As
a kid I remember whenever we were supposed to go to any
place beyond Lower parel,we would say Bombay jaana hai, for relatives
and cousins who came from other cities often wondered why we spoke like this,
as living in Bandra was also living in Bombay, to which the elders would
explain, that its downtown, the proper Bombay, so we just call
it Bombay.
The downtown area of Bombay has always fascinated me, and i have loved exploring
this part of Bombay on my feet. Amongst
various other interesting things that downtown offers, the old bazaars are
truly worth exploring and far more exciting than the mushrooming malls within
the city. There is so much to see and explore and absorb that even on my subsequent weekend trails to these places in last couple of weeks, i have
been captured something new on every visit.
The Guide
Last
Saturday, when Mom and me decided to go to CP tank,I overheard her excitedly tell her sister we have to go to Bombay for all the shopping.This was
probably one of those rare occasions when, me and Mom actually walked through
the old gallis, and lanes of CP Tank, Bhuleshwar, Nal bazzar, Bhoiwada, Jhaveri
bazzar and remembered tales of the bygone era. My Mom grew up in Kishore Bhuvan CP tank so she is well aware of the route and the perfect guide to tell me about the old
buildings and stories from her childhood.
Charni road station
As I walked out of Charni road
station with my Mom, i remembered those days when we would get off the station
and sit in a horse baggi to go to CP tank where Nani stayed. There were not
any horse carriages waiting for us, so we walked through gai wadi
Gai
Wadi
Gai wadi is basically a short cut
from the foot over bridge of charni road station to get to Prathna samaj. On this lane you will also
find tons of wedding invitations card shops( khadilkar road). Mom said she used
this short cut to go to Bal bhavan a
reading library.
Sikka
Nagar
As we walk through the road, My mom shows me one of the land mark buildings
of the 70`s Sikka Nagar. It could be called the Beverly Hills of Charni road in
that time.Sikka Nagar also houses a school called modern inside it and Hindu Stree mandal, it was
in this school that my Nani studied upto
7th standard. She loved to study but when her parents passed away
she was removed from school in 5th standard. After she got married
she was so determined to study that she
enrolled herself and gave exams till the 7th standard.
Kilachand Bungalow now a mall
As
we walked further mom showed me a sky scrapper and a mall, this she said used
to be the Kilachand bungalow.The Kilachands were related to us, and they had a
huge bungalow here, the owners had only one daughter who was married
off in Walkeshwar and i guess she would
have sold the place
Prathna
Samaj
As we walked further from the Kilachand bunglow towards opera house i
was fascinated looking at the old buildings, some refurbished, some
almost falling down. We made a quick stop to buy some chikkis and some
lovely sing channa,
Natwar
House
We walked back on that same road
towards CP tank, making a stop at Natwar house.Natwar House is a building
inside Mukund Mansion and right next to Chandaramji school. My Moms Kaka, Kaki and their family lived there for a
long time before they moved to the USA.
My fondest memory of Natwar house was that one time before Kaki was moving to
USA, we had a sort of taash party.It
was Janmasthami, so everyone went to temple for Krishna janam and then
continued to play cards through the night in Natwar house.
Chandramji
school
I have heard numerous tales from
my Mom about her school days. She is a bit shy to go inside her school, its
currently under renovation but i insist and take her inside. She looks at it
fondly and tells me about her class. This school has many memories for me, coz
its in this school that my Dadi studied also, Anila Masi( Dadi`s sister)was a principle in this school and its in this school on a fun day that my Dad
picked up a pani puri bet with Nitin
Mama and ate up over 100 pani puris just to win the bet .My mom had got
admission to this school coz of her merit, she studied in a municipality school
till 3rd standard, the school was going to close down, and in the
same year she topped the class and that is how she got admission to Chandaramji
school, one of the most reputed in that time.The municipality school was right
next to the Radha Krishna Mandir
R K wadi
This is the place where one of
Dadi`s brother, Vallah mama stayed. He was her only brother who i had never
really interacted with much.I had only seen him and Mami once during one of
the ceremonies after Lili Ba passed away( Dadi`s mom). So one of our tours to Bhuleshwar, Dadi decided to visit her brother, i had heard
many tales about how he and Mami would bring fanciest dresses and birthday cakes for Bhuj, when she was very small. I really wanted to meet him, all through the journey i remember asking Dadi a zillion questions, Is he your favorite brother ? What does he do etc etc
I
still remember that meeting, Mami had passed away, he had a Jewish friend who was a friend or paying guest who was also there. Looking at the building
you could not imagine that house to be so neat and well kept. He wore a Dhoti,
He has a warm smile, he asked me what i
was studying, we sat for a short while and left.
CP
tank
As we walk further we come towards
CP tank the round circle,I still wonder
why its called CP tank, by now my Mom has got a bit excited so she takes me in
the other lane where the backside entrance of Chandaramji school exists, right opposite the Radhe Krishna
mandir
Radha
Krishna Mandir
My faintest memory of this temple is accompanying Nani for phool seva.On those rare occasions that i behaved and came with the mother to
stayover, i liked to go with Nani for
the phool seva in mornings, She would visit a few temples like Kumba Tukda, Mota
mandir and Radha Krishna and sit with a bunch of women and make beautiful
flower garlands to offer god. The image of those soulful mornings that i experienced
as a 10 year old still seem fresh in my mind.The smell of those flowers and
lovely morning breeze on a summer morning
Morar
baug
As we walk out of the temple lane mom points out the parallel lane which goes
towards Morar Baug, the venue from where my parents began their journey together. As we walk through the
lane of Morar baug, Moms fondly tells me that Papa`s varghooda( Baraat) came
from this point.She points out the food arrangements were upstairs while
ceremony and reception was below.
