Saturday, July 6, 2019
Bombay
A Super Saturday with Former Students in Former Byculla Haunts
Namaste from Bombay!
After a really hum-drum week, thanks to the conclusion of my field-research and the soggy weather, I had a really terrific day. From start to finish, it was superb.
I awoke at 5.30am and began reading, then blogging, then downloading my Times of London on my Ipad and browsing through it. I also reviewed important newspaper articles on Twitter. My breakfast of raisin-walnut bread with spreads and an open sandwich made with cold roasted tongue (trying to finish up bits and bobs in my freezer) got me off to an excellent day's eating. It was raining, but it wasn't really awful and by 10.15 am, I had finished showering, dressing and was calling for an Uber to take me to Byculla for my lunch date with my former students of Jai Hind College's English Department. One of them, Rashida, decided to host a luncheon for a few of us...and that was what took me to my former haunts in Byculla. We were expected at 12.45-1.00 pm, but since Rashida lives right outside the former Victoria Gardens and Zoo (now called Jijamata Gardens), I decided to leave early, take a turn about the gardens (a really splendid example of British Victorian garden design and landscaping in India) and to re-visit the excellent museum that is also in the zoo grounds. I checked the museum website and found that there was a guided tour in English at the museum at 11.30 am and I aimed to get there in time for that tour.
My Uber arrived on schedule and, in about 40 minutes, I was at the entrance of the museum. I paid Rs. 50 to get inside and although I am visiting the museum for the third time, I gasped anew as I entered for it is little short of stunning and I keep forgetting how gorgeous it is. So here is a long overdue post on this fabulous space which I keep telling all my American friends who visit Bombay that they should see (that and St. Thomas' Anglican Cathedral in Fort).
My Third Visit to The Bhau Daji Lad Museum (But First On This Stay In Bombay):
Here is a brief history of this museum. It is the first and oldest museum in Bombay and was created as a direct outcome of the Great Exhibition of 1851 held in London under the enthusiastic patronage of Prince Albert. Albert, who was devoted to Science and the Arts, decided to hold a huge international exhibition to showcase the grand arts and crafts of the British colonies. Although the Industrial Revolution had put paid to manual craftsmanship in Britain (it promoted its exact opposite--the machine and its possibilities for mankind), Albert knew that in the colonies, age-old techniques of craftsmanship continued to prevail--and he was keen to exhibit them. Hence, each one of the colonies was given a 'pavilion' which they were instructed to fill with those items that bore witness to the genius of the native people. The Exhibition was a huge success and led, just a few years later, to another great global exhibition in Paris (in 1855). Indian artisans were finally receiving the global recognition that had long eluded them.
It was soon after these two great European exhibitions, that British colonists in India, decided to found a museum in which the works of these very same artisans could be displayed. Bombay was chosen for this honor and a Palladian-style building, that was meant to be an offshoot of London's Victoria and Albert Museum, came into being. It was actually also given the same name. Construction was spearheaded by George Birdwood and George Buist was selected as the chief curator by Lord Elphinstone (after whom my college is named). Replicas of the kind of items that were exhibited in the European exhibitions made up the bulk of the collection. The interiors were splendidly appointed, thanks to David Sassoon, a Baghdadi Jew, who was then the leading industrialist and richest man in Bombay. He donated a massive sum of money for the construction of the building and commissioned a grand full-size marble standing sculpture of Prince Albert, flanked on two sides by the Muse of Art and the Music of Science. That sculpture is the focal point of the museum today and because it was funded by a Jew (at a time when Jews were numerous and thriving in Bombay). the inscription on the base of the sculpture's pedestal is in English and Hebrew. There are also marble busts of Queen Victoria (Albert's consort), Mountstuart Elphinstone and David Sassoon clustered in the same space.
I do not remember being taken to this museum as a child at all--although I have vivid memories of going to the Prince of Wales Museum very frequently with my parents who also took my brothers and me regularly to the Bombay Zoo (which we used to call the Victoria Gardens).
The interior of the museum is so grand and so lavishly gilded that it leaves one open-mouthed. The sage green walls reflect the exact color that was originally on the walls when the museum was built and first opened to the public in 1857 (at the same time that the Sepoy Mutiny was raging in Northern India). There are beautiful Minton tiles on the stairs leading to the top floor as the museum is double-storied. It has a second-floor gallery space exactly in keeping with the Victorian museum design that you see at the Victoria and Albert Museum and and the Museum of Natural History in Kensington and the Museum of Childhood at Bethnal Green in London. Seriously...to walk into this museum is to walk into any of the grand museums of London. There are Stars of David all over the ceiling--a nod, once again, to Sassoon and his Jewish heritage. Also remarkable and in superb shape are the dozens of upright glass vitrines in teak wood that hold the vast collections of contemporary artifacts dating from the Victorian Age such as ivory carvings, hammered silverware, huge ceramic pots with Indian iconography such as elephants and peacocks made in the pottery kilns of the Sir J.J. School of Arts (which was also created as a result of the need to train Indian artisans in the traditional arts and crafts of their heritage). One of the early Principals of this Art School was John Lockwood Kipling, father of the poet-novelist Rudyard Kipling, who was actually born in the Principal's house (still standing) on the grounds of this school.
