Urban life

1

LIFEURBAN

VOLUME 01 No. 1 OCT 2013

Shop.Stop.Eat

The kala ghoda FestFrom the streets of Mumbai

Bizarre BazaarTop 5 street markets in Mumbai

Stop your auto at Khau Galli !

3

What’s

Her

itage

10

Cultu

re

18

InsideHeritage

Aamcha HeritageThe Gateway of India

CultureThe Laavni Style

MarketBizarre Bazaar

FoodShop. Stop. Eat.

ArtsKala Ghoda Fest

4

8

6

10

18

16

Urban Life October 2013

14

Foo

d

Mar

ket

Peop

le

4 28

Fest

ival

s &

cel

ebra

tions

Arts

16

Fun

& E

nter

tain

men

t

8 26

5Urban Life October 2013

EAT.Vada Pav is noted as the most popular street food in

Mumbai. Other noted street foods in Mumbai in-clude Panipuri, Bhelpuri, Sevpuri, Dahipuri,Sand-

wiches, Ragda-pattice, Pav Bhaji, Chinese bhel, idlis and Dosas, all of which are vegetarian. In terms of non-vege-tarian offerings omelette-pav,kebabs and fish are found on Mumbai streets. The amount of variety of street food is attributed to the cosmopolitan culture of the city. In the 1980s Indianised Chinese food was an emerging trend on Mumbai streets. Kulfi (a type of ice cream) and gola (type of ice cone) are among the desserts and coolants found on Mumbai streets. Apart from snacksW, Mumbai has sev-eral juice and milkshake bars on the roadside that offer a variety of juices and milkshakes.] Fresh Sugarcane juice vendors are synonymous with Mumbai roads and offer a cheap form of refreshment. Tea vendors cycle around the city, selling the beverage hot on the streets. Street vendors normally remain unaffected by general strike calls and do business all year around.[15] Paan, a betel leaf preparation eaten as a mouth fresher post meals in India is also sold at Mumbai’s roadside stalls. Lanes with a sizable cluster of street food stalls are known as “Khau Galli’s” locally.Gir-gaum Chowpatty beach is noted for its Bhelpuri and kulfi. Street vendors at Nariman Point, one of the city’s financial hubs, do brisk business during the lunch hour. Lanes with a sizable cluster of street food stalls are known as “Khau Galli’s” locally. Girgaum Chowpatty beach is noted for its Bhelpuri and kulfi. Street vendors at Nariman Point, one of the city’s financial hubs, do brisk business during the lunch hour.Mumbai’s street food has made its way into kitchens of restaurants in the city, including five star hotels. In fact, restaurants in various parts of the world have incorporated Mumbai’s street food into their menu cards.

You know exactly where you have to stop when you are out of energy while street shopping in Mumbai !

SHOP. STOP.

4

Food Food

7

“Auto, KHAU GALLI?”Well, in Marathi, Khau means treat, a food treat; and Galli means lane, or street. So Khau Galli means Treat Street, or Food Lane, call it what you like, for every town, neighborhood, locality, and person, has a favorite Khau Galli.

