My Travelogue
INDIA
Get-together at Beverly Hills
Last weekend, we had all “boys” get-together with school mates at Beverly Hills near Shahapur, located at two hours drive from Mumbai. Dr Mohan Sohoni hosted us at his wonderful bungalow overlooking a lush green valley. We were ten. Mohan was an amazing host. Seema, his wife (and also our school-mate), cooked great dishes for the Saturday night dinner and sent the food packs.
Our conversations were around the sunset phase of our lives – our empty nests and security and health related concerns. That was rather expected.
But I was surprised that none of us spoke about the “old flames”. Perhaps the beers, wines and the whiskies drowned those bitter sweet memories. Or perhaps the “fizz” was already gone!
Breakfast at Koolers
Our gang of six (original 10 but only 6 today as 4 couldn’t make it) met for a Sunday breakfast at the “Koolers”. Koolers is an Irani cafe at the V-shaped corner of Matunga Circle in Mumbai where two streets meet. It started in 1932. It still boasts the mirrored walls, 1747 clock, cute wooden chairs and carvings of Zarathustra on the well-maintained wooden panels. We spoke about the good old times of dropping at the Koolers when studying or visiting VJTI.
Dr. Kantawala had perhaps the oldest memories. Parag Jaywant told us about his recent holidays in New Zealand and next travel planned to Egypt. Dr Kantawala told us about the EnviroVision event he conducted under the banner of Indian Environmental Association. I spoke briefly about my plan to start monthly “Eko-Chats” in Mumbai at different colleges to connect youth and young professionals with personalities who have something interesting to say. We will be starting in the first week of February. It was a leisurely chat that went well with the Irani chai, brun maska and masala omelettes. We didn’t realize how time passed by. When we got up, we decided to take a group photo this time. The Irani owner honoured our request. When we were asked how do we want the picture to be taken, all of us voted for the place where you see that famous picture of Marylin Munro. A picture that was a craze of our generation and bled a million hearts.
Trip to Kamshet and Lonavala
In Lonavala with our gang. Dr Deepak Kantawala, Shirish Naik, Suresh Patankar, Nayan Khambati, Yogen Parekh, Parag Jaywant and me. All these colleagues carry more than 250 years of solid experience in the field of environmental engineering in India with several firsts to their credit. I happen to be the youngest! Sitting in the foyer of Dr Kantawala’s 1914 built bungalow with tall ceiling and antique furniture. See those lovely pictures inside the bungalow. The choice of furniture is of “Dr Kantawala’s class”It was a day of Celebrations because we were partying on a working day!! Kanda Bhaji with onions and green chuteny was on the menu that went along well with chilled kingfisher beer. Lunch was at the Maneklals – simple Gujarati food with fulka, Khaman, subji and Chach ending with the famous puran poli. i stayed away from the latter for obvious reasons. Ride back to mumbai was smooth and we were home by 530 in the evening.
A short trip today to Kamshet and Lonavala via Ganapati temple at Mahad. Last point was Dr Deepak Kantawalas bungallow where we had some tea and sandwiches. A wonderful photograph taken in his garden featuring Yogen Parekh, Nayan Khambati, Pramod Shah with Dr Deepak Kantawala and Poornima Ben.
Fab Café in Delhi
Have you been to Fab Cafe at Vasant Kunj in Delhi? Neha Kumar introduced me to this lovely place.
I was at Fab Cafe yesterday with my old friend Dr Sunita Chakraborty.
We had a great dinner and warm conversations, beating Delhi’s cold weather! There was hardly any crowd.
Meeting old friends has its charm. And you must find time for this..
Trip to Wai
Post work in Wai we went to the ancient mahaganapati temple. After the darshan and shopping the Khamkar kandi pedhe, we climbed up the ghats to reach Panchgani.
Checked in the Safron Avabodh bungalow. A boutique place overlooking the valley. Weather was pleasantly cold. After some hot tea with toast, we set to play some games.
EMC retreat in Lonavala
We were in Lonavala for EMC retreat.
Rented a bungalow with a garden. We were 18. Sakchi organised the games and all had great fun. Games continued till 1 am with a pause for dinner. Food was sourced from the Old restaurant Ramakrishna. Drinks kept most of us awake till 3 am.
Early morning some of us stepped out to have a chai and walk around. Morning breakfast was by Lucille who made omelets for everybody with bread and roti.
We then drove to the Tiger Point to watch the valley. It was a magnificent view. Had Maggie noodles, mixed bhajee and Masala soda. That was quite a combination.
We headed back to Mumbai by 3 and reached by 6 pm.
There was no shop talk. No addresses. Only fun and conversations.
Breakfast at Light of Bharat, Mumbai
A Sunday morning breakfast at “Light of Bharat”, an old Irani restaurant opposite “Modak’ s bungalow Udayam in Shivaji Park. Udyam was a built by my late uncle N V Modak.
It was our usual gang. Dr Deepak Kantawala, Yogen Parikh, Parag Jaywant, Shirish Vichare and Anil Tijoriwala. Nayan Khambati played the host.
We had single egg masala omelet with bun pav, followed by Irani chai with brun muska.
Topics ranged from good old days, water issues in India and the forthcoming round table of Indian Environmental Association, to the topic of politicisation of tree cutting at the proposed car shed of Mumbai metro.
We also spoke about the opportunity missed of developing the old Dadar sewage treatment works into a wastewater treatment research park. Many of you may not know that this plant that was built in 1930s had unique treatment units like detritors, deep Dortmund sedimentation tanks, pruce trickling filter’s and anaerobic digesters that produced biogas for distribution to restaurants nearby for the purpose of cooking. Now the plant is demolished and instead a public park has been created.
I expressed a need to prepare a coffee book of photographs and layouts of some of the old and monumental water and wastewater plants giving their unique features and operating experience.
Visit to Illiterati Book Cafe, Dharamshala
We were on an excursion tour to Dharmashala, a place where Dalai Lama lives. We had a great weather hovering between 12 to 15 degrees ℃ in the daytime. Negotiating over the steep winding roads, flanked by the pine trees and facing the Dhawalgiri range of mountains with snow on the peaks was an experience. Just divine. We had lunch at the “Illiterati books and coffee” close the the Dalai Lama temple. Its a cute little unusual cafe right on the valley. The cafe has antique looking wooden furniture of simplicity and grace and balconies for small groups who want privacy. We were offered one.
The cafe sports a great collection of books that you can read while watching the peaks of Dhavalgiri mountains. The food menu is excellent and the dishes that we ordered were simply delicious with all the freshness, creativity and balance. The black coffee was especially good to warm us in the bit chilly weather. We asked for the wifi password. The password was “Pleasewait”. Interesting I thought. The owner of the Cafe is an American. The cafe is a perfect place to read, chill, meditate or even make a proposal to marry someone dear to you! (I guess that latter should be done over dinner when the old style “hundy” lamps in the cafe would lit)
When we arrived, the cafe was playing Beatle’s. In the interlude, a Tibetan pianist played a short piece of zorba the greek and then it was the turn of my favorite Dire Straits. Oh, this combination of music, food and ambience in the company of nature was so intoxicating. We stayed over a hour to enjoy every moment.
If you ever visit Dharmashala, please don’t miss “Illiterati books and coffee”. A dream place to be. I must thank my daughter Devika for locating this cafe. I wish I owned one.
