at the beginning of february i shifted roles within zaya, moving from implementation to a business development and alliances role. because this is a new area for me, i made a trip to bombay for 10 days for training and meetings and managed to get in some quality time with various friends in the process.

now that priyanka and deboo are married and settled into their house in lokhandwala, i had a home to stay in rather than a hotel, which was so nice. i woke up to friendly faces, went for a run next to the mangroves [said in a super deep voice, because it’s funny], and came back to delicious homemade food. the topic of my moving in with them permanently and becoming the breadwinner in the house came up frequently, with no small measure of seriousness. they’re kind of the best.

while i was in town we made a visit to janata and toto’s, spent some time with deboo’s grandmother, had dinner with his parents at cafe haqq se, stopped by gokul, and spent a lazy saturday afternoon playing cards against humanity. in between all of that i managed to meet radhika for a delicious dinner at gajalee and got to spend an evening catching up with bharati. various other friends joined for various outings, and as per usual i survived on very little sleep and a lot of chai. that’s the bombay way, and i wouldn’t change a thing.

with abhijeet at toto’s. bombay, india. february 2016.

the only photo i took at haqq se because i was too busy eating. bombay, india. february 2016.

because you can never have too many photos from the train. bombay, india. february 2016.

there’s nothing better than waking up to sabudana khichdi in bed on a sunday morning. bombay, india. february 2016.

pick your poison. bombay, india. february 2016.

checking out cafe irani chaii on my last working day of my visit. bombay, india. february 2016.

strolling around south bombay during the magical twilight hour. bombay, india. february 2016.

my inner child loves these double decker buses. bombay, india. february 2016.

waiting for an amitabh sighting. bombay, india. february 2016.

yummy homemade dinner. bombay, india. february 2016.

the janata crowd. bombay, india. february 2016.

saying farewell to my island city. bombay, india. february 2016.

because it’s not really a visit to bombay until you’ve had some vada pav. bombay, india. february 2016.

saturday afternoon activities. bombay, india. february 2016.

this is belinda, bertha’s sister. bombay, india. february 2016.

the circus came to town. bombay, india. february 2016.

bombay, you will forever be the city of my childhood dreams.

xx