A walk around the block...

It's a little past 10pm [oops!] and I decided to walkabout round the block tonight. Nights are cooler than the days so it seemed like a good idea. Dadar-Prabhadevi-Shivaji Park neighborhood of Bombay is predominantly Maharashtrian, laid-back, and very simple. Life in South Bombay or "town" is far different. But here are some jhalaks (glimpses) from my walk tonight.

The corner that during the day hosts a chaiwallah , vada-pav stand, and fruitwallah , is now a bustling little corner "bistro" with local faves such as bhurji (scrambled egg with masala), pav-bhaji , onion-tomato mixed stuff and gawd knows what more (I couldn't really tell). The neighborhood guys on motorcycles are cruising about trying to figure out what to do and where to hang out.

Further down the street, neighbors sit down for a chat, discussing the latest city events, prices of subzi (vegetables)... A housewife, tired from a full day of cooking, cleaning, caring for her family, is now free to relax in her maxi (long cotton dress worn at home), sitting on the katta (exterior stone ledge) and chat with her best friend about the kids, school, and gossip. Young men, who after dinner tell their mothers they are going for a walk, meet clandestinely with their lovers. Lack of street lights in this part of town work to their advantage. Leaning together in the shadows, talking sweet nothings, hoping that if they don't move much, they will be invisible to the world. Maybe they'll have a smoke later.

The zhadoowallah (sweeper) dirty and glad for the end of day, uses the local water supply hose to clean off. Time for some dinner and then off to find a place to sleep. The choice location for the night, a medical store with a clean white tile exterior floor, is already occupied by the bigger guys. Tonight the zhadoowallah will have to make do with the empty space outside the bar & restaurant, a quiet and dark space but not as clean as the white tiles.

The kerosene lamp is set up, the big tawa (large flat-ish griddle pan) is cleaned with lemon & salt, piles of chopped up onions, tomatoes, potatoes are ready for a mash-up... seems like pav-bhaji can be eaten at any time of day and night. The pav-bhaji-wallah is confident he's going to have lots of customers soon. Today was a holiday for bakri-id . Schools, banks, offices were closed. It was a family outing kinda day. Mother says to the son, "it's been a long day. we walked on the beach and ate pani-puri. did you have fun?" as they wait for an empty cab to pull up.

Seeing folks, who have nothing much to their name, set up for the night to sleep, is extremely humbling. The man had just the clothes on his back, the chappals (slippers) on his feet, and a plastic bag with two chaddars (sheets). One chaddar to sleep on, one chaddar to cover himself with. The traffic dins by, people walk home telling jokes, in the distance a baby cries in the arms of her mother unable to calm her, and it's bedtime for this one man. No family. Hardly anything to his name. What does he dream of? What lies in store tomorrow?

On the main road, what was a busy full sidewalk during the day, is now a Chinese restaurant. Manchurian gobi? coming up. Schezwan noodles? coming up. It's a full sidewalk pop-up eatery, complete with red tables and chairs, waitstaff, menus... eat and make merry... Around the corner is the milkshake, late evening dessert stand. Desi favorites are falooda milkshake, rose flavored lassi ... drinks the colors of pastel green, yellow, pink are loved (pistachio, pineapple, and rose flavors). Good night Bombay... Good night Dadar... Good night to you all...