Weekend of Culture in Bombay

Something's dramatically changed with Bombay. Or maybe it's just the monsoon ending. Whereas I typically bemoan the lack of alternative activities in Bombay, this weekend was jam-packed with them. Some quick highlights:

1) Washoku Japanese Food Festival
* Bombay's prestigious Institute of Hotel Management's 4th annual Japanese food festival gets an 'A' for effort but a 'F' for execution.
* In the immortal words of one of my friends, "they even screwed up potato tempura. This requires extraordinary talent."



2) MAMI: Mumbai Film Festival
* 12th annual festival had some fantastic movies on the list from Colombia, Belgium, China, Japan, Italy, Canada etc.
* The event was so poorly managed--the first night's screening led to a stampeded with some severe injuries
* We couldn't even get ourselves registered despite traveling 1.5 hrs for it



3) The Art Conspiracy Music Festival

* Alternative and electic musicians performed at various restaurant venues in Bandra.
* Finale was a thoroughly entertaining dance performance with capoiera, swing, asian break dancing as well as some vaudeville thrown-in.




Oh well, 1 out of 3 ain't bad! And the Mami is on-going so maybe worth another shot.