The blue travelling diaries

Bandra used to be a little fishing village on the west coast of India. Part of the many islands that made up Mumbai city. Amidst tall buildings and fancy cars, you'll still find many small houses roofed with mangalore tiles with tiny by-lanes winding between them. There's a lot to see during the day, but after midnight once the air starts to cool down a bit that's when I like to head out.

Kulfi

On the corner of Manuel Gonsalves Road and Turner Road, right outside Axis bank, is a Kulfi walla. This guy has been around for a very long time. Longer than the bank even (HSBC used to be at that corner before Axis bank took over). He comes in fairly late in the evening, and stays until a little after midnight. He travels all the way from Meera Road on the Western Railway to spend a few hours selling Kulfi in a suburb where he can sell it for a little more. Since it would be really hard (and a little more expensive) for him to carry his cart and stand with him, he made a deal with the security guards at the bank to leave his cart there during the day so he only needs to travel with his icebox.

The Kulfi is awesome. He has a variety of flavours including Pistachio, Mango, Chickoo, Malai and Chocolate. If you want to try all of them, he can make you a mixed plate. Each plate is 125gms of Kulfi for 25 Rupees (200 Rs/kilo). It used to be 10 when he just moved here, but I suppose people are willing to pay 25 for it.

Chai

After kulfi, head down Turner road to the sea-side promenade at Carter road. There you'll find guys on bicycles with a flask behind them. The flask contains hot sweet watery milk which they'll either add tea-bags to or instant coffee. Each cup is about 50ml and costs Rs 5. Rather expensive, but then there are people willing to pay that prce, and I'm guessing that a lot of it goes to the cops anyway in exchange for letting him sell his stuff without a license. The tea is really sweet and gets over before you know it, but it's a nice way to just hang out with friends and chat by the sea.

Dosa

Now there also used to be a dosawalla around here, but I haven't seen him for a while. If you do, give him a try. He actually does have a license to sell dosas.