The wheels of the bus go round and round... again

Two Marathi phrases of familiar brevity fell on my ears as a kid Sutte dya and Pudhe chalaa Both of course uttered by the harangued khakiclad BEST bus conductor Tired of passengers handing him currency notes expecting tinkles of change Or staying stubbornly glued to some midaisle spot with room enough to move aheadSmart cards silence the sutta request with the metallic click of the conductors coupon punch The Pudhe chalaa refrain remains a hissy hint of ts sibilant prefixing the second word tsalaa Joy of joys double decker buses have been reinstated by the pandemic that demands distance between peopleSignificant dates mark the history of BEST routes which were originally denoted by single alphabets 1905 saw the Bombay Electric Supply amp Tramway Co established 1907 rolled out electric trams and 1920 double decker trams 1926 introduced single deck buses and 1937 double deckers 1940 was when the fleet plied its first Limited Ltd Colaba to Mahim 1947 municipalised the BEST 1984 brought coupons 1997 monthly passes 2011 electronic ticketissuing machinesI rode plenty of these cheery red road hogs from a 1960s childhood to years of discovering the city as a jobbing journo Our father made very clear to my brother and I that growing up youngest of three generations in the largish joint family meant our Hindustan Ambassador MHN 1431mdashits dashboard stuck with a magnetic roundel of St Christopher patron saint of travellersmdashwas prioritised for the elders use Children had choices Bus Train WalkBEST Secretary Pestonji D MahaluxmivalaTo begin with the best I was happiest at the weekend prospect of Bus No 212 dropping us from home in Bandra to grandparents at Dadar Parsi Colony Until the Reclamation really developed we took the bus setting off from Mahim Depot Awaiting its arrival brother and I darted out to explore bustling Mori Road a little lane acknowledging locally favoured fish Mori was the Kolis reference to sharkWe gawped at gypsies balanced circusstyle on wires teetering at stupefying heights and admired rubberbodied fire eaters leaping hoops We resisted golden bhajias fried fresh at Prabhat Farsan why fill up when Grandmas teatime treats were a highlight of our visits We giggled when the dhunki instrument of the cotton razaipillow vendor twanged the target of inadvertent bowling by gully cricketer lads like spinnertobe Ravi Shastri of Navjivan SocietyA 2004 image of commuters hanging out of a double decker bus With the need for social distancing in view of the pandemic the iconic buses will hit the road again PicGetty ImagesMori Road abuts arterial Lady Jamshedji Road and Mahim Causeway Packing a universe of delights in just the 12 halts No 212 made to our Khodadad Circle destination LJ Road oozed energy and entertainment Fervent worshippers thronged its churches dargahs and temples Shoppers crowded Gopi Tank Market with bulging jute thelis of veggies and fruit The street strung together the legendary cinemas Paradise Citylight and aspiring to the popularity of Bandra triplets GaietyGalaxyGemini were sparkly BadalBijleeBarkha now Star CityWhenever we disembarked halfway at House of Mats in Dinanath Wadi opposite Citylightmdashoddly frequent customers buying bathmats or rugs for relatives and neighboursmdashwe could climb again into multiple buses The 4 Ltd was a heavily patronised option via LJ Road with hordes jumping on along its giant 45 stopsarc from Goregaon to Flora FountainDeco sculptor NG Pansares son Kiran putting finishing touches to his fatherrsquos famous bronze statue installed at Shivaji Park in 1966 Pic Courtesy Art Deco Mumbai Trust Pansare Family ArchiveFrom Bandra to Shivaji Park where I tried swimming lessons at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial pool I availed of routes 81 83 84 and 86 In the 1980s the same four carted me back from college at Dhobi Talao when rainflooded tracks threw train schedules off Sometimes we hotfooted it to the Metro Cinema stop without a trace of monsoon mayhem Lets take a bus the boyfriend would suggest Romance pushing out practicality I agreed in a beat In such great company the St Xavierstohome stretch filled long languorous chunks of time More smitten than sensible we gave convenient speedier Limited buses a miss All was well with the worldBuddies and I were often done movie watching at the half dozen cinemas gloriously wrapped around college Metro Sterling Capitol New Empire New Excelsior and Liberty named for being constructed in the year of Independence Call it madness it was magic Swiftly succumbing to the silver screen riches on offer we indulged in binge viewing Straight from a Metro show with the music of Fame ringing in our heads we legged it to Liberty for Feroz Khans Qurbani wowed by Aap jaisa koi meri zindagi mein aaye in the pop innocence of Nazia Hasans voice Crazy ideas of a third flick at Sterling were quickly quashed by sober thought of the written paper to finish for a stern English Lit professor the following dayA band