Twenty- five Seven

Making a Clean Sweep

May 19, 2015
Now that Spring has sprung and summer is almost over, I’ve suddenly been bitten by the Spring cleaning bug. I know it is rather late in the day but, cliched as it may be, better late than never. Besides, I can still take comfort in the fact that though my summer is coming to an end, in many parts of the world, it has just begun or yet to begin.

Tidying up seems to be my latest driver because I am in the process of tidying up my Internet presence and identity. I feel almost like Sybil (Flora Rheta Schrieber’s book about a patient with the same name) as I re-integrate my different identities, blogs and accounts. Finally, having made some kind of sense of the blogosphere, I’m ready to start all over again.

It is no wonder then that I have spent the greater part of the morning tidying up my cupboard. There’s nothing quite therapeutic as tidying up a cupboard, which I often feel is a metaphor for one’s life – a tidy cupboard is a tidy life with all the loose ends neatly tied up and everything in its place. There was a sense of calm that descended on me as I took out all the sheets and towels, opened them up and folded them back, piling them neatly one on top of the other.

But even though I tidied only two shelves, it pretty much took the whole day because this was an activity I did among other household chores. Besides, when the contents of the cupboard came out, there were several things that had me remember when I first got them like my first pen, my first sari, the cheque book that I’d thrust inside hoping to keep it back in its rightful place……These digressions make tidying even harder to finish so when my 2-year-old grandson entered my room for his siesta, he took one look at the pile of clothes and instinctively said “What a mess” using the appropriate intonation and facial expression!

So while he slept I quickly put things back so that when he woke up, the room was clean.

Related articles
- Tidying Up Can be Life-Changing(brainspeak.com)
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One step further on the learning curve

May 19, 2015

So I’ve gone one step further in making this blog. Today I learnt how to create a facebook page for my blog and a twitter account for my blog.

Now I can tweet from @mumbaionahigh and you can visit my FacebookPage mumbaionahigh.

I hope this new blog is less confusing, more streamlined and easier to navigate and find on the web.

English: Sierpinski tetraedrical curve – 5th step of construction Polski: Krzywa czworościenna Sierpińskiego – 5. etap konstrukcji (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Warm Yeast Rising

May 18, 2015

The old historic Fort city of Mumbai has a charm that’s hard to describe.Going off the main road and into the side lanes of Mumbai’s Fort district, one often stumbles upon hidden gems like Yazdani Bakery, one of the oldest Irani Bakeries in Mumbai. The Irani Bakery is a Mumbai institution that was run by the Irani immigrants, the Zoroastrians who migrated to India in the late 19th early 20th Century.

La Boulangerie , as the sign proclaims, has been open since 1951 and been part of my favourite Mumbai places, ever since way back when a friend introduced me to its charms after a brisk walk by the sea side on Winter morning. For people from colder climes, Mumbai’s winter is a joke but a walk before sunrise in December can be a chilly proposition. So, after one such walk, we were dying for a hot cup of tea. This was a time when Cafe Coffee Day, Costa Cofee, Starbucks and the like were not even a blip on the horizon and when the only option available was a cup of tea at an Irani or an Udipi joint. We tossed a coin between dossa and brun pao and stepped into Yazdani and back into time.

While the rest of the city was sleeping, this bright blue bakery with white- turned- cream trimmings, had its wood fired ovens burning and was ready for business. With posters from the 50’s adorning the walls, the high ceilings with slow moving fans, glass cases with breads, puffs, biscuits and cakes Yazdani smelt of warm yeast rising. We sat at one of the Formica topped tables lined up like railway wagons and the crusty owner who manned cash counter shouted out ” Bai ke liye ek bun maska!” to the insides of the establishment and we made ourselves comfortable on the cheap Formica topped table and bench.

Then while we waited for a hot Brun pao (a hard crusty bun with soft insides) dripping with butter to dip and dunk into a steaming hot cup of tea, we surrendered to the warm embracing of aroma of hot bread and watched the slicing machine clattering away, loaf after loaf of freshly baked bread.Yazdani is always a popular place despite the crotchety manager cum owner who welcomes everyone with a grimace and its bite sized hot mawa cakes vanish almost as fast as they come and on Sundays you can’t even find a crumb! Apparently the breads are great too, especially their foccacia but I always land up too late in the day to pick up any.

The walls are lined with old posters from the 50’s and strange signs along with the photographs of Mr. Universe ’51, ’52 and ’53 along with photographs of the owners’ grand aunt who was the first Indian woman hockey player and the photo of his nephew who recently won a body building competetion adds to the quaint eccentricity of Yazdani.

Irani Bakeries are part of the Mumbai scene and each one has a unique charm. While most have now spiffed up, there are still a few remaining with the original bent wood chairs, chequered table cloths, and strange injunctions ( do not ask foolish questions, do not ask for directions, do not sit for long) and the cussed cashier/owner at the counter. They provide a haven for tired soles ( and souls) which comprises an assorted clientele of office goers, college students, cart pullers , lawyers , the hippie tourist and even the thirsty shopper, who all mix comfortably in their dusty surroundings. Most serve the standard fare of “bun maska” and chai or khari and chai, omlettes, guady coloured cakes and pastries, sandwiches or rolls with lurid yellow mayo squishing out.

While I would recommend Yazdani early in the morning, anytime is brun pao maska time especially at Yazdani. So the next time you are in Fort and looking for a hot cuppa to cheer you up, you know where to go.