Meher Marfatia: Street that brought home Paris

Brothers Emil and Yvan Carvalho the successful fourth generation proprietor of American Express Bakery in the bakery of their Clare Road headquarters which opened in 1939 PicSuresh KarkeraThey never tired of hearing her My kids would say Perin Mamma tell us a real story and my ace raconteur motherinlaw flowed forth Some were boarding school tales others about the Convent of Jesus and Mary on Bycullas bustling Clare Road Last week at 80 and 81 Perin Marfatia and her sister Meher Master posed for a picture outside their alma mater Green uniforms replaced with walking sticks the visit rekindled all the excitement of being back A fresh flood of stories was our dinner table treatThe scene probably plays out with millions of mums and grandmums who attended the 1912established convent The campus sprawls midpoint on a street spilling with character far from the genteel lastcentury spell it cast European carriages or gharries purring Plymouths and stately Studebakers rolled past Cassi fistula trees the Indian laburnum or bhaya naming Byculla suffixed with khala a threshing floor Currently called Mirza Ghalib Marg it honours the 19thcentury poet lodging here at 17A Adelphi Chambers Urdu writer Sadat Hassan Manto also stayed in that block in the 1940sExstudents Havovi TurelDoodhwala and Bilkis VarawallaReshamvala Class of rsquo73 flank Perin KukaMarfatia and Meher KukaMaster Class of rsquo52 at the Convent of Jesus and Mary gate PicPradeep DhivarA prestigious address Clare Road was pronounced the Paris of Bombay It used to be an AngloIndian hub before their 1960s emigration to the West Baghdadi Jews Protestant Christians and Cantonese Chinese were other important settlers contributing the localitys hairdressers milliners and confectionersSharing the frame with Class of 52s Perin and Meher Kuka are Hutoxi Turel and Bilkis Varawalla from Class of 73 April afternoon heat doesnt deter them from showing off the road they roamed daily Christened after John Fitzgibbon 2nd Earl of Clare and Governor of Bombay from 1831 to 1835 this street was constructed in 1867 It is flanked north by Byculla Fire Station and the Khada Parsi statue of Cursetjee Manockjeehe offered Indian girls the first English school in 1859 from his home Villa Byculla at the Yflyover junction Southside it has Light of India and Rolex Restaurant face the Dawoodi Bohra community hall where the Barodawalas set up the Zenith Tins packaging company in a garage in 1938Wali Mohamed has watched Clare Road change over the years since 1971 when he started selling publications at Patel Newspaper Stall here PicSuresh KarkeraI chat with Vali Mohamed Patel ensconced in Patel Newspaper Stall opposite the Bata showroom since 1971 Print readership is down by 7080 per cent he regretsAdding No Parsis left either Readymoney Compound was full of them Fronting Readymoney building is John Pinto who believes Everyone deserves a good sendoffHis embalming company ensures this The spot has seen similar proprietors for 145 years ndash from the citys earliest funeral director Edward Jones and his grandson Alfred John is the worlds only undertaker appointed MBE Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire on repatriating 2611 terror victims to their home countries Oakwood coffins and cartons cautioning Handle With Care lie with antique armoires Body preservation is both art and science he saysReadymoney colonys common wall hedges 110yearold Taylor Memorial Methodist Church its crowning glory a pointed steeple Hutoxi and Bilkis classmate Nila Lazarus lived on these grounds As a teenager I went to Lucky Moon the Irani joint opposite for Coke and 100 grams of chipsThat was simple high tea on our garden lawn she says Because Bilkis grew up in Prince Court across the convent she became carrier pigeon Her pinafore pockets bulged with orders placed by friends who couldnt leave school for lunch For 35 paise E Rodrigues paan beedi shop outside sold red jeera goli packets and Fruitex toffees wrapped with stamps we collected to win albums Coconut or peanut chikki piecepounded with a tiny hammer was popular as was white buddhi ka baal candyfloss fluttered around sticksNaughtier girls placed threeminute calls to our sweethearts from the Lucky Moon phone Hutoxi laughs The present avatar of that eatery then belonging to Bahai brothers Shapoor and Aman is Sigdi The word sparks a memory for Bilkis We had no gas or ovens for cooking just coal and kerosene stoves A kolsa store delivered bagfuls of