Little luxuries
One of the things I dug about living in London was how custom a fit the Asian subculture was. Similarly, and somewhat tautologically, there are loads of little cultural conveniences in Bombay, like keychains and nameplates which actually have your name:
Cards with the rakhi built in:
Half of all menus are vegetarian, clearly labeled in green,
even pizza:
The meat section’s separate:
Seaside light classical concerts:
Song references which are dirty jokes when placed above urinals (’cute little kid, what’s in your fist?’):
Idols on store shelves:
Restaurants which sound like blogs:
Fig-cashew ice cream up in herre:
Sales on salwars:
Dosas at the mall:
Sitaphal juice at the movies,
samosas, chai and hot corn:
Super-luxe theaters with plush recliner-lounger seats
and Bollyflick cutouts:
Bookshelves full of Amar Chitra Katha,
Asterix and Tin-Tin
and whole sections dedicated to Indian authors:
Funny T-shirts:
and flavors you won’t find in the U.S.:
Even at fast food joints:
Coffee in real glasses:
Roasted masala corn by the roadside:
Gratuitous wedding lights:
Pimped-out crucifixes:
Sunsets:
Proper chai with milk at cafés, not just an apologetic teabag in a paper cup full of hot water.
Superstores with 30 different varieties of rice and five types of ghee.
A guy who sells hot chai and cigarettes at three in the morning off a bicycle by the seashore.
on Friday, August 18th, 2006, 2:41 am in Bombay, Food, Photos, Vegetarianism › 
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Dude, has nobody come up to you yet and admonished you for taking pictures inside their establishment?
Enjoying it all vicariously…
stumbled across your website.
i love how i can actually name where these pictures are taken. i miss bandra and bombay in general. and the red lounge really is amazing.
great pictures =)
I’m booking my flight right now!!! :)
Great pictures, Manish! I was also wondering why nobody stopped you from taking photos inside some of those malls. I remember I had taken only one photo at a mall in Madison, WI once when security arrived from nowhere to ask me to stop. I guess they have started prohibiting picture taking at malls in India yet. Being a vegetarian myself, I really miss the clear veg/non-veg delineation that you see everywhere in India. And yes, chai with asli doodh is something else I miss. In Bihar they serve (used to until 10 years back, at leas) chai in clay cups, not necessarily a bad idea. I’ll be going to India soon and am already salivating at the thought of food in Delhi.
Cel phones are wonderful for discreet picture taking.
OMG! I kept hoping the pictures wouldn’t come to an end :)
Well, Manish didnt get stopped in India from taking pictures because he can blend in with the locals and although India suffers highest number of terrorist attacks, they are still not “looking for arab-looking (read desi)” people doing suspicious activity. Cant say the same for Madison WI, assuming you are a desi (read arab-looking)
Loved this post!
wonderful work! When we start chasing our big and complicated dreams, we forget to stop by and enjoy these little luxuries. U’ve done a very good job in capturing these small happiness which I started missing more, esp. after going thru ur collection :)
quite a nostalgia ride. how i miss bombay!
nicely done.
Its amazing to see the indianized western products, especially the channa burger!
Indian entrepreneural spirit is alive and kicking!
Great collection.
Simply Loved It.
reall cool stuff
Felt really up close n personal wid da city we all love..
cheers
like it like it like it..!!! lovely pics… great bombay darshan!!
sigh… you look like you’re having a wonderful life there.
Nice pics. I can see you can spent a lot of time at the Hyper City.
Great site Fantastic Pics. Helped in my presentration on Mumbai. You simply rock!!!