Like Frankie said, relax

Besides making cracks at his own dance (or lack of, as he puts it) moves, VJ Cyrus Sahukar gets serious about Mumbai's overwhelmingly hectic work schedule: "Everybody's working hard. The concept of 9-5 is b'''s''', nobody has that anymore. You're knackered by the end of the day," the VJ says, adding that the pub environment is "a process of unwinding". Sahukar is a regular at Zenzi and Hawaiian Shack, both in Bandra.

Owner of Hawaiian Shack, Sadhna Romy, further emphasises this point, "They're tired of talking, so they're sitting and relaxing, almost like they're meditating," she jokes, saying that 'The Shack' as it is endearingly known, "Started out because there weren't many pubs in Mumbai that were affordable and offered a homely ambience."

A big chunk of the pub-hoppers are corporates, who after trying their best to climb that steep ladder, want to get away from it all, with Hendrix, Morrison, Elton John and INXS for company instead. Carl D'Costa, manager of Geoffrey's, Marine Plaza, describes vividly how pleasant it is to see top execs and CEOs relaxing with their sleeves folded and their jackets hanging on their chairs.

Evergreen retro

Sahukar gets nostalgic, telling us about his favourites Long Train Runnin', Funky Town, Self Control and Eye of the Tiger, "Every 25-year-old had an elder brother or sister who grew up on good ol' retro music that reminds you of home and family. Even the bad dancers know at least one good move to a retro song."

"We play retro and alternative rock. On weekends after 11, we play faster music so that people can shake a leg or two," says Bootleggers' Kamath, who thinks that retro music is one of its kind, as it can never be erased from your memory. Then there are puritans, like co-partner of Bandra's most well known pubs Toto's, Laju Bhatia who says, "There's a fine line between a pub and a discotheque. Most of the pubs today have dance floors, Toto's does not." It's not just the people who've grown up listening to the music of the 60s, 70s and 80s that take to the sound, as Tom points out, "There's a certain segment that likes retro music. Strangely enough, the trend is even growing among teenagers. People are re-experimenting a bit more with retro."

At The Shack, the music corresponds with the mood of its patrons, says Romy. The Shack begins the evenings with country and romantic songs, progressing to some retro and then later to fast numbers. Romy concurs with most pub owners who say retro music is never going to go away. It just keeps bringing more youngsters into its fold.

When asked if Toto's has, over the years, seen younger crowds coming in, co-partner Laju Bhatia says, "We usually get ad crowds, finance crowds, insurance crowds between 25-30, as they are people who have "aap kamai" and not "baap kamai".

It's a lot of things: disposable income, present and past colliding, no more of those simple 9-5 days, the need for peace, a desire to understand music that inspired our present musicians, the low lights, perhaps, the beautiful grunginess and rawness of a pub that doesn't care if you're mismatched, that are making entrepreneurs want to open a tranquil getaway. I'll take the support of two statements you've heard many, many times to close these curtains old is gold and history repeats itself