Super Sunday as I Finish All Ten Heritage Walks in Bombay!

Sunday, June 23, 2019
Bombay

Super Sunday as I Finish All Ten Heritage Walks in Bombay!

     Namaste from Bombay!
     Exactly two months before I leave Bombay to return to Southport, Connecticut, I am beginning to think of completing all the items on my Bombay To-Do List. Among them was finishing up all Ten Heritage Walks from the Book entitled Ten Heritage Walks of Mumbai by Fiona Fernandez that I had bought a few years ago. I have really had only about six months to do them all--so much of my time was taken by family health issues related to Russel, by my own travel (both in India and overseas) and by the brutality of summer heat. Still, I wanted to get finished before the monsoon really barged in. So when I called my friend Nafisa last week and told her that I would like to ear-mark Sunday for the last heritage walk in the book, she was game to go with me. We thought we'd meet at about 3.00 pm and finish off the day with dinner somewhere nice.

Off to Mass:
     My day began at abut 4.30 am (I had fallen asleep at 10.00 pm) when I blogged, read my Twitter feed and scanned the weekend edition of the Times of London--the weekend magazine is my favorite bit of it. Then, at 7.30 am, after a quick cup of coffee and a slice of bread spread with the new delicious mango jam that my friend Marianel gifted me yesterday, I left for the 8.00 am Mass.
     After Mass, when I went over to Dad's bench (I sit right under the fans--he sits separately as he does not feel too hot), I discovered that he was feeling giddy. He said he began feeling faint at the Gospel and had sat down through it. By Communion, even though he made a brave attempt to get from his fifth row to the front, he felt giddy at the first bench and sank right down into it. After Mass, I asked him if he'd eaten his breakfast and he said he had come to church on an empty stomach--at his age, 89! I was aghast! I, who am decades younger, never ever go to Mass without eating something as I do remember feeling faint in church when I was in Grade 10 because I had not eaten breakfast. Ever after that, I have a coffee at least before getting to church--especially in the Bombay heat, it is criminal not to eat something before leaving the house. I asked Dad if I could get him a cup of coffee and a batata vada (which is always available outside church after every Mass), but he firmly declined and said he would prefer to get home. Maurice, our sacristan, called us a rickshaw that came right up to the church door and I accompanied Dad home.
     Inside his flat, I rushed Rohit through preparing his breakfast--coffee, toast, a fried egg, mango...and magically, Dad felt better immediately. I told him to promise me that he would eat something before he leaves for morning Mass again. He simply could not get over the fact that lack of food is affecting him so badly. I told him to consider his age! And to understand the science of it. Your hypo-glycemic (sugar) levels drop when you go without food after a whole night of fasting! It's not rocket science! Sugar produces energy--it is the fuel--that keeps the body going. Without it, we will crash. I think that Dad believes that he is 18 years old--certainly at heart, he is still a teenager! Anyway, I was looking forward to ordering a South Indian breakfast for all of us today, but in the end, with Dad incapacitated, I ordered a plate of idlis and a masala dosa which Russel and I shared. I loved the sambhar and chutney that came with it and by the time I finished having my fill, it was about 10.30 am. I told Dad and Russel that lunch would be late--at 1.30 pm today as we have all eaten such a late breakfast.
     Back home, I changed and took a nap--waking up at 4.30 am and having such a thick breakfast rendered me comatose! The nap felt very refreshing indeed and gave me the second wind I needed to clean my studio and my bathroom. It took me over an hour but I always feel so virtuous when it is done and the place is shiny after all the sweeping, swabbing and dusting I do.
     That done, I ordered lunch from Bandra Gymkhana--Spaghetti Arabiatta, Kung Pao Spicy Pork and a Caesar Salad. When Uday called me to tell me they were ready, I strolled off to pick them and then made my way to Dad's. The heat and humidity were super oppressive so I also bought a diet Coke and had it at Dad's with a ton of ice! Lunch was a nice meal as the three of us (Russel still on his bed as he cannot put weight on his foot until the staples are removed on Friday) enjoyed it. We had fresh papaya for dessert.
