Makin’ My Way Downtown
Going to Town is a full ass day. Town is the area from Churchgate/Fort down to Colaba at the tip of Bombay's peninsula. When I lived here in the 90s, I don't think I knew the concept of SoBo (South Bombay), which is a moniker you see all over social media these days. Seems like it’s everything south of Sion?? I still don't fully understand which areas it includes but I think not everything in SoBo is "Town" but all of "Town" is in SoBo.
As a kid, even doing one thing in Town meant a whole day's commitment, especially coming from our suburb in Malad. It always followed a typical pattern-- we'd leave in the morning after the commuter rush, get to Town by lunch, eat, and then spend the afternoon doing whatever activity we had planned. My dad was retired Air Force so we'd end the day at the US Club (United Services, not United States) which was at the tip of the peninsula and looked out over the Arabian sea. We would watch the sun set over the water, usually run into a familiar face, have dinner, and then drive back after the evening commuter rush. Planned with military precision lol and some of the best memories I have.
Obviously a lot has changed since my family outing days but Town was still a Whole. Ass. Day. We took the local train from Andheri to Churchgate, after the commuter rush ofc. If you’ve ever seen videos online of the Mumbai local train, it’s World War Z-esque crowds of people. From Churchgate, we meandered down to the Gateway following my own DIY architectural tour of UNESCO buildings around Fort/Churchgate including the Bombay High Court, Flora Fountain, Rajabi Clock tower etc (separate post pending 😬). We unknowingly picked the weekend of the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival which was a dope detour! Kala Ghoda (literally Black Horse) is a neighborhood of Town and we detoured our walk through Cross Maidan and the Festival's sculpture garden to peep the art.
As we're winding our way towards Gateway, Maa gets sidetracked by street chai so we stopped for a cup. And then we get tempted by dosas from the stall next to the chaiwalla, even though we're literally on our way to a cafe. Both were fucking delicious so ~no ragrets~. The buildings around here have gorgeousss art and I'm constantly getting distracted on our walk, to the point we straight up walk by the cafe we're going to. After a lil help from my GPS, we end up at Kala Ghoda Cafe. It was super packed and we manage to snag the last table for a couple of coffee and a sandwich to share. I wanted to take pics but tbh I’m still getting used to being that bitch, always taking pics of where I’m at, especially in a packed crowd. We sat in the cafe area that's open and airy and light, and thru a lil passageway, they have a much larger dining room with a full restaurant & bar seating that's beautifully decorated with way more moody vibes. We both got masala coffees (honey, turmeric, ginger😍) and split a chicken lime chutney sandwich bc of our snack detour.
Eventually we made our down to the Gateway of India where we took a full range of tourist-y pics. Gateway was built to welcome George V blah blah, I'm not here for a history lesson on colonizers. You can wiki it if you want all the details. Anyway, it was hot af and there's no shade around there so we obviously went for beers after, to one of the many places I meticulously (obsessively? lol) researched. Effingut brewery is down the street from the Gateway and it was... so bleh :( First they didn't have a few of the beers listed which is a pet peeve of mine. Can't you just slap a lil indicator that says "tapped"?! We ended up getting a flight of four to help pick a full pour but they were all just ok. AND they weren't that cold! Which is probs the bigger pet peeve when it comes to breweries. Maa said fuck it and ended up getting a mojito instead and I had a NEIPA, more so we could chill in the AC than to have the drinks.
After, we took a cab over the Bandra-Worli Sealink bridge to hang out in the suburb of Bandra. I had scoped out Bandra’s Joggers Park as a chill place to view the sunset and end our day. It's literally right up against the sea and it's pretty huge so we could chill on a bench and watch the sun go down over the waves 🥰 We got there a little too early for that so we detoured by Boojee Cafe (10/10, highly recommend) for a cafecito break first. After rehydrating, we walked down to the Park which is seriously way nicer than the one in our neighborhood. It has spectacular views, multiple tracks looping the park, lil workout areas, benches all over so the non-exercisers can enjoy without being in the way. We hung out for a hot min and enjoyed the sea breeze swaying the palm trees and watching the sky go thru a full range of brilliant colors. Eventually we tore ourselves away, driven mainly by hunger and the thought of the hour-long ride home.
xoxo
walking fast, faces pass and I'm homebound
