are towed out into the ocean by boats.  Here, you can see some on their way.   

And this is another interesting cocktail, the Supperclub Martini, I drank at Wink, the bar at the Taj Presidency in the far south of Mumbai.   It’s vanilla and raspberry vodka, with rosewater, kokum pulp (the local red, sour fruit), pineapple and lime.  It was good, but nowhere near as wonderful as the Maharashtra Martini.  It suffered from the vanilla/raspberry flavors, giving it a strong bubblegum taste.  Once you got past that, though, the sour fruit was yummy and fresh.   

Here’s another view of Wink.  It’s a comfortable and stylish joint, and if it were in my neighborhood I’d drop by every so often.  Many of you know how I feel about flairtending–it’s in full swing here!