The Museum flourished through the Victorian, Edwardian and early Post-Colonial periods. By 1975, it had been re-named for Dr. Bhau Daji Lal, another leading light of the city and one who, with Juggernat Sunkersett, raised funds for the museum. However, by the late 1980s, it badly needed refurbishment as it was in a very run-down state--and eventually it was closed down. A complete restoration was undertaken in the 1990s with the help of corporate financing. The financial involvement of multi-national corporations brought about the refurbishment which now makes the museum one of the jewels of the city of Bombay. I love the fact that the old fitments have been retained such as the wrought iron turnstile with the brass plaque attributed to a foundry in Southwark in London, the very unusual teakwood umbrella stand with rounded slots for each umbrella at the entrance (no longer in use and merely retained as a relic of a bygone age) and, of course, the gorgeous glass vitrines themselves of which the ones on the top floor are both upright and horizontal--allowing for the spread of old maps and three-dimensional models.
I spent the first ten minutes alone, going from one vitrine to the next on the ground floor until it was 11.30 am when a guide named Snehal then began the tour by telling us about the history of the museum and pointing out a few highlights in some of the cases. She was very knowledgable, but I wish that she would have stuck to the time-limit of one hour for the entire tour (as we docents do at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York). That way, patrons know exactly when they will be finished and do not need to leave a tour half way through it. As it turned out, we were only 3 people on the tour--apart from me, there was a white man (probably from New Zealand, going by his accent) with his Chinese wife. We asked Snehal many questions and she could answer all of them with no difficulty at all. One of the items that really struck me (after she pointed it out) was a wooden sculpture (table-top size) of Parvati (wife of Lord Shiva) with her son, Ganesh, held in her arms (exactly as Mary carries the child Jesus in Western depictions of the Madonna and Child). I thought this was really remarkable as this was a direct result of the East-West cross-fertilization of ideas that became possible only after the Great Exhibition and thanks to Albert's vision.
After she pointed out a small part of the vast collection of Indian textiles that are also in the collection of the Museum, she took us upstairs to the second floor gallery which is devoted to the history of the city of Bombay from the 1600s onwards. She went through the period of reclamation that joined seven islands and made them one island (the city of Bombay). She also showed us a number of dioramas that were commissioned by the British founding fathers of the museum, complete with terracotta figures, to showcase the traditional ways of life of the people of Bombay. There are also a whole lot of terracotta figures depicting the various ethnicities that made up the populations of Bombay in in the late Victorian Age and the kind of traditional clothing and headgear that distinguished one segment of the population from the next.
This museum is simply fascinating and one can easily spend an entire day (if one has the time) seeing and taking in all the exhibits. I simply cannot say enough great things about this museum. My friend Laureen and her late husband Anup, when they asked me what they should see in Bombay, never stopped thanking me, after a visit, for the manner in which they were completely mesmerized by this museum. I have lovely memories of taking my niece and nephew Anaya and Arav to the museum (about 6 years ago) when they were very young and telling them about the wonderful love story of Victoria and Albert. What a gem of Victoriana resides in the heart of former colonial Bombay!
Strolling Through The Victoria Gardens:
Just as I was ready to exit the museum, it started raining again. But I called Rashida and asked her for directions on how to get to the back exit of the gardens which are right in front of her building. I followed her directions and walked right through the gardens. The statue of Queen Victoria which was the central point of the gardens in colonial times, has been replaced by one of Shivaji with his mother Jijabai after whom the gardens are now named.
Everything was lushly green and damp as I walked on red soil pathways to get to the Childrens' Park with its swings and sliders, all freshly painted, colorful and vibrant, and arrived at the exit leading to Masina Hospital. I would definitely have liked to have spent more time in the gardens exploring the animal enclosures (many of which, I understand, are now empty as refurbishment of the zoo is under way), but it was coming down pretty hard and I did not fancy walking in the rain. I was at Rashida's place about ten minutes later.
Lunch at Rashida's:
Rashida hosted Soniya, Priti and myself in her home for lunch. The three of them were students in one of my most memorable batches--in the late 1980s. They were the students with whom I had traveled in North India and they were present with me when we had run into Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones and his brother, Christopher, in Jaisalmer in Rajasthan. I had stayed in close touch with Soniya through the years, but, thanks to social media, have only very recently made contact with Rashida and Priti (who is a published novelist).
