Mumbai Diaries (Part 1)

After planning it for more than a year, that a dear friend of mine will take me to various markets in Mumbai, we finally left our procrastinations behind and chose Dadar market to begin with. Well it all started with catching the same train from 2 different stations and we successfully did that, and then we talked and talked and talked because we had a lot to catch up on and then came Kurla, where for a change we got down easily. That’s quite rare in Kurla, generally you are just pushed out of the train and before you realize you are already on the platform, maybe Kurla knew we were going to Dadar so it treated us well for a change. And it's strange for people living on the harbor line who are going to Dadar, as they have to first take a train to CST and get down at Kurla and then again take a train from Kurla going to CST, seems like a life lesson on rerouting! 

 

Well then what Kurla did not do Dadar did, we almost came to the platform without realizing how we came. It's quite a busy station, but my friend was a pro, she knew it pretty well so we easily came out on the west side of Dadar. The sun was almost overhead which made sure that we covered our heads with scarves and caps, the streets were filled with people and a lot of street vendors who were still setting their shops up.

 

After taking 1-2 rounds of various streets my friend said let the shopkeepers set it by the time let's go grab something for Lunch, so I suggested we should go to the famous Prakash Shahkahari Uphar Kendra which started in Dadar in 1971. I had heard a lot about it from travel  vloggers and even my father so we asked a couple of street vendors, shopkeepers and of course google maps to reach there. On the way to Prakash we saw some really colossal buildings, so much so that I think residents of the topmost floor must be directly talking with the Gods in the sky! Well due to metro construction going right in front of it, it's not easily visible. But we finally reached there and noticed a queue outside the restaurant which made us believe that the hype was real! We then stood in the queue for 15-20 min, laughed about how they are still in last century as they do not accept card or UPI payments and only take cash, also my friend pointed out a very sweet moment of two old ladies who were both looking into the menu card and deciding what to order and right above them was a mural of two old ladies similarly looking into the menu card, seems like the painter knew what was going to happen on that table!

 

Maharashtrian thali

Sabudana vada

Piyush (Yellow) and Kokam Sharbat (Red)
are like a match made in heaven.

Finally our turn came and we got a table, we ordered one Maharashtrian thali, sabudana vada, kokam sharbat and Piyush. The thali felt quite homely as we are Maharashtrian ourselves and we have similar kind of food at home, but I was definitely not expecting laal maath vegetable in the thali and surprisingly it was very tasty, so much so that I came home and praised it so much that my Mom took the benefit of the opportunity and made it a day after, before I stopped liking it again! Well the highlight of the Lunch was Piyush, a refreshing shrikhand like tasting drink, it was so tasty that we had our chapati with it too. I had tried Piyush before at Mamledar in Chembur, and it was heavenly and this too was very tasty. So if you are visiting a Maharashtrian restaurant the next time do try Piyush if they are serving, because I can assure you would love it! While we were coming out of the restaurant I saw a paaji (not the uber paaji) with his entire family relishing the flavors of Maharashtrian food, and moment like these make me believe more and more in the concept of unity in diversity and how lucky as a nation we are to have such variety of cultures, languages, learnings and what blends it all together is our food!

After we were done with our culinary pursuits, we got back to exploring the market, now it was all decked up with colorful dresses and a lot more hustle bustle. We paved our way through it and did some shopping. Then I had to collect a parcel from Dadar east so we crossed the station and went to the east side, and let me warn you Dadar east is not for beginners, because what I saw was crazy. So we generally see people strolling or riding their dogs and cats, but here I saw a man on a scooty giving a joyride to his Iguana (It's a reptile looking like a chameleon) and the moment I saw that I was lost while he was petting his Iguana with one hand and riding the scooty with the other. But all in all Dadar was fun, we enjoyed it a lot! And I have named this blog as Mumbai Diaries Part 1 as we will have more blogs coming up in this series, they might not be continuously one after the other but definitely once in a while.

Until then,

Happy reading,

 

Siddhi Bhosale.