bits n pieces

We took the bike for a ride the other day a few miles north to Versova in an attempt to find a ferry to cross a river mouth to a more open area of Mumbai on the coast.. Versova is a beach village which faces the Arabian Sea and is home to a major Mumbai fishing community.
After about 30 minutes in traffic and my brain starting to boil in the helmet as we rode through the village, more like a slum really with make shift huts on the coast road. Now those who remember one of our first blogs last year will remember a series of self portraits from a night out, one of which was "stinky fish face". Now the fishing folk reckon it's a good idea to dry the bombil fish on stilts and on the pavement in preparation for the local meal, Bombay Duck. The stench from this process was horrific and it seemed like the smell was just circulating inside the helmet. I now understood why I was the only one with a helmet, it seemed the risk of head injury was much less that actually being ill in your helmet..
The "fish" in the picture is Bombay duck (Marathi: bombil). Despite it's name it's a lizardfish which is native to the waters between Mumbai and Kutch in the Arabian Sea, and a small number are also found in the Bay of Bengal. The fish is often dried and salted before it is consumed.
Fish Bombil fry (Bombay Duck)
Ingredients:
2 to 3 Bombil Fish
2 tbsp rice flour
1 tbsp rava
3 tbsp oil
Seasoning:
1 tsp red chilly powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp oil Salt to taste
Method: Cut the Bombil fish in to 1 inch long pieces. Take fish pieces and apply turmeric powder, red chilly powder and salt, marinate it for 15 to 20 minutes. Take all flour, mix them and roll these pieces into it and shallow fry them. serve hot.

This pic was the end of an ever narrowing road through the Versova village. The road (about 3m wide with open drainage and sewer trenches) slowly turned into a walking path which was the location of local well where a few of the locals were doing their best to cool down with a fresh bucket of well water.
It was at this point we decided to meander our way out of the village being sure to avoid the fishing village and head back to Juhu.
There aren't many ways to escape the heat here. A cold shower is a warm one as the water from the tap is from the tanks on baking the roof. I was standing in the shade of a tree just yesterday hoping for respite from the midday heat but the reflective heat from the pavement made sure I sweat where I stood. The one good thing was that when I got back on the bike my shirt was cooled by the passing air.

The Sun n Sand is now our refuge from the heat. This quaint little hotel has a pool and we are now members. The chlorine stings and it can be crowded at times but our membership means that we can escape the crowds of Mumbai for an hour and enjoy the Aussie tradition of life by the beach. Alright.. not quite the Aussie tradition but the beach is there as seen in the pic, and the water we swim isn't the local sewerage treatment plant... Remember the guy praying on the beach... oh yeah...


I'm sure we've said it before, within a very small radius, less than a kilometer, in this city the landscape of human existence can change from wealth to extreme poverty and back again. We are so fortunate to be able to live in the madness that is Mumbai which challenges our reality, our compassion all the while educating us and serving daily reminders of what life on this earth is. If you believe in reincarnation , this is an amazing place to see it in action.