You live in a city for years and assume you know its every nook

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and cranny (if you are a certain kind of person, then its every crook and nanny). And then you suddenly discover that hey, you had neither seen nor heard of this particular place before, and you wonder how they managed to hide it from you for so many years.

This is what happened to me when some friends invited us to what they called a “Jazz Evening” at the Naval Sailing Club. The Naval Sailing Club? Never heard of it. In fact, in spite of the Arabian Sea lapping it from every side, this city very rarely sees a sailing boat in its vicinity. Now it turns out there is a sailing club, (It’s at the end of Colaba, just a few minutes from the Afghan Church).

Not just that; it turns out that there’s a fair amount of sailing too in the Bombay Harbour, and not all of it done by the Navy. There is also an annual international sailing competition held there, and it’s been going on for a few years. This year there was quite an impressive international turnout including a country such as France which excels in the sport. When we reached the venue for the evening, we found the human participants in the competition were around, and the boat sailing participants were lined up too, and they looked pretty impressive.

So where was the jazz? That was the entertainment before dinner. So we sat on sofas sipping our drinks, while Joe Alvarez sang, Louis Banks played on the keyboard and Gino Banks hammered away at the drums. Above, a full golden moon looked down at us and the man on it even winked a bit, but perhaps that was after a glass or two (our glasses, not the man on the moon’s).

It’s no reflection on the talent present on the stage, but jazz in India is dead. And has been moribund for years. What else can you say when Banks and Alvarez and people such as Braz Gonzalves and Pam Crain dominate the scene even after three or four decades after their debut? How is it that in so many years, there are no young musicians or groups to challenge them and if there’s a jazz concert anywhere, you can be sure that one or more of the above named will be the star performer.

Another question — where is the audience? A few years ago, I tried to introduce monthly jazz evenings at the Bombay Gymkhana. The audience consisted of people well over 50, and most of them wanted to grab the mike and do Louis Armstrong imitations. The others wanted to dance (Imagine dancing to jazz!) Soon the ‘Jazz Evenings’ became the Golden Oldies Nite where members finally got what they wanted, which was the old, familiar pop number, jazzed up a bit by Braz Gonzalves’ saxophone. No wonder Jazz By The Bay, the popular night club on Marine Drive, changed itself to the clumsy, but accurate, Not Just Jazz By The Bay a few years ago.

When the music stopped that evening at the Naval Club and the moon had changed colour to silver, we assumed we would be led to the usual buffet dinner. Instead, we found ourselves walking on a long and dimly lit pier jutting out into the sea, at the end of which were laid out small tables with a white linen service. We sat down to eat among the lapping waters, with only the moonlight for company. It was, as you can imagine, magical.

Yes, the old girl Mumbai always manages to surprise you. Just when you are ready to give up on her, she will flash one more of her hidden charms and you will be hooked again.