This historic hole in the wall eatery in Colaba, is a trip down memory lane to an Indian Ocean aesthetic where Parsi eateries used to dominate the social life of everyday Bombay, the only real Mumbai to be candid.

These spaces are all over the Indian Ocean World from the Karak Kadas in Bur Dubai to the Warungs or Mamaks in Islamcate Nusantara.

These spaces are community care places where neighbourhood uncles banter over commissions and contracts and the taxi wallah comes in for a quick egg bhurji, pav and chai.

celebrating a life in Public Service.

Aruna Roy’s book discussion at Asia Society India at the historic art gallery, Chemould Prescott at the Queens Mansion in Fort, Mumbai.

Aruna Roy with MKSS Rajasthan, has been the force behind the RTI and MNREGA. Her anecdotes on solidarity building with the villagers for ground up action was priceless. Living with them rather than visiting once would not create any trust. Her views on the syncretic nature of our polity is an important remainder in these polarised times, although she did state that her generation of activists failed to engage with religion unlike Gandhi ji.

Nikhil Dey, her colleague and stalwart, spoke about their work with platform workers and the unravelling of RTI under Digital Public Infrastructure where we are all data and that data is behind administrator login. RTI brought government information to the public, and that powerful legislation which challenges power has resulted in the death of my people.

MKSS has been behind the gig worker legislation in Rajasthan and works for legislative redressal for the worker in the platform era.

MNREGA often criticised in urban areas has brought decency and dignity to rural India and has bipartisan support.

The audience had the legendary P Sainath, founder of PARI and actor Richa Chadha, both of whom i had the honor to chat.

True education is always in an art gallery where the aesthetics are critical to learn.

In order to understand the scale of potential KSA investments with the US during Trump-47’s visit, reading Ellen R. Wald, Ph.D. ‘s book on the role of Bechtel in the creation of the Aramco state is visionary, as well as Prof Vitalis’s American Kingdom would be informative as the US-Saudi relationship pre SOCAL and Dhaharan Well number 7 in 1938 is deeply embedded in history.

Write from within, something of worth always is created. Writing as a response to the fluidity of the chaos, the in between ness as a function of the times, while clutching at the straws of normalcy. Ask a family in Gaza, Patani or Kashmir – they have a vocabulary of life framed by numbing violence. Our job as writers is to give the language to lend cohesiveness to the chaos.

Ambassador Hotel

Desi Khaleeji Stories

Three plus decades ago a college teacher of English, went for a series of interviews for the Ministry of Education in Oman at famed Ambassador Hotel in Bombay (as it was called then) held by Jerry Varghese Manpower Consultants. That college teacher went on to teach in the Jabals, or the mountains on the Oman Yemen Border, right before the 1995 war. And went on to build a two generational relationship with Oman and the Khaleej which is still buffering.

That college teacher was my Mother (taken on her 70th birthday on a trip down memory lane).

Cities are mosaics, each part of the city lends to new experiences.

Travel within, there are so many places on our cities which deserves our attention. The sunset at Marine Drive which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is second to none.

An outstanding performance by the PAP, and WP proves that it is the only opposition to persist with close losses in Tampines GRC, Jalan Kayu and Punggol GRC.

Hoped to have Harpreet Singh Nehal in Parliament, for his intellect, but there are avenues of greater dialogue outside parliament.

The deep support for the PAP is not to be underestimated, despite what the Singaporean podcast-scape has made you to believe over the past month.

Majulah!

Trip down to Lisboa/Estado De India

A dinner of Luso-Goan delicacies from Poee to Prawn Curry to Pastel Delnata. The food was exquisite. The Negroni Bianco hit the right notes.

O Pedro is the best of Goan fare, served in an international vibe in the expat banking district of BKC. The crowd on a Friday evening was chic and classy.

It took be back to BB in DIFC. The good old Dubai consulting days before the pandemic.

Pizza By The Bay on Marine Drive is a Bombay Institution. Have been fortunate to have a couple of long weekend brunches over the past month gave me the opportunity to have some of the fare on the menu, which is exquisite – the pizza to the tapas.

It is an uber popular place due to the location, makes it a go to eatery despite its 5 star price tag. The ambience is calm, and the patrons are the well off sort.

I have been coming here since 2012 and have memorable catch ups here from Singaporean climate diplomats to friends from the gulf.

Perfect place for long brunches with friends over bubbly.