Mariyam Posted April 6, 2025 Posted April 6, 2025 3 minutes ago, Muloghonto said: I can go touch things in delhi that are older than islam. i cannot in mumbai or kolkata. As you know, i am big in history and my main focus of history is actually coins. which means dilli is about 1000 times more interesting to me than mumbai. I cant even eat in peace in mumbai seeing your manhattan prices. Oof. You may actually enjoy this place: The RBI Coin Museum. Official site. Make it a point to visit the next time you are in Mumbai. It is fairly new and has collections from the Indus Valley to modern times. My daughter went there as a part of her school trip. She seemed very excited about it and she isn't much of a history person. crictime 1
rangeelaraja Posted April 7, 2025 Author Posted April 7, 2025 On 4/5/2025 at 2:57 PM, Muloghonto said: Sorry to say this, but i refuse to deal with mumbai even on vacations. I had an uncle and aunt live in mumbai for decades and i made mistake of routing to CCU via Mumbai and break-journeying and visiting cousins a few time. Yeah eff that. Learnt my lesson quick and just instead saw them if and when they came to kolkata. Mumbai to me = overcrowded, crazy expensive city, waaaaaaaaaaaay more expensive than i care to if i am not getting western/japanese standards and on top of it all, its arial flood city. Your rainy season is fearsome water-logging hell-hole of complete paralysis. Eff that. I am mucho better off routing to CCU via dubai or Singapore or even Delhi depending on season. Mumbai is the kind of city that has zero appeal to me and i wouldnt spend a DIME on the city. Not because i have something against mumbai per se, but i simply have no time for cities that are boring rat-race cities of modernism as a tourist. Same reason when i visited Colombia, the least amount of time i spent was in Bogota, because Bogota is basically your latin american version of a north american cities - you have your financial sector, bars, uni, a couple of museums, etc. etc and there is no active CULTURE in the city except for evening-time night life or a standard working class western city. Its like i visited Indian detroit or Latin American LA. No thanks. My free time is far more precious to appreciate uniqueness on this planet than see more modernity boringness. Ofcourse, not all old world cities have this boring-ness of mumbai. Delhi has actual history and culture i can get lost in, even in sweltering heat. Same with Bangkok or Tokyo. But Taipei ? Eff that. Another boring mumbai-esque bland rat-race city. Dear Sir @Muloghonto, You are asking the wrong person about Mumbai. @Mariyam is a townie. And the golden rule is: never ask a townie about the city. Their world begins and ends in South Mumbai. It’s charming, yes, but limited — like asking someone from Soho, NY about the whole of New York. If you need info on Mumbai, ask me — even 15,000 kilometers away in New York, my heart still flutters and flitters for Mumbai. Every corner of that city is etched in my heart. It’s not just where I’m from — it’s who I am. If you really want to experience Mumbai, here’s what you should do. Start with Shivaji Park — there’s history, character, and chaos. Chowpatty is lovely in the evenings. Walk along Marine Drive at sunset — it’s therapeutic in a way only Mumbai can be. Juhu Beach is chaotic but nostalgic, and Bandra Bandstand offers sea views without the noise. If you happen to be in town during the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival, don’t miss it. It’s Mumbai’s cultural soul on display — a bit like Charleston’s ( SC) downtown scene, but louder, more colorful, and full of surprises. Definitely explore the khau gallis there are plenty— the street food scene is unbeatable in Mumbai. But if you’re in the mood to treat yourself, stay two nights at The Oberoi. Their breakfast buffet? The best in Mumbai. Yes, better than the Taj Mahal Palace or Taj Lands End. Mumbai is a true melting pot — the most cosmopolitan city in India. Try to make time for the Dadar Parsi Colony for its heritage charm, Jehangir Art Gallery for a touch of culture, and of course, the iconic Mumbai Stock Exchange. And since you’ve been very vocal about your love for non-veg — here is where @Mariyam can help. Kitchen in the Bohri housholds are incredible. The non-veg food I hear is to die for and the hospitality is off the charts. Reach out to our friend, and she’ll host you and make sure you’re fed until you either burp uncontrollably or start leaking gas — whichever happens first. Muloghonto, IndianRenegade and Mariyam 2 1
Muloghonto Posted April 7, 2025 Posted April 7, 2025 (edited) 2 hours ago, rangeelaraja said: Dear Sir @Muloghonto, You are asking the wrong person about Mumbai. @Mariyam is a townie. And the golden rule is: never ask a townie about the city. Their world begins and ends in South Mumbai. It’s charming, yes, but limited — like asking someone from Soho, NY about the whole of New York. If you need info on Mumbai, ask me — even 15,000 kilometers away in New York, my heart still flutters and flitters for Mumbai. Every corner of that city is etched in my heart. It’s not just where I’m from — it’s who I am. If you really want to experience Mumbai, here’s what you should do. Start with Shivaji Park — there’s history, character, and chaos. Chowpatty is lovely in the evenings. Walk along Marine Drive at sunset — it’s therapeutic in a way only Mumbai can be. Juhu Beach is chaotic but nostalgic, and Bandra Bandstand offers sea views without the noise. If