03 May,2009 07:15 AM IST | | Laurane Marchive
Mumbai's expensive in many ways but the city also offers up free things to enjoy if you're feeling a little short of cash. Laurane Marchive spent two weeks in maximum city getting its maximum benefits, free
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Enjoy street theatre |
Find free accommodation |
Watch a free movie |
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April 17: Students of the Barry John acting studio regularly showcase their talent at the Carter Road amphitheatre. We saw them perform a play on AIDS. |
April 18: We used couchsurfing.com, a website for travelers who don't want to spend all their money on hotels bills, and acquired a couch to sleep on in Mumbai. |
April 20: Cultural houses of various nations regularly show free movies, events and festivals. So stay in touch with them. We watched Jean de Florette, the story of a city man who inherits a property in the countryside and moves there. |
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Drink free wine |
Get a free haircut |
Learn a skill, vocation |
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April 22: Even if you don't know much about art, exhibition openings are always a good place to guzzle free wine and cheese. The one we went to, at the Viewing Room in Colaba, did not have cheese but it did have wine and bites. So we had them. |
April 23: It's a bit of a risk and if you don't mind taking it, you could come away with a very good deal. Most trainee hairdressers need heads to practice on. We went to the bblunt academy and came away with a fringe that was worth it. |
April 24: The Sion Koliwada gurudwara offers free daily tailoring classes. 30 students (on 30 sewing machines) learn to create clothes. The program lasts six months. Anyone can enroll. The gurudwara also offers free computer courses and highly subsidised medical consultations. |
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Get some, for free |
Learn salsa |
Yoga care for the heart |
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April 25: Freecycle.org was created to "recycle" things, which means preventing you from throwing away things you won't use anymore, but that could be useful to other people. |
April 26: Zenzi Bandra has salsa classes every Sunday night, from 8 pm onwards. Beginners get to dance with almost-professional dancers, so that people are teaching each other, under the eye of a professional teacher. Also on Wednesdays at Zenzi Mills, from 10 pm onwards. |
April 27: The Yoga Institute in Santa Cruz held a seminar on "How to cure heart diseases using yoga" and released a book titled Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Cardiac specialists explained the impact of yoga on heart diseases, and how to reverse it, with advice on lifestyle and diet changes. |
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Skin care |
Makeover, free eye tests |
Free meal |
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April 28: The Mumbai Dermalogica store offers skin cleaning and diagnostic without any purchasing obligation. You are also given quite a few free samples according to your skin type. Still, you can't do this more than once. At Dermalogica store, Nepean Sea Road. Tel: 2368 2548/ 49. |
April 29: Keep a sharp eye at your local mall. Most have activitiesu00a0 as an added benefit and to entice shoppers into staying longer. The one we went to, InOrbit Mall, was giving makeovers with a choice of products. There were free eye tests for kids too. |
April 30: The Sion gurudwara that offers free tailoring classes also offers free food everyday, to anyone who walks in. This is part of their langar. |
