My to-do list of travel never started with India, although the beaches of Kerala in the south or the snowy mountain of Kashmir always attracted me. In my mind it was more the like of Australia or Brazil…  The odds decided otherwise and I ended up being sent to Mumbai for two weeks of work at the Four Seasons Hotel. The nearest place I have ever been to India was Sri-Lanka, when I was working in the Maldives. But I had never experienced India and its cities, and mind you, it was not just any city, but the most populated city in India with its 21 million people: Mumbai.

The period I was there was the beginning of the monsoon, which I thought wasn’t too much of an inconvenience since I had to work. The problem was my one day off per week was soaked in rain too; thus giving me little opportunity to visit the city. It rained everyday.

On a Sunday afternoon, a very dark cloud of rain was lurking to burst over the city, but before it did, we managed to get out and visit a little. As a perfect tourist, I was brought to the few spots you see in the magazines. I like to think about Mumbai city as an organized mess. The streets have such an incredible buzz that is ongoing day and night. People are just cruising left and right and everywhere you look, there is another surprise to discover. Poverty is omnipresent and it left me a sad impression, country side people flood town in search of the Pot of Gold they will rarely find, and it doesn’t end up in a quest for their future, but in a quest to know what will be on the table tomorrow for their family.

As a first timer in India, I received my welcome gift for the 2 weeks to come: a beautiful gastroenteritis. I couldn’t say where it came from nor did I care, and I lived with it without any problem. The food was fabulous all along!

For a baker, discovering first hand the making of Indian bread was an amazing experience, the bread specialist of the Indian cuisine have such a smooth flowing way of doing it that it made me look like I knew nothing (which I am). I was being demonstrated plain naan bread, roti bread and cheese and coriander naan, the latter dusted with homemade garam masala powder beats any pizza, any day as long as it is made like the one I had there! The guys are grounding their own garam masala and the tandoor oven work exclusively with charcoal, reaching temperature above 300 Celsius.  They also do their own curry powder from whole spices. Taking a deep breath on top of both, the masala and the curry spices, before being grounded, was incredible… I saw myself in the TV commercial for India! …and that alone, people, was worth my trip to India!

After tasting different kebabs, breads and sauces I was full… but being in India for the first time, I thought there was no such thing as being full! So it was time to dig into Indian sweets. (I can hear my dentist’s evil laugh already!) And indeed, the sweets are sweeter than anything sweet I had tried before; too sweet for my palate, but they were prepared in the purest Indian tradition and in themselves the sweets were of excellent quality. 

 
While working in the pastry, I was given loads of sweets to try including the most impressive display of calories packed in a single cubic centimeter. Zauk E Shahi is the real deal; a layer of packed Gulab Jamun covered with a creamy topping and baked… it’s a kind of “don’t try this at home” glycemic rush! I know… I am such a Gwailo, but my favorite Indian sweet is still Kulfi. Probably because it resembles to ice cream and is very refreshing. The one I had was saffron and pistachio and was soooo satisfying after all the curries!

Seeing Mumbai and the life it boasts is really a lifetime experience, you might love it or hate it, but you will have to admit: it is truly incredible!