My Bandra is…

My friends, us growing up together, now growing together and finally perhaps being old together. You see we’re all “Bandra Born and Bred”, as a friend emblazoned on a t-shirt, and Bandra things are what we have in common. Bandra is…

• Waking up early during summer vacations to go check out boys on the Carter Road promenade.
• Waving to at least 5 people we knew as we walked down Turner road.
• Buying buttons, lace and fake flowers at Cheap Jack and whingeing about how ‘Costly Jack’ would have been an apt name.
• Fishing at Bandstand during low tide.
• Nursing bruises from when we tried to hurtle down Pali Hill on roller-skates.
• Mud covered boys after a game of monsoon football.

• Never being less than 4 to a rickshaw.
• Seeing and being seen at JATC when it had just opened.
• Hanging with the Joanna boys.
• Combining cycling with walking the dog.
• Climbing the Lands End fort to get a better view of the sea, gamely ignoring the smell of urine while pretending it was another historical era.
• Knowing our way through the maze beyond Chapel Road.
• Downing potent Gin and Tonics at the now fancy Bandra Gym bar.
• The school we attended with its sprawling campus and its resident flasher

Bandra was peaceful, now it’s buzzing. Bandra was love, but now it’s combined with disillusionment, a symptom of knowing someone for too long. But it’s too late, we’re inextricably linked.

– Deveshe Dutt

Sports mayhem hits the suburbs

Well, it looks like the blistering summer heat hasn’t dehydrated the enthusiasm out of the Bandra sports lovers. This summer, Bandra will see one of the biggest hockey tournaments as well as a sports festival.

The 1st of May kicks of with a rink hockey tournament which has teams from all over Mumbai competing for the grand prize. Dereyk Talker, part of the organizing committee, says, “This is the only rink tournament that has such a large cash prize. The winners will be getting a cash prize of Rs. 20,000 and the runners up will be getting Rs.12,000.”

The teams competing will be Indian Oil, Air India, Customs, RCF, Central Railway as well as Maharashtra and State police. Along with the mens matches, there will also be boys under 12 and women’s open matches. While the matches are on there will also be performances by Hart Kaur and Bandra’s very own Elvis Siddharth.

Where:  Mt. Carmels Quadrangle, When: May 1st to 7th, 4:15 to 10pm, Entry: Free

Along with the rink hockey tournament, St. Andrews will be hosting a sports festival which will start with an intra parish football tournament. Teams from within the parish of St. Andrews Church will lock heads to beat each other.  Followed by this they are also hosting an all Mumbai inter parish football tournament which would definitely be worth a watch.
Where: St.Andrews school grounds, When: Intra- 2nd May 12:30pm – 7pm and 3rd May 7am to 7pm, Inter -10th and 17th May 6:30am to 7pm

Football Fever

Its summer time! Time to get out of the house, enjoy the sun and have some fun. This is the perfect time to learn or improve on your football and hockey skills. St. Andrews Church is organizing a hockey and football training camp for kids which will have reputed international coaches conducting the training. “The age group for the training is open for anyone between the age group of 3 to 17yrs and just to cover the cost of gifts for the kids, we are only charging them Rs.100 for the training. We are looking for someone to sponsor some snacks or juice for the kids,” says Arthur D’Silva. Besides the price, the best part about this camp is that it’s between 6:30am to 8am away from the smoldering heat. Where: St. Andrews school ground; When: May 4th to 30th, Mon, Wed, Fri- football and Tue, Thurs, Sat- hockey.

– Rommel Albuquerque

Here comes the Hotstepper

You can blame it on your mother, you can blame it on your sister, or you could blame it on the boogie. But many kids today think the hokey pokey and birdy dance (classics I might add!) are ‘lame.’ So, what’s the solution? Freestyle thinks Priya Gonsalves. “Freestyle is a dance form created by the younger generation for the younger generation. It’s fun, energetic and creative. The hip hop dance classes introduce children to various urban dance styles that are popular all over the world. Kids will be introduced to styles like house, hip hop, RnB and freestyle,” she says. She adds, “Kids are really receptive to this kind of music and dance. And this is just one more option for kids in the performing arts.” When: May 6th to May 29th every Wed and Friday from 5.30 pm to 6.30 pm, Cost : Rs 2400 for the month, Contact: 9930736417 to register.