Mumbai has so many Khau Gallis, maybe hun-dreds of them, at least one in each neighbour-hood. In Mumbai, even the Navy had opened two Khau Gallis - one in Navy Nagar and one in NOFRA, both of which served delicious value-for-money food.And I am sure that ev-ery city and town in India has delicious Khau Gallis.In Mumbai, during Ramzan, every eve-ning, the entire lane near Minara Masjid off Mohammed Ali Road, transforms itself into a spectacular Khau Galli with mouthwater-ing aromas wafting through the air and exot-ic foods, ranging from lip smacking kababs, meats and chicken, nourishing malpuas, re-freshing phirnis and cool soothing faloodas its a magnificent gastronomic experience. Here amidst the teeming crowd, I used to rel-ish to my hearts content, the choicest of street food like Pav Bhaji at Lenin Pav Bhaji stall, Vada Pav, Misal, Juices, Milk Shakes and juicy syrupy hot Jilebis, and even non-veg delicacies like chicken curry and delicious gravies at the dhaba-like shack towards the Cross Maidan. In any good Khau Galli, the variety of street food is awesome - you name it and it will be there – all types of cuisine, snacks and fast food.But if you are one of those high-fa-lutin snobbish hygiene-maniacs please stay away from Khau Gallis, for Khau Gallis are meant for the Trencherman with a cast iron stomach.Mumbai has so many Khau Gallis, maybe hundreds of them, at least one in each neighbourhood.While jostling one anoth-er in the overcrowded streets, Mumbaikars love to savour street food. The Streets of In-dia, better known as ‘Khaugalli’ have always been the source of the best, finger licking, lip smacking delicacies;the Chinese thela, Pe-shawari corner, Burgers, Wraps, Sandwhich; whatever suits your mood,

From sinking their teeth into kheema gho-tala to savouring hot fafda jalebi to enjoying the usual bun maska with chai - they relish every cuisine available in the nooks and cor-ners of the bustling city. You can also try popular omelette paav, egg bhurji or keema paav for breakfast. They are usually best at Stadium Restaurant at Churchgate, Colaba’s Olympia Restaurant and Lucky Restaurant at Bandra station signal.Looking for finger licking lunch, Khau Galli is the best for a va-riety of options.

Mumbai chat special- sev puri


So,when in Mumbai, do not miss out on its street food. Get out of your residence and simply say, “Auto, Kkhau galli?”

Dahi batata puri - khau galli

Mumbai street food special is Paav bhaji at Khau Galli (at Marine Lines).something you cannot miss!. It literally melts in my mouth - with extra dollops of butter to go with the spicy bhaji. The ganna (sugarcane) juice to wash it all down works out really well For those still hungry, Mumbai offers king of all street food and a favourite amongst most thoroughbred Mumbaikars - vada pav. The best vada pav is offered at Nitin Patil’s Vada

Pav stall in IC Colony, Borivali, as well as Ashok Vada Paav near Dadar’s Kirti Col-lege. Burger at Ashok Satam Vada Paav Stall at Central Telegraph Office (CTO), Fort. Spiced potato served with paav, spiced up with sweet and hot chutney, garnished with garlic flakes and a fried chilly, is to die for. For snacking, bhel puri, sev puri and paani puri make for a quick bite for hungry trav-ellers. Popped rice spiced with lime, chilli, onion, coriander and tomato usually forms an evening snack for Mumbaikars and also as ‘timepass’. For dinner, you can chose eating light Gu-

jarati street food or hogging on street Mugh-lai. Indraprastha Shopping Centre offers ma-sala rice papad, an innovation dish created in Borivali. It is made with roasted buttered rice papads topped with finely cut salad with a sprinkling of cheese. It is to be eaten hot. Toasted vegetable sandwich, a healthy option to finish your street food expedition.You can also visit Bade Miyan, famous for baida roti. It serves the best non-vegetarian street food. Located in one of the back roads of Taj Mahal Hotel and Palace, it probably has as many patrons as restaurants in the Taj. No meal is complete without a paan. The owner of the Ghanta Paanwala Shop at Borivali, Vinod Kumar Tiwari, has made it to the Guinness World Records for the larg-est collection of bells, one of which he rings each time he makes a paan.The paan shop offers 125 varieties of paan and we feasted on his specialty - chocolate paan - made with chocolate syrup, kesar, gulkand (rose jam), cashew, almonds and raisins and dipped in khus syrup.

6

Food Food

9

“Voice”

Various studies have already con-firmed the fact that street vendors comprise one of the most margin-alised sections of the urban poor.

