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November 22, 2005
Good food, palatable prices
This was the piece that was published in the Mumbai Mirror, today.
In a previous pseudo-socialist lifetime, mesmerized by Ayn Rand and living on endless cups of canteen chai, an article that Mr. Anil Dharker wrote, helped us fill at least three days of “serious” argument time, between our bridge breaks. Though my memory is a little weak twenty years later, it was probably in the now defunct Sunday Observer, that he wrote about a Rs. 10,000 dinner for two, that could be had at the Rotisserie, at that time the new French/Italian restaurant at The Oberoi.
Used to situations where even a Rs. 1000 bill in a “five-star” hotel restaurant was an expense you undertook only on the most memorable occasions, we were aghast that anyone would even think of dropping ten times that amount at a restaurant table.
Today, a simple vegetarian dinner for four with a decent bottle of wine, at restaurants like Wasabi, the Zodiac Grill or any of the ITC Grand or Hyatt Grand restaurants, puts you back by Rs. 10,000 or more. With a few exceptions (thank God for Bellissima with its seven course dinner for under Rs. 800), fine dining in Mumbai has become ridiculously expensive, especially when compared to many other parts of the world. For example, a dining experience at the Sirocco, in Bangkok, on the 64th floor terrace of one of the tallest buildings there, costs a quarter of that amount, the wine included.
Which is why it feels so nice to dine out in Matunga. You can take twelve people to the Matunga Gymkhana and keep the bill for vegetarian food, to under a thousand rupees, and that too, thanks to Nandita and Amit, for above average food. Or you can go to Rasna Punjab or Peninsula for “Punjabi” food, for rates maybe a little bit higher, or to Fu Yong, for probably the cheapest, decent Chinese food this side of town.
A few of us school-friends “try” to meet every three-six months. Our usual adda is Rasna Punjab, where the food is cheap and the drinks flow freely and cheaply. Once, a little tired of the same interiors, we decided to go to the Sports Bar in the Phoenix Mills Complex. The place was too loud to begin with and after two rounds, when someone actually looked at the prices, we shuddered, paid the bill and promptly drove back to Rasna to finish the other two rounds, topped finally with a little dinner.
Matunga must be the only place where the food gets cheaper as it gets better. You can take twelve people to any of the Udipi restaurants, and the bill will be cheaper than even at Matunga Gymkhana and that too for some of the best South Indian food outside the South Indian states.
And if you want to see really jaw-dropping prices, with some jaw-shutting food, think of trying the “khotto” and “mudho”, the next time you want to dine out. But more of that next week…..
PS: Having said all this, I did go to the Rotisserie when I was courting my girl-friend and managed to have a terrific seven course vegetarian meal for one-fifth of Mr. Dharker’s amount, with amazing service to boot, since we were the only table that night. She was so impressed that I am sure this played no mean part in her decision to finally agree to marry me.
Posted by bhavinj at 03:45 AM | Comments (1)
November 16, 2005
The Bollywood Walk of Fame
This article appeared in today's Mumbai Mirror.
A few days ago, a friend of mine was telling me about his brother-in-law who was cribbing about the high rates in a new building in one of the back roads of Matunga. Apart from the fact that new buildings in this area do command a premium, this particular lane commands an even higher premium for a variety of reasons, one of which is its history.
Way before the Kapoors moved to Anita’s glamorous Chembur gully, they first came to this small road in Matunga, then called the “College Back Road”, so called because of its location behind a famous college. After the Kapoors moved in, as Mr. Shammi Kapoor reminisces on his website, “With them came the Saigals (K.L. and Mahender), the Sethis' (Jagdish and Sudershan), the Puris' (Chaman and Madan), the Nandas' (J.K.), the Biswases' (Anil and Ashalata), the Singhs' (K.N.), the Zakarias' (Jayant), the Jairajs' (P.), the Mazumdars' (Phani), the Peshawaris' (Bismil), the Aroras'(P.N.), the Devis' (Sitara).” This was in the late 30s and 40s and for some time, this lane was often called the Hollywood of India. Many other actors and directors took up residence in some of the neighboring lanes as well, though College Back Road was the hub.
However, once the Kapoors moved to Chembur in the 50s, the exodus started, many moving with them and the rest going to Pali, Hill, Santacruz, etc. When Ram, the late actor and director, Mr. Manmohan Krishna’s son was growing up in the 70s, most of the first generation had already moved on and Ram grew up among those who had stayed back, most of whose kids, like him, have moved on to different professions.
In those days, as Ram put it, the lane had quite a reputation and was not as quiet as it now is. The triumvirate of Mr. Prithiviraj Kapoor, Mr. Jagdish Sethi and Mr. J K Nanda, used to walk in the lane, in the evenings, bare-chested in their lungis, creating quite a ruckus, in what was even then a predominantly Tamil and Gujjju area.
