27, 39 and 67 Pedder Road's tryst with 20th-century Bombay

A pithy address 39 Pedder Road Home to a great city father mdash doctor and social reformer extraordinaire who introduced three radical womens rights laws was the force behind KEM Hospital founder of the Indian Medical Association and Bombays first mayor after Independence Dr Gopalrao Deshmukh has his illustrious name assigned to Pedder Road which originally honoured 1879 municipal commissioner WG PedderWeve seen wonderful times here says Deshmukhs granddaughter Nisha Joshi of their former twostorey house A circling path led to 15 marble steps crowned by an immense foyer I chat with the family at Kalpataru building which replaced Plot 39 The good doctor bought the bungalow on Mahashivratri day in 1929 from Dr Homi Bhabha whose guesthouse it used to be Bhabhas nextdoor birthplace Kenilworth is now the Department of Atomic Energy quartersOn the wall behind hang rare memorabilia including a limited edition lithograph of WG Grace and signed photograph of Sir Don Bradman PicBipin KokateWe were spoiled princesses laughs Mangala Nath another granddaughter If I bunked school Papuji took me to Willingdon where he golfed so regularly I thought he owned the club Nishas sister Dr Anandi Sawant recalls Our entrance extended till todays road divider For Queen Elizabeths visit he switched the gate lights on full beam and pulled a sofa outside for us to properly view herIn preceding years of freedom fervour Deshmukh was Tilaks doctor and close ally He dispensed a donation in 1947 for Lokmanya Tilak Sion Hospital whose maternity ward came to be named after Deshmukhs wife Annapurna President of the Municipal Corporation for 192829 Deshmukh formed the Indian Medical Association with Dr Jivraj Mehta from Bombay and Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy and Dr Nilratan Sircar of CalcuttaThe Apte family in their earlier Woodlands home the old Woodlands residence at 67 Pedder Road redesigned by architects Master Sathe and Bhuta in 1939He was physician to Gandhiji Motilal Jawaharlal and Kamala Nehru Jinnah Rajendra Prasad MM Malaviya and SP Mukherjee says grandson Ravi Pandit Exciting secret hideouts beneath the bungalow sheltered patriots like Achyut and Raosaheb PatwardhanFrom a Vidarbha agricultural family 1883born Deshmukh moved to Nagpur for better education opportunities Meeting a Bombay friend at Grant Medical College he was awed by the institutions imposing porch archway and decided to qualify for a degree He enjoyed the citys theatre scene enough to watch 100 shows of Guna Sundari at Pila HouseIn London for his MDFRCS he travelled to Birmingham to observe pancreatic specialist Jordan Lloyd who threatened to resign if Deshmukh was not appointed his house surgeon mdash prejudice then prevented a nonEnglishman from being appointed to the post Returning to pursue both a practice and politics he operated from King Edward Memorial Hospital Parel At his urging Seth Gordhandas Sunderdas for support GS Medical College opened in 1926 its motto Non sibi sed omnibus Not for self but for all seeming to echo Deshmukhs philosophyIn the Central Assembly he piloted pathbreaking feminist bills the Hindu womans right to property right to separate residence and right to divorce under certain circumstances Where he finally lay to rest in 1963 was also his gift to Bombay having prevailed on the authorities to install its first electric crematorium at ChandanwadiAsha bungalow inhabitants Vikas Desai Vasant Desai and Motiramshet Desai felicitating Ganpatrao Andalkar on winning his first title Hind Kesari in 1960 ndash the wrestler who then went on to break international records just passed away this week Sports lover and patron Motiramshet kitted badminton players of the Thomas Cup teams and regularly welcomed cricket legends at his home I write this in Ganpati week after a puja at the residence of the warmest friends ever whose iconic hub was 27 Pedder Road Asha the 8000square foot bungalow filmmaker Vikas Desais father Motiramshet purchased in the 1940s was where Ganesh celebrations were traditionally monumental From 1956 when Vikas musician uncle Vasant Desai lived there devotion to Bappa the Benevolent was marked by mellifluous mehfilsAt least 200 people sat on gaddis enchanted by the consummate artistry of Bade Ghulam Ali Khan Amir Khan Salamat Ali and Nazakat Ali Khan Vasantrao Deshpande and Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan Raju Bharatan notes in A Journey Down Melody Lane As someone of Bhimsen Joshis vocal stature performed in this composers abode you were gripped by a terrific sense of atmosphereFilmmaker Vikas Desai stands outside Parag building which was once Asha the bungalow he occupied with his parents and music composer uncle Vasant Desai PicAshish RajeClassically committed in a chimerical industry Vasant Desai laced lilt with soul for cinema doyens like his guru V Shantaram The maestro set to suspenseful music Shaque his nephews debut thriller In his days at Punes Film and Television Institute Vikas brought home to live at Asha the entire student unit allotted to shoot his