Mumbai Diary: Friday Dossier

Pic/Satej Shinde

Circles of life

Workmen take shelter from the scorching sun and rest in cement pipes during their afternoon break at Kale Marg, Kurla West

Sunshine in my pocket

This diarist calls it the revenge of the meatarians. For far too long, we have watched sacred non-vegetarian eats get ‘un-meated'. We are talking paneer patra-ni-macchi, beetroot burger and soya chaap. We broke into an evil laugh on tasting a crisp sev puri, Mumbai's hot-selling street food, fresh off Lower Parel restobar The Bombay Canteen's (TBC) summer menu. The nylon sev topped with a scarlet sliver of Bhavnagri chilli crunched between our teeth. But it was with the body of the dish that the chef threw us a googly.

The sev puri platter sits on a dry lentils bed resembling a gravel garden

The potato/aloo/batata was replaced with chilled sea bass cured with green mango chutney, and carrying the unmistakable zing of kairi chhunda that Gujaratis so love to mop up their thepla with. Genius! The other section on the menu that deserves your attention for its unorthodox trials is dessert. The coffee rasgulla sundae reminded us a bit of TBC's rum-drenched gulab jamun spliced like a bagel, but also brought back memories of hot afternoons spent licking ice cream off Korean spoons at Marine Drive's Nataraj.

Soaked in espresso, the Bengali mithai turns fit to serve the Goan uncle from Mapusa. Its rum kick comes from the liquor-laced mascarpone. Not into daaru? Try the jigar thanda (in pic, left), Madurai's summer cooler with nannari root extract, milk and almond gum. The drink transforms into a cesspool of comfort around soaked vanilla sponge cake, sabza seeds and orange jelly bits. What's not to like about sweltering summers in India?

History hovers

A model of Lockheed Constellation. PIC COURTESY/DEBASISH CHAKRAVERTY

Some dates draw in nostalgia more than the others. Yesterday marked the 75th anniversary of the country's first international flight. The plane that made history was called Lockheed Constellation, an Air India aircraft that also earned the moniker, Malabar Princess. The aircraft took flight from Santacruz airport on June 8, 1948 to reach London via Cairo and Geneva. City-based aviation enthusiast Debasish Chakraverty shared with us a picture of a model of the aircraft that was made in England to commemorate 50 years of the carrier. "I have a background in aviation; this model is part of my collection." The aviation buff said that he would like to dedicate the plane model to Thelma McCoy, a crew member, who was on that flight 75 years ago as a flight attendant.

Height of hip-hop

The mural at Lalbaug

When Delhi-based artist Prathma Pandey was invited to paint in Mumbai as part of street artist Man Mauji's team, she blindly said yes. The rest is history. It has been a year since and so, we are delving into that history. After landing in the city, she realised that the Lalbaug mural was set to be a 50-ft portrait of hip-hop stars painted for World Music Day. Pandey, the only woman on the team, shared, "It was my dream project and the biggest mural I have ever made." City streets witness the best secrets, we say.

Yabba-dabba love

A still from Radhika Apte's video (right) Mohak Bhingarkar

Good food wins hearts. Mohak Bhingarkar, founder of meal plan service Lean Meal Co, scooped up Radhika Apte's heart with nutritious meals. The Mrs Undercover actor posted a video raving about delicious customised dabbas. Bhingarkar shared, "I started with the thought that healthy food isn't boring." After snooping, we found that Apte is not their only celebrity client, but Bhingarkar stays mum on that front to protect their privacy. We guess customer really is king.