As I look back on the four and more decades of being born and raised in Bandra, I am filled with a sense of pride and regret. You might question this duality but then again, Bandra is a complex geographical entity which one can't comprehend or decipher through a sentence or emotion. From the fast-depleting quaint cottages to the ever-rising towers and the mushrooming of a vibrant multiculturalism, Bandra is a good wife and luscious mistress all rolled in one. You can't do without one and you don't want to let go of the other.
I've seen the idyllic, leafy by lanes that was once littered with small houses from which the sweet aroma of freshly-baked wafted to giant iron gates, only to mix with the deep stench of new money and fake civility.
Bandra has since then bloomed, and is now the most sought-after destination. All this has helped tremendously. New restaurants, chic boutiques and fashionable stores all jostle for my attention now. It enjoys tremendous patronage from the monied, the mob and even the newbie who is crammed as a paying guest. They all reside in harmony.
The old Irani café opposite Mehboob studio, Ayaz's food stall on Hill Road, The Yoga House in Chimbai, Basilico, Indigo, the Candies chain of eateries and the bohemian rhapsody of the 'food street' (khau galli) at Carter road, I frequent them all. I take a walk down Pali market onto Pali Naka and I swear, from a pin to a belly dancer, I could procure it all. Pali Naka can safely be christened as the Centre of the Universe. Even if you stand there idly, you get a sense of purpose. The traffic logjam at every nook and corner causes despair but that is the price for the bustle, I guess. Bandra owns a piece of me and I always look for its demographics when I travel elsewhere. It is home and heartburn all in one.
Theatre personality Arif Zakaria has also been part of a number of Indian TV shows
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