With Love from Mumbai

July 26, 2017

With Love from Mumbai

I bring you images from my random walk in the heritage precinct of Mumbai on a rain-swept day.

Traffic island sculptures have always fascinated me. This sculpture opposite Lion Gate of the Naval Dockyard is of the iconic warship INS Vikrant. It is special because it is made out of the metal scraps collected from the venerable ship itself; from the shipbreaking yard where she was put to death. The sculpture not only reminds us of the country’s first aircraft carrier, but is also a testimony of our shame of not treasuring and preserving our legacy.

Kala Ghoda, which is synonymous with a week-long art festival every February, got a new equestrian statue at the beginning of this year. But it is not the same, for it has no rider! The original statue, after which Kala Ghoda acquired its name, has long been shifted to the zoo; because some people were ashamed of the rider (King Edward VII) on the black horse.

This building constructed in Venetian Gothic style in 1870 houses one of the oldest and finest library and reading room. It is named after the most famous and munificent Jew of Bombay, David Sassoon. In 2006, it was named among the 47 classic libraries of the world. Annual membership costs ₹1200.

This is the country’s oldest surviving Cast Iron building, Esplanade Mansion. The cast iron frame of the building was made in England and then shipped to India. Built in 1871, it was known as Watson’s Hotel. Mark Twain stayed at this hotel in 1896. Jamsetji Tata was refused entry into the hotel, and a piqued Tata promptly built the Taj Mahal hotel, few hundred meters away. And it was here cinema was born in India, when on July 7^th 1896, the Lumière brothers sent Marius Sestier to screen their six short films.

This part of the city is replete with heritage buildings and among them rises this building of Central Bank of India with its distinctive dome. Established in 1911, this was one of the first commercial banks to be wholly owned and managed by Indians; the first chairman was none other than Sir Pherozeshah Mehta.

Ismail Building has been very recently renovated. Built in 1906, in neoclassical style, it was earlier owned by the family of Sir Mohamed Yusuf, a philanthropist proprietor of Bombay Steam Navigation Company.

The Metro will finally come to this part of the city, mercifully underground and not disturbing the heritage skyline. But it is a shame that the heritage precinct doesn’t have a cycling track, like what we have in Europe.

Some Parsee families in the city still procure water from holy wells like the Bhikha Behram Well. The water used to be delivered by hand-pulled carts. Now we have tankers like these.

Navsari Building (named after the native town of Jamsetji Tata) is one of the most striking buildings on the heritage mile because of its red façade. But it has a secret hidden inside – the oldest functioning lift of the country. It is manually cranked.