plays outside Metro at the 1986 premiere of the film Janbaaz PICSooni Taraporevala from her book Home In The City published by HarperCollins Publishers India 2017Neo Classical flourishes adorning its grey basalt facade Capitol of the 1980s hadnt quite faded into oblivion Glimpses of giltedged galleries from which the elite earlier applauded swelling opera crescendos catapulted the imagination to its grand opening in 1879 as the Victorian Gothic drama theatre Gaeity The interiors were considered an exercise in excess a horseshoeshaped formation of 880 seats gaping at 40 by 70 feet of stage sprawl Inhabitants of Fort we are told preferred this posher playhouse to Grant Roads natyashala venues I remember a conductor standing at the bus door shout to a bunch of moviegoers alighting here Yeh makaan saamnewala VT se purana hai The magnificent rail terminus architect FW Stevens conceived was indeed unveiled to a rapturous public eight years after the Gaeity roseThese six gems were within walking metres We went still south to Colaba on No 138 for matinees at the Regal and Strand One morning saw us bunk attending only the 930 am lecture to catch Nicholas Meyers powerful antinuke testament The Day After Crawling up the line as Jason Robards and John Lithgow glowered from the Regal poster we were dismayed Over an hour in that serpentine booking queue extending till the Yacht Club and a House Full sign flashedThe centuryold rain tree that has shaded at least three generations on the central lawn of Rustom Baug Byculla PicAlysha KhodaijiDisinclined to return to campus we strolled to SP Mukherjee Chowk fronting the Museum to jump into any of many buses Excited going nowhere particular we hopped on a random giant that loomed up Revelling in the flutterthrill of unknown streetscapes we ignored where it would terminate blithely saying Last stop while paying We reached the Sewri cemetery Not before sniffing masale bhaat and muthiya through GujaratiMaharashtrian Thakurdwar rumbling down colourful Shuklaji Street to chimneyprotruding mill compounds of Lalbaug and a stunning pink sea of flamingoes towards journeys endNumberless nameless who cared Pointlessness was freeing Particularly because it came on the heels of trips tending to be painfully purposeful The worst Route 384 ferried my mother and me from Waterfield Road near our Hill Road residence to Santa Cruz and onward to a clinic in then leafy Ghatkopar For physiotherapy Mine not hers The scoliotic hunch I was sprouting needed correction with a spine brace and good physio sessions On orthopaedic legend Dr SD Mehtas recommendation the latter were available way north thereDespite my loathing the regimen those bus evenings did result in postural progress Their tedium was what wore thin the brittle almostanadolescent moods With a cultivated air of calm I was buried in whodunits the entire way Engrossed by the web of convoluted characters Queen of Crime Christie wove into her impossibly twisted plotsWith trademark fairness Mum compensated for the dreaded Ghatkopar routine by promising a monthly ride I chose beyond the 212 to Dadar Turned out we stepped a lot into No 63 and 66 whose major draw was the layered level That inviting top tier tugged invitingly to soak in a sweep of panoramas framed by breezebent trees within brushing inchesAmong several sights in the BycullaParel belt I really looked forward to seeing was Gloria Church Its slim spires traced a lace in the sky delicately English brilliantly angled when gazed at from the upper level And always the typical aromas from huge bread ovens as we drove by American Express Bakery the business Francisco Carvalho so christened as he supplied loaves to American warships touching Bombay harbourMum fatigued me fascinated I wanted the midtown rides to continue interminably She sighed Bandras full of churches yet we must see spires in Byculla Occasionally we broke away for a salad and stew meal cooked by her Armenian classmate living across Rustom Baug As they chatted I joined her friends daughter for an amble in the adjacent zoo From a parked van in those botanical gardens we spoondug Kwality ice cream scooped in white plastic balls with blue lids In their empty shells we kept burgeoning collections of Binaca charm animal miniatures which were the rage tucked into toothpaste tube boxesAamchi BEST innings shortened after graduation Recruited a subeditor for The Illustrated Weekly whose offices lay within the Times of India building I reached The Old Lady of Bori Bunder on the 923 am BandraVT train Daily even after getting home past midnight But pure pleasure it was exiting the iconic station to cross DN Road and enter the facing IndoSaracenic gem Gostling and Morris designed That would be another storyAuthorpublisher Meher Marfatia writes fortnightly on everything that makes her love Mumbai and adore Bombay You can reach her at mehermarfatiamiddaycomwwwmehermarfatiacomCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and a 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