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| Edited By: Malavika Sangghvi |Source: |Updated: Nov 19, 2013, 11:17 PM IST
The Spectator
Now that I work in Lower Parel, I get quite nostalgic for South Mumbai — or real Mumbai.
Ah Flora Fountain, with its narrow by-lanes crammed with stationery stores and fast food joints and opticians and Hifi shops. Go to Pundole catch an exhibition of paintings, pick up some seedless dates from American Dry Fruit, stop by at Baliwalla and Homi to have your eyes checked, and then drop in for a berry biriyani at the Britannia Café. Bliss!
Spend the whole morning at Fabindia, stop by at Phillips Antiques, pick up concert DVDs at Rhythm House, stroll down for a leisurely lunch at Samovar and round it off with house brew at Indigo Deli reading a book you picked up at Strand. Civilised!
Or best of all spend the day at IMAX watching back-to-back movies, then nip in to Japengo for their sushi platter, stop by at the BCL for DVDs of comedy hits, then take in a play by Rahul da Cunha or Anish Trivedi at the experimental theatre, cross over to the Bay View Bar for a cigar and a glass of Merlot, and then later go to Indigo (the restaurant) for dinner. Heaven!
Ah South Mumbai! Its High Court lawyers looking like studious penguins, its crowds spilling out of Churchgate like rampaging bulls, its civilised cafes and cultural hubs.
South Mumbai is Sabirra Merchant and Jahangir Sabavala and Charles and Monica Correa and Anil Dharkar. It is champa trees at Babulnath, the Afghan Church in Colaba and the wide roads of the Ballard Estate. South Mumbai is about people who go sailing to the Mandwa Boat Club on weekends, ladies who play mah-jongg and Murli and Hema Deora who play bridge on Sundays with Deepak Parekh.
South Mumbai is the place where the intersection between the seedy back streets of Colaba and the style mile of the Taj does not seem odd; where the concept of multi grain bread has been embraced, and where old Parsi ladies feed stray dogs and support the friends of trees society.
South Mumbai is the capital of the Time and Talents Club, the heart of the western classical music appreciation movement, and the center of Mumbai’s polo society.
South Mumbai is Anand and Keshub Mahindra, and Vijaya Mehta and Asha Sheth and Bakul Khote. It is the custodian of the nascent Jazz aficionados club, the environmental activists group led by Cyrus Guzder and Shyam Chainani and the Hornbill Society.
When I visit ‘town’ and return to my work at Lower Parel its like I’ve been abroad and back.
My friends who live in Bandra say they feel exactly the same way when they visit Lower Parel from Bandra!
