On a cloudy evening, my wife and I decided to walk the streets of Bandra (Mumbai). We headed towards the famous Linking Road. We had no intention of shopping. We wanted to wander around at a different location. We were tired of watching the rain from home while eating pakodas. I know, we all like that and Mumbai, I feel, is the best place to enjoy rains that way. But weren’t we doing the same thing for the last two years? So, we decided to go out.

As you walk down the road, you see big and luminous showrooms of premium brands such as Titan, Body Shop, Apple, Food Hall, Tommy Hilfiger, and so on and so forth. You name the brand and it’s there.

The bylanes and the road parallel to that have an opposite picture. It’s a street shopping paradise. Street vendors attracting customers and the customers trying to get a good deal from shopkeepers – is the usual scene on these streets.

We saw empty showrooms and crowded streets. Did people prefer street shopping over showrooms? Are people buying branded goods online instead? Or did the rich avoid shopping in rain? We don’t know. But, in any case, the vibe on the street that day did not match the hustle and bustle seen during the pre-Covid days.

We hopped from one store to another and then rambled through the street shops without buying anything. We passed by a chat vendor who was selling some sandwiches and panipuri. The smell from that stall pulled us like how they show in advertisements. Our heads turned to it and immediately, we craved for chat.

Although we could see a big KFC restaurant across the road, we were fixated on panipuri. We ate street food after so many years from a roadside vendor. For the last two years, we had either avoided street food or preferred to eat from premium vendors who use gloves. This time it was different.

I remembered those days when I was not that conscious of my food choices, places and diet. Memories crept into our minds as we ate panipuris. They were delicious!

The chat, while satiating couldn’t fill us up. We couldn’t decide where we should go for dinner – to some fancy club in Khar or to a basic restaurant nearby. As we strolled, we saw Domino’s. We waited for a second, murmured something and then barged inside to get a cheese burst pizza, or two.

I remembered my college days when partying at a pizza place like Dominos or Pizza Hut was a thing. It was fun and most of us would long for such meals back in the day. Call me snobbish or a victim of adulting, I no longer have that excitement for pizza, and that too, one ordered from Dominos. It’s not like I don’t like it. But frequent outside (and tastier) meals have lowered that excitement I once had. That day, however, we were on a streak of cheap thrills.

While eating I thought how ‘garma garam’ (hot) pizza is delicious and that I have missed it for the last couple of years. The home-delivered pizza is slightly cold and soggy. I never thought I would miss eating fresh and hot pizza that much.

At Domino’s, we saw a boy younger than me, with his younger sister, mother and another older woman, getting excited to see their pizzas in those small boxes. The young guy guided his family on how to take a slice of pizza, how to top it with oregano and chilly flakes and eat it with hands and mouth wide open.

He was trying to explain what the pizza is to his mother. Although she was excited to see her son’s eyes filled with joy and achievement, I can tell from her expressions that she did not like it. But it seemed that she was happy for him. The sister, on the other hand, was super happy that she could finally eat pizza which she might have seen a number of times in ads but never had a chance to eat it.

Apparently, they were celebrating something. Maybe, his first handsome salary. He might have had pizza before but it was a new cuisine for everyone else at that table. Maybe, his family does not live in Mumbai. He may have invited them from their native place to show how he is living in Mumbai. He may have toured them across Mumbai and bought clothes or something from the street or, maybe from one of the showrooms. At the end of the day, they looked happy. They left the restaurant with some strong memories which they might reminisce about one day.

It felt weird. We were having pizza for the nth time and its novelty factor had faded years ago. But there was a family who had their first pizza – excited and proud of going up the income ladder, probably.

You encounter these examples at many places in Mumbai. It is easy to spot them in each and every corner of the city. More often than not, you can see high rises and slums side by side or classy showrooms and street shops on the same road.

I think we must notice these differences and be more aware of what it means to live in any society. One important thing that I have learnt over the past few years is being aware of the privileges – social as well as financial. We usually take them for granted.

In these turbulent times, it felt nice to see someone shackling their barriers and writing their paths of success and happiness.

– Swapnil Karkare