BOMBAY - 1

 <<I shall make a point of visiting everyone of these joints...>> 

I'd been talking of the sixties and seventies, many of these restaurants do not exist any more. Even those which exist have probably changed the items on their menu. Dilip has rightly put it that these are sheer memories, the intake remains no more. 

Well, aflaatoon is a sweet, some mava stuff (pudding like) baked in oven and very popular among Bombay Muslims. Abgosh is mutton curry but the curry is light and watery. As for katkat it's a mixture of roasted chicken, meat, bheja, ghurda, kaleji etc. It used to be a popular dish in Pakistan. 

Please also take note of the restaurants missed out in that list, Mango Juice - Badshah, Crawford Market, Bombay, and Nihari - Delhi Restaurant, Yusuf Bakir Rd, Dubai. Both these restaurants still exist though I understand Delhi Restaurant (it's Delhi Restaurant and not Delhi Darbar, for there's Delhi Darbar too in Dubai) is shifted to Karama in Dubai. Its nihari is the most delicious you can never ever get elsewhere. 

So we were neighbours in Bombay. I stayed right there at Jai Hind College Hostel on B Rd. We'd so many Patels from Kenya and Uganda. Yes, Nirupa Roy stayed at Prabhat on our left and Anwar Husain and Zahida (the brother and sister of film actress Nargis) in the building opposite ours. I suppose Sanjay Dutt (then 4 to 5 years) was brought up there and in the evenings would go for a horse ride along with the house boy. University hostel was on our right and so was Alka. 

When Satkar was opened its owner (one Shetty) realizing that we were students from the nearby hostels (there were quite a few around there, also Elphinstone and International on C Rd) offered us free snacks and tea, and requested us to boost his clientele. Within no time Satkar soared to a great height. We also witnessed the inauguration of 'Talk of the Town' and Usha Uttap coming upon there to sing her English songs. The musician Jaikishan of the famous Shankar Jaikishan duo would always be seen hanging around Gaylord while comedian I.S.Johar had made Bombaylis as good as his abode. 

Marine Drive at night would be transformed into a glitter which the Bombayites termed 'Queen's Necklace'. What view! After dinner we would go for a stroll along there. There one could see the Arabs in their traditional attire taking a walk and being followed by urchins and beggars. On our way back we'd buy icecream from K.Rustam and then relish chewing 'magai paan' (in jora-2) bought from 'paanwala bhaya' outside hotel Natraj before ending up at the hostel. Those were the days.