The Bombay Canteen, Kamala Mills, Lower Parel

High Street Phoenix is a regular haunt for me. But there is hardly any place there - Only Smoke House Daily, perhaps - where I haven't eaten. So this time around the destination was Kamala Mills. I had been there before for passport renewal but didn't know about the Bombay Canteen then.

The place looked spacious, to my great relief. When we were handed the menu, at first glance it seemed as if there was hardly anything worth going for. Almost all of the dishes looked like they could be found on the menus of many other restaurants. But when I went through it with a fine-toothed comb, I realized that there was a fair sprinkling of dishes I had never come across before. For example, I was sorely tempted to try Sabudana and Laal Maath Tikki. :-)

Eventually we decided to go for Kheema Aaloo - but the Main Course version of it, instead of the tiffin one - and Mustard Chicken Curry. And almost as an afterthought, added the Kejriwal Toast to it. Nope, this dish hasn't got anything to do with the AAP guy. If Internet is to be believed, this Kejriwal frequented the Willingdon Club and ordered this dish - consisting of fried egg and cheese on toast with a liberal sprinkling of green chillies - because eggs were forbidden in his purely vegetarian household.

Kejriwal Toast

I am not much fond of Mutton, or Kheema (minced meat) for that matter. But must say that the Kheema Aaloo was really good - not oily, not hard, not too mushy. I was a bit apprehensive about the Mustard Chicken as I dislike the sharp taste of mustard. I need not have worried. The gravy was flavorful but in short supply, in my humble opinion. If you order it, make sure you eat it with Malabar Parathas. Piece of heaven on earth for sure! And as far as the Kejriwal toast goes, I am glad his family was vegetarian. To be sure, the Bombay Canteen version of this dish is served with green chutney on top instead of green chillies but I loved it.

Mustard Chicken Curry with Malabar Paratha

Another visit is definitely in the offing, though may not be in near future. Got to try that Sabudana and Laal Maath Tikki, Chicken Ishtew Pattice, Tawa Chicken Kasundi..........

इथे कधीतरी जाऊन यायला हवं.....

हा शेखर खोसला कोण आहे?

तरी बरंय मी लोकसत्तामधला रिव्ह्यू वाचून नाटकाला गेले होते. माझ्या मैत्रिणींनी रिव्ह्यू वाचला होता की नाही माहित नाही पण हे नाटक रहस्यमय आहे हे त्यांना नक्कीच माहीत होतं. त्यामुळे नाटक सुरु झालं आणि पहिल्या दहा मिनिटांत आम्ही सगळ्या एकमेकांकडे बघत राहिलो. हे कुठलं नाटक? हे तर चक्क विनोदी दिसतंय आणि तो विनोद पण काही खास नाहीये. आता पहिला अंक संपेपर्यंत हे सहन करावं लागणार. मी तर जाम वैतागले. आणि मग एकदम नाटकातल्या मधुराने पहिल्या रांगेत प्रेक्षकांत बसलेल्या एकाला गोळी घातली. दोन लोक त्याला उचलून घेऊन गेले. ओहो, हा शेखर खोसला तर. पण हा शेखर खोसला नक्की होता तरी कोण?

शेखर खोसला नाटकातल्या नाटकाच्या लेखकाचा मित्र. आफ्रिकेहून आलेला. पण मग ह्या मधुराची आणि त्याची काय ओळख? ते कोणालाच माहीत नाही. ना तिच्या भावाला - तुषारला, ना तिच्या होणार्या नवऱ्याला - लोकेशला, ना तिच्या मैत्रिणीला - शर्वरीला आणि ना शर्वरीच्या नवऱ्याला - विवेकला. निदान ते तसं पोलिसांना सांगतात. मग मधुराचं काय? तिच्या मते शेखर खोसला तिला blackmail करत होता. पण हे झालं तिच्या अनेक गोष्टींपैकी एक व्हर्जन. खरं नक्की काय? तो तिला भेटलेला कोणी गरजू तरुण होता का तिचा कोणी चाहता? का दुसराच कोणी? का तिच्या मनाचा खेळ? हा शेखर खोसला कोण होता? आणि मधुराचं काय झालं? ह्या सगळ्यात त्या लेखकाचा काय संबंध? अजून डोकं गरगरायला लागलं नसेल तर नाटक नक्की पहा :-)

खरं तर नाटकातल्या सगळ्याच कलाकारांनी मस्त अभिनय केलाय. पण मला खास आवडला तो मधुरा वेलणकर आणि तुषार दळवीचा अभिनय. तुषार दळवीला निगेटीव्ह रोलमध्ये निदान मी तरी कधी पाहिलेलं नाही. पण त्याने खूप छान काम केलंय. ह्यापुढे त्याला साध्यासरळ रोलमध्ये पाहणं कठिण आहे आता. मधुरा वेलणकरच्या अभिनयाबद्दल मला फारसं काही माहीत नव्हतं कारण मी तिचा कुठलाच चित्रपट किंवा मालिका पाहिलेली नाही. पण मधुराच्या निरनिराळ्या भावावस्था तिने अचूक दाखवल्या आहेत. फक्त एकच कमी वाटत राहिली ती म्हणजे मधुरा एक सुंदर, तरुण आणि यशस्वी अभिनेत्री आहे हे तिच्या सुरुवातीच्या देहबोलीवरून जाणवत नाही. तिची वेशभूषासुध्दा त्या मानाने थोडी अजागळ वाटली.