Not withstanding the fact that they play a very dynamic role in the urban economy, providing necessary items, which are large-ly both durable and cost-effective, to aver-age income-earning households at cheap and affordable rates. In addition, they help many small-scale industries to flourish by marketing the products that they manufac-ture one meal a day from vendors The educational level among street ven-do rs is generally low. They had come to Mumbai from rural areas in search of bet-ter-paid jobs in the formal sector, but opted for street vending because it is not only one of the easiest means of earning a living but also requires only a small financial input. Hence, these graduates have become street vendors. It has been observed that a great-er number of women vendors are illiterate and less educated than their male counter-parts They are also older than the male ven-dors.These women vendors carry out this occupation in order to support their fami-lies, and some of them are the sole income earners of their respective families. One of the women vendors stated that she has no option other than vending, as it requires less education and relatively marginal capi-tal as compared to other occupations. Wom-en vendors mainly migrate after their mar-riages and then try to help their husbands

who are pursuing this profession. One of the women vendors candidly expressed the main reasons for the women joining their husbands in this profession, when she pointed out, “Sometimes we are forced to do vending. It is very difficult to sustain with the single earner because Mumbai is very expensive city.” the incomes of ven-dors selling garments, fruits, and electron-ics items differ from those of vegetable vendors and small enterprises. Most of the women vendors are vegetable vendors be-cause this occupation requires very low in-vestment as compared to other activities. It is also calculated (not shown) that the profit margin from vegetables, fruits, and cooked food is high compared to that from other products.On the other hand, the working conditions in terms of work hours and work pressure are miserable for those who sell vegetables, fruits and cooked food. Not even a single woman vendor sells electron-ic or leather items as these occupations re-quire more capital. Only a few women ven-dors sell garments, and their investment is significantly less than that of the male gar-ment vendors. , street vending is an illegal activity, and vendors are seen with disdain, As a result, they face constant harassment from the local police and municipal author-ities at their workplace. They are forced to pay bribes. It is calculated that each street vendor pays most of his/her daily income in bribes to the local police and the Brihan-mumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

From the Streets of Mumbai..


One of the vendors stated: “I don’t want my children to become street vendors. This job has no dignity, no respect, and it is full of uncertainty. I started because I had no option, to survive. If my children want to continue with higher education I would support them; I would even borrow money for them.” The sources of borrowing are rel-atives, friends, moneylenders and whole-salers. Relatives and friends are preferred because they basically do not charge any interest, and even if they do, the rate of in-terest is very marginal if they charge. Oth-ers mainly borrow either from moneylend-ers or from wholesalers. Some of the street vendors are very happy to borrow from the wholesalers since they do not charge regu-lar monthly interest . Female vendors are found to sell smaller quantities of goods than those sold by men and are found to earn less than them. Street vendors somehow manage to conduct their businesses by negotiating with the police and the BMC. Studies have revealed that those who do not pay rents are disturbed and harassed regularly. This interferes with their ‘right to work with dignity’. They are treated as criminals instead of hard-work-ing self-employed people. The women also added,in an expensive city like Mumbai, it becomes mandatory for me, being the sole earning member of my family, to work very hard for long hours to sustain myself and my family...the recent hike in the prices of essential items including food and medi-

“I don’t want my children to become street ven-

dors.This job has no dig-nity, no respect, and it is

full of uncertainty.”

cines have led to a massive increase in my household expenditure, whereas my income has not risen proportionately. I suffer a lot due to the uncertainties of the profession in terms of low and erratic income, obligations towards the family and the society, etc.” The term ‘street vendors’ has become an indispensable organ of urban culture, and is synonymous with the psyche rep-resented by this culture. A lot of work has hitherto been done to analyse and define the informal sector. However, we are still a long way away from really understanding this phenomenon, which is of such major economic, political, and social importance in all countries, both developed as well as underdeveloped. So the next time, you rush up your win-dow glass, avoiding the flower seller or the man yelling “channa singh , bolo. 10 rupai-ya” do remember, they are not doing that by choice, and certainly are facng a few hardships in life.