you happen to be in town during the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival, don’t miss it. It’s Mumbai’s cultural soul on display — a bit like Charleston’s ( SC) downtown scene, but louder, more colorful, and full of surprises. Definitely explore the khau gallis there are plenty— the street food scene is unbeatable in Mumbai. But if you’re in the mood to treat yourself, stay two nights at The Oberoi. Their breakfast buffet? The best in Mumbai. Yes, better than the Taj Mahal Palace or Taj Lands End. Mumbai is a true melting pot — the most cosmopolitan city in India. Try to make time for the Dadar Parsi Colony for its heritage charm, Jehangir Art Gallery for a touch of culture, and of course, the iconic Mumbai Stock Exchange. And since you’ve been very vocal about your love for non-veg — here is where @Mariyam can help. Kitchen in the Bohri housholds are incredible. The non-veg food I hear is to die for and the hospitality is off the charts. Reach out to our friend, and she’ll host you and make sure you’re fed until you either burp uncontrollably or start leaking gas — whichever happens first. Thanks for the detailed post, i actually copy-pasted your post in a notepad file, incase i ever return to mumbai again. I think you misunderstood me when i said mumbai has no history - i see kolkata the same way too, because these are cities founded by the brits and are just 200-300 years old and before that, they were either completely empty spots or 3 small villages or something. This is why i said i enjoy Dilli, because i can literally go to old fort and spend a whole day there just looking at the ruins( my wife calls it my obsession with man-modified rocks). Mumbai overall has a very 'modern city' feel to it, where everyone is going around with their busy lives and it has normal stuff every modern city has to offer ( with cultural variations). I like cities like Dilli or Paris or Tokyo more, because i am the sort of uncle who cares about stupid **** like 'napoleon ate here, Khalji slaughtered there, this is the spot Tokugawa keeled over and died'. I had the same feeling when i went to Brazil. Did not like Rio or Sao Paolo as much as Sao Cristavao, when i went to Colombia, i spent 1 day in bogota and 5 in Cartagena - theese cities ( Cartagena, Sao Cristavao) are pretty much 'frozen in time but modernised' cities, where you STILL get to see spanish colonial architecture, see their colonial era parades, etc etc. I see mumbai, i see kolkata, i find its like New York or Philly - little to no actual history, no historical atmosphere, its just a modern city with modern life and same ol boring things to do ( go see a museum during day, go to bars at night, watch a comedy or live music, go to theatre if you are rich, etc etc). Whereas when i was in cartagena, i got to see what spanish port town in 1700s looked and felt like, i got to go on a tour to see what the first spanish settlers ate and where they got their food from etc ( ended up making two german buddies over this food trip, coz these two lafangaas caught a fish, brought it back to the hostel i was in and were arguing how to cook it - one wanted to boil it and serve it with potatoes, one wanted to boil it, then extract fish, make paste and fish balls and fry it and put it in soup. And this fish was pomfret. So i channeled my inner bong in Colombia and asked them to get some spices and made them kaala jeera pomfret jhol - a bong staple. Should've seen the foodgasms of these guys. But yea. I am just not that charmed by modern cities, especially ones like mumbai, where its also manhattan expensive...coz thats how mumbai rolls. The few times i did pass through mumbai and my cousin took me out for food, all i could think of 'this 500 rupee biriyani is 250 rupees in kolkata'. mind you, its a bit unfair of me to equate mumbai to kolkata, because kolkata is by far the cheapest city amongst tier 1 metros in India and its cheaper than most tier two metros as well. You can still eat a decent meal ( bhaat, daal, 2 types of tarkari and i piece of fish) in kolkata for 75 rupees a plate...i highly doubt you can find that in Mumbai these days. Edited April 7, 2025 by Muloghonto rangeelaraja 1
rangeelaraja Posted April 7, 2025 Author Posted April 7, 2025 @Muloghonto - You are right - Mumbai is very unique- especially South Mumbai - particularly areas like Malabar Hill , Altamount Road, Cuffe Parade, Worli Sea Face. I’ve spent well over a decade working in the most affluent business districts in the world—Hudson Yards, Park Avenue in Midtown, and the heart of Wall Street. More recently, after moving into big tech, I’ve been traveling often to Mountain View, California—right in the thick of Silicon Valley. These places quietly hold highest concentrations of wealth on the planet. And yet, nobody feels out of place here. You’ll spot founders of startups backed by Series A, B, C, even Series D funding rounds—on paper worth 100s of millions dollars—dressed in very ordinary T-shirts and sneakers, hunched over laptops in a Starbucks like students/ interns. But South Mumbai? That’s a different animal. Every time I go there, I feel like I don’t belong. There’s a certain air—an unspoken exclusivity that’s hard to ignore. The kind that comes from deep-rooted old money, inherited privilege, and a sense of lineage. It’s not always overt—but it’s there in the way people carry themselves, the quiet hierarchies, the gentry that grew up knowing they belonged. Maybe it’s snobbishness. Or maybe it’s just in my head.
