Meher Marfatia: Once upon a Hill Road

I am the Resurrection and the Lifersquo affirms the inscription on the lifesize marble statue of Christ at the entrance to St Peterrsquos Church in Bandra I have just stepped out after the funeral of a Spanish priest distinguished for being the last Latin tutor in the city Fr Peter Ribes shared sonorous nuances of this classic language in St Stanislaus the suburbsrsquo first English medium school and St Maryrsquos from the 1950s to the 1980sThe Nusserwanji Ratanji Tata Agiary in Bandra is 130 years old PicsTehniyat FatimaCounting over 20 exquisite stainedglass windows that cast a glow in golden slants of the soon to set summer sun the beautiful mass done I walk on to Hill Road The street I grew up on is named after one of Bandrarsquos two hills Mount Mary hill and Pali hill It extends from the railway station till Mehboob Studio The leafy lanes sprouting right from this westeast axis are clearly sainted mdash St Martin St Cyril St Paul St Alexious St John mdash while to the left run Jain Mandir Road Boran Road Bazar Road and Waroda RoadSt Josephrsquos ConventExactly across St Peterrsquos Church and Stanislaus School stands my alma mater St Josephrsquos The red brick convent run by Daughters of the Cross nuns boasts a sparkling roster painter Papri Bose actress Dimple Kapadia the Bredmeyers models Anna Ulrika Indira journoceleb sisters Malavika Sangghvi and Devika Bhojwani lawyer turned activist Dilbur Parakh and Frene Ginwala former Speaker of the National Assembly of Parliament in South AfricaSt Peterrsquos Church in BandraCheap Jack and Pinky Pat were treasure troves We grabbed their stationery split seconds before the bell rang opposite these Bohri shops flying across the road barely in time to tail assembly lines Our history teacher greeted new Parsi students with interesting localese First that the walls enclosing St Andrewrsquos Church compound were built thanks to a donation from Maneckjee Sorabjee Ashburner in 1862 mdash we were even trotted out to see this recorded on a slab at the main gate Next that Jamshedjee Jeejeebhoy constructed a flight of steps from the foot of Mount Mary to the north side of the basilica known as ldquoDegrados de Bomanjeerdquo Steps of BomanjeeIf Catholic girls knelt in the school chapel I didnrsquot have too far to go Oasislike the Nusserwanji Ratanji Tata Agiary has welcomed the community for 130 years The Zarathushtra image on its stained glass panel depicting the prophet between Edwardian motifs once graced Tata Palace As kids my brother and I raced to buy fragrant sandalwood sticks from the quaint Dickensian shop curiously embedded in the fire templersquos outer wallA childhood haunt yet faces the agiary Happy Books so easily a second home where we stuck noses in pages for as long as we liked The mother ship in Colaba was rocked by spicy controversy in the 1960s Held for stocking copies of Lady Chatterleyrsquos Lover that bold bookseller had a choice a fine of Rs 20 or a week in prisonSomewhere between my school and bookshop the same dusty banks still see customers file in And the counters of our favourite chemist continue to democratically dispense both allopathic and homoeopathic remedies Amit Chaudhurirsquos poem Bandra Medical Stores describes how ldquobranches purled and knitted shadowsrdquo around the Nair familyrsquos treeshaded pharmacyFrom the original gems New Talkies is rudely replaced by a giant Marks and Spencer hugging a prime corner of the road Made members of its Sunday Picture Club we learnt to love movie madness thatrsquos lasted happily lifelongFood as much on our minds then as well as today wersquove savoured it all from MacRonellrsquos confectioners to Lucky biryani Not forgetting the meatiest kebabs in Casbah and the best cart pani puri at Elco Arcade elevated to posh restaurant avatar nowOther typical attractions abounded Irsquod hate missing the evening sight of a uniformed lamplighter slowing his bicycle to a stop at every post he lit with a tall rod Flocks of goats herded en masse en route the abattoir near the station and down the length of our stretch of asphalt trundled the small van with ldquoMusic grows where Maurice goesrdquo painted on its walls mdash a hat tip to Maurice Concessiorsquos band few functions were a hit without hiringThe street name changing to Ramdas Nayak Marg meant nothing Hill Road was and always will stay simply that ldquoKnow where you come from then you will know yourselfrdquo Fr Ribes had often said In Latin this sounds profoundly pitchperfect ldquoNoverim te noverim me mdash May I know you may I know myselfrdquo Write in to Meher at mehermarfatiagmailcom