Leopold Cafe

Leopold is a bar- café tucked in the heart of the Colaba causeway, and had became a place of great interest to me after reading Shantaram which made me look at Mumbai with a totally different angle. I was very keen on visiting the café and observing the activities that I had easily ignored on my previous trips

Flashback
I still remember the first time I visited Leopold café. I was in college, and had heard a lot about this place from our seniors in Rotaract. Infact, going to Leopold was more like an event I was looking forward too. The visit that time was interesting, although I don’t think I had really observed the people around, the kick was just about visiting the place and telling the world you had been there. Couple of years later when my office was in town we often visited Leopold but always headed to the bar upstairs.

May 2006

As I walked to Leopold through Colaba Causeway I looked at the animated hoarding with bold lettering and pictures shouting out Leopold since 1837. This was new signage which has replaced the old simple Leopold sign recently.
When we walked in a firang guy, who was probably aGerman seated at the table near the open door, greeted us, welcoming us inside.After sometime we realized he was trying to make conversation with the other men seated on the table behind us.Suddenly he was standing between our table and the table behind and announced that he sang very well and would do a special performance for us. I was extremely excited and hoped to see some action, but unfortunately the guy simply sat on the table with those men and disappeared after a few minutes.

I saw this young guy probably in his 20s with a plastic bag, standing outside, looking inside than talking on his cell phone, minutes later he caught a table next to us and after sometime ventured outside exchanged bags with a middle-aged man and returned back enjoying his beer, leaving my mind to wander what the deal could have been. Amidst the chaos there was a group of American and Korean tourists who were competing with each other on doing a beer bottoms up. When I went for a visit to the washroom, I saw this firang women chatting with a Indian guy near the washbasin. The guy probably in his mid 30`s looked like some kind of agent, again this could just be a figment of my imagination. He chatted with the women enquiring about her health, and telling her she looked much better, maybe the new drug the doctor suggested her must have helped her.

Leopold has a total different culture even within its two sections. The non- ac section is full of tourists, very few Indians. The interiors gives it the 80`s look. The big old clock, the paintings of rockstars, musicians probably of 70`s or 80`s, the sign of the parsi logo( don’t know whats it supposed to be called) on the windows above and casual irani chairs and tables. Hemi pointed out the good thing about having the menu sandwiched on the glass table, thus not bothering to wait for the waiter to bring the menu to order. Also downstairs you have to pay first to get your alcohol. I wonder how this place would have been in 18 71 don’t think my grandfather ever visited it.

Upstairs is more like a lounge bar, there is music, you will find very few foreigners upstairs.

All in all, I think I like Leopold, an interesting place to hangout, maybe I should go their often.

Check this out too
http://www.outlookindia.com/photoessays.asp?serial=1&foldername=20060510&filename=shantaram&storyid=1&mode=1