It was that last time when Mumbai's afternoons were switching from pleasant to hot. There are two sets of tables with the comfort of an umbrella's shade at Khar's All Elements. One is occupied by a guest wearing barefoot sandals, deeply tuned into a book on running, and the other by the owner, Gudiya Chadha. She scooches to another chair as we get talking.

Until now, she has only been a smiling presence at the eight-table café, someone who had once asked the chef to whip up millet upma with peanut chutney, though it was beyond breakfast hours. But, the proximity with the chairs leads to conversation, about how Vile Parle East is the best place to buy fresh vegetables and how this is her first restaurant venture. In fact, at 42, this is Chadha's first job. Her response to our amazement is "clinical depression".