The 80-year-old Bhaishankar Gourishankar Mithaiwala and Hasmukh Tea Merchants on Kalbadevi Road
Kalbadevi
The 80-year-old Bhaishankar Gourishankar Mithaiwala and Hasmukh Tea Merchants on Kalbadevi Road were witnesses to migrants from Gujarat and Saurashtra who settled at Chira Bazaar, Zhaveri Bazaar, Phool-waali Gali and Bhangwadi and flourished in businesses textiles, garments, jewellery, and for some strange reason, spectacles.
The latest addition is the decade-old 'wedding and printing card paper' business. But gone are the days when a postcard addressed only to Bhaishankar Gourishankar Mithaiwala, Bombay would arrive at the correct address. "Who writes letters these days?" asks proprietor Mahesh Desai with a dry laugh.
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Stroll down the flower shop-temple lane in Matunga PIC/shadab khan |
Chembur
It was around 1951 that Chembur got its first electric train. The frequency, remembers N K Pancholi who belongs to a family of pujaris from Ahmedabad who have lived in Chembur for nearly 125 years was one local per hour. In the 40s, when the only building in the area was the one that still houses the 52-year-old Pancholi Watch Co, the crowd was largely south-Indian, Gujarati and Maharashtrian.
Much has changed: the roads are no longer kachcha and while R K Studio is still standing, most of the Kapoors have moved out. The Pancholis and Kapoors were apparently neighbours at Shanti Bag. "We owned the building, Raj Kapoor paid rent," says Pancholi, with a puffed chest.
Dadar
Shivaji Park, Dadar Parsee Colony, Hindu Colony, Plaza, Khodadad Circle, Kabootar Khana, Chaitya Bhoomi (where Ambedkar's last rites were performed), and Sena Bhavan: one can't help but agree with Nitin Bahl of Chandu Sweets when he says, "Dadar ne toh saara zamaana dekha hai."
And Dadar has. It was the tram terminus until trams were discontinued in 60s, and it was the shopping destination for most Mumbaiites.
Deepak Acharya of the 73-year-old D Damodar Sweetmeats, says Plaza and the Parsee and Hindu colonies are still untouched but the old world charm is lost. "Overpopulation killed it all," he says. What isn't dead is the demand for Sutar Feni, a maida-based sweet, which Acharya claims, his shop makes best.
Navi Mumbai
Nariman Point may be one end of the city but Mankhurd is no longer the other. Developed 37 years ago, Navi Mumbai's first shot in the arm was the railway line which came up in the 1990s. The second was the Center One shopping mall in Vashi. It might have lost its sheen now thanks to the others that came up rapidly Palm Beach Mall, Central Mall (Vashi) and Little World Mall in Khargar.
Today, even as real estate prices shoot up, no other area in Mumbai, new or old, can boast of such sprawling railway stations, an unspoilt view of the mountains and of course, the entry point to the Pune Expressway.
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