Games People Play!

We have all played board games when we were kids. All of us still have some beautiful memories from those days, when we played those games for endless hours with our gang of friends. With time, however, we moved on to other forms of entertainment like playstation and those board games were left inside the closet, forgotten. Not everyone though moved on; a few grown up Mumbaikars are still crazy as hell about them. And two of them, Kumar Jhuremalani and Mihir Vora, have in fact created a platform for all board game lovers called ‘Board Game Bash’ (BGB).

Not Your Regular Meet-up Group

Mumbai is a tough city for singles! For people around 25 and single, things are nastier, as everyone around you is getting married, leaving you alone on weekends! Mumbai is also full of people who are bored of hanging out with the same faces every weekend, at the same place. Well, if you belong to any of the above groups then we have good news for you! Few months ago a bunch of Mumbaikars, who too went through all the above and decided that they had enough, started a group by the name ‘Covalence’. Don’t mistake it for a dating platform, it definitely isn’t one. Covalence is this supercool place where you have the opportunity to meet other supercool people from the city. Sounds interesting? Read on…

Giving Stars That Perfect Look

The best thing about being an actor is that you can play so many different characters. While we enjoy the various characters our stars play on screen, the work that goes behind the screen is something that is often overlooked. Making the characters look real is not just about acting it’s also about the look. Creating that perfect look that makes the character real, believable and lovable is a strenuous task performed by talented makeup artists. It’s only because of these professionals, the stars we love look the way they do. Discovering Mumbai presents NamrataSoni, an award winning makeup artist and hairstylist, who has worked on films like Main Hoon Na, Om Shanti Om and many others.

Namrata Soni, picture courtesy Elle magazine

Words Speak Louder Than Action

Movies hold a special place in the hearts of us Indians. Fridays are auspicious days and we look forward to each Friday for the release of new movies. Some watch for the stars, the music, the fun and some for the escape that they provide from our mundane lives. While the actors do bring the characters to life on the silver screen, it would be hard to imagine how they would do so without those dialogues. While the actors who speak them are mortals, the dialogues have the power to become immortal. Discovering Mumbai features the personality behind those dialogues, Ishita Moitra, a talented and successful script writer and dialog writer.

Ishita Moitra

Ninjas in your city!

The Ninjas are in your city, all around you, going about their business, quietly, just like ninjas do. Their purpose, their mission, is to get under the skin of this city and to uncover stories that make Mumbai unique. Here at Discovering Mumbai, we are always excited about meeting people, just like us, who are wandering, exploring every nook and cranny of this mystical city and coming up with stories that celebrate the spirit of Mumbai. We were lucky enough to bump into the ninja, who started this ninja institute, a website actually, by the name ‘City Ninjas’. Here is the story of Anisha Sharma, an extremely passionate Mumbaikar and founder of City Ninjas.

Readers Paradise

Mumbai is a city where you have to travel long distances and long hours, thanks to horrible traffic and geographic spread of the city. Anyone who has travelled by a train or a bus knows that the best way to kill time during daily commute is to read books. You see so many people with books on a local train that you feel if it were a mobile library! But wouldn’t it be more interesting if you had company, company of people who shared the same love for reading books, and have long talks with them, over a cup of coffee, about your favourite book, author or anything related to books. Well, if you are one of those who yearn to meet such hard core readers then ‘Bound Together Bombay’, founded by Mumbaikars Delnaz and Aarti, is the place for you.

Understanding Cities

You might have read in the papers about the ‘BMW Guggenheim Lab’ that is in town these days. This moving lab which has previously travelled to cities like New York and Berlin, before coming to the shores of Mumbai, likes to describe itself as urban think tank, a community center and a public gathering space. Its primary motive is to address issues pertaining to contemporary urban life through various programs and public discussions. We caught up with the Guggenheim Lab’s resident blogger ‘Christine Mclaren’, who has been trying to understand our magnificent city by unique ways like walking blind folded through the city and commuting in peak hour rush in a Virar local!

