Wherever Music Takes You

Love music? Love attending gigs? Disappointed that major international artists skip Mumbai most of the times? Willing to travel to wherever your favourite band is performing in the country, because you just can’t afford to skip the gig! Worry not; Chorush is here to solve your problem. Chorush, a tourism company built around music, started by two music aficionados, Krish and Suraj, is an initiative to take music fans to where the music is. No longer missing that once in a lifetime opportunity to see your favourite band/star perform live, thanks to Chorush! Ain’t that music to your ears?

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.

Changing Lives

The government of India wants you to believe that India is shining, that we are poised to become a superpower soon. But beyond all the brouhaha surrounding India’s rise, as citizens we do know and we can clearly see the glaring dark spots in the image of India that is being sold to us. We all know what ails this country; that at the grassroots there are still plenty a problem to be solved. But its not just the government, we too are to blame for the malaise our society finds itself in, like someone has said, “Knowing what to do and still not doing it, is the biggest crime”. Discovering Mumbai is proud to feature a Mumbaikar working to bring about a change at the grass root level by educating children from underprivileged sections. That Mumbaikar is Himani Sanghvi, a Teach For India Fellow (TFI).

Himani (Right) with her students

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

For the Love of Cycling

All of us, at some stage of our childhood, have tried our hand at cycling. As we grew up, motorbikes and cars became our preferred means of transport. But the humble bicycle is making a comeback and that too in a serious way. A cyclist, with all his gear and an expensive cycle is has become a common sight on a weekend morning in most parts of the city. It’s not just the youth; people from older age groups too are rediscovering the joy of cycling. Being cycling enthusiasts ourselves, we set out on the hunt for people who are in love with cycling, and we stumbled upon a whole bunch of cycling freaks! Discovering Mumbai presents to you ‘BandraCyclists Club’, a group of cyclists from in and around the western suburb of Bandra.

You are not stuck in traffic, you are traffic!

The Art of Coffee Brewing

Historically we Indians have been tea drinkers. But recently the trend of drinking coffee has been catching up, especially in the metros. New coffee shops are springing up everywhere in the city. Coffee seems to be the favourite drink for urbanites today. Café’s in the city offer various kinds of brews of coffee, but you can’t afford to go to a café all the time to have a cup of coffee. What to do when you want to have that same taste of coffee at home? Sadly, most of us are stuck with the option of instant coffees which are nowhere near the taste we get at cafes. Well, worry not; you can use the services ‘TheCoffee Coach’ who conducts workshops that teach you how to brew that café like coffee in the comfort of your home. So grab a cup of coffee and enjoy this feature story of ‘The Coffee Coach’ by Discovering Mumbai.

Sahil Jatana - The Coffee Coach

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