This post on Bombay is dedicated to my dear English friend Jill Cadman, who has always stood as the epitome of all those things I so admire and secretly hold in great pride about some of the Brits – pristine Queen’s English, reserved personality, love of the British Royalty, good matters, beautiful English ladies and somewhat odd looking men, charming nevertheless. Whenever, Jilly visited India, she took a taxi straight from the Sahar International Airport to Pune directly, without ever wanting to really see Bombay with my eyes. The real Bombay - on the street, in the local trains or in the fish market. British snobbery! At once, amusing and disgusting!
As long as I stayed in Bombay, I too never really saw it, as in one way or the other one is part of that world. As an outsider now, it brings untold pride to say that I belong to:
Amchi Mumbai
Early morning breakfast
Or midday snacks
Early morning paper sorting outside the railway station
Train Track: Origin of names of some Stations
Malad
This name was derived from the whitish earth found around the area, which was also used to construct the buildings in the neighbouring area.
Dadar
The Marathi word for bridge or connecting stairway, it probably got the name because it linked the northern islands to the main island of Mumbai. In the 40s, Dadar Circle was called the Khodadad Circle (after the name of the contractor’s father). It came under the scanner of the renaming brigade, who mistakenly believed it to be named after an Afghan God. It was formally rechristened the Nana Shankersheth Flyover, after the overbridge that had been constructed in the 90s. But it is usually referred to as Dadar Circle or Dadar TT. The TT, stands for Tram Terminus, please note, which was the last stop for the tramways network, owned and run by Bombay Electric & Suburban Tramways Company, BEST, if you please.
Never to forget the conductor...
Masjid
Contrary to popular belief, this station is not named after a mosque, but the 200-year-old Gate of Mercy Synagogue, known as Juni Masjid to the locals.
Parel
This station was named after ‘paral’ or ‘padal’, the Marathi name for the trumpet flower that blossomed in the vicinity.
Cha ghe re....
Would Bunty guess?
It's Bandra of course!
Where do you want to go?
Charni Road
Derived from the Marathi word ‘charne’, it is named after the erstwhile grazing fields for the cattle and horses.
Matunga
The coinage dates back to the 12th century, when Raja Bhimdev’s army of matangs or elephants, were positioned around the area.
Inside the train shopping display....
.....and outside stations
The actual life of Bombay is in the streets, the local trains and the hurry that is integral to life in Bombay. In fact, most of us Mumbaikars, are restless in every other city in the country and find the slow pace, suffocating to say the least. The other fact of Bombay is, they say, if you have ever lived in Bombay, you will never live in any other city in India – at least for long. And if you do, you will always remember it with the fondness, only a person like me will know. Really, I am only in body away from Bombay, never in spirit! Never away from what I love so dearly, MY Bombay.
Nothing fishy about maushi...
Aaaah! The Bengali Ilish......
.....and those who sleep after a good fishy meal
.............and those on the local train
Nor they see not children who sell in trains...
No, she smiles not...
For her the world is only a whirlwind inside....
Yet the flowers bloom.....
The Gods rejoice......
Kyu ki yeh hai Bombay meri jaan.....
Close
Hi Dagny,
Well said - it is the city of everyone's dreams, in fact the only one in the country. In other metros people come for jobs, in Bombay, people go there with a dream. Lot of difference!
Julia
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Julia,
I have never lived in mumbai myself and have gone there for short visits only. Yet that feeling of Amchi Mumbai.. I get it too... each time I go there. Though the city remains unknown, even unknowable, yet I have that pride of ownership. I dont know what it is about the metro.
I think it is because it gives everyone a feeling of being the only place where it is possible to make dreams come true... where we own our life... where we can be winners...
What say?
Cheers,
Dagny
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Dear Aditi,
Thanks you. Without your visiting my Bombay this post would have miised a valuable writer/commentator. Thanks for dropping by.
Julia
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Hi Julia,
Take a bow, the sensitive photographer. Excellent post. I am just a casual visitor to the city , there is something in the city that is very alive and exciting .... very tangible. You captured all that in the blog.
Aditi
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Shivanjali,
Bombay is a must-live I say to everyone. Once in every life, for atleast one year one has to do it.
Hi Binu,
Yes, I remember the books along the pavement starting from the GPO to right upto VT almost...what a wealth of books there from Grey's Anatomy to P G Wodehouse, just everything!
Thanks both for your comment.
Julia
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A post close to my heart whihc has always nurtured the dream to stay in mumbai and does so now too..and will always do...:))))...brought back the nostalgia of my mumbai visits...
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hi
i stayed 3 years in bombay. (97 to 2000).
i am terrified later when I heard about the train blast. This is the place where I feel I belong. You feel the suffering, and a kind of eternal peace you obtain through that. I have no friends there now.i still love to visit bombay. you can have lonley walk thr the streets of churchgate(full of second hand books). its a bliss
Binu
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That queue thing was really brilliant Anjala. I remember I was in college when this getting into queues began in Bombay. I used to get off at Churchgate to take a 71 to Hutatma Chowk and get off at kapoor Lapms to go to college in Elphinstone. There used to be Policemen with batons there at the bus stand and any one who got out of queue used to get one!! It was tough training but look at it now...no body breaks a queue in Bombay, unlike Delhi where the concept does not exist. Here it will always be....queue, kyu ji?!
Julia
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Julia, Thank you! The title drew me in :))
As you rightly say, when you are part of the world, you don't really 'see' many things - the photos and captions are delightful and make me appreciate the vibrancy of my city better. The 'kyun ki yeh mumbai hai' made me think of 'queue ki...' cause there is defintely a sense of order in the seemingly chaotic crowds.
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Dear Maddss,
I may be a master of where I live but your latest posts have proved that you are A master of even places where you do not live. No comparisson to your, Maddss! Thanks for visiting.
Julia
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