Firstly, thx to Ishimaru Chiaki, the Japanese beauty in Australia who called today to ask me why my blog hasn’t been updated…!! The last post was 4 days ago and I think that’s not too bad, ok?! Still it’s good to know some of you regularly check in. This is a post especially meant for the category in which it’s placed. Read on:
If you’re in Bombay city for a spot of shopping, you must take a trip down to the ‘Queen of the Burbs’ Bandra, Linking Road and Hill Road. And shop you can - for hours and hours - and for every single thing under the hot Indian sun.
Linking Road is lined up with all sort of fun stores filled with goodies. Salwar Kameez materials or ready pieces in all sorts of colors, patterns & work done on them. For foreigners looking to buy gifts to take home, I’d suggest the Kurtis. Alternatively you could pick up some really nice funky bags with bead/mirror work or really sexy fabrics (pretty similar to roadside shopping in Bangkok and a bit cheaper too if you can bargain).
Of course for me, Linking Road means shoes!!! It’s a shoe shopper’s heaven literally! If you’re like me and a tad fussy about picking up stuff from the roads, don’t worry - there are tons & tons of proper shops filled with shoes! You’ll even find shops that will make custom shoes for you - choose the pattern (you can even mix & match from different shoes) & tell the color & the height & voila!!
I suggest you take a full day out to go shopping (it’s completely worth it). There are also tons of fast food places you can stop & snack at including KFCs and McDonalds. I stopped at the latter when I spent my Sunday shopping & took this pic with good ole Ronald. I promise I wasn’t trying to be fresh or anything…. it was only after I saw the pic I realised why he was blushing bright red & turning his face away from me… erm… sorry, meant to just put my hand on your lap…
Back to shopping however, Hill Road is the place you can pick up a lot of nice Indian & Western clothes. Globus, Trios, Hilton and tons of other stores are stocked to capacity (both people shopping & clothes) with clothes for kids, adults, formal, informal, whatever you want stuff.
What we wanted though was some very fun lingerie. A close girl friend of mine is getting married in a two months & we decided to have a blast & check out some shops that we wouldn’t usually. And my, my, my. Oh my. There were stuff I didn’t even know what to use for. And there was other stuff which I could understand what to use for but couldn’t for the life of me figure out WHY anyone would want- like artificle “buttock pads to pad in your buttocks”. Are they on some JLo trip here???
All that aside though, we managed (& when I say we, I really mean my friend) to buy some really really fun stuff, full of feathers, strappy-thingies etc. We came out blushing slightly but thoroughly entertained, lol.
Back to the food - if you’re Indian or not too worried about falling sick, I suggest you try out the Pani-Puri at Elco Arcade, it’s so good that it’s rumoured the owner made enough money to send his son to Harvard! (Ask anyone from Bandra & they’ll swear this is the truth). I don’t know if that’s true, but I do know he’s now bought off a full floor of the building above the original store (& we all know what Bandra real estate costs) and started a restaurant there.
Some words of warning though:
* Both Linking Road and Hill Road are UNbelievably crowded. If you’re like me & can’t stand crowds then I suggest you try going there in the morning (but not too early as most shops open only by around 11am) and if possible, try going on a week day to avoid the added weekend rush.
* If you’re not Indian, take someone with you who’ll help you bargain. Most places require you to bargain even if you’re Indian. And if you’re obviously not, they’ll try to rip you off further. The exceptions to the “required-to-bargain” rule would be some of the bigger shops (like Globus), but I’ve found out even in some (other) big shops, if you’re buying a lot of stuff, you can bargain a little.
* Be prepared to walk a lot. Wear comfy walking shoes. The roads are in TERRIBLE condition. There are no footpaths. Even the roads are filled with people selling stuff on cloths spread out (including lots of fake but nice Indiany jewellery/belts). The roads are also filled with traffic moving in every direction possible, be aware this is not for the faint hearted!
All that being said though, if shopping’s the aim, you ain’t gonna be dissapointed. Have fun!!
; ?>/feed-icon-24x24.png){kind=icon}
October 17th, 2006 at 2:51 pm
Ahem ahem ahem….
Where do I start?
I’m sure Ronald is sexy and everything but control yaar!!!!
>>>>”sorry, meant to just put my hand on your lap”
Dont believe that one 1 bit. I’m sure it was very deliberate mistake
Did you get a FREE happy meal for that one?
“There were stuff I didn’t even know what to use for”…. ROFL here
I would have loved it if we had some pics of those things….
I think you are turning into a very naughty blogger these days
Loved the entire post and 2 pics in particular
October 17th, 2006 at 2:56 pm
ROFL me too!
Harsh, bet I know which pics u r talking abt.
October 17th, 2006 at 3:27 pm
It’s alright Mac. You can always complain to the DORC (Dummy objects’ rights council).
Melody, shame you!
P.S: You heard? DP is closing down.
October 17th, 2006 at 9:10 pm
I think Harsh has said enough for everyone… so I shall *with great restraint* refrain from ol’ Ronald…
Mel… my comments dont help u?