असो. रविवार दुपारच्या झोपेवर पाणी सोडून भर दुपारच्या उन्हात बाहेर पडल्याचं सार्थक झाल्याचं समाधान मात्र भरभरून नाटकाने दिलं.

अर्ज किया है.....

कभी मिल सको तो इन पंछीयोंकी तऱह बेवजह मिलना ए दोस्तों
वजहसे मिलनेवाले तो न जाने हर रोज कितने मिलते है

(Forwarded)

जेव्हा खूप भटकायचं एव्हढंच काम आयुष्यात शिल्लक राहिलेलं असेल तेव्हा बघायच्या ठिकाणांच्या यादीत ही भर:

बदलापूर जवळ देवळोली गावात असलेली किल्लीच्या आकाराची विहीर
किल्ले द्रोणागिरीच्या पायथ्याशी असलेल्या गावात असलेली 'अस्पृश्यांसह सर्वत्रास खुला' ही अक्षरं कोरलेली विहीर
मालवण-देवबागचं त्सुनामी आर्यलंड
नरसिंह मंदिर (जांभा दगडात), नित्तूर (नरसिंगपूर), चंदगड District, कोल्हापूर, कोवाडजवळ
कोळे नरसिंगपूर रेठारे बुद्रुक जवळ (जलग्रही नरसिंह)
12 Heads Shivlingam, Virat Nagar, Rajasthan
Dasavatara Temple, Deoghar, Bihar

Memorial Stone - Gunther Sontheimer
The Goa Inquisition- A. K. Priolkar
वीरगळ - एक अभ्यास - डॉ. लता अकलूजकर
महाराष्ट्रातली वीरगळ - सदाशिव टेटविलकर
तांडव - महाबळेश्वर सैल
शेषराव मोरे - कॉंग्रेस आणि गांधीजीनी अखंड भारत का नाकारला?
भैरप्पा - आवरण

Miracles - The Story Of God With Morgan Freeman (National Geographic, Fridays, 10pm)

Miracles! A subject as controversial as God and religion. Either you believe in them or you don't - there are no grey areas. But are there more aspects to it than just walking on water or miraculous cures? This episode of the series did a good job of finding that out.

500 Feet is a lot of distance - especially if that is the height from which you are plunging to your certain death. And yet, there is a man who survived such a fall after the repair trolley that he was into fell apart. He broke 10 bones, his lungs collapsed and he was in coma for 3 weeks. In fact when he came out of the coma, the doctors themselves said that it was a miracle. He can hardly believe it even now. But how is he making sense of it all - given that his brother passed away in the same accident? It is difficult at best, well neigh impossible at the worst. But he said that he is sure that God has some purpose for him here on earth and he is determined to find it. There is really no other way to make sense of it all - except that maybe it was just a chance. And that is a very very scary thought. I hope that the man finds what he is looking for.

The city of Jerusalem is covered in almost all the episodes of this series - given the fact that it is connected to three of the major world religions. This time it was a lady rabbi who explained the concept of the Passover Meal - it expresses gratitude to God for sparing Jewish children when Death "passed over" Jewish homes and took life of only the children of the Egyptians. I am ashamed to admit that my knowledge of this story is from the movie Exodus. :-( Even after watching the movie I had found it very hard to get reconciled to the concept of God who allows innocent children to be killed. I had wondered why didn't Moses tell Ramses to use the lamb blood to protect other children as well? The Jewish gesture of putting drops of wine on the plate to express sorrow for the loss of innocent lives is perhaps symbolic of this. The parting of the Red Sea was mentioned. But in general, I am not very sold on the idea of a particular community being God's chosen or favorite.

The viewers were yanked, sort of, from the land of the messiahs to the world of Statistics when a professor talked about the possibility of the miracles being just events of pure chance - using a coin tossing experiment. Like I said before, a very practical, but a very scary thought. I hope if this is all pure chance, then at least the universe is conducting a random experiment where the probability of anything happening is same for each of us :-) Probably the expression 'There but for the grace of God' originated from there.

It was the turn of the Romans next - from the Circus Maximus where chariot races and other tournaments were conducted to entertain people to the Mithraeum, a 3rd century temple where rituals were conducted to make sure that God intervened to help you win.

Daoism which talks of Dao, the creating energy of universe, was described next. Freeman visited a lady, who was what is called a Fate Calculator. Based on his date of birth and time, she created a map of what his life would have been and would be like - I wonder how much Wikipedia and Internet helped her. The whole thing sounded very much like the astrology and horoscope making that is so common in India. My experience with the astrologers so far hasn't been anything to write home about. So I wasn't much impressed till the lady said that what she prepared based on his birthdate was like a map, a navigation system but he was still fully in charge, capable of changing the course of his life. Could this be true?

There is a hospital in Cairo which combines belief or faith and medicine. The concept is that we fall sick by God's will and get cured by His will through medicines. As if to emphasize this thought, the episode featured a man who was suffering from Mantle Cell Lymphoma and doctors had given him at the most a few months to live. But people prayed for him as he underwent Chemo and supposedly within 48 hours the tumors in his body disappeared. And that was about 18 years ago. Of course we can say that he believed in his mind that he will be cured and mind, so they tell us, is a very powerful thing. I was surprised they didn't talk about the Placebo effect in this episode.

Lastly, Gautam Buddha's story of being shielded from grief all his life and then getting exposed to disease, old age and death was discussed - thought I am not sure how this related to the episode's topic of miracles. Oh, and I was more relieved than saddened that Hinduism wasn't covered. I would have been horrified by people talking about how the Ganesh idol drank milk :-(