Bombay Blogger Meet - Tomorrow

I like being a dictator. Yes, yes, I prefer liberty to power, but even the little power in organising a meet and being the final arbiter on venues is intoxicating.

We meet tomorrow, Sunday, May 22, at 3 pm.

The venue is the Regal Barista.

For those who are not acquainted with this great landmark in South Bombay, here’s a brief guide. Regal is an old (1933), but very well kept cinema house. The architecture is art deco and the current movie playing is Naina. Regal is a corner building at the mouth of the Colaba Causeway. The side road leads you to the Gateway of India. Diagonally opposite, across the traffic circle, is the Prince of Wales Musuem.

If you’re coming by train, get off right at the southern end of the line, either Churchgate or VT. Catch a bus going to Museum or Colaba and ask the conductor to push you off at Regal. If, like Aadisht, you’re already in South Bombay, jump onto a bus to Colaba (you’re sure to find many), rinse and repeat.

If you’re driving down, ask anybody (yes, even the street urchin will do) as Regal / the Gateway are landmarks in their own right.

Ah yes, you’re standing outside Regal and can’t see the damn Barista? See the Sports Bar? Next to it is a clothes shop. And next to that is the Barista. Get in, the place is airconditioned and it’s hot at 3 pm!


12 Responses to “Bombay Blogger Meet - Tomorrow”  

  1. 1 amit varma

    Ok, just got inside. It’s nice and AC, but no place to sit. So I get back out, and stand in the sweltering heat. Sweat comes. Itchiness. I feel woozy. Other bloggers come, and feel faint. Still no place inside Barista. One blogger collapses. What to do, what to do? We push him into a gutter and look for shelter. Ah, Regal! We walk right in and see Nania. I mean Naain. I mean Anain.

    And then I wake up. Phew, that was bad.

  2. 2 Saket

    Thanks for the directions Yaz.

    And Amit, I’m hoping that anything of that sort doesn’t happen tomorrow. Do not worry, the dark forces will shield us from misfortune

    Regards,

    Saket

  3. 3 sangeeta

    Wish you had it on this side of Andheri

  4. 4 Quizman

    Naina? There was a time when the people running Regal would not be caught dead exhibiting a native film. I remember Regal, New Excelsior, Liberty, Strand etc in the early 70s. Even the waiters and doormen were a bunch of snooty bloody-so and so’s. My friends and I used to call such folks “Indians settled in India.” Then some theatres closed down - a la the Marathi hotels which were a subject of a recent post elsewhere. How times have changed, eh?

  5. 5 vibhendu

    Arun,
    From hanging around the cinemas in the early 70’s to hanging around the Agarwal Classes in the early 90’s, you took a really long time to complete your schooling :-)

    OK, make that late 80’s.

  6. 6 Quizman

    LOL. I remembered going to these theatres with my parents when I was very small. Though, even in the 80s when I went with my friends, the snobs were still around. :-)

  7. 7 Sarika

    Just read Aadisht’s report of “the event”.

    Out of all these people, Amit Varma was the only one with sexy hair, Devendra Gera was the only one with no hair, Yazad Jal was the only one with boyish good looks, and I was the only one with a handwired blog.

    “Boyish good looks” LOL!! This got me a better laugh than the guys on Whose Line is it anyway, on tv a while back!!! :P

  8. 8 amit varma

    Phew. Sarika, for a moment I thought you were going to laugh at my allegedly sexy hair. Relief comes.

    But, um, which part of “boyish good looks” amuses you?

  9. 9 MadMan

    The “good” part?

  10. 10 Sarika

    Amit, actually, the “sexy hair” part was quite amusing as well. Unfortunately, your blog doesn’t have a comment system and I’m too lazy to mail.
    And Madhu, you hit the nail on the head! ;-)

  11. 11 amit varma

    Please don’t call Yazad a nail. He’s my friend. And Madhu, stop hitting on him.

  12. 12 Sarika

    Aaah… The trademark cartellian humor(??)! How I was waiting for such a pj to be cracked!! All my efforts of typing these words out proved fruitful at last!

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