Even-out evenings in Bombay

On Sunday evening as I dived into dinner at new eatery in town, talking about places to visit closer to work and otherwise my friend remarked “There is nothing much to do in the evenings in Bombay”. On Monday night when I left work, that statement suddenly came back to me. Pondering over the statement through out my train ride amidst finishing my book I thought about a couple of things that one could do in Mumbai on weeknights post work. Have listed them down would be great to add to the list so please contribute

Things where you don’t need to spend the mula
Mumbai has many bays
You can take a walk down
worli sea face .
Chowpatty beach
Nariman Point skyline
Dadar beach
Gateway of India
Port Garden- Ballard Pier
TIFR garden- Although u need some connection to get in there
Walk through the by lanes of Fort

Bookstores

This could be another interesting place to catch up on all the magazines & books..Most bookstores are open till 9. My recommendations are
Crossword at Kemps Corner- This is a real treat its probably the biggest book store in Mumbai. You can also unwind at the Moshes Café . Crosswords at Inorbit, Shivaji Park, Bandra are good hangouts to
Oxford book store- Oxford doesn’t have a wide choice of books but the chai and muffin at the cha bar are defi worth a visit

Coffee shops

Coffee culture is definitely in. There is nothing like unwinding with a nice book at any of the coffee shops. But some coffee bars become interesting because of kind of people you get to see there in turn the live entertainment that you get to watch
Barista – I have always preferred the Barista to the Coffee Day. Barista next to Regal is interesting as u can end up meeting a lot of backpackers, travelers and if you get the window seat it can be full entertainment watching the street kids talking to the firangs. Barista at Bandstand is nice with the view of the sea. The Shivaji Park Barista is also very relaxing
Of course the Bombay Baking company at the Marriot gets my vote. They serve some very good chai, coffee and muffins and you can pick up books and magazines to catch up on your reading. They close at 10 pm, but they are open 24 hours on Monday, when the coffee shop is closed
Prithvi café is also an interesting place to hangout; you just sit under a tree sipping irish coffee.
Café which has a similar ambience like Prithvi, tucked away inside Famous studio. Although they have some art displays there, the café is handled by Cafe Coffee Day so no great surprises on food and coffee

Music

Music is any form is usually entertaining. Karoake has become very popular. Some of the places where you defi get to watch some good Karoke action
Not Just Jazz By the Bay – They have a band playing or Karoke almost every day post 10
Starters & More & Soul Fry- There are others joinng in too like Zenzi, Bohemia etc
Mondegar and Leopold are other great hangouts. Mondegar has a juke box whereas at Leopold there is music only upstairs with a DJ playing some hits.



Movie screenings/ Plays / exhibitions

If you are some one who likes to watch offbeat cinemas then you should watch out for the movie screenings by British Council, Alliance France, National Film Divison, worli etc. Most of these screenings are free. .You can find them listed in Time-Out. It’s a good magazine to subscribe too. Most plays are screened on weekends but Prithvi theatre and NCPA sometimes do have screenings on weekdays. Also throughout the year there a tons of exhibitions of various kinds that you can go and check out


Hobby classes/ volunteer work/ Vocational course

Another interesting thing to do is take up a class on something novel. Something like
Kickboxing
Karate/Judo
Yoga
Salsa Class
Basic chopping and cooking class
Volunteer to teach at a night school ( I have been trying to find an NGO, where I can do this, but no luck so far, if any of you know anything like this please let me know)
Volunteer a couple of hours at an old age home (There is nothing like bringing happiness for a few minutes in someone’s life)
An Evening course to sharpen your skills, Velingar, NMIMS a lot of institutes offer a variety of courses