Christine McLaren

The Networking Dinner

The fast life of Mumbai can prove to be a killer for many. Our modern live’s require us to Juggle too many balls at the same time, which eventually tires one out. What we need are endeavours which can help to break away from these monotonous lives that we live. The best way would be to go out and meet interesting people. Mumbaikars, an innovative lot, have experimented with various versions of networking, from dating meet-ups to foodie meet-ups, there’s a networking platform for every kind of interest. Discovering Mumbai features Megha Deokule, who organizes one such networking meet up called ‘Coral’, which allows people to network over great food.

Megha and Pawan, co-founders 'Coral'

The Fashionista

The debate for which city deserves the title of the ‘Fashion Capital’ of India has been raging for quite a long time now. Both Delhi and Mumbai claim the title as theirs and it really is a tough call as to which of these Indian cities deserves the top slot. Bollywood certainly adds glamour to Mumbai’s fashion industry but Delhi is where most of the top designers of the country have their base. Well, we are not here to decide which city deserves the crown, neither are we talking about those designers, supermodels etc. We are here to talk about the world of fashion bloggers and today we feature ‘Shubhangi’, a fashion blogger from Mumbai, who writes the blog ‘Shubhi’s Revels’. Make way for the fashionista!

Fashion blogger - Shubhangi

Decoding The City Through Stories

Mumbai is certainly the most mystical and mysterious city of our country. For years people have been trying to understand this city. Various means have been adopted by them and a lot has been written about the city. But still there is no absolute clarity as to what makes this city so unique. Mumbai still lures the explorers to come and explore it. Discovering Mumbai itself is one such experiment and so we were very happy to come across another great experiment in the discovery of the city. ‘Katha Cues’, a group of people who gather to share stories, founded by Tarun Durga, is an on-going experiment to understand the city through the stories of its inhabitants.

  

Improvising Theatre

The vibrant theatre culture of Mumbai has been witnessing a steady stream of talented and innovative actors which are bent on changing the old ways. Their penchant for travelling on the path less travelled has resulted in creation of an innovative theatre scene in Mumbai. ‘Improv’ has been the talk of town in recent years. Improv theatre has changed the way we watch and experience theatre by making the audience a part of the action. Discovering Mumbai presents Adam Dow, founder of ‘Improv ComedyMumbai’ (ICM), a group dedicated to pushing the boundaries of Improv theatre and taking it to the masses. Time for some improvisation!

Adam Dow

The Breakfast Projekt

How far can you push yourself for your passion? Setting ambitious targets is easy, but getting up every day and sticking to it is tough. We start out with much gusto, but somewhere down the line the fire fizzles out, the target becomes an insurmountable peak, and we just quit. How about setting yourself a target of preparing a new breakfast every morning, throughout the year? Sounds ambitious? Well Pratishtha Khan, has set herself this ambitious and rather unique target. Discovering Mumbai presents Pratishtha who has started ‘The Breakfast Projekt', through which she aims to cook up 356 different breakfast recipes in 365 days!

Pratishtha Khan

Crazy for Food

Mumbai has many treasures for the foodie. From high end restaurants serving international cuisines to the budget restaurants serving amazing Indian delicacies, there is a lot to explore and relish. But given the sheer size of the cities it often becomes difficult for one to travel from one corner of the city to another to try a new restaurant. Also it’s sometimes difficult to convince people to come along to a far flung place. A few Mumbai foodies, however, have found a solution to this problem. They have come together and formed a group 'Pet Pujari’s', a group of people who will do anything for food! Discovering Mumbai today features Sushil Cherian, the founder of this fabulous foodie group Pet Pujari’s.

Pet Pujaris at 'Bagelwala'

The Classical Sound of Harp

For quite a long time, for most of us Indian’s music began and ended with Bollywood. The sound, or rather noise, of Bollywood drowned out everything else. Even today, all day long, through the Television and Radio we are constantly bombarded with Bollywood music. However, now we have a large chunk of population that is exploring and listening to different kinds of music. It’s not just the new age punk or alternative rock but even classical music, both Indian and western is seeing a revival. Discovering Mumbai presents to you Nush Lewis, a popular harpist, singer and songwriter; whose work with the strings will definitely make you fall in love with the harp!