     I returned home and was just about to treat myself to yet another nap when I got a call from Nafisa. I had clean forgotten about our 3.00 pm date for our last heritage walking tour. She was waiting for me at her place in Byculla and wondered why I hadn't turned up! I told her to give me five minutes to get organized and I would order an Uber and be at her place within 45 minutes! Postponing it to next Sunday would not work as she is off to Kerala on a holiday and we are trying to beat the fury of the monsoon which is expected to officially break over Bombay in a couple of days! So off I went.

Taking the Last of the Heritage Walking Tours of Bombay:
     My Uber driver dropped me off outside Hume High School on Byculla Bridge where Nafisa was waiting for me. We hopped into a "kali-pili" (black and yellow cab) and got off at Crawford Market here our walk began. '
     So here is what we saw and what we did:
1. Exterior look at the lovely building that houses Crawford Market (I had done the inside on another walk).
2. Walk into the interior lane leading to the visually stunning Jama Masjid. Women are allowed in a separate section to pray but not wearing the kind of clothing I had on: cropped pants and red tank top to beat the heat. We viewed the superb tank inside (which has fish in it) from the outside and left.
3. Walk along Lohar Chawl--this is the center of the interior lighting market of Bombay. As an interior decorator for the past 30 years, this is Nafisa's regular haunt and she knows many of the Bohri owners by name as she does business with them. We paused frequently to admire the old British-era buildings with their ornamental paster work, embellished balconies with their Neo-classical details. Sadly, most are in very poor shape as current tenants (most still paying only a few rupees in these rent-controlled habitations) have landlords who cannot afford to maintain them.
4. Walk towards Princess Street to the Indian Art Studio (one of the oldest photography studios in Bombay). This area is the center of the medical and homeopathic industry and we passed Roy and Co, the city's oldest homeopath. This is an absolute maze of streets that I have never had occasion to explore because they are completely off the beaten path. Sunday was simply the best day to be here as the streets have very little traffic, all the shops have downed shutters and there is no human movement at all. This is how Bombay would have looked 70 years ago when the British still reigned. Wonderful!
5. We arrived at the to Parsi Aguiaries that stand very close to each other on Princess Street--the Wadia Atash Behram (which has its own compound) and the Anjuman Fire Temple that is right on the main road. Architecturally they are both very different: the former looks like a large bungalow, the other is a Neo-Classical Greek Temple with tall Doric pillars supporting the higher floors. The building is very poorly maintained and could do with some re-plastering and a lick of paint.
6. A walk down Princess Street towards Metro Cinema took us past David and Co which every Catholic in Bombay knows as the place to go for ordering wedding and First Communion invitation cards. All the way down this street, we passed by beautiful old buildings that probably have spacious flats inside--they are all uniformly decrepit and poorly maintained but they have lovely bow-shaped balconies that have original wrought-iron railings and a ton of ornamental plaster work on the outside--exactly as you see on the buildings of Central London (which is why I always sit on the upper deck of the red buses).
7.   Kyani and Co: At the end of the road, in a famous building called Jer Mahal, we arrived at Bombay's most famous Irani restaurant--Kyani and Co. Its twin, Bastani and Co, closed down a little while ago. This institution is still holding its own, one of the last few bastions of a tradition that was carried to the Indian sub-continent by the Irani Zoroastrians who brought their religion, culture, fire temples and food to cities like Bombay and Karachi where they served their signature "bun-maskas, kheema-paus, caramel custards" and their huge array of cakes and biscuits. If I might be permitted to make an aside her, I should tell you that when I was all of five years old, I memorized the list of goodies available inside an Irani restaurant called Star of Persia that used to be right outside my school gate: It went like this: "Tea, Coffee, Cold Drinks, All Kinds of Sweet Drinks, Ice-Cream, Cakes, Assorted Biscuits, Hot Khara Biscuits, Samosas, Patties, Always Can Be Had Here"! Whew! The Power of the Memory trained at Age Five to recall things a whole lifetime later! Amazing! Of course, Nafisa and I had to go in, past the showcases filled with cakes (including the famous mawa cakes) and biscuits to find a seat at one of the marble topped, bentwood tables, where I ordered a cold lemonade and she got a cold Slice (the modern day equivalent of a Mangola).  After our refreshing pause, we continued.