coffee_rules Posted July 28, 2025 Posted July 28, 2025 (edited) On 3/30/2025 at 10:39 AM, coffee_rules said: These are all not mainstream comics. The good ones don’t get shared on SM , only the cringe ones tobe used as click-baits and get monetized for views. They are not mainstream to make generalization of Indian comedy scene. Stop clicking on them. They don’t hurt or influence the larger society in any way, not worse than insta reels, Bhojpuri films, songs OTT, with soft porn content. This is a welcome move. These OTT platforms were making content where family members (traditional Hindiu were involved in illicit sex. Targeted for Lowest of Low common audiences' tastes. They should also ban Insta content where women are involved in showing off just to get more followers and views for money. Two bit people. Govt bans #ullu #altbalaji #hulchul and other : sources pic.twitter.com/UCZaebDRsH — Aishwarya Kapoor (@aishkapoor) July 25, 2025 Edited July 28, 2025 by coffee_rules Lord 1
Lord Posted July 28, 2025 Posted July 28, 2025 6 hours ago, coffee_rules said: This is a welcome move. These OTT platforms were making content where family members (traditional Hindiu were involved in illicit sex. Targeted for Lowest of Low common audiences' tastes. They should also ban Insta content where women are involved in showing off just to get more followers and views for money. Two bit people. Porn ban can never be fully implemented. Sex education should also be there for kids from young age
crictime Posted July 29, 2025 Posted July 29, 2025 (edited) On 4/5/2025 at 10:38 PM, Mariyam said: I'm a 90s Mumbai kid too. And will always be. I miss my childhood days. When we (as a society) had a lot lesser and we were simply far more alive. But the Mumbai of the 90s doesn't exist. The options I have are straightforward: change with the times and try and thrive in the current set up. Or live in nostalgia forever and become increasingly irrelevant. You are an NRI. You have the luxury of an option. You deal with Mumbai on your vacations, mostly. I don't have that option. Interesting post. Personally I love this Mumbai more than what I was used to. In fact Mumbai needed a change to be Mumbai. The adaptation of Mumbai to the many things which have happened are far more important than the Mumbai I was used to since my birth. In fact I feel the progress in projects is still very slow but atleast we are getting there late rather than never. Infrastructure: 52 flyovers built which stopped the time wasted when trains used to halt at atleast 10 stations to let the vehicular traffic flow between east and west. This was a game changer and the first mega project for Mumbaites. The JVLR link road The link road on Western sides. Mukund - Airoli bridge connectivty over the creek. The vast changes in railway stations in past 10 years or so. Metro Line 1 or the Blue Line:The Versova - Ghatkopar Metro Metro Line 2A Yellow Line Andheri W to Dahisar Meteo Line 7 A Red Line Gundavli to Ovaripada Monorail : Chembur to Sant Ghadge Chowk Meteo Line 3 Aqua Colaba to JVLR Aarey link road. Metro Line 4, 4 A, 5, 6, 7, 9, 12 Introduction of AC trains in Western and Central lines. Vande Bharat connectivity that has shortened travel time to other states Bandra - Worli sea link Eastern freeway South Mumbai to Ghatkopar. The Atal Setu - Game changer and time saver route. Coastal road - Another road which makes travel from South Mumbai to Bandra faster. But there are some potholes on the newly constructed road. This will further extend to Versova and gradually to the other end of Mumbai in many more years. EV buses rather than those old buses releasing dark black smoke. Hopefully the trend of having increasing count of EV buses will go on. Other projects are ongoing - some struck due to land aquisitions, some due to re-tendering process being initiated due to complaint by L&T. Without these projects Mumbai could not have sustained what it has offered and what it has to offer. My personal opinion is that Mumbai would have turned into another city . Would like to know if you agree on this or you have other opinion on how Mumbai could have developed or stayed relevant economically in other ways. Education: So many courses now for Mumbai students as well as for post graduation. More colleges