u/Rambha_4

I had 2 days free after some work and decided to dedicate it to my 3rd favourite pastime - food.

Due to the constant drizzles/rain, I had to make it less of a walking trek and more of an uber trek.

1: Cafe Nur

Got in right before lunch and it was not crowded at all. Ordered the mutton seekh kebab and a tandoori chicken.

The mutton seekh kebab was very very soft. But had a slightly more delicate flavour than the ayubs/miya/old school places. The heat came on slowly and you could taste more meat than the usual heavy spice. Very enjoyable, especially when it comes to the meat. A solid 8.0/10

Tandoori Chicken was a bit different. They had coated it liberally with a hybrid tandoori/butter chicken sauce. The sauce was quite mild and flavourful but it overpowered the tandoori flavours of the chicken. The chicken was also bit dry and the sauce did the heavy lifting in terms of moisture and juiciness. An above average dish for me. 6.5/10

2: China Gate - Bandra

Pomfret in wine chilli & hakka sauce. Really fresh fish, slightly sweet sauce with pops of chillies and spicy umaminess. Old School Awesomeness. 8.5/10

3: Toto's

Paneer Manchurian and beer. Great vibe with a good paneer manchurian. Nostalgia Overload. 8/10

4: Subash Vada Pav:

No nonsense vada pav. Spicy chutney with some fried chillies on the side to wake you up. 8/10

5: Faredoon's

Butter chicken bun was so bready. The gravy wasn't enough to counter the bread and the pieces of chicken felt dry and underwhelming. Overall it felt very muted. The bread was too chewy and dense. 4/10. Stop reheating buns in microwave.

Cream cheese bun. Better than the butter chicken but by only a small margin. The bun was chewy and dense. 5/10

Reheating bread/buns in a microwave is not a good idea at all.

6: Soul Fry

Bombil Fry. I have to admit I walked in to this one. I love the idea of a bombil fry - super light, slightly oily fish with a crisp batter. But hate the idea of all those tiny bones which start to get annoying. It is the same story everytime. I enjoy the first few pieces and then I give up. Same here. Granted the fish was super fresh, the batter was great and the green chutney worked really well with this dish. Its a solid dish 7.5/10.

Thank you to all the redditors who gave me the info I needed - from a previous post about the car etc.

Here is my review of this car.

Battery: 70Kw vs 79Kw

• Go for the bigger battery - that goes without saying. Definitely worth the extra.
• BUT - my parents use case is 100-200km max in a day. Delays in delivery meant we took this battery since it doesn't affect us.
• Real World - I was getting about 410-430km in our usage. I took the car for a 300km+ trip and returned home with about 20% and a supposed 100km range left. This was a mix of city + highway driving.
• City driving is where this car shines - L1 regen is enough for me but L2 was good as well. I did not enjoy the aggressive braking.
• How aggressive you are matters - same like with ICE cars, be heavy on the pedal and your efficiency drops.
• City driving is ideal - the regen gives you so many chances to be efficient. Expect to lose about 10-15% of range in highway driving.

Ride & Handling:

• The car is soft. At low speed, it will bounce around a bit on bumps etc - my father loves it btw. Reminds me of the old Verna. BUT - at high speeds, it is a different story.
• The CURVES and High speeds: Very planted. The road feel is about as what you would expect of a suv. BUT it holds it's line well and high speeds (80+) were super stable and planted.
• Brakes are good - not great but did not expect anything better.

Ergonomics & Tech:

• The tech is a bit much. Don't want the 3rd screen especially with youtube and other video apps on it.
• The Ui/Ux is not good. Hard to find and many of the icons are not great.
• HATE the steering wheel width, cushioning and indents. But I feel like I am a bit pampered here - My father and our driver loved it.
• The REMOTE ANNOYS me: why are the icons/symbols inverted? - especially when you hold it the way it feels natural.
• Seats are really good - took me a day to find my position. The lumbar support is so-so.

Fit & Finish:

• Great for the price but some bad parts
  • The seat buttons and the memory functions
  • Steering buttons are weirdly damped and feel cheap
  • 360 camera and that whole row of one giant clickable panel is utter crap

Overall:

Most importantly, my dad loves the car. I think it is a really really good car. The instant torque and stable handling are addictive.

He decided to get a matte finish ppf which when clean looks great. But I would recommend the gloss colours - not white though. The gloss black and desert mist are great.

The headlghts are not good at all. This is the first change my dad is going to make. He is looking at some higher intensity ones.

Love the light up Mahindra EV logo - am a branding person and love how they have evolved it.

Adas etc are not going to be used in India traffic - so do not use this as a point of consideration.

We are NRIs. My father has been driving VW GTis, BMWs pretty much all his life. He told me this is the first time he is having fun again. I have been driving sports cars all my driving life - from RX7s to muscle to precision. And I agree with him. While the low speed softness is not great, the high speed is great. The low center of gravity thanks to the battery and NO real weight of the front wheels changes everything.

This is a good car. Not just for India. Just in general.

Some of the coins aren't in the best of condition. But in a weird way, I really value them more.

These coins were used for what they were meant for. They passed many hands, people 100+ years ago bought things they needed with this. Someone's pay was a full rupee for a month. And for that rupee he clothed and fed his family.

So many stories.....

Some of the notes I have collected over the years.

And one Zimbabwe note just for fun.