12/11/10
The Mumbai trip is nearing the end. We went to another concert at the Nehru Centre yesterday. Ustad Rashid Khan performed Raga Shree and Raga Charukeshi. A thoroughly enjoyable concert, especially as we travelled there with Guruji in his chauffeur driven Merc! Just to balance things up we got a non AC taxi back to the hotel after the concert.
Mumbai is certainly the type of city where you discover new things all the time. Yesterday we found Moshi’s Café, a small modern style café near the Gateway of India, with a seating area upstairs. They do a fantastic pot of Darjeeling tea (see pic) complete with hot milk and a tea strainer! On the menu it describes four different “flushes” of tea:
1st flush : mild
2nd flush : delicate and sweet
Monsoon flush : getting richer
Autumn flush : strong and flavoursome
I’m not sure if this referred to when the tea was harvested or whether it was each different cup from the pot. I only got 1 and a half “flushes” from my pot so I’m guessing it’s the former!
Tomorrow night Guruji has invited us to a function for the birthday of the founder of one of Mumbai’s top music shops. I felt I should dress up so have visited Cotton World and bought myself some traditional India kulta and pyjama……and a nice scarf!