to accondate the increasing population. Corporate World: To sum up the BKC plot which was a major change and many companies are now there. Entertainment: Eros, Regal, Galaxy, Gaiety, Pinky are not the only options. So many multiplexes now with one at Lalbaugh, Phoenix Palladium at Lower Parel, and many others in suburaban Mumbai as well. Essel World Apart from Dinananth, Hindmata, Shanmukhananda many such avenues are up. There are more venues now where one can immerse into song and music orchetras than ever before. There are several full fledged gaming zones, couple of snow parks . Real Estate: The quality of real estate available now is top notch than it was decades back. Cuisine: Specialized outlets like Belgian Waffles and Hurrems in Churchgate, specialized restaurants serving cusines from other continents are on rise. All this while older bakeries at Byculla, dairy at Princess street, Irani at Mahalaxmi, Mahesh rstaurants and many of food outlets at Dadar like Panshikar etc still thrive. Do I miss the Mumbai of my times? I miss the British Council Library which was at Vidhan Bhawan. No other library is Mumbai is even 25 % of what it was. I am very dissapointed that I am missing the experience of that library and I don't foresee that happening now. It was unique. What this generation will miss? The play grounds are dissapearing. We grew up playing outdoor sports like hockey, football and cricket with abundant playgrounds like Azad Maidan, Cross, Police Gymkhana, Oval Maidan, Helipad, Matunga near Poddar and other parts odlf Suburban Mumbai depending on where hockey and cricket tournaments were olayed. Hockey was mostly resteicted to very few youth interested in actually playing it. Although the major grounds are still intact and won't go away, this generation will certainly be not aware of whatbthey are missing because they have never experienced it in first place. Sports complex have come up in past couple of decades though they are mahirly about pools and indoor games ike badminton, table tennis, squash, indoor cricket. Many of this generation would get shocked if we told we played hockey. They do not even have proper places to or get to play over arm cricket on daily basis with concrete everywhere. But then they will surely enjoy other things that Mumbai has to offer. I would say I am also glad to experience the best of the two times. Imo Mumbai will have to change and if it does not it cannot have same importance and relevance to what it has had. Like the film dialogue on the lines of- Zindagi mein har kuch ek sauda hai.......... Not much to rue upon, personaly atleast. Edited July 29, 2025 by crictime Mariyam and coffee_rules 2
Mariyam Posted July 29, 2025 Posted July 29, 2025 @crictime You've listed infrastructure developments in Mumbai Most of them are in the suburbs, and without wanting to sound snooty, they are irrelevant to me. Not much has changed in town except for the Coastal Road. Killed the view I had earlier. My post was more about inclusivity of Mumbai. In my class we had all kinds of kids. Different religions, different mother tongues, different socio economic class. The kids we played with were also from every cross section of India. Contrast that with my daughter's class. People of the same socio economic class only. It's come to a state where we are insulating ourselves from the rest of the classes in the city. This wasn't the case before. crictime 1
coffee_rules Posted July 29, 2025 Posted July 29, 2025 52 minutes ago, Mariyam said: @crictime You've listed infrastructure developments in Mumbai Most of them are in the suburbs, and without wanting to sound snooty, they are irrelevant to me. Not much has changed in town except for the Coastal Road. Killed the view I had earlier. My post was more about inclusivity of Mumbai. In my class we had all kinds of kids. Different religions, different mother tongues, different socio economic class. The kids we played with were also from every cross section of India. Contrast that with my daughter's class. People of the same socio economic class only. It's come to a state where we are insulating ourselves from the rest of the classes in the city. This wasn't the case before. This is true for most cities , not just in India. More isolation and insulation is happening.
crictime Posted July 30, 2025 Posted July 30, 2025 11 hours ago, Mariyam said: @crictime You've listed infrastructure developments in Mumbai Most of them are in the suburbs, and without wanting to sound snooty, they are irrelevant to me. Not much has changed in town except for the Coastal Road. Killed the view I had earlier. My post was more about inclusivity of Mumbai. In my class we had all kinds of kids. Different religions, different mother tongues, different socio economic class. The kids we played with were also from every cross section of India. Contrast that with my daughter's class. People of the same socio economic class only. It's come to a state where we are insulating ourselves from the rest of the classes in the city. This wasn't the case before. The representation of students will always generally be dependent of the locality and the mix of people (various religions and caste) who live in areas surrounding to school. In schools you will find lesser percentage of Muslims and Parsis in Mumbai but in colleges the percentage of Muslims and Parsis (less population)will increase across all areas as they travel and come from other areas. Otherwise in schools in Mumbai there is proper mix of Maharashtrians, South Indians, Gujaratis, Christians, Punjabis and North Indians. Coming back to schools, nowadays there are ICSE and IB schools which have fees from 1.5 Lakh per annum to 5 lakh per annum depending on brand / group of the school and the locality in which the school is established. Cannot expect a person of lower income group to afford such fees. And that brings a different set of socio-economic class unlike was the case decades back with fees which were easily affordable to the masses. This is not a concern as it is choice people make depending upon their income and whether they can afford a particular school or not. So some people of lower income class will be under-represented in such schools. Similarly there are reasons why kids may not be mixing well in same locality. Could be the following factors: (1)Parents who discriminate between religions and tell kids to avoid someone (2) Some kids preferring to play cricket, football, hockey, swimming, chess, table tennis etc in a coaching-based environment like clubs, sports complex etc. and hence spend their play time outside their complex (3) Similarly girls going for drawing classes, learning musical instruments, dance classes, karate classes etc during playtime(4) Boys going to play at other nearby locality where there are proper big enough grounds or relatives. Some of these are justified and some not. Money or income group is not a factor here as people living in the same locality are more or less of same economic class. Personally, in our locality I do not see this problem of inclusivity. It is just that people here do not have any spare time and everyone acknowledges it as all are in the same boat. Mostly people get chance to say "Hi" when they come across while going out for work or coming back from work or on weekends have a talk when we come across and have relatively more time on hands. In fact there are picnics within societies, annual functions, festival celebration together. Mariyam 1
ravishingravi Posted April 8 Posted April 8 As good a stand up as I have seen. Samay got pulled in this mess needlessly. Lord and Lone Wolf 2
coffee_rules Posted April 8 Posted April 8 (edited) @rangeelaraja @Mariyamyour fav comic is back Enjoy Use headphones Edited April 8 by coffee_rules Mariyam 1
FischerTal Posted April 9 Posted April 9 making jokes about watching parents having sex???? desh becoming more degenerate.
randomGuy Posted April 9 Posted April 9 4 minutes ago, FischerTal said: making jokes about watching parents having sex???? desh becoming more degenerate. Aakash Gupta try Karo.... expressions and acting is great. People comment on every vid of his 'Rule no. 1 never skip this guy'.
rangeelaraja Posted April 9 Author Posted April 9 6 hours ago, coffee_rules said: @rangeelaraja @Mariyamyour fav comic is back Enjoy Use headphones Hi @coffee_rules - your friend @Mariyam and I don’t see eye to eye on a lot of issues these days. When you happen to connect with her, tell her I said : “ Ho halqa-e-yaaran to resham ki tarah narm Razm-e-haqq o baatil ho to folaad hai momin” Mariyam 1
FischerTal Posted April 9 Posted April 9 20 minutes ago, randomGuy said: Aakash Gupta try Karo.... expressions and acting is great. People comment on every vid of his 'Rule no. 1 never skip this guy'. tbh only Indian comic I follow is Vipul Goyal. relatively clean and entertaining. these days Biswa is also killing it. have u seen his Pakistani accent video?
randomGuy Posted April 9 Posted April 9 29 minutes ago, FischerTal said: tbh only Indian comic I follow is Vipul Goyal. relatively clean and entertaining. these days Biswa is also killing it. have u seen his Pakistani accent video? Yes, that was quite accurate!!
Mariyam Posted April 9 Posted April 9 1 hour ago, rangeelaraja said: Hi @coffee_rules - your friend @Mariyam and I don’t see eye to eye on a lot of issues these days. When you happen to connect with her, tell her I said : “ Ho halqa-e-yaaran to resham ki tarah narm Razm-e-haqq o baatil ho to folaad hai momin” The stanzas from Iqbal’s poem are supposed to be about Samay or you? rangeelaraja 1
kepler37b Posted April 9 Posted April 9 (edited) Samay knows telugu. He claims that he was bullied for being a North Indian. Atleast I have never seen it Have you seen it for your kids @singhvivek141? Edited April 9 by kepler37b
Recommended Posts