Vada Bagel Anyone?
Bombay and New York – A Tangled Tale of Two Cities
New York and Bombay, two places most of us spend a lot of time talking about, dreaming about, and fantasizing about. We’re either in New York dying to go to Bombay – or in Bombay manipulating how we can get back to New York!
Two young creators, who have spent time in both these frenetic cities, got together to produce the ultimate twinning of their two objects of desire, Bombay-New York, a slim, smart and sassy little book which puts all the similarities – good and bad – of their two favorite places together.
The book is written by Ria Mirchandani and illustrated by Shivantika J. Kothari. The two are childhood friends from Bombay who have crisscrossed the two cities through their growing up years and have a passion for both cities and consider both of them home. They lived minutes away from each other in Bombay – and just 8 subway stops apart in New York!
Each city has its own addiction – for Bombaywalas it’s chai and for New Yorkers, it’s coffee. The way to get around in Bombay is by the local trains, New York it’s the subway. One city has Bollywood, the other, Broadway.
If Bombay is overrun with legions of cawing crows – New York has its own notorious rats! New York has its pushcarts while Bombay has its famous street foods. Both cities have their much beloved and much maligned taxis and crazy taxi-drivers. In New York it is the yellow cab while in Bombay it’s the kaali-peeli taxi. And yes, if New York has its takeout, Bombay has its equally efficient dhabawalas.
The authors have caught many of the similarities and differences between these two great cities and of course, there are many more which others will point out. Ria’s writing is sharp and witty and so are the joyful illustrations by Shivantika which catch the spirit of the two cities.
So it was on a cold, dreary Friday that guests trekked out to Dumbo to a cozy new neighborhood café Fountainhas for a book signing and had quite an amazing evening, meeting new people, seeing new faces and actually trying new products. The two were joined by many of their friends who are living in Brooklyn, and it was such a lovely community of creative people, dancers, artists, and writers. In fact, the evening became all about discovering Bombay and New York and the world which exists in-between these two places.
And what did we get to eat? There was Cutting Chai to warm us up. But along with it, was the logical Bombay-New York snack, a Vada Bagel inspired by Bombay’s famous Vada Pao! The Vada was created by a talented woman chef from New York and bundled between a sliced New York bagel. It actually tasted pretty good, hot or cold. Not a bad metaphor for a delicious mashup of two frenetic, fantastic maximum cities!
