The City Of Hidden Gems

Meher Marfatia – Invisible Mumbai, Hidden Gem

Meher Marfatia began covering Bombay in the 90s. She was a young mother and was looking for things to do in and around the city. She often heard others say there was not enough for people to do in Bombay. In fact, she thought it was elitist. Her response was to make a list for herself and friends – of things to do in Bombay with her kids.

Meher says, “The list became descriptive and turned into a book because Tariq Ansari (Proprietor of the newspaper Mid-Day) was encouraging.”

The book was called Little Mumbai and included everything one could do with kids all over Bombay. That grew into a second book for children, the Mumbai Timeout for Kids based on the London Timeout for Kids because the mother organisation wanted a Bombay edition.

“After that, I had so much material, I began sharing it in columns with readers at large. I used facts that were there for everyone to access but the thought of speaking to people excited me, speaking to people I didn’t know, who had so much history and sense of pride about the city and where the forefathers came from and how they came to the city. That is how the column was born and I got letters with lots of new nuggets of information. So, the book Hidden Gems contains expanded essays of the column.”

“Hidden gems are equally people, other than buildings and places. Like, I went to a junction called Charnal in Dongri, where there were these water carriers called the bhishtis. There are few water-carrier families left, who go from home to home, shop to shop with a goat skin bag called a mashaakh. They are focused around Paidhuni, Dongri and Bhindi Bazaar. They walk with the goat-skin bag and tend to have a loping gait with one shoulder up. They have a lot of back and posture problems because they have to angle themselves in a way so that the water doesn’t spill.”
“There were two brothers, they came up to me and almost immediately, they said in hindi: ‘Saal 1819 mein mere baap dada Haryana se yaha pohonche. Pucho kyun?’ I was thrilled to have this opening of history. So, I asked why? He said because that was the time when stone buildings were being built in Bombay and they needed water. Many years later, kaccha roads were being tarred and they needed water. So, he said, my father and grand-father did rather well. In fact, their grand-father had served the Raja of Bikaner’s army to give his soldiers water. I was absolutely thrilled.”

“Dongri also has had a surma shop since 1930 with quite a name: Dada Nanji Kamarsi Surmawala. We lost Md Ahnis, and now the brother runs the shop. Their father set the shop in 1930, he was a poet, came to Bombay and decided that he wanted to sell the highest quality surma. The shop is diagonally opposite Charnal. The surprise was that the shop had a small room with art history books. He has a brother who is a scientist in England, a daughter who teaches special kids but he decided that he has to stay back to look after his father’s shop.”

Which areas of Bombay to you love?
South Bombay is brimming with beautiful structures and stories, but it is the colonial part of the city. I feel the more real part of the city is the one built by the mill workers, dock hands, film studies – Mazgaon, Parel, Byculla, Mahim, Dadar, Shivaji Park – I love these areas, their stories waiting to be mined. Right from the 1896 plague to Partition to textile strikes to communal politics of ’90s… there are stories of courage.

We are all in our own way, story tellers and we can add to the overall value to the city history if we also collect stories from our families, neighbours.

To what extent you see the future of the surmawala, the bishthis?
And these beautiful heritage structures that we have, to what extent the heritage committee actually focusing that there are no major alterations to the sculptures? Is there any government support for it?

It is inevitable that certain trades will not be handed down, it is also a matter of pride. At the same time, it doesn’t stop us from being interested in these occupations.

Instead of all of us grumbling about how the things are poorly maintained, please know there is a lot of great work happening in the city but it is lost in the whole re-development and government red tape, there are amazing conservation architects who are doing amazing things. There are so many people doing so much work, it is to be treasured.

All these small lanes at the Crawford Market, Bhendi Bazaar and all the homes are going to be taken away and there is going to be a multi-storey building, did you ever interview anybody and if you met anyone, how do they feel about it?

It bothered me a lot. I profiled Bhendi Bazaar two years ago and went from house to house with a school friend. Most of them welcomed it. They said it is romantic to talk about old facades but try living in them, where you have a loo at the end of a corridor, there are so many families, we are going to be happy. We are going to be getting bathrooms in our home. So, we look at the aesthetics but not the living conditions unless you are there. I visited those who are put in transit camps, they were also happy, they said as long as it takes to develop the original area, we will stay here. On the whole, it is not as we read. It was like unlearning, surprising.

IN PICTURES:
The Bahu Mansion at Kemps corner opposite Shalimar Hotel – the crown on the top of rounded column. The reason behind it, it was a building that started construction in1909 and very soon along in 1911 came King George V and Queen Mary so, they sailed in the city and it was a kind of acknowledgment to the royal couple coming towards the completion of the building.

Country’s first all-women symphony orchestra in 1800s staged for performance for Lord Willingdon, the Viceroy of India at the Young Lady’s School and the Head Mistress Soonabai Desai is one of the base violinists here. So, all the ladies in their silk gara sarees and the only gentleman is the pianist.

Sheth Hirachand Gumanji Jain Boarding School is a little oasis in the heart of the city, at the Lamington Road. It is a hostel that accommodates out of town chartered accountants upto three years while they complete their articleship in the city and very lovely. It is renovated yet again, it is built in Indian embellishments with the Neo-lithic style

Jhaveri Bros & Co were the first in India to import Mont Blanc in India and what you can still see is, the handles of the doors are shaped like a fountain pen with their nibs pointing north, they look like pair of Mont Blanc Fountain pens. That is quite quaint and impressive. Shyamdas Jhaveri came as a runaway from Bhavnagar, orphaned at 5 and came to the city with Rs 2, worked with someone, got a little money, invested in a small store which then eventually grew Jhaveri Brothers.

Ghanteshwar temple, in Khar, there is not an inch of a wall on the Ghanteshwar temple without bells. It hugs one corner of Madhu Park and each bell is tied in acknowledgment of a favour received. The devotees come here and tie a bell for whatever wish that is fulfilled. Very beautiful and unusual, I actually saw two people stringing a new bell.

Meher Marfatia, writer-publisher of the book ‘Once Upon A City’ shares stories from an invisible city