1948: The cyclone Mumbai forgot

It was a rather restless couple of days for several city seniors Two weeks ago everyone from the Indian Meteorological Department and Skymet to news channels and national dailies as well as eminences like author Amitav Ghosh warned that a cyclone was hitting Bombay after a hundred years Those who wondered and voiced otherwisemdashsuggesting they witnessed terrible 1948 cyclone frenzymdashheard younger family members scoff Could I be mistaken why does nobody believe this many fretted at being doubtedNot Bhupen Dalal Irate at TV anchors trumpeting this came after 123 years and the Times not bothering to check their own archives the septuagenarian wanted to set straight the record Late at night he shot Ghosh a spirited email starting I am surprisedHe was mollified by the withinanhour response Dear Mr Dalal you are right I and my collaborator Dr Adam Sobel made an error The measurement of cyclones differs in the US and India Dr Sobel has since issued a correction Best wishes Amitav GhoshDalals dissent elicited less grace locally With no account detailing the earlier calamity even once confirmed he rounded up some St Xaviers School classmates to recount experiences of that far worse cyclone On November 22 1948 Dalal was with his parents in Borivli It was just past my seventh birthday Winds moved at great speed and rain pelted down dangerously heavy There was only one street Ghodbunder Road SV Road Strewn with dropped trees it was available for us on oneside aloneMaking landfall around Alibaug Nisarga has tragically routed Raigad Its precursor however devoured the city itself with ferocity A communique issued by the Bombay Provincial Government estimated mounting casualties by drowning and at least 100 victims injured by collapsing debris All India Radios mediumwave transmission was wiped clean shortwave sputtered on a generator Fishing boats and motor launches sank schools shut and five damaged hydroelectric power lines disrupted transport modes including trams whose overhead wires were affectedShocking that the press coolly overlooked 1948 says Desmond Fernandes from Chuim village Bandra He distinctly remembers savage squall bursts fell mango trees lining the path where Pali Hill Hotel stands Tiles and stones of our semikuccha structures swirled unsafely We sat with hands folded for the city Prayerful amid pandemic too parishioners keep the faith chanting evening rosaries around pebbled grottos suitably apart leaning from verandasThe island city bore the brunt of the cyclone striking after sunset on November 21 1948 In Art Deco apartments along Marine Drive children cowered watching hungry tides leap From Room No 3 atop the Sea Green Hotel signboard Vikram Rajaram saw images flash which both fascinated and terrified him at age six My father the Tata Mills manager decided to stay here to play daily tennis at CCI That storm went wild A cast iron pipe broke denting our grey Citroen parked between the hotel and Brabourne Stadium And I can still visualise a stupid chap having the temerity to open his umbrella against such anger of the elementsPremchandra Parekh saw Arabian Sea levels rise alarmingly from Rupayatan building renamed AlJabreya Court when Kuwaiti royals bought the plot as a holiday retreat At the time none of our balconies had windows encasing rooms he explains Wet pools streamed in driven by unstoppable southwest winds With smashed glass panes at our feet I was taken back to the dock accident damage from the SS Fort Stikine explosion four years before etched in my mind though I was threeAt 11Freni Bilimoria now Sidhva woke up to mayhem outside P block in Cusrow Baug on Colaba Causeway Tucked near the rear of the Parsi enclave interestingly lettered A to U skipping I L N and O architect Claude Batley conceived in 1934 her home lay close to European barracks whose soldiers thrilled neighbourhood kids We would run to peepholes in the brick wall through which they slipped us foreign chocolates she recollects Telltale whiffs of gales had gained momentum overnight Bilimoria was stunned to hear banging loud as a bomb blast The roof sheathing Wellington Mews horse stables had been caught in a scoop Swooping off it flew madly to crashdive with a deafening clang in the colony courtyardFurther south sevenyearold Chiku Advani froze as howling winds circled his residence at Candy Castle Filmmaker Pooh Sayani shares that this building named for her youngest aunt was among a Colaba trio her Nanabapa grandfather Jafferseth Padamsee commissioned with Chotu Terrace and Theatre Group adda Kulsum Terrace for his wife Kulsumbai The sole surviving Padamsee of her generation Candy was born Dilshad but rechristened by Miss Murphy whose Altamont Road boarding school she