diploma film Two years his FTII junior Jaya Bhaduri too often stayed at this bungalow when she came to BombayVikas is the greatgrandson of Anant Shivaji Desai Topiwala whose eminent grandson Motiramshet funded Topiwala National Medical College nobly signing a blank cheque in 1946 on which Congressman SK Patil filled Rs 500000 Anant Shivaji had left Walawal village in Sawantwadi at 11 a rupee rattling in his pocket Singleminded slog earned him repute as Bombays best hat maker as well as the sole agent for Raja Ravi Varma lithographsPortrait of Dr Gopalrao Deshmukh seated centre with his family in the front garden of their bungalow left to right are his granddaughters Anandi and Jyotsna and daughter Sushila Pandit with her son Ravi grandson Atchut Talwalkar with his mother Kamal and sister Asha behind whom are Deshmukhs granddaughters Nisha and Mangala Deshmukhs sonsinlaw Dr Vasantkumar Pandit and Dr Makarand Talwalkar stand flanking a relativeMotiramshet who pioneered anodized aluminium and velvet fabric was a passionate sports patron badminton star Wong Peng Soon the first Asian to win the AllEngland Championships was a visitor at Asha and contributed generously to anyone in need The ground plus one level structure catching his graceful wife Sunitas fancy was fronted by a garden cavernous halls leading to bedrooms and a cozy overhang space Vikas studied in Mickey the Alsatian faithfully at his feetFrom the age of five Id sit in meetings my Kaka had at our house with leading poets lyricists writers and directors Vikas says His concert duty was to stand welcoming guests at the gate up to 130 am and he remembers serving Bismillah Khans troupe water and tea as the Ustad rehearsed for Goonj Uthi Shehnai in one of Ashas massive hallsGopalraos grandchildren Ravi Pandit Mangala Nath Anandi Sawant and Sharmila Sunny PicAshish RajeThe ambience of the bungalow was enhanced quite differently by Vasant Desai avers badminton legend Nandu Natekar mdash Asha was my second home When I arrived late for a performance tabla player Vasant Achrekar seated me right beside him mdash such kind interest in everyone attendingAn octogenarian at street end No 67 just before the Kemps Corner flyover humps up proffers a dramatic parallel between music and sport Twinkleeyed Madhav Apte quips In a few years T20s may squeeze out ODIs Test cricket is like khayal gayaki while this is pop music In his penthouse atop Woodlands the veteran cricketer rewinds to early years in the bungalow the Aptes occupied on this site from 1939The vast 11300 square yards premises were replete with a cricket pitch tennis and badminton courts fringing the mansion Scenes far removed from noisy Khatryachi chawl at Sandhurst Road where Madhavs grandfather Vaman Shridhar Apte of Rajapur near Ratnagiri settled in 1900 There you heard the trundling sound of trams and the toktok of horsedrawn Victorias led by men wearing red tassled fez caps Families took joyrides to the Chowpatty sands a sunset spot Girgaonkars gathered at Mad about mangoes wed buy 120 of them called pucca shekda perfect 100 like a bakers dozen for a single rupeeFrom a job in Mulji Jetha Asias largest wholesale cloth market Vaman Shridhar grew to hold sole agency for the Kohinoor Mills VS Apte amp Son introduced Madhavs father Laxman and this remained with them over half a century When Dadasaheb Phalke reached out to VS Apte to become his financier Phalke Films became Hindustan Films Company in 1918In 1938 the barrister Sir NV Mandlik residing in Hermitage at the PedderAltamont Road corner offered the Aptes a choice between Woodlands Cottage and Ashmore properties belonging to him on this stretch They moved into the gableroofed first thickly wooded with cashew tamarind jackfruit neem and champa treesWinning Shield tournaments at Wilson High School Madhav went on to score a century in his first Ranji Trophy match He and his brother Arvind were soon among six or seven sibling pairs playing the game for India Mysteriously dropped from the national team despite totting impressive figures in a West Indies series the cricketer reveals in his autobiography As Luck Would Have It how chief selector Lala Amarnath had approached his father for the Delhi franchise of the familys mills Laxmanrao politely declined Never again picked to represent the country Madhav immersed himself in the ancestral businessOur mills Kohinoor and Laxmi Vishnu and Phaltan Sugar factory helped me connect widely with farmers and trade unionists And cricket a wonderful leveller inculcated a sense of fair dealing with employees What is an outstanding image from life in Woodlands Looking out to Gowalia Tank maidan on August 8 1942 the Aptes heard stirring assertions of freedom stalwarts at the historic AICC session mdash Even families not directly involved with that struggle were completely sympathetic to it We were privileged living through the most inspiring timesAuthorpublisher Meher Marfatia writes monthly on everything that makes her love Mumbai and adore Bombay You can reach her at mehermarfatiagmailcomwwwmehermarfatiacomCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates