Where life comes full circle

Everyone has one A home from the past the acre an ancestor grew up on Mine is the citys only unwalled baug Dadar Parsi Colony where my parents lived before choosing Bandras cosmopolitan climes I have cousins in facing flats on either side of the statue of Mancherji Joshi my mothers granduncle who envisioned this community bastionCreated from agricultural land in 18991900 under the DadarMatungaWadalaSion scheme decongesting plagueafflicted south Bombay Dadar was considered the first planned suburb Bursts of colour and character pound the plump heart of Khodadad Circle at the colony entrance also termed Dadar Tram Terminus or Dadar TT Travel writer Gustasp Irani reveals that the twostorey buildings along this quadrant were erected by his grandfather Gustasp and his brother Rustom They requested the municipal commissioner to name the roundabout for their father Khodadad my greatgrandfatherAn aerial view of the Khodadad Circle shows the originally twostorey structures ringing it clockwise from left bottom corner stand Empress Mahal Empire Mahal Imperial Mahal and Harganga Mahal Pic courtesy Jehangir SorabjeeAbove BombayBarring a few leafy lanes Dadar spells chaos confusion and fusion I smile as Beethoven meets Burman on an unequal footing mdash strains of the Eroica symphony from a genteel home are hardly heard above Mehbooba O Mehbooba thumping from a street hawkers radio The print on his Tshirt describes the crazy train crush not far from this junction Haar ke aagey jeet hai Dadar ke aagey seat hai theres victory after defeat theres a seat after Dadar Conservation architect Vikas Dilawari finds Dadar TT display sensitive town planning With IndoSaracenic style chhajjas multifoil arches and jaali balconies the four buildings are splayed respecting the sites circular profile Their uniform facade is reminiscent of Horniman Circle Completed by 193435 following Sohrabji Bhedwars design all but one of the buildings remain colonially christened Clockwise as Tilak Bridge ends stand Empress Mahal Empire Mahal Imperial Mahal and Harganga Mahal formerly Rustom Mahal for Khodadads younger son Ishwar Singh Chowhan tells me the property was renamed Harganga in 1944 passing on to his uncle Harnam Singh and father Ganga SinghJayantilal Bhai Gangar takes a break from attending to a rush of customers over Diwali in his ancestral Gangar Stores at Empire Mahal PicSneha KharabeHarganga Mahal had a quirky fixture in daglicoated pagricapped Jehangirji Vajifdar with his black cat at frozen foods specialist Vincent Stores as well as the institutional legend Agrawal Classes GD Agrawal reached the city from Ajmer in his teens with R29 from selling his bicycle Kindness still made him teach math and science to Mazagaon mill mazdoors kids free of cost Turned professional on marrying Agrawal rented a cramped Matunga room the family had to move out of in coaching hours The class shifted to Harganga Mahal from 1955 its roster including Nadir Godrej Mukesh Ambani and Mahendra Choksi of Asian PaintsBelow Dayaram Damodar Mithaiwala D Damodar after a family split was the unofficial canteen for Agrus as students like my IITaspirant brother dubbed it Yellow khaman chutneylaced samosas and bhajias offset any academic angst pedhas celebrated decent marks Im the third generation at these counters from 1937 my son Aaditya the fourth says Deepak Acharya His father Natwarlal Ramdas followed the trade of founding father Dayaram Damodar encouraged by their successful shops in Grant Road and Chira BazaarThe more engrossing history rooted in 1829 is Joshi Budhakaka Mahim HalwawalasA view of Joshi Budhakaka Mahim Halwawala half a century ago standing from 1932 the shopfront is crowned by multifoil arches above the jaaliworked balcony typical elements of the IndoSaracenic style all four buildings are designed inThe Portuguese ruling Mahim gave a cook they appreciated Mauji Joshi a small stall on Kapad Bazaar Road This branch rose with Empire Mahal in 1932 Six generations down Kiran Joshi says Getting off at the tram stop just outside people could conveniently walk in to buy our halwa Dying men have ordered it craving a last taste He brings me an ornate fishshaped wooden mould contouring the Mawa ni macchhi customers order by the boxful And a letter in which Nehru wrote We have always been pleased with sweets from Dhanji GirdharMaujis grandson Dhanji Girdhar was Joshi Budhakaka no chhokro Whats with the intriguing mouthful of a name Mauji Seth was the budha kaka delivering door to door laddoos sev boondi and mohanthal which women of the house handrolled in the kitchen Hitting on the USP formula for butter paperveiled halwa mdash pulped wheat ghee sugar and saffron sprinkled with dry fruit mdash explains the Mahim Halwawala signoff Their 1800s shop