Asiatic Society Library

Outside the Library. Very funny. The din of the city, traffic, honking, construction, is as constant here as everywhere else.

Inside, books and magazines are kept in cases, presumably to protect them from the humidity. Which is not so bad right now but one shudders to think what it must be like during the monsoon.

Members-only sitting area

fans going at full blast

Rogie - Ritesh took this one for you! One more for the series of someone in front of the libraries of the world...

At the Ferry Dock

As the name suggests, Dock Yard Station where Ritesh's family used to live is right by the docks. You can't get directly to the water from there, but the ferry dock was just a short bus ride away.

We got some fresh coconut from this guy, who made display of an admirable coconut-shaving technique

Yum!

and then sat on the pier with Ritesh's uncle, talking and watching the water

This stall sells chutney sandwiches on the left and bhel and sev phuri on the right.

we had to try some sev puri, of course - which had us running to the pharmacy for some cipro within the hour. The stall itself was nice and clean, but the chutneys in the puri are made with tap water, which you're not supposed to drink, and sit around in the heat all day. And the servings are prepared by the same un-gloved hands that handle the money. But boy, was it tasty...

Down Memory Lane

Yesterday (Friday), we met up with Ritesh's uncle and visited the neighborhood where Ritesh lived as a little boy. It is in an area called Mazgaon, right near Dock Yard train station. This is the school he went to for first and second grade, along with his older brother:

The school is called Rosary School, obviously Catholic, and carries the motto of Amor Lucis - Love of the Light.

We were allowed in to visit after Ritesh's uncle introduced him as a former student.
Class was still in session at 4.30 pm

dance class in the hallway

the church to which the school belongs, on the way out.

This was all very moving, at least to me. Ritesh hated going to school here - he says they were very strict and in contrast to his older brother, who was a very good student, he always got in trouble for not doing his homework. His mom tells me he cried every morning when he was sent off. How he ended with a PhD is anybody's guess... :) At the same time, I'm wondering how many of his classmates who stayed in India were able to continue their education to that level.

Ritesh's family used to live right around the corner from the school, less than a two minute walk. His uncle still has a key to their place in this rent controlled building, and took us up to see it.

the inside of the flat, with uncle in the mirror

view of the back of the church and school from the flat

the lovely neighbors who invited us in for a chat, with Ritesh's uncle in the middle. Just for the record, these guys are Muslims - after everything I've been reading about the riots and the violence between Hindus and Muslims, it was great to see such warm neighborly relations.

the stairwell Ritesh used to play in

the street right outside the building

this is one thing Ritesh's mom talks about a lot and misses in the US: great, fresh veggies right on your doorstep

Ritesh's Moment of Fame

Today, Ritesh was stopped by two high school students who wanted to ask a few questions for a school project (which was to interview a foreigner). The interview happened in English, was recorded using their digital camera, and the main questions were as follows:

1) Where are you from? How often do you come to Bombay?
2) Are you afraid to be here after the attacks?
and
3) Does the smell bother you?

PS: Ritesh's portly looks are due to his shirt billowing in the breeze, not excessive helpings of Gujarati snacks...

Andheri

On Tuesday, Ritesh was at the conference all day, so his lovely cousin took the day off and invited me to come back up to Andheri, where they live, to check out the area with an eye on possibly moving there when we come back. Andheri used to be a quiet suburb but is now a very hip and happening place, as evidenced by its being featured on the cover of Time Out Mumbai. On the way to the train station, I stopped at Leopold's for some breakfast: fresh squeezed pineapple-grape juice...

... and a chutney sandwich, sadly not as good as the ones Ritesh makes at home. Oh, and isn't this exactly what I was told not to eat - fresh squeezed juices and chutney? Ah well.

I splurged on a First Class ticket to Andheri -the trains are pretty empty once the rush hour has past, at least in First Class

a stop on the way

in the home decor department at Hyper City, while shopping with Pinky, her mom and little Swayam
lunch with the family - Pinky's mom made dosas!
and idli, my favorite!
complemented by a five-star Sambar made by Sanjib, who is a professional chef! This was an amazing meal, and I ended up having no less than three bowls of sambar, three dosas and four idli... train ride back in the late afternoon

Dharavi Slums

On Monday, we had the opportunity to visit Dharavi, the largest slum in Asia which houses a million people right in the center of Mumbai, on a small, sensitively conducted tour with four Public Health professors, including Ritesh, and myself. As I am writing this, Ritesh is hurrying me to wrap it up so we can head out, so I will post his description of it copied from an email to the family back home, instead of trying to find words for the often unfathomable conditions:

"A few of my colleagues, Petra and I visited the Dhavari slums yesterday. It the largest and quite possibly the oldest slum in Asia. What a place. As you can imagine, extremely poor, dirty, depressing in many ways, but with so much activity and life. We were surprised to learn that its over a 150 years old and that there exist myriad of cottage industries, many based on recycling plastics, aluminum and various containers; they make jeans, print patterns on cloth, bake, dye leather, make machinery, make soap, make clay pots of all kinds, etc. It is really quite amazing what happens there. None of us had imagined this. Lot of the production is happening under grim and dangerous working conditions. Somehow I can’t reconcile how such skillful and enterprising people live in such squalor. It’s hard to put into words at moment as I think I am still processing the onslaught of information, sensations and emotions."

There was a strict no-photo policy, but we did get permission to take a quick picture up on one of the roofs, and also of some of the better-off folks near the pottery-making area.

After the slum tour, we visited the local public hospital

view of the slum from the hospital window - note the smoke from melting aluminium

Divya Maharashtra

Solkadi - a very tasty and refreshing drink made with coconut milk, kokum (Indian cranberries), green chilies, garlic and garnished with coriander leaves, at Divya Maharashtra for a very late night dinner with Swati, Sanjib, Soyam and Ritesh

Maharashtrian condiments (Divya Maharashtra means "the light of Maharashtra"): green chilies w/ peanuts, ground coconut w/ garlic, mango pickle, limes, and some roasted, pickled chilies

the famed Bombay Duck - not a duck despite the name, but a kind of lizardfish native to the Arabian Sea that's a local delicacy. Apparently, the fish is often dried and notorious for its smell in that state, but ours was fresh and fried in a spicy batter, and just delicious.

fish curry, mutton curry and two kinds of bread - this was all fabulous. Thanks so much for taking us here, Pinky and Sanjib!

Konkan Cafe

rice crackers w/roasted, stuffed chilies and tomato-coconut and green chutney, at the Konkan Cafe inside the Taj President Hotel, for an early lunch with Ritesh

fresh squeezed watermelon juice

the Konkan thali - the Konkan being part of the West Coast of India, this is mostly seafood: a stunningly flavorful fish curry on the left, then clockwise some supremely tender fish sticks, shrimp w/ green mango, two kinds of south Indian soups: sambar and rassam, and some lemon rice. Fantastic.

fermented rice pancakes to eat with the curry

fresh kulfi (Indian ice cream, made with ghee), served on a banana leaf

fresh squeezed sugar cane juice, w/ lime and ginger

and some beetelnut paan

Indigo Deli

organic darjeeling w/ cardamom and mint

banana caramel pie - dark chocolate cake, caramel cream, caramelized bananas