People

8

11

Bombay Architecture came to be present through the British in the 18th and early

19th centuries. At first it was the neo-Classical style of architec-ture, but then a new style came to exist, one that reflected mod-ern European fashions: Gothic Architecture. Where The Clas-sical has an orderly monochro-matic presence, the Gothic style is expressive, disjointed with surfaces of lives colours, beau-tified with carved and narrative elements, consisting of flying buttresses, lancet windows and stained glass. At first, due to the immense freed space it ob-tained, Gothic building only

served as churches, as religious buildings built by people of the 11th century. However, soon enough there came a need for public halls, parliament houses, mansions, and the Gothic era was the solution. Indian archi-tects came to analyse this style and represent it and put it into play in relation with the climate, and in relation to society’s plans and sensibilities. This style, the blend of Gothic and contem-porary styles, is what came to be known as “Bombay Gothic.” According to writer Jan Mor-ris, “Bombay is one of the most characteristically Victorian cit-ies in the world, displaying all the grand effrontery of Victori-

an eclectism”.The British influ-ence on buildings in the city is evident from the colonial era. However, the architectural fea-tures include a range of Euro-pean influences such as German gables, Dutch roofs, Swiss tim-bering, Romance arches and Tu-dor casements often interfaced with traditional Indian features.

Heritagecfdrf

The architecture of Mumbai blends Gothic, Victorian, Art Deco, Indo-Saracenic and contemporary architectural styles. Many build-ings, structures and historical monuments remain from the colonial

era. Mumbai, after Miami, has the second largest number of Art Deco buildings in the world.


Bombay City Hall was built during the period 1820 and 1835, by Colonel Thomas Cowper. The University of Mumbai Library and Rajabai Tower, Xavier’s College, The Secretariat, Telegraph Office, and Chhatrapati Shivaji Ter-minus are also fine examples of gothic architecture in the city.

Heritage Heritage

10

13

The Gateway of India is a monument built during the British Raj in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India.It is located on the waterfront in theApollo Bunder area in South Mumbai and over-looks the Arabian Sea. The structure is a basalt arch, 26 metres (85 feet) high. It lies at the end of Chhatrapati Shivaji Marg at the water’s edge in Mumbai Harbour. It was a crude jetty used

by the fishing community which was later renovated and used as a landing place for British governors and other prominent people. In earlier times, it would have been the first structure that visitors arriving by boat in Mumbai would have seen. The Gateway has also been referred to as the Taj Ma-hal of Mumbai, and is the city’s top tourist attraction.The structure was erected

to commemorate the land-ing of their Majesties King George V and Queen Mary at Apollo Bunder, when they visited India in 1911. Built in Indo-Saracenic style, the foundation stone for the Gateway of India was laid on 31 March 1911. The fi-nal design of George Wittet was sanctioned in 1914 and the construction of the mon-ument was completed in 1924. The Gateway was later the ceremonial entrance to India for Viceroys and the new Governors of Bombay. It served to allow entry and access to IndiaThe monu-ment has faced three terror attacks from the beginning of the 21st century; twice in

The architectural design of Gateway of India was fashioned by architect, George Wittet. It took 4 years to complete this monument’s construction.The structural design of the Gateway of India is constituted of a large arch, with a height of 26m.

Urban-Life October 2013

It is Mumbai’s most famous monument, this is the starting point for most tourists who want to explore the city. Behind the arch, there are steps leading down to the water. Here, you can get onto one of the bobbing little motor launches, for a short cruise through Mum-bai’s splendid natural harbour.

2003 and it was also the dis-embarkation point in 2008 when four gunmen attacked the Taj Mahal Palace & Tow-er.It is the place where the viceroys and governors used to land upon their arrival in India. Though built as a welcome to King George V for his visit of 1911, then an event of grand significance for British India and the Brit-ish empire, today serves as a “monumental memento” of colonialisation and subjuga-tion by the British over the people of India. Built right next to the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower hotel, for British-ers arriving for the first time to India, the gateway was a symbol of the “power and

majesty” of the British em-pire. Opposite the gateway stands the statue of Ch-hatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, the king who used gueril-la warfare to establish the Maratha empire in theSahy-adri mountain range in the 17th century,as a symbol of Maratha “pride and cour-age”.The statue was un-veiled on 26 January 1961 on the occasion of India’s Re-public Day. The other statue in the area is that of Swami Vivekananda.

