Play, Practice, Learn

#4 Mumbai, India

Day 2: Mumbai

Today we met our guide Freni and spent the day seeing the city and tracing the three Jewish communities in India and their presence in Mumbai. Freni is of Zoroastrian background, around my age and delightfully well-read. We connected with her immediately, finding her warm, honest and forthright. She is so generous with her knowledge and is doing her best to help us understand the complexities of life here—local politics, religion, education, history, British influence…

We walked the Fort Heritage District, the Art District and visited 3 of the local synagogues, each one under strict Indian military protection (after the 2008 bombing) There are few Jews left in the city, but the synagogues are still in use, at least for now. The Jewish influence here is diverse and interesting. In the 20s and 30s, the highest paid movie star in India was a Jewish woman from Pune, Ruby Myers, also known as Wildcat of Bombay (movie of same name). You can google her and watch clips…

The Sassoon Family’s influence started with the arrival of the Iraqi Jew, David Sassoon, in 1833. “He started business in Bombay with a counting house and a small carpet godown. His business acumen soon made him one of the richest men in Bombay… By the end of the 1850’s it was said of him that “silver and gold, silks, gums and spices, opium and cotton, wool and wheat—whatever moves over sea or land feels the hand or bears the mark of Sassoon and Company”. If you remember Sassoon Jeans, or Vidal Sassoon hair products, you know the family.

Over the generations, his family built schools, libraries and hospitals, erected monuments, and built the city’s main fishing dock. (Going there tomorrow)

Lunch today deserves a note. At a restaurant called Soam, we stuffed ourselves with veg dishes. Oondiyah, appam among other dishes, masala chaas to drink.

The highlight of my day was our visit to Mani Bhavan, the home turned  museum where Gandhi lived for 17 years, from 1917 to 1934. His room is preserved just as he used it, with a charkha—the spinning wheel he used to represent the non-violent struggle for Indian Independence. His books remain in the shelves in the library. There are dioramas depicting momentous events in his life, made in painstaking and loving detail. (I kept thinking about the 4th grade California Missions all our kids made.) There are photos with Nehru and Charlie Chaplin, photos of the famous Dandi salt march. Being in this space, I felt a quiet, powerful reverence.

Our day ended with an invitation to dinner at Deepa Krisnan’s home. Deepa owns Mumbai Magic, and it is her company we are using on our travels. Ronni and Pinchas had booked their Northern India trip through her last year. Anyway, I had mentioned to Freni that I wanted to take a cooking class in Mumbai, so when we got to Deepa’s, she invited us into her kitchen to help cook dinner. She has three servants, and one of them was there to prep and make sure we did not screw up!

We arrived really early, around 4P, so we had a chance to sit, see the city from her balcony, meet her daughter who is studying sociology and economics at the university, make Chai and relax.

Pinchas took the opportunity to grab a much needed nap, and we sat down on the floor in a spare room and learned about saris. Deepa has the most beautiful collection and pulled out one gorgeous example after another until we could tell the difference between block printed cloth, cloth where threads of different colors were woven and a most extraordinary process where the warp (lengthwise) threads are dyed along parts of the length of each thread to create the pattern.

For dinner we made a potato dish, paneer with vegetables, dal, chapatis and rice. The theme was cumin—added to every dish. The only dairy product Deepa buys is full-fat buffalo milk. From that they make butter, ghee, yoghurt and paneer. We managed to taste almost everything. On Freni’s suggestion, we brought a boxed confection made of ground cashews. Looked like silver coated diamond shapes and very delicious. I’m learning here not to stray from the advice of our guides.

Eventually, we said our goodbyes and our driver delivered us back to our hotel.