7. Jer Mahal: Jer Mahal is the landmark building in which Kyani's is located. It is unique in that it is a rounded building that follows the rounded curve of the street. It is the building in which both B.X. Furtado and L.M. Furtado are located on the ground floor. They have a monopoly on the sale of Western musical instruments and printed material in Bombay (maybe India) and it was in his showroom that I had interviewed Alex Gomes (who now runs Furtados) a few months ago. Nafisa and I found the entrance to the building, part of which has been beautifully refurbished after its lovely wooden balconies collapsed a few years ago. However, they ran out of funds and renovation has been halted. Inside, the entrance to the building is in a sort of courtyard like you find in the buildings of Paris but it is in such a horribly decrepit condition and so unhygenic that the stench of open gutters was unbearable and I had to scurry out of it.       
7.  Cawasji Framji Hall: Right opposite is the Cawasji Framji Hall which houses a Library and Reading Room--sadly closed as it was Sunday. This is one of the Victorian Reading Rooms (and Bombay can boast a few) in which the British encouraged the habit of reading. Today, there is a department store on the ground floor and the place has been used for at least 30 years for exhibitions of clothing and other such sales. In the courtyard are two sculptures of erstwhile worthies: One of the learned Parsi Kavasji Petigara (who probably encouraged his fellow-Parsis to use the Reading Room) and another of Dr. Arranjo Gabriel Veigas, a Goan who was a Bombay Municipal Councillor for decades and represented the Goan population of the area which is also known as Dhobi Talao. This was once a Goan stronghold. In fact, the area once used to be punctuated with Goan 'clubs' that were run especially for Goan expatriates in the city of Bombay who came from Goa on steamers with just one trunk. They were each given a bed and enough space to stash their trunks outside. These were the starting points for so many Goan Catholic migrants who made Bombay their home. I had once, as a little girl, visited one of these places with my Dad and remember feeling utterly fascinated by what I saw--not least of which were the exclusively male inhabitants who wore singlets and shorts as they milled around the corridors. I think those 'Clubs' (hostels really) have long ceased to be.
8. Metro Cinema: We had to go into Metro Cinema--one of the earliest cinema houses in Bombay and a place where I know my Dad and Mum had many dates in their courting days in the early 1950s. Like most of Bombay's cinemas, this building is designed in beautiful Art Deco style. It is now a multiplex and, in an attempt to save it, the lobby has been converted into an upscale restaurant called Cafe Unwind. The Art Decor interior fixtures have been retained from the stunning lighting to the plaster and stucco pattern on the walls. Just lovely! The original box offices outside are also still in place and I do remember many movie shows that I have seen here with friends (Metro only showed English movies then) during my college days when I skipped classes to hang out with friends. God alone knows how I ended up with a life-long career as an academic!
9. The Taxi-Driver's Mosque: We left Metro to walk towards the railway lines along a street that has two gems--One is the so-called Taxi-Driver's Mosque. This beautifully-painted mosque sits in an island of its own (similar to The Church of St. Clement Danes at Aldwych in London that sits bang in the center of Fleet Street on its own island!). Taxi-drivers park their vehicles in a long row outside so that they can do namaz inside--hence, the name.
10. The other gem on this street is Sassanian and Co--another one of the surviving Irani restaurants that was set up in the early 20th century by R. Sassanian. It announces itself on its board outside as a "Boulangerie"--how French is that??--and sells an array of cakes and traditional biscuits (we were invited to sample the wine biscuits which the salesman assured us had no wine in them (!) and cashew macaroons (which were studded with minced cashew-nuts). He also invited us to go inside the place and look at the restaurant--this turned out to be an Irani restaurant, similar to Kyanis, where there were more marble-topped, bentwood furniture and where the menu was different from the take-out bakery. I asked for permission to take a few pictures (and did) and returned to the "boulangerie" where Nafisa bought chicken puffs and I bought a a Chicken Mayo roll that cost me Rs. 80 to take home. I was completely taken by the vivid red Duke raspberry drinks (still sold here) and the vivid red tea glasses filled with what looks like raspberry jelly--but I was told by the salesman that it was china grass jelly!!!! Now how quaint is that???
