A blog on Mumbai - the city, its people, its culture. Three of us write here - my daughter Aishwarya, my mom Janaki, and I. If you like something, leave a comment!

- Deepa
I was in Assam, in a small village of the Karbi-Anglong people. We were greeted by two Karbi women, and one of them tied a friendship band on my wrist. It felt lovely. It is always like this - in tourism, whenever I meet local women of any area, I feel a certain kinship, a bond, because I know we have many things in common. In my travel company too, I employ many women. It is an unwritten rule,…
Large parts of India are highly endogamous, with deep awareness of jati. I agree that jati/varna awareness is problematic. But I'm not sure we can erase all mention of community unless we erase our entire culture. What we eat, how we celebrate, how we pray, what sort of jobs we do, and many other elements of daily life are associated with the communities we come from. Our literature itself is full…
Four tips from my visit to Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve: 1) Adopt the Coconut-Seller Look early in the game. After repeatedly shampooing red dust from hair, I realised that a turban is the only real solution. Now I am offering this free tip to anyone who is mad enough to do summer safaris in the Deccan Plateau heat: Take a stole, people. And become a coconut seller. The beautiful complexion you…
In October 1875, Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, the eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert embarked on an extensive 8-month tour of the Indian subcontinent. In Mumbai, the royal party was entertained at the Elephanta Caves. The Illustrated London News faithfully reported the entire trip to eager readers back home. They commissioned William Simpson, an artist and lithographer, to cover the…
A fun morning among masalas and pickles at Lalbaug Spice Market and Chivda Gully. Came home with a nice loot. Lunch at Shivaji Park's Gypsy Corner Maharashtrian eatery and the first mangoes of the season at Naturals icecream. Pramod's cousin Jaggi is a food fiend and naturally we had a blast.
- by Deepa Krishnan In 2015 October I took charge of Abhyudaya, an education NGO, and suddenly found myself also becoming part of the teaching faculty at SPJIMR, which is the chief sponsor of the NGO. It was, I confess, a challenging assignment. Never having taught formally, I found myself attending training sessions and trying to develop a teaching style and curriculum of my own. I learnt the…
Yesterday Amma got her first smart phone. What a fun morning calling everyone! The best call was to me, from one room to another! "Hello, who is speaking?" "Amma, it's me, Deepa." "Oh is that you?" And a long fake conversation after that in the Queen's English on useless topics! Just like kids playing "telephone-telephone". My sister Roopa clicked this pic But more seriously, it made me painfully…
Visiting major pilgrimage sites is always an ordeal due to crowds and endless queues. But Pandharpur is an easy experience. Our family in front of the temple, three generations If you book online slots for darshan it is a shorter queue and you are out in half an hour. The temple has long experience of managing lakhs of warkari pilgrims. The physical space is small so they have created a warren…
The Magic Room is a textiles and crafts store in Sion, which I opened this month. This pic is from our Navratri Exhbition, when my mother and daughter were both present and we got a 3-generation photo. Of course, I had to put it here! The Magic Room is social enterprise that supports handmade products from India, with a focus on sourcing fairly from craftspersons, and supporting women…
- by Deepa Krishnan The government's handling of the pandemic has become a heated political debate. Today in three of my WhatsApp groups, I watched people leaving the group on account of differences in view points. A couple of them left without any explanation. A couple of them wrote a few lines and left without reading responses. I am sure all of you are familiar with such abrupt exits. I used to…
I'll tell you an interesting story. It's a little long, but bear with me. If you want to know how epidemics actually play out in India, and how people react to it, you should listen to this story of the bubonic plague that hit Mumbai in 1896. It has lots of similarities with how things are playing out with Covid. Lots of learnings, particularly in how people and governments behave in times of…
The sight of fresh green peppercorn in the market brings out the pickling fiend in me. This is the simplest of pickles, but packs such a punch! Green pepper, marinated in salt and lemon juice, with a little bit of turmeric powder. Over time it acquires that crinkly salt-and-lemon soaked perfection. The photo on the left is from my last year's batch. The brine is even tastier than the peppercorn!…
