Mumbai Magic

 

India …. you either love it or you hate it … I know that it is dirty and smelly in parts … but it is also colourful, vibrant, interesting, different, spiritual, amazing ……. and confronting.

Since we have been to Mumbai a couple of times before, we were looking for something different to do … and found it through the company ‘Mumbai Magic’… the Cuisines of India tour.

We were greeted at the terminal by Meherukh, our guide from the last time we were in Mumbai, she recognised our names from the tour bookings for the day and arranged a swap so she was with us for the day.

Our first stop was Bhaji Gali, an open air market area, where everything from fresh fruit and vegetables, grains, herbs and spices, fabrics, ribbons, flowers etc. We were interested by a number of vegetables and fruit , as well as turmeric root – similar to ginger root, that we hadn’t seen before – there are a lot of complaints because the price of onion, an essential daily ingredient in Indian cooking has increased to 65 rupees – just about $1 AUD.

 

As we were leaving the markets, Meherukh spied the distinctive white caps and bicycles  of the Dabbawalas -  the famous lunch box carriers of Mumbai - at the nearby station so we hurried over to have a look. The morning trains are so crowded that the businessmen are unable to carry their lunchbox with them, so a system of lunch delivery has been in operation for more than 150 years, since the time of British rule.

Indian wives prepare a hot  lunch of daal, vegetables, chapatis and rice for their businessmen husbands and place the tiffin box outside the front door. These uniformed men collect the lunch boxes their homes and so they are carried by bicycle and train to a central distribution centre where they are sorted according to a special code and delivered to the relevant owner in his office by lunchtime – still hot!! The same process is repeated in the afternoon to return their empty boxes back to the homes – and the error rate is 1 in 1.6 million – now if only airlines could be so accurate with luggage delivery.

 

Our next stop was the highlight of this tour – a visit to the home of Mrs. Arundhati Venkateswaran in South Mumbai ,an area where many people from Southern India have settled it seems to be a reasonably affluent area to Mumbai. Her apartment on the 9^th floor of the building was a similar arrangement to 3 bedders in Australia – except that they had a special prayer room with lots of Hindu religious icons and photos. The main living room was also filled with statues of the various gods. Mrs Venkats has had a recipe book published and was very enthusiastic about sharing the food of Southern India, as well as the culture and traditions of her family – a wonderful experience.

The menu was all vegetarian – they are members of the Brami caste, the priestly caste, and so never eat meat in any form, but are very conscious of including legumes and pulses into their diet for the protein content.

 

A couple of the kitchen appliances were foreign to us – a grain grinder for grinding the grains and legumes for cooking so that they are fresh, and a series of small blenders for making the spice and herb pastes – the kitchen didn’t have an oven since baked foods are not part of the culture.

 

The menu was interesting – Daal Vada with coconut chutney, Onion Sambar, Lemon Rice, Marsala Dosa and Madurai Korma, followed by a sweet peanut and carrot dessert – all the recipes are from her book which she presented to us. After her demonstrations, Jo and I had a turn at cooking the Daal Vada, a type of chickpea meatball with red chili ( her concept of mild and ours are very different!!!) which is thrown down on a banana leaf to shape and then fried. we also tried cooking the Dosa - a type of rice and daal pancake, filled with a stuffing of onion, potato, pumpkin, chillies, curry leaves and coriander – delicious!! There is a special technique to forming the dosa – and spreading it clockwise into the frypan, but we managed to master the technique and get  a ’very good since it is your first effort’ from our teacher.

After the cooking came the best part – the tasting – the foods were served out on banana leaves and eaten with the fingers of the right hand – you must break off pieces small enough to be eaten in one bite. Pappadams were used to scoop up the rice. Everything was really tasty although a little hot for some palates.

While we were eating, Mrs Venkats mentioned that her son was getting married in November – so girls being girls, we asked all kinds of questions – it was an arranged introduction by the two grandmothers – the young couple are allowed to meet up 4 times and then must decide if they want to marry – if yes, they become engaged – and the wedding is one year after the engagement – they have been able to see each other during the engagement period.

 

The wedding is being held over four days, with 500 guests for the actual ceremony and the reception, on different days. She asked if we would like to see the wedding saris, and showed us the one which will be worn by the bride to the reception – woven with pure gold thread – red is the traditional colour for the wedding and reception in this particular caste. The bride will change saris a total of six times for dfferent events over the four days – and we thought that some Australian weddings were over the top!! The invitations themselves were amazing – padded and embroidered in dark blue and gold, with a wooden cleat to hold it all together.

 

 And then, to top it all off, we were invited to the wedding – and the family would organise the accommodation etc. for us – wow, she was such a nice lady and so welcoming, and honest to answer all our questions to get a better understanding of their rituals and traditions!!  Of course, we wouldn’t be able to come, but I guess that a few extras won’t even be noticed among the other 500 guests. I think that she said that there is a total of 700 different guests, as not everybody is invited to the ceremony and the reception.

After the wedding, the new bride will move into the home of her in-laws where her new mother-in-law will teach her to cook the foods that her husband enjoys!!

Finally it was time to say our goodbyes, and after a walk around a residential area, we said goodbye to our guide. Our driver was arranged to stay with us until we wanted to go back to the ship, so we headed back to the touristy Colaba Causeway area for a walk along the waterfront to the Gateway of India and then met some friends at the Taj Mahal hotel for some drinks – some had dinner but we were still satisfied from our lunch – then met up with our driver for the return to the ship.

We had an amazing day experiencing the life of a real Indian family, away from the touristy areas – just the way we like it! I would highly recommend this excursion if you are looking for something more authentic in Mumbai.

Captain, throw off those ropes, let’s head to Colombo in Sri Lanka ……..