Ramzan Fever

This Ramzan has been eventful for me. To begin with, my dad who is now retired, enjoys eating Iftaar food and we found ourselves buying some every week at least. We even had a pseudo Eid party at home one day before Eid. Kababs and tandooris, followed by dum biryani, and finished with malpua and rabri as desserts.

It all started with the haleem I ordered from Gati again this year. I got three full kilos to last us a good amount of time. Dad loved it and said we should get more food! I bought iftaar food from Versova for him and mom one evening and he loved it! So he wanted to go visit some stall selling iftaar food as well. I took him to Cafe Alif at Jogeshwari West one day and he made friends with the restaurant guy! The next day, he was back there, buying items for the Eid party!

But what I also did for the first time was that I went to Mohammed Ali Road to eat the morning food at 3 am. My friend, Vedant, and his colleagues make an annual trip there during Ramzan to eat and he asked if I was interested. I wasn't sleeping when he called and so I said yes. Off we went, all on bikes, and ate a LOT of bheja, liver, gurda and regular chicken tandoori. One poor vegetarian guy was totally out of place and even got a piece of bone in his paneer.

Shitty thing was, though, that once we were finished eating, we noticed that two bikes had less air in them. Thinking that somebody's removed the air, we went to a nearby petrol pump and filled in some air. Then we were off to Sassoon docks. At Sassoon docks, the fishermen come in with their catch at about 5:30 am everyday. You can see the entire fish unloading process and buy fish at really cheap prices. Just be sure to wear totally covered footwear and fold your pants up! The dock footwalk is completely layered with mashed pieces of fish that have been stamped on. Not for the light hearted this!

I bought some bombil (Bombay duck) and prawns while other people also bought pomfret and surmai (King fish). The variety of fish we saw was amazing. I saw a 5 foot long fish that the fisherwoman said was a shark. It clearly wasn't. I think they call all large fish sharks! But the highlight of the catch was when I was walking and saw a mound on the ground next to me. I remember thinking to myself, Must be a lot of muck there. should stay away. And then I saw spots on it (it was 5:30 am, could hardly see anything). When i focused harder, I realized it was a sting ray! About 4 feet wide! And even longer, when you count the tail! It's the only time I have seen a sting ray outside an aquarium. Though I did wonder if they are endangered. Felt a little bad too.

Once everybody was done with their shopping, Vedant and I went back to his bike to see that the air in the tyre was gone again. We were now sure that the tyre was actually punctured. It was only 6:30 am and we were looking for a tyre repair shop. Nothing opened until 7:30, we were told, but we could try our luck near Metro cinema at Churchgate station. We rode on at a speed on 5 kmph (lol. people were staring at us) and at last found the shop at Metro. Thankfully, it was 7 by then and the shop was just opening. By 8, the tyre was ready to run after we found 3 nails hammered into the tyres from the side. Handiwork of some idiot kids at Mohammed Ali Road, obviously.

I reached home at 9. My parents did not know when I had left home and had given me a call at 7. I explained that I was out and would return with something for mom. She was real happy to see the fish and prawns!

So that was my Ramzan this year. Nobody gave me any Eidi though :(