Hooray for Bollywood
Our goal on Sunday was to visit one of the restuarants listed in our travel guide for lunch. We selected a rooftop cafe called Koyla noted for it's Arabia meets Cafe Del Mar atmosphere. We caught a train to Churchgate (catching a train from our hotel in the suburbs to the tourist & entertainment district in Colaba has been a common theme) and a taxi to Koyla. We discovered that it was only open for dinner and the guide had mixed up it's AMs and PMs.
We headed back and passed 'The Oval' a well known grassed area popular for cricket. We decided to stop in an watch for a couple of hours. About 10 games of cricket were being played throughout the long stretch of grass. They ranged from a handful of kids with a tennis ball and only one stump at the bowlers end up to a fairly senior grade kitted out in full Test regalia. We watched the kids for a while and then sat down to watch the serious stuff. The level of cricket was pretty high in general.
We were approached by an Indian fellow named Terrence who invited us to join a couple of English blokes who were watching at the other end of the field. After some introductions and small talk we discovered that Terrence had grouped us up for a larger potential market. He talked non-stop for the next hour - tall tales about his life interspersed with offers of accomodation, the 'weirdest' city tours, parts in Bollywood movies and cheap beer. My favourite of his tales involved a girlfriend who ended up marrying his father and then gained 120kg. He told us it was karma.
We discovered that time had gotten away from us and make a quick exit to reach the Eros Theatre across the road to catch an afternoon matinee of the Bollywood blockbuster 'No Entry'. The theatre was a beautiful old building with a balcony level and an enormous screen. We managed to get a rough idea of the film's plot and enjoyed the elaborate dance numbers (which we realised were used in place of sex scenes). The almost full house loved every moment of it. A lady across from me rocked back and forth in her chair with laughter.
We jumped an express train back past Khar station (oops!) and caught an Auto-Rickshaw back. The Auto drivers are crazy, but much less so than their Thai counterparts. We made it home safely and had a couple of beers at the High Tide bar across the road before moving on to the hotel bar for a nightcap.
The hotel restuarant was full with families and other revellers. I got talking to a group of guys and we decided to join them for a beer. The group of 6 or so bombarded us with questions and offers to take us around the town. It was a mix of friendship with the ever present sales pitches when the opportunity arose. Indian men are a lot more open with their gestures of friendship so there were arms over the shoulders, hands on the knee, too many embraces and even the odd kiss on the cheek. We're still not sure if some of them were gay (I can't think of an amusing innuendo).
We polished off a few rounds of beer and declined their offer to head out to a disco in favour of getting some sleep before the morning's flight.
Hanging out on the Train.
We headed back and passed 'The Oval' a well known grassed area popular for cricket. We decided to stop in an watch for a couple of hours. About 10 games of cricket were being played throughout the long stretch of grass. They ranged from a handful of kids with a tennis ball and only one stump at the bowlers end up to a fairly senior grade kitted out in full Test regalia. We watched the kids for a while and then sat down to watch the serious stuff. The level of cricket was pretty high in general.
Fun Cricket.
We were approached by an Indian fellow named Terrence who invited us to join a couple of English blokes who were watching at the other end of the field. After some introductions and small talk we discovered that Terrence had grouped us up for a larger potential market. He talked non-stop for the next hour - tall tales about his life interspersed with offers of accomodation, the 'weirdest' city tours, parts in Bollywood movies and cheap beer. My favourite of his tales involved a girlfriend who ended up marrying his father and then gained 120kg. He told us it was karma.
Serious Cricket.
We discovered that time had gotten away from us and make a quick exit to reach the Eros Theatre across the road to catch an afternoon matinee of the Bollywood blockbuster 'No Entry'. The theatre was a beautiful old building with a balcony level and an enormous screen. We managed to get a rough idea of the film's plot and enjoyed the elaborate dance numbers (which we realised were used in place of sex scenes). The almost full house loved every moment of it. A lady across from me rocked back and forth in her chair with laughter.
We jumped an express train back past Khar station (oops!) and caught an Auto-Rickshaw back. The Auto drivers are crazy, but much less so than their Thai counterparts. We made it home safely and had a couple of beers at the High Tide bar across the road before moving on to the hotel bar for a nightcap.
Indian Buddies.
The hotel restuarant was full with families and other revellers. I got talking to a group of guys and we decided to join them for a beer. The group of 6 or so bombarded us with questions and offers to take us around the town. It was a mix of friendship with the ever present sales pitches when the opportunity arose. Indian men are a lot more open with their gestures of friendship so there were arms over the shoulders, hands on the knee, too many embraces and even the odd kiss on the cheek. We're still not sure if some of them were gay (I can't think of an amusing innuendo).
Drinks with the Boys.
We polished off a few rounds of beer and declined their offer to head out to a disco in favour of getting some sleep before the morning's flight.
posted by Ashley at
1:58 PM
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