There are five jetties at the gateway The first jetty is exclusive to the Atomic Research Centre, the sec-ond and third are used for

commercial ferry opera-tions, the fourth is closed and the fifth is exclusive to the Royal Bombay Yacht Club.The structural design of the Gateway of India is constituted of a large arch, with a height of 26m. The monument is built in yel-low basalt and indissolu-ble concrete. The structural plan of Gateway of India is designed in the Indo-Sar-acenic style. One can also find traces of Muslim ar-chitectural styles incorpo-rated in the structure of the grandiose edifice.

1312

Heritage Heritage

15

izarre azaarBThe top five street markets in the city you must explore...

The everyday carnival that is the Colaba Cause-way market is a shopping experience like no other in Mumbai. Geared especially towards tourists, that infa-mous Indian saying of “sab kuch milega” (you’ll get ev-erything) certainly applies at this market. ant your name written on a grain of rice? That’s possible too.

Location: Colaba Causeway, Colaba, south Mumbai.Opening Hours: Daily, morn-ing until night.What to Buy: Handicrafts, books, jewelry, crystals, brass items, incense, clothes.

Navigate your way through crowded streets and crum-bling buildings, and you’ll find Chor Bazaar, nestled in the heart of Muslim Mum-bai. This fascinating mar-ket has a history spanning more than 150 years. Its

A fusion of modern and traditional, and East meets West, in one of Mumbia’s hippest suburbs. Here streets stalls contrast with brand name shops

Location: Linking Road, BandraOpening Hours: Daily from 10 a.m. -10 p.m.What to Buy: Indian tradi-tional clothes, children’s clothes, shoes, bags, belts.

If you want to see how the locals shop, head to Craw-ford Market. This old-style market, housed in an his-toric colonial building, spe-cializes in wholesale fruit and vegetables. It’s also got an entire section devoted to pets of all shapes, sizes, and breeds.Groups of Teen-agers and College students vist this market

Location: Lokmanya Tilak Marg, Fort area, south Mumbai. (Opposite Mumbai

Colaba Causeway

Chor Bazaar

Linking Road

Crawford Market

BPolice headquarters and north of Victoria Terminus railway station).. Also see Mangaldas market (cloth) and Zaveri Bazar (gold) nearby.Opening Hours: Daily from morning until night, except Sunday. Open morning only on Sundays.What to Buy: Fruit, vegeta-bles, food, flowers, birds, fish, and other pets.

Fashion Street is literally just that a street lined with fashion! There are around 150 stalls there. . The market attracts hoards of teenagers who come to grab the latest western clothes and fake brand names at cheap prices

Location: MG Road, south Mumbai. Opening Hours: Daily from morning until night.

Fashion Street

name means “thieves mar-ket”, but this was derived from the British mispro-nunciation of the its orig-inal name of Shor Bazaar, “noisy market”. Eventually stolen goods started finding their way into the market, resulting in it living up to its new name!

Location: Mutton Street, between S V Patel and Moulana Shaukat Ali Roads, near Mohammad Ali Road in south Mumbai.Opening Hours: Daily 11 a.m. until 7.30 p.m., except Friday. The Juma Market is held there on Fridays.What to Buy: Antiques, bronze items, vintage items, trash & treasure.


Market Market

Suscribe now !Log on to : www.urbanindia.com

Live LIFE...the URBAN wayWith each issue of Urban Life, Experience and

live the lives of people of different cities of India, in a unique way

Get a Free Trial

Post your deatils to : 747, Urban India, Paper Bazaar, Churchgate, 400014

OR

Design

Urban life