Whazzup Mumbai !!! (Bombay): April 2006

Saturday, April 29, 2006

Kobe Sizzlers

Kobe Sizzlers
7 Bungalows
77A Om Cottage, J P Road
Versova Andheri (W)
Mumbai 53
2635 4848, 2635 4949

Basic simple decor.
Reasonably good service.
Great Food.

The Ice Tea at 50/- is light & refreshing & freshly made without an overdose of lemon. It hits the right spot on a summer day.

The variety of sizzlers (190-280) on offer is huge.You can choose chicken, steak or veg options. Theres even a prawn sizzler for 350/-. If you can't make up your mind between chicken & steak they even offer a combination of the two for 270/-. The basic sizzler comes with vegetables & fries, except for the Shashlik which is served on a bed of rice. Choose your sauce - schezwan/ garlic/ pepper/ mushroom. Then you can always add extras like cheese, mushrooms or fried eggs for between 10/- - 30/- per topping.

The chicken is always tender, but their steaks are sometimes a bit of an effort to chew (not rubbery mind you, not even too chewy, its just that by the time you have eaten it all, you may have a dull ache in your jaw) The hamburger patty is the best option since it gives you all the flavour with minimum chewing effort since it literally melts in your mouth but you do get to feel the consistency of meat.

You can try their burgers which range from 50 to 80. Sandwiches range from 50 to 90. Rolls & hotdogs (40-60) even pizzas (100-130). I've heard their pretty good, but never tasted them myself.

Their soups especially the scotch broth(50) are nourishing yet tasty. & in case you were wondering, 'Steak' is a polite euphemism for beef. I'm guessing that they anticipate trouble if they print beef on their menus.

My favourite sizzler at Kobes ? Hamburger steak in a garlic sauce with extra mushrooms & egg. (240/-) Try it sometime & be careful not to burn your tongue.

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Why are you looking at me ?

Many of you may remember the Blank Noise blog-a-thon on the issue of harassment of women on the streets, euphemestically referred to as "Eve-teasing".

Blank Noise is going a step forward with an intervention this time. They're planning to stage 'Why are you looking at me'. This is what it would look like, except, they're planning to do this in the evening and not at night - http://blanknoiseproject.blogspot.com/2005/06/participants-payal-sandhya
-namita-neha.html

They can use as many volunteers as possible so please participate!

You can mail Chinmayee Manjunath [chininath[at]rediffmail[dot]com] for more details

Venue: Carter Road
Time: 5.30 pm
Date: Saturday, April 22

Please spread the word. They can use as many people as are interested. They need 17 for the intervention and everyone else can help with the posters/ opinion polls. And they need people to help document it with photographs, etc.

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Book Review : Ravan and Eddie by Kiran Nagarkar

This review of mine has been published on desicritics.org

Met the author recently & since he seemed like an interesting person, I thought it might be worthwhile to read the book.

Ravan & Eddie is a reasonably hilarious story about Ravan, a Maratha Hindu & Eddie, a Roman Catholic growing up to adolescence on different floors of the Central Works Department chawl no 17 in Bombay.

Having never before been inside a Chawl, inspite of seeing plenty from the outside, this book seemed the ideal vehicle to get transported inside a place I had never been before. Or at least the blurb said so.

The story starts off when Ravan is not yet born & Eddie is barely a year old. It then follows them through the twists & turns of their growing up, the pleasure, the pain, the horror, the angst, the guilt, the questions ... they are all there in the book.

Kiran Nagarkar confesses upfront, that he has a tendency to rat on his own earnestness with something farcial, bawdy or self-deprecatory. If you can handle that, you will love the book.

With the mill lands being sold off for Commercial gains, the only way we may know of Chawls & life in them will be through books like Ravan & Eddie.

Kiran breaks of in between the narrative to give the reader "a Digression on Afghan Snow", a "Meditation on Neighbours", the "History of Romantic Comedies in Hindi Films", & the "Shortest Survey ever of the Portugese Advanture in the Old World"

The "Meditation on Neighbours" is Absolutely Brilliant, even as a stand alone piece of writing. It elaborates on some elementary or critical differences between the Catholics & Hindus living in the chawls. The book is worth buying just to read this elaboration.

Looking forward to buying and reading Cuckold & Seven Sixes Are Forty Three. Then maybe I can try to get my hands on his plays & screenplays.

About the Author :
Kiran Nagarkar was born in Mumbai. He wrote his first book in a language in which he had never written before - Marathi. The book was called Saat Sakkam Trechalis, recently translated as Seven Sixes are Forty-Three, and is considered a landmark in post-independence Indian literature. His novel in English, Ravan and Eddie, acclaimed as a literary bestseller, has been translated into Marathi.

Read an Interview with the Author Kiran Nagarkar