Meal for two: Rs. 1200 (plus tax)

Where: Off Linking Road, take a left after Citywalk shoes (Café Mangii is on the left)

– Marlene Fernandes

Dil Mangii More!

One Free Music Festival

Now that Mumbai’s saturated with conventional businesses, the time for innovation has come. From April 27 to May 3, everyone is invited to be part of the One Free Festival, organised by three young entrepreneurs – Sudeip Nair, 28, Pramod Sippy, 28 and Kenneth Lobo, 27 – who run the Bombay Elektrik Project. “A few months ago, we came up with the idea of organising a festival. We realized that all the gigs were free. And we wanted to do something bigger than what we’re already doing. So we decided to club them all together in one week and call it the One Free Music Festival,” says Sudeip. “It’s at the Mumbai Times Café on Monday and Thursday, Bonobo on Tuesday and Wink on Wednesday.”

When: April 27 to May 3, Entry: Uh… Free

The Alchemist

Director :  Mahesh Datani, Cast :  Mohan Kapur, Abhimanyu Jain and Hemwant Tiwari

Pretty much everyone we know has read and loved Paulo Coelho’s famous novel ‘The Alchemist’. And now, the famed book makes it to theatre thanks to director Mahesh Datani and producer Ashvin Gidwani. The play, like the novel, tells the story of Santiago, a simple shepherd boy, who has a dream and the courage to follow it. His journey is an epic voyage of self-discovery and exploration. The mysterious and timeless Alchemist appears before him to guide him on his spiritual journey. The play is done on a grand level and that includes amazing costumes, sets and even martial art performances. A must see for The Alchemist fans.
When: 30th April at 7.30pm, Where: St. Andrews Auditorium

– Glynda Alves

Supermarket Showdown

Gone is the reign of the neighbourhood baniya! With so many supermarkets opening up, we check out which meets the mark

SAHAKARI BANDAR

Deal Ya No Deal: Great for daily used products. Overall bill though doesn’t show much discount

Stock report: Good variety for popular products but despite the air conditioned comfort, the vegetables are still droopy

Down the aisle: Super easy and roomy. You don’t have to keep dodging elbows, baskets and small children

Are you being served? Excellent! The staff are informed and have even gone to the store rooms to bring back products not on the shelves

Rate: 4

MAGNET

Deal Ya No Deal: You’re assured of a 2% discount, plus they have a lot of offers

Stock report: Good variety but lately the market is not so well stocked. Sometimes they even run out of rice

Down the aisle: They’ve got a lot of space and it’s easy to move about

Are you being served? Service here is pathetic, the staff don’t where anything is

Rate: 4.5

SPENCER’S

Deal Ya No Deal: Few and not worth it

Stock report: Head to the neighboring Patel Stores to complete your shopping

Down the aisle: Small but can find items easily

Are you being served? Staff appears a day old on the job. But, at least the check out counter is ancient… and slow

Rate: 2.5

SPINACH

Deal Ya No Deal: They have a few discounts but nothing major

Stock report: You get your common groceries but a good plus point is that their the only place that sells cigarettes

Down the aisle: This place is very small and cramped

Are you being served? As its a small place service is ok and checkout is fast

Rate: 2

What A Bully!

Usually, I get the Monday morning blues, but this week, started off surprisingly well. All thanks to a big Bully! A ‘VW Bully,’ aka the 1970’s Volkswagen Type 2 van.

“The van was in bad condition and was headed to the scrap yard, but my dad couldn’t let that happen. So we took over the van and together over a period of time have been able to restore it to its former glory,” says Camraan Khan the owner of the van.

The van has all its original parts, most which have been sourced from Germany. But what makes this Bully stand out is the super cute, hippy style paint job. “My mom wanted the van to look beautiful, so we painted it orange and yellow. Now we’ll add a traditional peace symbol on it,” adds Camraan. Not the most intimidating Bully we know, but what the heck!

And you can be sure that this van has garnered a lot of attention… some good, and some not so good. “The worst comment I once got was that this guy thought my van was a ‘Matador’ van, but the best was this one guy who said, you’ve made me a very happy man today, just cause he saw it!”

Camraan adds, “I love driving around in this van, I feel really happy when I see people looking at the van and giving a thumbs up or an appreciative wave. In this van, it’s not about the destination; it’s about enjoying the journey.”

– Rommel Albuquerque

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