Of course they do… they keep you down to earth! 
(and of course, you vice the versa)
And I mean it… your comments did help!
@Harsh: Even I know which 2 pics u liked. The first two, of course! I know you’re a shoe freak, but control yaar!!!!
October 17th, 2006 at 10:11 pm
As for the pics of the things I didn’t know what to do with - trust me I’d not put pics of them up. Some of the boxes themselves seemed X-Rated.
And you mean the pics of the shoes right?
@ Aparna: Yes, I know he’s talking about the shoes too
@ Vijay: Nobody believes me
And sorry, my head is not top of the line at the moment - what is DP? and why is it closing down?? And must we care???
@ dev: You want to refrain FROM ole Ronald???? Why what were you planning on doing to/with him before Harsh commented????
lol to the down to earth thingie, I’m SO down to earth. I own the earth
and
@ your comment to Harsh!!! I didn’t see it before I posted. Guess we think alike - or guess we just know about Harsh’s shoe fetish 
October 18th, 2006 at 9:47 am
ROFL here on the whole post and on comments section.
And I was expecting Dev to jump in with some more “comments”.
But he’s too diplomatic these days. sigh! like Manmohan Singh.
Dev, I know you want to say a lot of things buddy. Get it out of the system
Mel, one last pot shot at this post. plz
Grow up girl !!! And stop playing with dolls!!!
October 18th, 2006 at 10:03 am
Ronald says: I’m lovin it…
October 18th, 2006 at 10:28 am
Tche… I meant refrain from ‘commentin on’ Ol’ Ronald… missed a couple of very imp words there. I guess I was too distracted by the other person in the Ronnie pic
October 18th, 2006 at 12:53 pm
DP is desipundit !!!!
And you must care.
October 18th, 2006 at 1:18 pm
And for the record, women will ALWAYS play with dolls. Mum bought a Barbie doll for one of my nieces the other day, it was all I could do to convince her to let me have it instead. Darn.
@ Slo:
See you remember the slogan, murugan.
@ dev: You paying me a compliment??? Losing yer touch??
@ Vijay: Ah. I must care. Ok, I guess. Will get the hanky out now.
October 18th, 2006 at 2:26 pm
ohh Melody what a fun filled post….really really enjoyed each bit….cuz have spent 13 yrs of my life on these streets…..I used to find Hill Road better….n moi fav toy store there was CheapJack…is it still around???
& used to buy all my frocks from Hiltons…haa…remembering old days….thanks a heap for the picks….missing missing Bombay
oh pani-puri @ Elco used to be my fav…I used to see Perizaad Zorabian quite often there….
hey bargaining @ Globus n other such stores…is it?? never knew about this…
ohh Ronald ought to be blushing…mind ur hand
thanks for bringing back GOOD OLD MEMORIES….
October 18th, 2006 at 3:32 pm
Melody………were is ur hand?…wat…o! my ….
hmmm errr.. when was ur last retreat? i bet in July…but now u need to have a retreat ASAP……& dont 4get to take Mr. Ronald with u.
October 18th, 2006 at 9:44 pm
Nice pic with roland i must say. His lucky day. Well i just discovered your site or blog adn i must say it is really nice and well written. going to back soon to read other posts
tulan17.blogspot.com
tanda17.blogspot.com
October 19th, 2006 at 1:55 pm
Cheap Jack is still very much around (though not so cheap anymore, lol)
@ Derek: Another retreat? Why do they teach you where to put/ not put your hands?
@ Tulan: Welcome to the voice in my head! Will come around & check out your place!
October 20th, 2006 at 1:17 pm
Why do you have walking stick in your right hand. In the Ronald pic.
May 24th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
I know this was posted a long time ago but wanted to comment anyway. Last year I spent some quality time in Mumbai since I was there twice within 3 months. I really enjoyed it and saw a completely different side to Mumbai than I had experienced ever before.
Elco was a definate fav place of mine and we actually ate upstairs in the restaraunt bit. The famous pani-puri was suberb as was the other food they sell. They have a dessert speciality that our waiter insisted we couldn’t leave without trying - can’t remember it’s name right now - but it was great. The best thing about this place and not sure how long this has been happening is that all the food is prepared using mineral water so we didn’t have any tummy trouble eating there.
Opposite Elco is a menswear shop where my cousin and his best man were getting their wedding outfits made and a group of us lads all went along for the ride. Now I’ve never shopped for clothes in India in my life but this place had some cool stuff and all of spent a lot of money in that store that day. I told the owner that he should now take the rest of the week off since he’s probably made so much money in those few hours we were there
My wife went crazy on Linking Road with all the shoes and bags for sale. I just got dizzy seeing the variety of options in stall after stall. The bargaining is a lot of fun and I love the walking away only to have the stall holder come running after you to do a deal. Doesn’t work everytime but it’s good and some of them are great fun so makes the whole process enjoyable.
Call it Mumbai or Bombay - it’s a great place and I can’t wait to spend time there again!