A couple years later, I would learn that Salaam Bombay is also the name of Mira Nair’s first feature film, one very much worth your time (probably my favorite of all her work, and the behind-the-scenes stories about the before and after in the lives of the filmmakers are particularly moving).  So: watch it, and listen to the commentaries to be extra impressed.

But I first encountered “Salaam Bombay” as an Indian restaurant a couple blocks from the World Trade Center.   New York has plenty of places to enjoy Indian food, but this place was unique as it served mostly vegetarian entrees on its lunch buffet, and not your “normal” staples.  I remember special items like stuffed eggplant, and other complex foods quite beyond the basic saucy stuff (which I love, anyway) in most restaurants.  And, Salaam Bombay’s food was always extra spicy, more so than the average co-worker of mine could handle.

For years, I’ve wondered what happened to this restaurant, if it was hard-hit by the 9/11 attacks, if it survived either physically (which I suspected), or did it die from no business;  after all it was located right there.

I could have looked into this a long time ago, actually.  But I did not.  I had no reason to go down there, and there are other restaurants, so I was content with the memory of the place.

This past week, I have been going through the more than 5000 9/11 photos I uploaded, and eventually came across this one, which particularly struck me:

*****