Laxman | John Lockwood Kipling | wholesale food market | Chandra

The wholesale food market is the place to go for "the kind of adventurous tourist who wants to really get into the life of the city," Chandra says. Crawford Market is in a Victorian building designed by Rudyard Kipling's father, John Lockwood Kipling. "Great photo ops," he says. "You've got to be prepared for crowds and smells, but it's very interesting."

Several other bazaars operate nearby, including Lohar Chawl, which specializes in electronics, and the Mangaldas Market, a wholesale textiles market that's crowded and busy but great for designers and for fashion and decorating buffs. "It's all full of narrow lanes, busy with businessmen pushing by you and all that stuff, so after that, you'll want to get a drink at some nice place, the Oberoi hotel or the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower. They're both maybe a 15-minute cab ride away," says Chandra.

Or, for some extreme peace and reflection, there's Banganga Tank, a spring-fed reservoir atop Malabar Hill. According to legend, the Hindu god Ram stopped there for a rest when he was looking for his wife, Sita, who'd been kidnapped by the demon Ravana. Ram was thirsty, so he asked his brother, Laxman, for a drink of water. Laxman shot an arrow into the ground, and ­water burst forth - all the way from the Ganges, which is some 1,000 miles away. Now the tank is part of the Walkeshwar Temple Complex, and it plays host every February to a classical Hindustani music festival. "It's a sacred body of water surrounded by temples," Chandra says. "The festival has some amazing musicians; it's really extraordinary."