Mid-Day Anniversary: Time travel with Mumbai’s memory-keeper

Meher Marfatia exploring the little Bandra village of Sherly from where she works. Pic/Satej Shinde

Meher Marfatia knows where all the best wafer chip shops are in the city. She knows where the best mahogany trees can be found (Dadar Parsi Colony), and which neighbourhood was once known as the "Paris of Bombay" (Clare Road, Byculla). If you've followed her column, Once Upon A City - here in mid-day for the past decade, and now in its digital avatar on mehermarfatia.com/blog - then you probably know these Mumbai secrets too.

As the city's memory-keeper in a career spanning 35 years, she has probably marched through every inch of this city in search of its hidden stories and heroes, sharing her discoveries with readers every fortnight. Her association with this paper goes back to 1990, when as a young mother, she penned a column Kid-Day (a play on this paper's name) to help mothers and children explore the city. "mid-day has been the cradle for my interest in city history. From Kid-Day to Urban Legend, Bambai Dost, and finally OUAC, my columns here are where I mapped the city's neighbourhoods, its people, and their friendships," she says.

And this was decades before "oral history" was even a thing. "I just enjoyed hearing people's stories."

"The word history generally connotes something way back in the past. I think oral history is what connects past to present, to whoever's in front of you. It helps us understand each other, and that there are lives so different from yours which have had just as much a hand in moulding the city, and country," she adds.

Each story takes about a month to shape, from initial research to multiple rounds of recce at the spot. Sometimes this led to startling discoveries. For instance, did you know "it's Altamont Road, and not Altamount Road as signboards and even the postal department proclaim". "For years, I too thought it was named Altamount because the road climbed up the slope. But while researching for the column, I learnt it was originally named after Colonel Altamont, who served the Nawab of Lucknow before settling on this Cumballa Hill slope," says Marfatia.

Her approach may be old-school, but Marfatia has since adopted more modern platforms for storytelling. The journalist and author this year took her beloved column online, hosting it on her website, along with photographs, voice clips, and video recordings she has captured. "I had been mulling over the decision to switch from writing for the paper to publishing online for a year-and-a-half. It had become important to me to meet young people where they are, and they all read online," says Marfatia, "I also wanted a multi-media platform that could capture a city that is frantically changing its contours, with redevelopment and demolitions everywhere. Neighbourhoods I'm speaking of are sometimes not there a couple of weeks later. Through videos, we can still keep those places alive in memory."

Now, Marfatia loves the fact that "younger people come up to me, they engage with the column." It's why she decided - after years of resisting social media - to post short video stories on Instagram (@mehermapsmumbai). "I have a miniseries there, called Baatein Bambai Ki, where I explain the origins of road names. You can watch me interview even the descendants of those whom the roads were named after." In another new miniseries, Bombay Behind the Scenes, she takes curious viewers along on her explorations.

As for where you can get the best wafer chips in town - we know you're still thinking about that - you'll just have to read her column!