It’s a quarter past eight in the evening, and Khara Tank Road in Bohri Mohalla is a hive of activity. The aroma of meat frying on large tawas and stacks of freshly-baked bread hit the hungry traveller as soon as they enter the lane.
As I station myself outside Tawakkal Sweets, a popular sweetshop in the area, I spot the group of strangers I’m looking for. We’re members of Trabblr, an online community that brings people together to explore the unknown and unconventional side of Mumbai.
We settle ourselves on stools outside the Indian Hotel and decide to order pretty much everything on the menu. Laid out before us are mutton rolls, chicken rolls, baida roti (fried roti coated in egg), bheja fry and gurda kaleji (kidney-liver). A meal not for the faint-hearted. Or for a vegetarian. This makes Harsh, a vegetarian, the odd one out. An avid photographer, Harsh signed up only for the great pictures. “And it’s always fun to meet new people,” he says.
Having had our fill, we move on to the lane ahead of Khara Tank Road, to sample some Nalli Nihari (marrow). A small signboard advertises the eatery’s dishes, which include paya (lamb trotters), nalli nihari, topa (hump) and pichotta.
As we discuss what a pichotta is, a waiter comes in and clears our doubts. pichotta, it turns out, is ox tail. “A lot of these dishes sound disgusting but it’s still interesting to try them out,” says Namita, a graphic designer who has recently moved to Mumbai. But the real reason she’s joined this group is to meet people.
“Having lived all over India, I don’t have too many friends in the city.”
It’s easy to chat with this group of people. The conversation moves to the most outrageous foods we’ve eaten, and Abhisek Sharma, a filmmaker who once ate tongue, wins this round. Fashion designer Sharnita sums up our experience: “Such casual and well-organised events are a great way for even locals to broaden their horizons.”
This was the idea behind Trabblr. In 2010, when Hersh Kumbhani, 29, was travelling through the Balkans, he realised that his most fulfilling travel experiences occurred in the company of people — locals as well as tourists. The only problem was meeting like-minded people. So he quit his job as an investment banker in New York and moved back to India. With the help of a college friend, Ashish Mehra, he set up Trabblr (a word that combines babble and traveller) in January 2012. “The idea was to give people a chance to lift their heads and experience a place, rather than have their noses buried in a tourist guide,” says Hersh.
Ashish manages the community’s events in London, while Hersh looks after the Mumbai events.
“On one of my trips to Andhra Pradesh, I had the most delicious kheer I have ever tasted, in a remote part of the state. That’s what makes a good trip — an experience that you never forget,” says Hersh. “I want travellers in Mumbai to take an offbeat path — experience a little-known Parsi restaurant at Fort, or sample the street fare at Bohri Mohalla in Bhendi Bazaar.”
He believes that such experiences should not be restricted to outsiders. “Travellers and locals are bonded by curiosity and are therefore quite similar. There’s something refreshing about acting like a tourist in your own city,” he says.
How it works
Trabblr’s events range from watching flamingos at Sewri, bar crawls at Dhobitalao, and winter morning trails at Sanjay Gandhi National Park. Members can create their own events, but to ensure quality, events with a commercial angle are not allowed.
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