and her siblings attended The Irishwoman renamed Sultan as Bobby Roshan was Rosh Poohs mother Zarina was Jerry Shiraz was Bapsi or B Roshanali was Alyque Chotu was Cho Aziz was Bubbles and Dilshad became CandyWith no authoritative meteorological caution we were weathervanes predicting climate says Advani That trouble was brewing appeared evident from overcast skies eerie clouds dark seas badly battering rocks No one gauged the severity of this lashing wed be at the mercy of Candy Castle proved safer naturally than the pier where high pressure winds twisted and changed direction They tossed out deckchairs and other furniture of the Radio Club blowing it at a crazy velocity to distant Juhu Beach Apollo Bunders really hefty weighty paving was ripped and bashed aroundWith frontpaged headlines Bombay paralysed by cyclone and City isolated from rest of country The Times of Indias November 23 edition snuck in a sentence whose inadvertent irony caught an observant friends eye The column describing rampant harbour havoc read A fiveton cruiser washed ashore at Ballard Bunder and Lots Wife a luxury yacht of the Salt Revenue Department was located in shattered condition A throwback to the episode of Lots wife who was transformed into a salt pillar that sailing vessel might have been baptised by an Englishman with trust in the Bible and a wry sense of humourFurther south fast swelling waters swallowed stretches of mangroves where the President Hotel is today It was incessant an absolute mini tsunami says Dina Daver then Billimoria An eightyearold in the villa simply known as 21 Cuffe Parade till it became BagheAbbas she remembers The walkway to the sea opposite Yuku Hamieds home Indo SaracenicNeo Gothic gem Jasim House later Taraporevala Mansion also the address of writer Mulk Raj Anand and his dancer wife Shirin Vajifdarmdashwhere my sister and I walked with our grandfathermdashgot wholly submerged Tall palms swayed so low we thought they were about to fall any minute Our promenade was part of the sea and the road a flood When the rain abated people brought out little dinghies rowing them to whereverCenturyold trees found themselves brutally uprooted throughout town Among them sturdy specimens at Pedder Road recalls structural engineer Shirish Patel who in 1964 built our first flyover the iconic one at Kemps Corner going on to envisage New Bombay with Charles Correa and Pravina Mehta A teenager in the Carmichael Road bungalow the family occupied during his fathers 194652 tenure as Bombays first nonBritish Municipal Commissioner Patel dismisses Nisargas impact as barest rain with scattered strong gusts soon fizzling out He points out that Pedder Road was widened following the disasterMore inward midtown the relentless scene did leave Pravin Vakil of Bhuleshwar elated at the prospect of an unexpected short vacation from GT School With widespread destruction in the Panjrapole area where we were CP Tank shops sold overpriced candles and had people pay R100150 for each hurricane lamp My uncle travelled to Dharavi for a dividend amount due to him from Western India Tanneries The surge of flooding forced a 10 hourlong journey back on foot when trains ground to a screeching halt He reached home with clothes in complete tatters snagged while wading across road upon road piled with snapped tree branches that scratched himBesides memories of fending off sand that spilled through tightly louvered windows at her Prarthna Samaj home Minakshi Desai nee Rele relates how the cyclone spoilt a charming weekend hobby With four friends living on the same street she used to gather tandul mani rice beads from Chowpatty Their routine involved choosing grains with a hole which they strung together in pretty necklaces bangles and earrings As murmurs of a possible storm approaching grew their families obviously forbade the girls from indulging in that favourite pastime Instead of bead picking we were dazed by the onslaught of the cyclone when it arrivedshe says That was no ordinary layer of sand breezes blew till Opera HouseThe Bombay Chronicle dated November 25 finally breathed a semblance of calm The announcements Bombay recovering steadily and Transport almost restored to normal were received with tremendous relief Not of course without seriously rattling citizens As Freni Sidhva says November 1948 left us very shaken very afraid What happened last fortnight was nothingAuthorpublisher Meher Marfatia writes fortnightly on everything that makes her love Mumbai and adore Bombay You can reach her at mehermarfatiagmailcomwwwmeher marfatiacomCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and a complete guide from food to things to do and events across Mumbai Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest news