Ramadan

Ramadan was always a significant festival growing up - in Oman we had the whole society become different when the ramadan descended on us... we could not eat outside, my father had no water to drink in the hospital, we were always careful not to appear to enjoy lives.... and our schools also closed before time....in India I did not have any such exposure to this festival - not to a significant extent at least...

so it was after a long time that I ventured out to discover this muslim festival (not sure whther it is infact a festival).... and came away delighted... Mohammed Ali Road was always a far away destination which I had always heard of as bustling with activity during ramadan... I always wanted to go but didnt have the guts to... or the company.. nobody wanted to venture out to that part of the world... would it be safe? will there be women? will I be molested? I went with all these apprehensions ... and came away feeling gleeful at having discovered a little more about my city... that it is one of the most vibrant cities in the world... I mean this is the city where a christian woman could walk down the street at 12 in the night taking photos!!! and people were only too happy to oblige... with many of them asking me why I was not eating properly!!

my walk down Moh Ali Road can be summed up in 4 words - food, food, food, food.... it was all about eating ... ... the colourful jalebis, kababs, bread, soup, briyani.... I walked down feeling odd that I was not munching something... and women were combing the area like no other .... they were shopping for sandals whils straddling their 2 years old on their hips... and walking merrily around with no apparent fear.... I also got a glimse of bollywood when Imran Khan came to break his fast... there was a small chaos... and i managed to capture his face...

This is what I love about Mumbai.. even in the muck and dirt there is some magic....