Meher Marfatia: On the waterfront

An archival picture of the view of the Taj Mahal Hotel and the apartment blocks that lend the 100 metre northsouth axis between the Taj and Radio Club regal charm PIC CourtesyPhillops AntiquesI cant stop smiling when seeing the Gateway That enduring symbol of Bombay has my birth date indelibly carved in yellow basalt Thrilling as a kid to learn this was where the King and Queen of England entered town a century ago on December 2 The ride to Wittets triumphal arch became an annual affair Pointing out monuments and milestones en route my parents made mine the city they had so joyfully explored as theirsIts my mothers favourite promenade I stroll this time 10 apartment blocks lending the 100metre northsouth axis between the Taj and Radio Club a luminous glow With large windows overlooking the misty Uran horizon hills these homes rose at the dawn of the 1900s along Apollo Bunder or Strand Road Rechristened Prem Ramchandani Marg to honour the braveheart fatally hit flying a Mystere in the 1965 IndoPak WarFar south the strip is signed off by the lovely pierembracingbay location the Radio Club boastsApollo Bunder proved the Bombay Port Trusts finest reclamation scheme leasing 99year estates Bunder meaning port the word Apollo is supposed to derive from the Palla fish sold at the spot ndash corrupted to the Portuguese Pollem it finally emerged ApolloThe gem kicking off the EdwardianArt Deco stretch is Northcote Nursing Home constructed in 1902 Named for Lord Northcote Governor of Bombay from 1900 to 1903 this English guesthouse was converted into a multispecialty facility by one Mr Adenwala Plastic surgeon Dr Sam Mahaluxmivala joined in 1961 tending trauma and cosmetic cases Celebrities would register under assumed names most commonly Shah he laughs His huge contribution is Northcotes art collection every room and landing boasted canvases by MF Husain KH Ara Shiavax Chavda Homi Patel and Lalitha Lajmi among others When the nursing home closed in 2007 the works were raffled Dr Mahaluxmivalas hall hangs Beginning of a Kathakali one of just three 6x4 feet canvases Husain signed in MalayalamBeautiful red champa trees in bloom at the gates of Belha Court the only stone residential building along this strip PicShadab KhanNext up The Anchorage recipient of the 1989 Heritage Society Award has royal links The family of Rajkumari Urmila Devi of Kotda Sangani daughter of Vijaya Devi Princess of Mysore owned the building where Urmila Devi was born in January 1947 Through the 30s this was the winter home of my grandfather the Yuvaraja of Mysore Kanteerava Narasimharaja Wadiyar younger brother of Maharaja Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV who ruled from 1902 she says in a phone conversation Mother loved visiting The Anchorage My grandmother Yuvarani of Mysore from a relatively landlocked state enjoyed the sea and shopping for silver in the vicinity In 1940 the Yuvaraja returned unwell from a foreign trip to The Anchorage where he died Nine years after the property was sold by Urmila Devis mothers brother Maharaja Jayachamaraja WadiyarBharat Petroleum later acquiring The Anchorage it was home to Tasneem Mehta responsible for regifting the city the Bhau Daji Lad Museum Her husband Vikram helming Shell India they lived in a 4000squarefeet flat for 10 years from 1994 Our citys own tiny Riviera this stretch has great scenic charm says Mehta As the Mumbai convenor of INTACH she helped architect PK Das restore the GatewayTarun TahilianiThis is home from the pigeons to the Sea Lounge to jam sessions at Radio Club The street was glorious the image of Bombay exults Tarun Tahiliani Born in Villar Ville designed by an Italian in which his maternal grandfather had the duplex penthouse from the 1950s the couturier has come full circle His flagship Ensemble store elegantly fronts this ancestral seat of wooden balconies and lattice workAt the point Strand Road greets Henry Road 1906built Curzon House is where Scholar School was started in 1960 by Irishwoman MM Grant former headmistress of Campion School Pravin Puri informs me his father Amarnath bought the building in 1956 from Mozelle Nathan who inherited it from her grandparents Prossers Boarding House here was rented by the Mulchandani family from 1947On the facing corner 1905 Art Deco jewel Evelyn House extends accommodation to senior marine pilots It was named after the wife of Arthur Fosbery chief engineer of the Port Trust Retired BPT additional chief mechanical engineer Dilip Vishwanathan describes this as the only building on the row with a single flat per level Though strikingly restored its original column woodwork is lost except for the flooring Harbour master for Bombay Port Captain Kailash Mishra lived in Evelyn House till it turned BPT guesthouse in 1991 Having occupied its top floor he says Outside is a living sea lit by