11. Liberty Cinema: We then strolled to Liberty Cinema, another Art Deco Temple of entertainment in the heyday of cinema in Bombay. Nafisa nipped into a pharmacy on its ground floor after which we took in the orderly line snaking into the theater to see a film called Kabir Singh--probably a new release. We live in the age of Netflix but movie-going is alive and kicking in Bombay. We poked our noses through the glass to take in the glorious lobby with its Art Decor details, its straight and wavy lights and its enormous light fixtures that are all in a brilliant state of preservation. Hurrah!
12. Bombay Hospital: We walked past Bombay Hospital which had painful personal memories for me--my mother had a mastectomy here under the surgeon Dr Arthur D'Sa (whose daughter Vanessa went on to become my classmate at Elphinstone College) at the age of 44. She survived it and lived till the age of 80--a true role model to me! Roger, my brother, then all of 14, used to accompany her for radiation to the same hospital, twice a week, and my Dad told me, in later years, how touched she used to be by the fact that he always asked her if she wanted to stop somewhere for a cold drink after the ordeal of radiation. Even at that age, Dad told me, he was so thoughtful and so understanding. It continues to be an important research-oriented hospital although both my Mum and Dr. D'Sa are both long gone. 
13. West End Hotel: You might remember that I started my Fulbright year in Bombay as a week-long guest at the West End where I was put up by the United States-India Education Foundation. I had loved the old-world, old-fashioned, courtesy with which I had been treated and the wonderful memories I have garnered of my very first week in the city, ten months ago. It was good to go back there and see a few familiar faces (the lift man, even the Parsi owner, Mr. Katgara, I believe, was there in the lobby). However, we did not go inside. The outside is getting a major face lift (it had begun when I was there) and slowly but steadily, the work is being accomplished.
14. Our Lady of Dolours Church: A short walk back through a gully brought us to Our Lady of Dolours Church which was closed (sadly). It is supposed to have a note-worthy cross inside.
15. Nawa House: This was not in my book but we made a detour into this most charming residential building in its own high-walled compound and horse carriage porch. The watchman allowed us to wander in and take in the sights of the beautiful tree-lined, leafy front compound and of the Art Deco floor and wall tiles in the watchman's booth--just imagine what the inside of the building must be like!

Plans to Have Dinner: 
     This brought us to the end of our walk. It was almost 7.00 pm and we had been on our feet for two and a half hours! Nafisa had in mind a place that offered a seafood thali and she suggested we go on foot over the Princess Street Flyover to find it. Only when we got there, we discovered that it had become Gagan--a pure Veg restaurant. It was time to find some place else. I did not want to back track and go over to Colaba--so I suggested we get to Opera House to Kobe for sizzlers. And since Nafisa was game, that was what we did.
      We took a cab to Kobe and at 7.45 were among the early diners--this gave us the chance to spread out on a table where we ordered a sizzling steak with mash and grilled veg with a side order of grilled mushrooms. This was truly a hissing sizzling feast on a plate--we shared it, of course, and had our fill of amazing food. The steak (we asked for medium rare) was done to perfection. The veggies were so flavorful, the mash was just perfectly creamy. I mean it was simply superlative. This too, if you can believe it, was on my To-Do List of Things to Do in Bombay on my trip--so I ended up killing two birds with one stone as I finished the last of the ten heritage walks in my book and had a sizzler--which was a reward of sorts for my pains!
          I hopped into a kalipili for my ride home and dropped Nafisa off at Kemp's Corner from where she would take a cab home too.
      Back home at 9.30 pm, I had a look at my email and then cursorily looked at some TV before switching off the light and making an early night of it.
     What a grand finale it had been to my Heritage walks! I feel so proud of myself for what I have accomplished in terms of dipping so seriously into Bombay's colorful history (mostly Colonial) and completing my goal (just as I had done in London). And what's more, I managed to beat the monsoon and do it before the rain tore in--probably not a moment too soon as they are expected in a day or two. What a fabulous end to a superb weekend!
     Until tomorrow...