Khetwadi
From CP tank we walk towards Khetwadi towards the famous Laad store, the only place to buy best
quality attaas and groceries.I walk towards Laad store which is nothing but a tiny shop.
Null
Bazzar
From Khetwadi we walked towards
Null Bazzar, my mom says this was the place to get all cheap groceries, it
was a bit far from where they stayed but
Nani would walk the extra mile even to save a rupee. She really valued every
rupee, and spent it judiciously. The summer heat starts to hit us now, we are
sweating like crazy and the stuff we have purchased from Laad store adds to the
weight. To add to my woos, somebody spits paan from one of building, which
barely misses my hand. We go further buy
the masala and supari. My mom tells me we got to rush and reach Mota mandir soon before the shops close for afternoon in case they do
Bhoiwada
route to Mota Mandir
My mom is in such
a hurry that i almost loose her a couple of times on the way, maybe coz i am to fascinated looking at everything,I even get distracted by a fist fight between a bike and taxi guy trying to
go from a narrow road together
Mota
Mandir
We reach mota mandir, through a
flower lane and some hidden alleys, we are late for darshan unfortunately but
we need to buy some things from the shops inside the temple premises. As we
remove our shoes and walk we feel like we are walking on a hot pad. We complete
our purchases and move towards Madhav Baugh
Madhu Baug and Panjra Pol- Mandhu Baug can be approached from 2
sides, we are on the other side, and through some alleys we go hunting for some items which we are not able to find,
so we cross through panjra pol and go on
the other side of Madhav Baug, where we find some stuff we are looking
for. Madhu Baug is the place where Pandurang Shashtri used to have his lectures, it was a very
popular movement of one time, my mom used to attend it and Nanaji was an active
member of this initiative. Unfortunately the movement has lost its momentum
after his death. We are almost drained with the heat so we decide to fuel up at Bhai Shankar or shiv sagar near CP tank. Bhai
Shankar is a take away place while Shiv Sagar is a restaurant. The buttermilk
at Shiv sagar comes as a great savior but just avoid the food, its not happening
Kishore
Bhuvan
After we fuel up we walk through the lane of Kishore Bhuvan to get to
Bhuleshwar. As we reach Kishore Bhuvan, i remember the old times. Dadi`s
parents stayed on the 2nd floor and Moms on the 4th floor
of the same building. Every visit to Kishore Bhuvan meant visiting Lili ba, then
in the later years Urmilla mami and Bhagwan Mama, Dadi`s elder brother who
stayed in that house for a long time
before they moved to IC colony. For some
reason, i was never fascinated by kishore Bhuvan as a kid, i rarely came to
stayover at Nani`s house, when i did too i would pester my Mom with silly
questions, like Momma how come Nani`s Drawing room, kitchen and bedroom is the
same. Nani really pampered us when we
went to visit her. She would get crackers in Diwali and mangoes in summer for us. Sona masi would go down and bring ice cream for us. But my
fondest memory of Kishore Bhuvan was when Nana Nani finally agreed to move in
their bigger apartment in Kandivali. We were there for 2 days to clear all the
samman. I discovered the most fascinating
things and took them home ranging from a ambegaon chakki, to silver tea cups,
an ancient glass chandelier from ambegaon
Hargovindas ni wadi
We take the turn from
Kishore bhuvan to the left, where a
plethora of shops are located. Right in the center is a round building, my mom points it out to
me and says this is the same building that Dadaji stayed when he first came to
Mumbai. He stayed with his uncle
Govardahan kaka, and slept in the chawl outside. Nani too stayed there
with her brother in the same building, and she fondly tells us about the tales
of how all the guju girls in the building were fascinated by Dadaji`s handsome looks.
Steel
Market & Bhuleshwar
Right under Hargovindas ni wadi is an entire set
of Steel markets, we do our purchases and move to the next lane for other items. By now i am quite
tired and not able to carry the weight
of all the samman so i decide to walk out through mumba devi temple and take a
cab to Dongri where my friend has his office
Dongri
Dongri is another interesting area, You suddenly feel transported to another
part of the city. The air-conditioned and swanky office of my friend, along
with his warm hospitality helps us rejuvenate for a another leg of our shopping
trip.
Khau Galli or Naasta Lane
As we begin the trail at
Jhaveri bazzar its almost evening and we feel a bit hungry so we decide to fuel
up at Khau galli, a lane which was full of food hawkers, we get confused as we cant see those food stalls on the
road. After those bomblasts the food hawkers are apparently not allowed there.Some who can afford have taken tiny shops.We start of with some yummy Khichiya masala, its like a sev puri on Khichiya
papad, and then we move on to Mohanlal
Pudlawala, where we dunk in a pani puri and dahi puri along with famous
Pudla
Jhaveri
bazzar
Now we start looking for another set of item in the silver category.
After a lot of exploring we find a shop where we find what we want, and by the
time we come out it has become dark.
Mangaldas
Market
By now we are quite a tired, we barely look at stuff and just directly
to go to a hand loom store outside the market, then we move further to Crawford
market. We try to hail a cab to the station with no success, only to get into
a bus which goes through Lamington road
and drops on the bridge of Grant road station.
Grant
road station
As we get down at Grant road station, we remember the days,
when my Masi stayed at Enterprise, i
made my first maiden trip by train from Bandra to Grant road. We came here
quite often and then go out and visit the different places in the so called Bombay from Beach candy to
Chowpatty, Kemps Corner and more