Soniya followed swiftly on my heels but Priti really dragged her feet. We ended up having a helping of sheer korma (vermicelli payasam) which Rashida had made especially for me as I had told her that I really enjoyed it; and by the time we exclaimed over it, Priti arrived.
Lunch was plentiful and royal--we had an absolutely delicious chicken soup, rotis with a chicken curry made with crushed cashewnuts, cream and yogurt, pullao with mutton curry, potato vegetable with greens, salad of tomatoes and onions (kachumber). Everything was delectable and we could not stop eating. There was more sheer korma for dessert.
Needless to say, we talked our mouths off. All our conversation circled around those blissful days when they were undergrads and I, fresh out of grad school and still working on my doctorate, had some of the best years of my teaching career in Bombay with their class. We were very happy when Rashida's husband Khozem joined us towards the end of the afternoon. We stayed a little while longer to enjoy his company and then it was time for us to leave.
Visiting the Hospital In Which I Was Born:
Rashida came downstairs to see us off. Priti had her car and would be giving Rashida a ride to the place she needed to reach, while Soniya and I would be taking an Uber and I would drop Soniya off en route home.
However, before we called for the Uber, I decided to visit the premises next door--which happened to be the hospital in which I was born--Eugene Maternity Home. There was a wrought-iron arch above the entrance to the hospital that announced its past antecedents. I ventured inside the compound and discovered that it is what we would call a double-storied British colonial-era mansion. When I told the gatekeeper that I was born in this building, he broke into a huge grin, He then told me that the obstetrician who had delivered me, Dr. Eustace Seqeuira, is no more, and the hospital was closed down as a maternity home after he passed away, a few years ago. His son, Denzil Seqeuira, a well-known fashion photographer now continues to live in the building which has been converted into a private home.
I went through the horse-carriage porch (all mansions had this feature in old days to shelter from the sun and rain) and found myself on the main porch. I peered through the double glass doors--Palladian-style with fan-shaped ventilator window--and looked down a long marble-floored corridor with a staircase that I could see opening up to get to the upper floor.
The building is set in a lush garden that is filled with banyan and bamboo trees. Of course, the mansion could do with a good lick of paint and the garden could do with some pruning--but, by and large, I was happy to see that the building in which my life's journey began, was still standing and has not been demolished to make way for some high-rise eye sore. It made me wonder if my unabashed Anglophilia stemmed from being born in this colonial-era building.
Across the street is Masina Hospital, run by a Parsi Trust. It used to the personal private mansion of the same Baghdadi Jew, David Sassoon, who besides being the richest man in Bombay in the late 19th century, also owned acres of prime real estate in the area. When he was cured of a hernia by a Parsi doctor, he sold him the mansion and the gardens surrounding it for just Rs. 25,000. The doctor converted the mansion and the grounds into a hospital complex. I strayed into the grounds with Soniya and took pictures of the mansion (now hospital). This neck of the Bombay woods--the area around Byculla and Mazagoan (once upon a time my own stomping grounds in my infancy, childhood and teenage years) is so packed with history that we have decided to make another date and take a stroll through his area.
An Evening with Azra:
The Uber driver dropped Soniya off along the way and took me on to Bandra where I went straight to Dad's place to spend some time with him and Russel and to report on my afternoon with my former students (now friends). I told Dad about my stepping into Eugenie Maternity Home and I am sure I evoked memories of my Mum for him too because the entire visit was extremely poignant for me as I kept thinking of all the things my Mum had told me about my birth in this hospital and her stay there.
Dad left for the 7.00 pm Mass and I stayed on with Russel to keep him company. Then, when he returned at 8.00 pm, I got a text from my friend Shahnaz's daughter Azra to find out if I was free and if we could do a movie at my place. I was happy to accommodate her need for company in her mother's absence (Shahnaz is on a cruise with her school batch mates). I called Bandra Gym and ordered a Chicken Tikka Pizza and went straight from Dad's place to pick it up. I texted Azra and told her to meet me there. Ten minutes later, she arrived there, I picked up the pizza and we strolled over to my studio.
We sprawled around eating pizza and looking for a movie on Netflix--she chose The Whole Nine Yards which was a cheesy comedy with Matthew Perry and Bruce Willis--which had a lot of laughs as the entire plot was so hilarious. It was wonderful to have a visitor in my house--a really unusual experience--and one who was so casual and made herself so much at home. Pizza consumed, we finished off with chocolate ice-cream. It was a really fun evening and I am glad I made the time for her,
I walked Azra down to a rickshaw and then got home to merely brush and floss my teeth and get to bed.
What a fantastic day it turned out to be! What a nostalgic walk down Infancy Lane for me!
Until tomorrow...
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