was assigned Bombays fourth telephone number 04 tailing the trio of digits reserved for police ambulance and fire emergency servicesKhodadad Irani after whom the Dadar TT roundabout was named by his builder sons Gustasp and Rustom Pic courtesy Gustasp Irani For 40 years Empire Mahal had Khurshed Bhadas fabric shop N Khurshed amp Company witnessing such unforgivable fashion fads as the onewear paper sari Among oldtimers like Shirodkar Opticians rows of florists and vegetable vendors Gangar Stores is the 1932 jewel in Empires crown Octogenarian Jayantilal Bhai Gangars father Bhimshi Punshi Gangar hailed from a Kutch village where his forebears coaxed crops from parched soil He opened Shah Bhimshi Punshi Gangar the humble ration shop precursor to todays thriving store My godfearing Gandhian father and his Irani landlord were likeminded people Jayantilal Bhai says Polly Umrigar Farokh Engineer and Salim Durani personally picked provisions from us Raj Kapoor too whose films I watched in Broadway CinemaThe Kapoors being at Five Gardens nearby Raj Kapoors circle haunts were widespread from Derby Haircutting Saloon in Harganga Mahal to A To Z Furnishings in Imperial Mahal where patriarch Prithviraj Kapoor visited his dental surgeon two local dentists Dr Minocher Bilpodiwala and Dr Maneck Billimoria partnered at the Empire Mahal pharmacy Bill amp Co opposite which Bill Nursing Home in Imperial Mahal introduced a 24hour oxygen cylinder service Prithvirajs convertible invariably tilted as he heaved his strapping self onto the kerb recalls Rukhshana Sholapurwala Her father Firoze received a police medal from Lord Mountbatten for bravery in a 1947 gang assault He then founded Roc Pharmaceuticals and led civic campaigns opposing the Jagannath Sunkersett flyover for 30 years till it loomed by 2000Another Kapoor gets fond mention from Mani Shah in Imperial Mahal for 65 years Shashi was a gentleman to the core she says sharing a prized photo with the star Very different from Me Too horrors these days Her father Kaku Bhai Shah ran Central Store Distributors for Polson butter and Swastika oil the grocery saw snaking queues form in years of commodity shortages She remembers Irani cafes Yazdan Star Bakery Aga Snacks and Adi Stores cheerfully corner each building Besides brun maska dunked in chai was bread pudding topped by toasted chicory grains called charoli and falooda crusted with sabza basil seedsThe grand old man of Imperial Mahal is doubtless 90yearold Lakhamsi Bhai Shah of Asian Store originally Kaka Stores Dropping out of Grade 5 in a Gujaratimedium school to sit at the family shop 80 years later Lakhamsi Bhai still spryly sorts batteries and doublesided blade packets as regulars enquire Kem chho Kaka Son Niteen says The merchandise mix has changed from grains to cosmetics stationery gifts and games I feel so proud taking forward my legacyA similar sense of continuity pervades A To Z Furnishings from 1935 in Imperial Mahal Maganlal Bhaichand Parekh from Amreli in Saurashtra used native tailoring skills to procure partnership with Valia cloth merchants across the road His son my father Vasantrai began helping at this present showroom as a boy of 9 says Kirti Parekh From a pin to bed and bath linen to carpets British patrons and celebrities have trusted our quality The Parekhs longtime neighbour Jyoti Refreshments often left my poor grandmother wondering why I ditched her homey soft pancakes called chaapat for the Udupis potato bondas and idli fryOnce an Empress Mahal landmark Farmer Bros was the result of Nusserwanji Goawallas ambition Setting up Byculla Dairy Farm in the early 1900s he had 1500 buffaloes behind the Victoria Gardens supply the city milk through both World Wars His grandnephew Sohrab Chinoys father Eruch assumed charge of Nusserwanjis dry stock farm in Sanjan Tending animals in Nallasopara and stables in Jogeshwari Eruchs efforts produced the purest cream and topli paneer cottage cheese in a basketHis range dispersed by an organised grid of bhaiyyas won clients like the Taj Radio Club Cadbury Fry New Excelsior and Regal theatres Sohrab says The Empress Mahal milk bar whipped up thick milkshakes flavoured lassi and sandwiches with pleasantly piquant mustard A popular coffee chain now operates within the Farmer Bros premisesOther Empress Mahal shopfronts boringnew Punjabi Chandu Halwai Karachiwala here since 1958 offers tantalisingly labelled Tansen Halwa and Kismat Halwa It was established in 1896 Karachi by Chandulal Bahl who impressed Sri Prakasa the first High Commissioner to Pakistan for refusing payment to feed Partition refugees The Karachi Halwa became Bombay Halwa mdash brand salute to an urban tadka blending much forgotten goodness and graceAuthorpublisher 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