you may remember me mentioning my sojourn to mohammed ali road a while back. well, with ramzan coming to a close we decided it was time to venture out there again. my roommate (i should probably start calling her by her name - which is kristen) hadn't been there at all but was eager for a crazy, totally indian experience.
if it was crazy we wanted, we got it. our first adventure involved getting onto the central railway line for the first time.. which proved harder than expected in the labyrinth of stairs and covered walkways that is bandra station (not even the craziest station.. by a longshot). we ended up on the wrong train but ended up at the right stop (if that makes sense..) which was, appropriately, 'masjid'.
i was quite proud of us for navigating ourselves successfully to mohammed ali road. we only asked for directions a few times. i had assumed we could follow the noise and lights but, this being eid eve, there were noise and lights everywhere. as well as trucks, buses, motorcycles, carts, bikes and street vendors. but what else is new. at one point kristen was wedged between a massive truck and a motorcycle; she was convinced she wasn't going to make it out without losing a few toes.
once we made it to mohammed ali road, we descended into the madness. if i had thought it was crowded before, well, i was right. but it was even more crowded this time around. families with little ones dolled up in their finest sparkly attire, young guys roving in packs, and of course the older men beckoning each and every passing potential customer. 'madam, madam, come sit.'
we bounced around to different places - standing, sitting, sampling. eating this and that. i won't bore you with the details of what we ate (as it was largely a reprise of my earlier trip, supplemented by a few different varieties of meat and starches) but suffice it to say that we were quite stuffed with all kinds of greasy delicious food.
at one point we turned down a side street, only to find ourselves face to face with skinned goats and various animal innards. we gauged that we weren't on the tourist street anymore and quickly turned back.
getting back was almost as exciting. by sheer dumb luck we managed to snag a cab among the throngs of people. the first solid 15 minutes of our cab ride we spent at about 5 miles an hour, happily watching the madness pass us by from the comfort of our seats. it seemed to be a never-ending parade of white spotlights, people rushing here and there, and the dangling lights of ramadan. as we made our way back to the west and passed high-end brunch places and fancy gyms, we wondered 'can this really be the same city..?'
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| people running to and fro under the shadow of the masjid |
i was quite proud of us for navigating ourselves successfully to mohammed ali road. we only asked for directions a few times. i had assumed we could follow the noise and lights but, this being eid eve, there were noise and lights everywhere. as well as trucks, buses, motorcycles, carts, bikes and street vendors. but what else is new. at one point kristen was wedged between a massive truck and a motorcycle; she was convinced she wasn't going to make it out without losing a few toes.
 |
| a local proprietor enticing potential clients |
we bounced around to different places - standing, sitting, sampling. eating this and that. i won't bore you with the details of what we ate (as it was largely a reprise of my earlier trip, supplemented by a few different varieties of meat and starches) but suffice it to say that we were quite stuffed with all kinds of greasy delicious food.
at one point we turned down a side street, only to find ourselves face to face with skinned goats and various animal innards. we gauged that we weren't on the tourist street anymore and quickly turned back.
getting back was almost as exciting. by sheer dumb luck we managed to snag a cab among the throngs of people. the first solid 15 minutes of our cab ride we spent at about 5 miles an hour, happily watching the madness pass us by from the comfort of our seats. it seemed to be a never-ending parade of white spotlights, people rushing here and there, and the dangling lights of ramadan. as we made our way back to the west and passed high-end brunch places and fancy gyms, we wondered 'can this really be the same city..?'
1 comment:
what an adventure! you couldn't eat like that every day.
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