Today, the College Back Road has no living actor / actress left, and the entertainment industry has passed Matunga by. Mr. Shammi Kapoor still however sees this road with, sepia-tinged, nostalgia-rimmed spectacles, “A suburb of Bombay called Matunga housed those pages which would bedeck the golden annals of Indian Motion Picture and one day rightfully step into the archives of International Cinema.” That’s a lot of baggage to carry, for what is now, a quiet, tree-lined road, not easy to find, if you are not from Matunga, but like Altamount, Carmichael and Narayan Dabholkar roads, has become “the” address to have, if you live in Matunga, a step ahead of “Adenwalla Road”, “Jam-e-Jamshed Road”, and “Manikrao Lotlikar Marg”.
My friend’s brother-in-law was not from Matunga, and had no clue about all this. One reason also was that, as with all other roads in Mumbai, “College Back Road” (the college being either VJTI, or Khalsa), has also been renamed and is now called…“R P Masani Road”. And yes, Ram still lives here.
Posted by bhavinj at 06:55 PM | Comments (2)
November 07, 2005
Birds of a Feather....
This article appeared in today's Mumbai Mirror.
Thomas Schelling won the Nobel Prize for Economics a few weeks ago, mainly for his work on “game theory”. One of his many theories, that has since been shown to be accurate, is the one on “racial segregation” where he shows that even with secular-minded families, there is a tendency to live with one’s own kind so that eventually, without pre-meditation, most neighborhoods become segregated.
He uses the example of white and black communities in the US to show that in predominantly white communities, the advent of black families can quickly tilt the balance towards a black neighborhood, as neighboring white families often move away and other black families quickly come in to take their place.
In Greater Matunga, the segregation is not color-based, but is community-based. Gujjus and Kutchhis predominate in virtually all neighborhoods, to the extent that in some areas (e.g. Manikrao Lotlikar Marg, the lane where I live), they form virtually 99% of all households. Tamils are now mainly in the area around Indian Gymkhana, the Maharashtrians in Hindu colony, the Roman Catholics between Don Bosco and St. Joseph’s and the Parsis in Parsi colony.
Within these segregated areas however, individual buildings may sometimes be different. So we have a building for Syrian Christians off RAK Rd near Talwalkar’s, and a bunch of Sindhi families and buildings near SIWS college and on RAK Rd.
Even the help congregates in specific areas. The cooks, all hailing from near the Udaipur area, live together in small hovels in Dharavi. Virtually, all our maids and menservants live in the Matunga Labor Camp area and the chauffeurs live in Antop Hill, Dharavi or the shanties behind Auxilium.
Amma explained to me that the first Tamil inhabitant, more than a 100 years ago, was probably a station master who moved to Matunga, from Parel, maybe because Matunga was cheaper and had more open spaces. Soon, English-educated, Tamm-Brahm bachelors started coming in droves, living in rented one-room places, in buildings owned by Gujjus/Kutchhis, working in town, with the Railways, the Government or the MNCs. In the early part of the century, Matunga was predominantly Tamil. Around WWII, many moved back to their home towns due to the fear of being bombed, and when they returned, they found that the Gujjus had discovered Matunga as a place to live in and the “pagdi” system had started. Those who could afford to, stayed on, but many then moved on to Chembur, Deonar, etc.
Gujjus and Kutchhis moved in here simply because it was cheaper than Walkeshwar and Princess Street. Though the law prohibits discrimination, since the majority of buildings were and still are landlord-owned properties, it was very easy to make sure that like-minded families came to live into these buildings.
Schelling is now proving to be more and more accurate. As the Tamils move to Cincinnati and Houston, as Hindu Colony migrates to Chicago and San Francisco, as the Roman Catholics move to Toronto, Sydney and Auckland, as the Parsis fail to replenish themselves and move to London, England and London, Ontario; the Gujjus/Kutchhis are taking over.
The day is not far before Narendra Modi or his successors establish a second capital in Greater Matunga.
Posted by bhavinj at 06:54 PM | Comments (0)
November 02, 2005
A Bit Listless
This is my Mumbai Mirror piece that was published yesterday.
A good number of people in Matunga have been born here, have studied here, married in the greater Matunga area, have delivered here, have had their children go to schools here and their children seem to be continuing the same tradition. There must be a reason for this.
In David Letterman style….
The Top Ten Reasons for Living in Matunga
10. Equidistant from Colaba and Borivli
9. Being a Gujju or Kutcchi and even better Jain…yes Tamil as well
8. Matunga gymkhana
7 All the other schools and colleges, excluding Don Bosco
6. The bhuttawala outside Jonette
5. Don Bosco
4. Matunga Market
3. The overall greenery
2. Five Gardens
1. The Udipi joints
The Top Ten Reasons for Not Living in Matunga
10.
9. No malls, multiplexes
8. No lounges, pubs, discos and fine-dining restaurants
7. Completely “non-happening”
6. Too many Gujjus, Kutchhis…and Tamils
5. The disappearance of all Navratri and dandia celebrations
4. Noise and air pollution on the main RAK and Ambedkar roads
3. The new monstrosities coming up all over Five Gardens, Adenwalla road, etc
2. The yearly constant flooding outside Gandhi market
1.
It doesn’t take much to figure why the “good” list is longer than the “bad”.
Posted by bhavinj at 12:44 PM | Comments (4)
