it used to be a joke – needing a passport to go beyond worli, but now i understand why it is so difficult to navigate the bylanes of my favourite suburb – bandra. While it is full of exciting little lanes and cafes, character and quaintness; it remains shrouded in inaccessibility. lanes map into more lanes, and turning from one bit just takes u into another. the grid is meaningless to an outsider.

and yet, as i made another attempt this weekend, armed with addresses and numbers, i began to realise that the more time you spend here, the more familiar it gets – having to stop at every lane and asking a rickshaw driver for directions notwithstanding!

essentially, bandra has character. u can spend ages sitting in a little cafe and watch the world go by, or you can wander through the lanes, and discover one something new at every turn. everyone seems to be going somewhere, and yet nowhere.

there’s an unhurried pace that differs from the city: it makes you want to stop. maybe its bandra, or maybe it’s the fact that 20 min outside the city and suddenly it’s a different world!

i love taking the sealink, it makes me feel connected to this place, this is little haven that is rapidly turning into an extension of the big city, losing its charm and becoming more…concrete…if that makes sense.