sailboats bustling with activity unlike the dead water around Governors BeachI reach Mark Haven deep in deacutejagrave vu remembering cosy Christmas parties with Bombay Local History Society members in Nuvart Mehtas terrace flat Chowkidar Padam Singh who has been here for 45 years gallantly shields me from slight drizzle with a big umbrella Armenian eacutemigreacute Nuvart Parseghian from Istanbul was posted to Bombay in 1952 by the USIS education department Marrying a Parsi colleague she fiercely cared for the city to the end of her 100 years Nuvart was at Colaba police station or the municipal office every week says her neighbour Gul KripalaniDavid daSilva grandson of physician Clement Pereira who built Mark Haven confirms his grandparents named the property after their son Mark Another apartment block behind it Joyeden was for two of their daughters Joy and Edna Davids mother Edna married solicitor and violin virtuoso Vere daSilva who played in the Dorian Quartet postIndependence Bombays first strings ensemble with George Lester Terence Fernandes and Keki Mehta In 1957 he memorably conducted the Bombay City Orchestra with African American contralto Marian Anderson at Regal TheatreI was fascinated by the mud track along the water opposite and a fire hydrant within our garden walls before the 1970s claimed half the grounds for street broadening says daSilva Across Mark Haven his father took sailing up the harbour adman friend Sylvester daCunha who recalls Vere really taught me to read the windBreathtaking red champa trees flower at both gates of Belha Court the sole stone residential structure on the waterfront They lead to a facade uniquely blending Early Edwardian and Art Deco elements Ringed by rose gardens this was Cecily Court till 1938 when it transferred from an Englishman and his wife Cecily to the Nawab and Begum of Belha Their grandson Jaffar Imam scion of the Kamadhia darbar explains block to block architectural shifts from Edwardian to Art Deco Driven to St Marys School in a 1920s Dodge I loved the view the quietude making this street most beautiful he says The years have brought traffic beggars and urchins At least there is peace without hawkersAfter Belha Court three hotels loom in a continuous loop On the patio of Sea Palace Hotel we watch circling gulls as Srichand Chhabria narrates his fathers story Doulatram Chhabria purchased the property in 1941 from Gourdon amp Co which ran Silver End Flats a serviced apartments operation Its location makes Sea Palace fairly popular with business travellers and backpackers Today more local Indians check in because of twice as much disposable income than they used to have Srichand reasons Our homely ambience has professionals on work trips return with familiesPretty in pink Strand Hotel in Kerawalla Chambers presents Art Deco highlights after the comparatively bare walls of Sea Palace Rustomji Nusserwanji Kerawalla got the building which has always functioned as a hotel in 1936 says his namesake greatgrandson Inhabited by a string of tenants from 1960 the top pair of floors is Hotel Harbour View owned by the Kerawallas the ground first and second storeys comprising Strand Hotel belong to Mulchand Lalwani amp AssociatesAt the cusp of Apollo Bunder and Arthur Bunder Road 1934built Shelleys Hotel was Lentin Court erected by Phirozeshaw Lentin The 70s saw it pass to Balwant Rai Selhi Shelley is the anglicised Punjabi whose grandson Divesh Wadhawan fills me in on some interesting hotel history Then famous as Lentin Court Hotel managed by Otto King a German who left during the Second World War the continentalstyle bed and breakfast was entirely populated by Europeans according to The Bombay Street Directory published by The Times of India around 1940 Recent longstaying guests included Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg killed in the Nariman House attack of 2611 he had even wanted to transform this hotel into a Chabad House and astrologer Bejan Daruwalla believing Room Number 8 was lucky for him Resold in 2006 the property was keenly eyed for a Planet Hollywood outlet but conservationists quashed the international franchises planThe Bombay Presidency Radio Club ends this strip with a mesmeric pierembracingbay location Five years before the sports club opened it aired the countrys first broadcast from a low powered station operating on a 387metre wavelength in June 1923 This remained the only radio station till All India Radio in 1927 In the years we were headed to freedom those news bulletins stirred listeners made patriots of people says club president Premal Goragandhi Adding that they went on to have members turned martyrs A resident in Candy Castle nearby Prem Ramchandani was one of themAuthorpublisher Meher Marfatia writes fortnightly on everything that makes her love Mumbai and adore Bombay You can reach her at mehermarfatiagmailcom