If you visit a flower market in Mumbai, you will usually not see the coral jasmine. It flowers at night, and when day breaks, all the flowers fall, leaving a beautiful carpet of flowers on the ground. It is a fragile flower, that fades quickly, and doesn't do well when transported to markets. In my mother's apartment there is a coral jasmine plant; and every morning, the night watchman gathers up…
It's always eye opening to walk through Dharavi. Today I was with Kathy and Clive, they have been to India 5 times already, but to Dharavi for the first time. It struck me how many times she said "This is not what I thought it would be." There are so many misconceptions and cinema-driven myths that sometimes I feel everyone who visits India should do one of these walks. A couple of pics from…
- by Deepa Krishnan Yesterday at The Magic Room, I attended a marvellous session organized by Expansions (curated by Sarayu Kamat). We listened to the very erudite scholar Dr. Harsha Dehejia speak on the many moods of Krishna Kavya. I do not reside in Vaikuntha, nor in the hearts of yogis. Where my Bhaktas sing my songs, there I reside, O Narada! The invitation for the event said: "Krishna’s…
In May 2015, I went to a tribal area, about 4hrs drive from Mumbai. Since then, I have been working on a series of water projects there. Along with my friend Malathi, we have been building checkdams, ponds, wells, and rainwater harvesting structures. This is our latest project in the village of Aptale. It is a Thakar village. This area gets a lot of rainfall in the monsoons, but goes dry after the…
So I turned 50 yesterday. I thought about what I want to do with the next 10 years of my life. I want to work further on rural water management and livelihood projects. I have set a target for myself of 1000 projects; big and small. Have done maybe 50 so far. Have a long way to go and much to learn. Seeking blessings from all elders here and strength from friends. Inspired by many women who are…
- by Deepa Krishnan Horace van Ruith, a painter of German origin, arrived in Bombay in the late 1800's. He stayed in Cumballa Hill and established a studio there, at what was called the Cumballa Hill Family Hotel (which is now the Parsee General Hospital). Van Ruith painted landscapes, as well as portraits. But his career really took off when he started to do these Oriental scenes, and found…
I was happy to be featured in Tourism India's Cover Story on women entrepreneurs in tourism. Interviewer: Mumbai Magic is considered as one of the rarest Responsible Travel experiences in India. How did it all begin? Deepa: I graduated in 1990 with an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. I spent nearly two decades of my career in the corporate world, mainly in banking technology.…
Lakshmi Insurance Building, Bombay This is the Lakshmi Insurance Building on Pherozshah Mehta Road, opposite Bombay Store. It has a clock tower with a statue of the goddess Lakshmi. Why am I calling it Lahore ki Lakshmi? Because the Lakshmi Insurance Company was originally founded in Lahore by Lala Lajpatrai. This building was the Bombay branch of the company (later merged with the Life Insurance…
- by Deepa Krishnan I went to Kala Ghoda yesterday to meet a young man named Yazad. He is from LA, but is here in Mumbai now. The Parsi entrepreneurial streak is calling to Yazad, and he is plotting his own design label. He wants to launch a brand of ethical, sustainable clothing for millennials. Just before meeting Yazad, I went to the new Translate store at Kala Ghoda, and I couldn't help…
- by Deepa Krishnan In the late 1700's and early 1800's, Jews from Iraq began arriving in Calcutta and Mumbai. It was not the first time Arabic speaking Jews had made their presence felt in India. The Great Mughal Akbar had a Jew in his court, and so did some subsequent Mughal emperors. Surat was one of the major ports of the Mughal empire, and Jewish merchants were well-established there, trading…
- by Deepa Krishnan Today I am waiting for a guy named Rajnikanth to come home. No woman ever waited for a man so much :) He was supposed to come yesterday but did not. I have been trying to entice him to my house for 2 years now. Who is Rajnikanth? He is a 5ft tall adivasi man who is going to paint a traditional Warli mural on my wall. He lives 4hrs away from Mumbai, in a small hamlet. Each time…
- by Aishwarya Pramod Yesterday, I tried black pav bhaji at Maruti Pav Bhaji in Vile Parle. It was recommended by my friend Pooja, a long time Parle resident. I trust her judgment on food. (We have bonded over college canteen sev puris and Gurukripa samosas. My mother has been awestruck by Pooja's capacity to eat). On top of that, a Google search told me that Maruti is now featured on a few lists…
-by Aishwarya Pramod and Janaki Krishnan Like all Palakkad Iyers, I love kanatha vadam. But whenever I think of it, it's always with a twinge of guilt. Not because kanatha vadam is unhealthy. Rather, it is because the dish takes a humongous effort to make, but almost no time to finish off. All that work for only a moment of deliciousness? So self-indulgent. :P Non-Palakkad-Iyers might ask, what…