Nush Lewis

The Feminine side of Mumbai’s Underworld

Mumbai’s underworld and its dons are as famous as the Bollywood and its superstars! It’s a menace that has captured the attention of the general public for years now. Through Bollywood flicks and newspapers, many have tried to explore the dark side of the city and its anti-heroes. But beyond the ugly gang wars and encounters, there’s one side of the underworld which has often been overlooked. It’s about the women who were part of this organized crime scene. Surprising but true, there were many women who made a mark in the world of crime. Discovering Mumbai presents Jane Borges, who co-wrote the book “Mafia Queens of Mumbai”, which throws light on these lesser known female characters from Mumbai’s underworld.

Breaking the Glass Ceiling

 One of the good things about Mumbai is that it gives you the opportunities to create a career in the field of your interest. It’s not always easy, if you are trying to make it in a niche industry. Old traditions and habits come in the way of youngsters trying to break into such industries. With our society still being a male dominated one, women often face such barriers. But age and sex can never stop you from doing something you love to do. And this spirit is highlighted by our today’s featured writer, Karina Aggarwal, who writes about alcohol on her website Gigglewater411. Discovering Mumbai proudly presents the lady whose knowledge of spirits will leave you spell bound!

Karina Aggarwal

The Food Blogger

One business that’s ever happening in Mumbai is the business of food. An unlimited number of restaurants are present out there to serve our desires. They come in all shapes and sizes, serving various kinds of cuisines. But too much choice has its own problems. Not everyone is open to experimenting with food like us; we can pretty much have our food anywhere! For those who like to tread with caution there are many websites like Burrp and Zomato offering reviews of restaurants. We recently caught up with one Mumbai based food blogger and restaurant critic, Ashrita or ‘Caramel Wings’ as she is known in the blogosphere. Here’s our feature story on this foodie and food critic.

Ashrita - Food Blogger and Restaurant Critic

Those Damn Memes

We love Facebook, well; we all love Facebook, don’t we? We really didn’t need to make this statement; the numbers speak for themselves. If Facebook was a nation, it would have been the third most populous nation of the world. There are many ways people use this social networking site, from connecting with friends to sharing info about their businesses, this tool can serve many purposes. The ‘like’ and ‘share’ buttons are one of the biggest inventions of our times. We use them very generously. More often than not, we see people sharing lots of funny images. We find our walls are always filled with such images. ‘Meme’, that’s what they are known as, are extremely popular on Facebook. And today, we feature the Facebook page ‘Indian Memes’, a page committed to creating memes based on local content, on Discovering Mumbai.

The Famous Grammar Nazi Jaggu Dada character

Being a Movie Critic

If you are an Indian, then you’re also expert on two particular topics – Movies and Cricket. We like to talk about these endlessly. Everyone has an opinion. From Sehwag’s bad form to what makes the three Khans the kings of Bollywood, we know it all. Fridays have become such important days for us, as we all look forward to the release of the next Bollywood blockbuster. But a new predicament has arisen thanks to the number of movies releasing each week and the cost of tickets at multiplexes. It has become important to know which movie is worth investing our money in. This is where movie critics come to our rescue! They watch the movie so that you can decide whether to watch it or give it a skip. Discovering Mumbai recently interviewed ‘Blessy Chettiar’ a movie critic at DNA newspaper to understand what it means to be a movie critic!

It's Showtime!

Finally we found something on Facebook that made us smile! Something that we were yearning for since last three years and that thing is ‘company’. Company to watch plays, comic or intense. It’s rather odd, but true, that in a city like Mumbai it’s still tough to find people who would willingly accompany you for watching a play. We are not the ones to take our friends to plays gunpoint; the same friends that would willingly pay through the nose for a mindless Bollywood flick at an expensive multiplex! If your countless attempts to tempt your friends to watch a play have failed then ‘Its Showtime’ is your saviour. Its Showtime, a Facebook group has been founded by Salonee Sanghvi Doshi, a Mumbaikar who is undoubtedly in love with theatre.