19th and 20th Jan : Marathon

Not really the marathon, but pre and post marathon – my side of the story – while people trained and ran the marathon. And some other photos – random. I’m updating after a long time.

Brunch at Barbeque Nation, Bandra.
The sweet-naans were super awesome. It’s a good experience – definitely try it out. Preferable with a big bunch of people accompanying you. Buffet style, grilled meat – with the grill in the middle of the table you’re sitting at.

Moharram in Mumbai : decorations at a friend’s place.

Mumbai Marathon preparation.
Setting up the stage.

Washing / Cleaning the roads.

Laser ads on Air-India building.

Marine Drive Promenade.

Night lights on Marine Drive.

Milestone [ rather a meterstone ] slab on the promenade. Never seen them before.

Traffic congestion : Saturday night and pre-marathon evening.

Girgaum Chowpatty corner buildings.

Coconut seller outside Crystal.

Mr. Dwarka Das Kapoor of Crystal. After I requested him for a photo and shot him, he started showing me newspaper clipping of himself and his restaurant. I’m in love with Crystal’s food and ambience – no matter whether it’s the mezzanine floor and sweltering. But yesterday’s dinner was a little disappointing. Except the Bhurta and the Rotis – the Aloo Gobi, the Chana Dal and Lauki and the Paneer Burji were just so so.

Asiatic Library – maybe I should plan something like a reading session where a bunch of people get together with their favorite books and read their favorite passages from them and then we discuss and get all philosophically soppy. Should be fun. The fact that the stairs are so well lit throughout the night it one very attractive proposition.

Reebok showroom, Colaba Causeway. There’s a 40% off sale going on there – it’s been on for quite sometime. On the opposite side of the road, even Benetton has a sale on and they were open till pretty late last night. The Reebok thingie was but Benetton was open and selling.

Bademiya : uhh. It took us 15 min to catch hold of someone to place on order [ just one roll ] – once placed it took the guy about three minutes to fulfil the order. There were a couple of customers who ordered takeaways and conveniently left without paying because no one asked them. Extremely smoky and oily – cooking outdoors.

Naval Shoes

End of the Marathon

One evening and night out in Mumbai is almost like a whole lifetime of living for a lot of people not living in Mumbai. A lot of my non-Mumbai friends can’t imagine how I manage to do so much in less than 16 hours. All I have to say is that it’s Mumbai meri jaan. Damn. I love the city.