A few years ago, I had the pleasure of writing a FOB (front of the book) “feature” on the legendary Parsi eatery Britannia & Co. for Saveur magazine. At the time, I was living in Bombay, India, and had frequented Britannia enough to know that it deserved to be written about – if not by…
September Ho Gaya…September is gone. And I didn’t even have much time to blog. I did some traveling – again to the Golden Triangle (see below) – went to a film shoot (see my last post), attended the Elle Decor India Design Awards, and also found time to check out the Ganpati Visarjan (immersion) on…
Three days after record-breaking rains brought Bombay to a halt, I’m finally beginning to hear about my friends’ and colleagues’ unbelieveable journeys. South Bombay, as I’ve mentioned before, got hit with 7 inches of rain on Tuesday, but, save for the lack of bustle, it looked pretty normal on Wednesday. On the other hand, the…
Well, I’m still pretty high and dry here in Bombay. But now I see that the international papers have caught on to our little rain problem. So, it must be a big deal. Actually, it rained about seven inches in 24 hous in South Bombay. The suburbs, on the other hand, got 27 inches of…
Nine hours later and…it’s still raining! No flooding where I am, but most of the city is shut down. I guess this is the equivalent of a blizzard, so I’ll concede that flooding is inevitable at this point. News about the Monsoon: Maharashtra rains leave many dead [BBC News] Rains bring life to standstill in…
I’ve been pretty unimpressed by the monsoon so far. Sure, it came in with a bang. Then again, the flooding has happened mostly in the suburbs, not in the city. In fact, the weather in Bombay has been mostly overcast with occasional sun and sprinkles. The locals said that the rains had “regularized,” meaning that…
Bombay can be extremely noisy, crowded, and inhospitable at times. But, at other times, you stumble across these tranquil little neighborhoods. One such place is Walkeshwar. Adjacent to glitzy high-rise apartments and old-money bungalows, Walkeshwar is a fisherman’s village on the top of tony Malabar Hill. There, the stone houses are incredibly modest, the alleys…
As I mentioned before, it’s a little difficult finding your way around Mangaldas Market. But, now after two buying visits and a pit stop to show friends, I have mostly figured out where some of the best vendors are located. The 6th Lane is the best place to start, specifically at Rangeela. The shop specializes…
Looking online at the spring and summer offerings from the likes of The Gap, Banana Republic, Zara, H&M, etc., I’ve noticed that just about every store has something inspired by India. Embroidered or sequinned tops, cotton kurtas, long, full skirts, and paisley prints, appear to be – from this vantage point – all the rage…