coal and we bought kerosene from the ration shopThe short lane nearby is graced by Neo Classicaldesigned Christ Church In 1833 Governor Monstuart Elphinstone announced moving from Fort to country home BycullaParel Christ Church saved him from mass at distant St Thomas Cathedral Welcoming women in veils and men in hats Christ Church was erected the same year as Byculla Club on adjacent Bellasis Road Bombays first residential club it introduced Byculla SouffleYoung love brewed between the boys of Christ Church School and girls of Jesus and Mary and St Agnes convents For 50 paise a song Musical Saloon aired requests Soft ballads to sultry jazz they melted the iciest object of affection Nervously dating couples nibbled raisin buns hot from E Hiscocks ovens Cake shops like Marosa and Silvana further fuelled romantic rendezvous Born on Clare Road in 1956 Neville Saldanha swears by the quality of Silvanas patties and pork pies Socioeconomic compulsions drove Catholics out to Vashi and Virar he saysAlmost 70 years later Monika Sequeira acknowledges her Bene Israeli craft mentor from St Agnes Esther Abraham inspired the master weaver we know as Monika Correa She taught us lovely leather work and abla embroidery Monika says Her best friend Lie Fun Yan from next door Nagpada excelled at sports Munira Jasdanwalla rode to school in a sevenseater goldtrimmed coach pulled by a pair of horses The black beauty called Jumbo was my favourite says Munira now ChudasamaMonika remembers some serious feasting at chaat carts and kulfi walas The Muslim restaurant beside Bata and Carona sold superb samosas even the suva bhaji and onion version And we went to secondhand stationers after losing compass boxes atlases or Fosters copy writing book no chance of new replacementsThat healthy thrift typified an area accommodating middle class residents of Lobo Mansion Oxford Chambers Piccadilly Flats and Khoja Compound Kids of these colonies squealed loud at games of Seven Tiles and Hoppers and Skippers Dr Fakhruddin Padaria and his wife Sara raised four children in Habib Park where they were for 40 years The road was safe we sent children out alone says Sara Fascinated by vagrants singing for alms they dropped anna coins in footpath beggars open upturned umbrellasMuslim and Gujarati tailors like Apsar and Apollo measure fewer customers in spiffier online times but keep cutting and drafting with diligent accuracy Jayprakash Thanawala of Apollo Tailors tells me his grandfather Narsidas began business in 1942 patronised by European clients lighting up the road at Christmas with a jhamak thats gone In an age when homemakers were proud seamstresses Hutoxis father Edulji traded in sewing machines from Roghay Building Curious heads pop through dingy doorways while we hunt for and find the E H Turel and Co sign on crumbling walls Behind Jafferbhais giant biryani kitchen with woodfired choolahs once fed 10000 peopleThough flour power has forever ruled here longest reigning is American Express Bakery From its pink heritage headquarters bake smells carry comfortingly amid Clare Road chaos on a breeze Its tagline We knead your needs is an indelible detail of the streetscape Supplying bread to American ships of the World War touching Bombay harbour earned the firm its name Fourth generation owners Emil and Yvan Carvalho recall greatgreat grandfather Francisco Carvalho pioneer the enterprise in 1908 from a Grant Road outlet Their parents Lilia and Ross are regular at the Bandra and Byculla counters respectively Emil says Its dinned into us that every requirement individual to industrial must reach doors on time no matter what flood or riot the city suffersLittler landmarks still going strong include the Tapias 65yearold Fakhri Stores and Yusuf Khokhawalas Jubilee Stores from 1949 peddling gifts trinkets and lingerie Jehangir Mistry from round the corner Rustom Baug asks me not to miss a trio of anda walas whove perennially hawked eggs piled looking like pingpong balls The sidewalk pyaaliseller hasnt stopped scooping potato and liver masala laced with kokum juice garlic oil chillies and chutney from 1955 when his father Badruddin Islam arrived from Azamgarh UP to concoct the mouthwatering mixThese are the aromas bringing Clare Road alive Its people continue living with clamour clutter colour and the peeling bells of Christ Church to wake up to on Sunday morningsAuthorpublisherMeher Marfatia writes fortnightly on everything that makes her love Mumbai and adore BombayYou can reach her at mehermarfatiagmailcom