Photo Essay: Waterfront walks and book browsing in Mumbai

On Sunday morning, my wife and I went to Colaba in South Mumbai, as we have been doing for many years. It was a lovely day. The rains were finally here, and the weather was pleasant after two months of scorching summer. We didn’t have an agenda. We simply wanted to spend a few unhurried hours there, and spend them together.

It rained on and off as we walked the length of Colaba Causeway, a bustling shopping street where shops and roadside vendors sold everything from cosmetics and ornaments to traditional handicrafts and pashmina stoles to trendy clothes, bags and shoes. We ate at a restaurant we often visit, walked along tree-lined lanes, marvelled at the architecture of century-old buildings, crossed over to the seafront and got a little wet.

Here's how our day went.

There is always something to look at on the Causeway, even if you don’t buy anything. The place has a way of making you slow down, which is perhaps the best way to experience it. A pair of shoes you spotted and tried on. Superhero T-shirts you consider buying for a moment. Stuff that looked antique enough to tempt you. Chess sets, car models and gramophone replicas that look vintage but are probably not. I suppose it is the thrill of finding something you instantly like, though do not necessarily need.

At some point in the afternoon, we stopped at Cafe Churchill for a quick meal of grilled chicken sandwiches and fries.

A large poster of Winston Churchill greets you as soon as you enter this quaint restaurant, which serves an old-fashioned Continental range of dishes. Apart from a variety of sandwiches, whoppers, pizzas, soups and salads, a breakfast spread and cheesecake desserts, the menu includes dishes with exotic-sounding names such as King Solomon Buffalo Steak, Hungarian Goulash, Chicken Cordon Bleu, Fisherman Catch Lasagne and Ferinando Pasta, among others. There are other specialities too, like prawn cocktail, fish and chips, and roasted lamb.

With so much to choose from, you never quite know what to order. If you’re in that part of town, it’s worth a visit.

After lunch, we turned off the main road and into the quieter lanes, looking up at decades-old buildings with Art Deco balconies, colonial verandahs, and Indo-Saracenic arches and columns, as we did. We also walked past the 137-year-old Bowen Memorial Methodist Church in Colaba. It is one of the pleasures of walking through the place—or, for that matter, South Mumbai, with its Victorian and Gothic buildings. It gives you little glimpses of the city’s architectural heritage.

Most of our outings begin or end seaside. This time was no different.

From the bylanes of Colaba, my wife and I went to Apollo Bandar, a waterfront promenade next to the century-old iconic landmarks, the Gateway of India and the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. The sea was grey and choppy, as it usually is during the monsoon, and there were people walking about, taking photographs, waiting for someone, eating street food—all the ordinary things that happen on an ordinary day. We hung around for a while, taking in the view, of seagulls, local ferries, and container ships in the distance waiting for a berth at the port.

These familiar sights are one reason why we keep returning to this part of the city. We wrote about some of them in an earlier photo essay — A walk through old South Mumbai.

The Bowen Memorial Methodist Church in Colaba. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Next to Mumbai’s expansive waterfront, the other places you will often find us on a weekend are among the footpath booksellers at Flora Fountain—also known as Hutatma Chowk, or Martyrs’ Memorial—or at book exhibitions. We stop by these book haunts, located less than a kilometre from Colaba, because we love to browse and occasionally pick up a few books—not that we need to add more to our collection. Both the roadside booksellers and the book fairs have a fine selection of books, and if you are lucky, you might just come across rare or out-of-print titles. Those are usually the ones we take home.

A footpath bookseller at Flora Fountain. Photo: Prashant C. Trikannad

These cityside outings are not new to us, but they make our weekends less ordinary. While we often drive down to South Mumbai, we prefer exploring that part of the city on foot. It gives us the freedom to go wherever we like without having to return to where we parked the car.

 

Here’s a useful tip: the best time to visit these places is during the monsoon, from June to September, or in the winter months, from December to February. If you must go in summer, try to visit in the evening, after sundown. The heat and humidity during the day can be unforgiving.

 

How do you like to spend your weekends?

© Prashant C. Trikannad