As one more iconic bakery readies to shutter in the name of public development, we must celebrate the last standing pillars that define Mumbai’s unique and diverse heritage
Just as heritage junkies, yours truly included, were giving each other high-fives at the resurrection of the Royal Opera House and the restoration work underway at Flora Fountain, last week, mid-day broke the news about the closure of a nondescript yet equally crucial symbol of the city’s heritage. It was more of a wake-up call than a dampener.
Crown Bakery in Mahim would have to shutter for good from its iconic space on LJ Road as part of Metro Line III plans, where an underground station is likely to come up in this space. This development is probably a case of skimming the surface. Several other smaller, nameless structures with equally fascinating histories as the 63-year-old bakery will meet with the same fate as new lines get drawn on the city’s blueprint. Clearly, public infrastructure, real estate and sky-high rents are emerging as the most feared terms for all things heritage in the city.
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Earlier in July, the news about the closure of Mani’s, the South Indian eatery from its landmark location in Matunga caused severe heartbreak for its patrons who now have trudge to Chembur where they have relocated. The space had to shut because the original structure was demolished to make way for a skyrise. The same script, we shudder, will continue to read across various corners of the city, chipping away not just at its culinary heritage but also historic footnotes of every kind.
Rhythm House. Café Samovar. New Empire and New Excelsior cinemas. There are countless others. Spelling each shuttered institution in just this last decade, I’m afraid, would end up spilling over my word limit for this column. Generations have grown up being touched by these spaces, and they in turn, would have introduced them to the next. Warm family breakfasts have been had across marble table-tops and brun maska, Sunday matinees have been enjoyed in single-screens over buttery pop corn, while audio cassettes would have been picked by the dozen at the Christmas sale. Of course, we’ve all had our memories in these nostalgic nooks of the city. These are becoming far and few, and so naturally, and already, millennials are growing up in a city that resembles a hotchpotch of the old and new; less charm, more concrete. And minus the stories.
Another aberration that was brought to our notice by a fellow heritage buff in the newsroom was a smart new ploy by a builder to repackage a one-time “down market” destination in south-central Mumbai. Using giant hoardings with B/W frames and drippy trivia about its fascinating past, the plush upcoming complex is being sold as a hub for art, culture and if you please, heritage. Cough. Splutter.
It’s a slideshow on a viewmaster that cannot be stopped. Those who have been able to survive, or better, get restored, can consider themselves lucky.
After all, they are and will remain the stuff of urban legend. They are Bombay.
mid-day’s Features Editor Fiona Fernandez relishes the city’s sights, sounds, smells and stones... wherever the ink and the inclination takes her. She tweets @bombayanaSend your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com
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