Remember when we were supposed to wake up and smell the coffee? These days I wake up, shuffle to the door, pick up my newspaper and switch on my phone. The coffee and chai are an afterthought. First, I check the bad news. After which I need something stronger than chai to regain my equilibrium. So, although it’s time to rouse my daughters, I make a quick detour through the cinnamon-scented world of Food Lovers Colaba. No matter how grim the headlines, it helps to know that somewhere someone is making Pistachio and Rose Cakes with glaze and Strawberry and Orange Sandesh Pies; Raan Biryanis and Bombil Fry. Before you start imagining that I’m a Sandesh-pie scarfing glutton, let me clarify. Although I’m a member of this foodie WhatsApp group, I’m more a window-shopper than a gobbler. As much as the menus and pictures of blueberry shrikhand, I enjoy the unexpected sense of community. Food Lovers Colaba was born in August, five months after the world froze. It started out as a group of food lovers in and around the South Mumbai neighbourhood of Colaba. Some food lovers enjoyed eating; others cooking. There were those who enjoyed both—sampling goodies and, occasionally, popping on aprons and whipping up a batch of Filipino Leche Flan or a stack of chicken rolls.
Beyond our shut doors during the lockdown were stories of people starving and migrant workers walking 1,500 kilometres on bleeding feet. Closer home, the bazaars were silent, the shelves bare. Then, a friend added me to a chat called ‘It’s All in Colaba’. This WhatsApp group had been started by Colaba resident Zia Shroff to connect people in the neighbourhood. It took on a new dimension. For many of us, the neighbourhood chat replaced the neighbourhood. Within hours of joining it, I realised that Google was nothing compared to the combined might of this faceless crew of Colabakars. There wasn’t a question that went unanswered, a doubt that went unaddressed. Where can I get the blue Nivea deodorant? Is it true that someone tested positive in 1st Pasta Lane? Does anybody know where I can get fried onions/ sundried tomatoes/ dinky baskets with little blue flowers/ a custom-made sofa/ balloon bouquets/ plastic buckets? Does anybody know about e-passes/ quarantine rules/ a courier who can deliver a seven-layer anniversary cake to Bandra? At least five somebodies always did know and pitch in with answers and advice. With offers to help print a document or pick up supplies for an almost stranger.
When lockdown began, Vivek Nayyar and Ritu Jaggia found themselves without a cook. Vivek was the obvious choice to fill the gap. The advertising professional started cooking two meals a day for the seven people in the house. Friends sighed over his culinary adventures, and, for a lark, he set up a catering-on-weekends venture called The Main Course. He posted on various foodie groups and soon, his Mutton Ghee Roast and Jungli Maas were travelling through the bylanes of Colaba and beyond—just one of many lockdown-unlocked-the-chef-in-me stories. Spotting this trend, Shaan Khanna—who runs Networking Now India—started the Food Lovers Colaba chat on a whim. Three months later, there are five Food Lover Colaba groups and innumerable freshly-baked entrepreneurs. The brothers who fashion furniture are now feted for their chicken shwarmas and biryanis. The furniture designer who crafts exquisite Mediterranean food. The senior citizen who started creating sublime date-and-nuts confections. The group has much more. It has spicy gossip, irreverent chatter and plenty of personalities. So much so that I’m always examining random passers-by on Colaba Causeway, wondering if one of them is the panipuri lady with the spicy wit. Or the self-appointed food critic with the vinegary tongue. I wonder if I will ever find out.
I got my answer just this weekend. My book on Colaba is out and a newspaper carried an article about it. Someone on the ‘It’s All in Colaba’ chat posted the clipping with the comment, “Had no idea there are so many things to see in Colaba.” Eager to share my Colaba stories, I offered to conduct a walk around the neighbourhood. This generated unexpected enthusiasm. The details of this Sunday jaunt are still being worked out, but one thing seems clear. My virtual and real neighbourhood are coming together. With some luck, I will finally meet the people with whom I spent so much of my lockdown.