Where words spell love and light

I sit to write early on the morning of May 5 A quick peek at my mailbox announces the 203rd birth anniversary of Karl Marx flashing a quote by himmdashironically the one on his grave in Londonrsquos Highgate Cemetery ldquoThe philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways The point however is to change itrdquoConstrued widely and controversially this Thesis Eleven idea for social progress holds infinite possibilities With all the carnage carpet bombing around therersquos immense comfort to take from certain lines symbols and seals scattered in public spaces across town Healing and hopeful Calming and caring A string of words the smallest sign at least momentarily inspire sagging spirits to soarSeal of the Theosophical Society Of India on Blavatsky Lodge at French Bridge IllustrationUday MohiteIn Bhendi Bazaar the heartland of fasting and feasting the faithful invoke the purity of Ramzan They seek peace from sickness and sorrow at five mosques and the magnificent Raudat Tahera Within this mausoleum of the eminent Syednas Taher Saifuddin and Mohammed Burhanuddin lies the gem of a 772page handwritten Quran Entirely copied on marble slabs its verses are gold leafinlaid punctuated with bejewelled revelations like ldquoBismillahrdquo In a calligraphic record Raudat Tahera is considered the worldrsquos sole site embedding a complete sacred book in its sanctum sanctorum An Arabic ayaat on the dome lyrically exults ldquoInnallaha yumsekus samawati wal arda an tazula Allah holds the sky and earth together lest it fallsrdquoSimilarly serene is the benediction ldquoWhosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirstrdquo From the Gospel of St John this reassurance graces George Gilbert Scottrsquos Neo Gothicdesigned fountain outside the west door of St Thomasrsquo Cathedral Fort Bombayrsquos first Anglican Church marking city limit Point Zero was inaugurated on December 25 1718 with a tengun salute that every ship in the harbour answered Sir Cowasji Jehangir Readymoney donated the fountain in thanks for the protective shadow the church threw blessing his ancestral home nearby The gesture earned him the sobriquet of Cowasji CrossDadabhai Naorojirsquos statue by BV Talim PicsBipin KokateA beautiful black marble Dadabhai Naoroji seated outside Oriental Building watches the Flora Fountain junction The west panel of its pedestal portrays The Grand Old Man of India at the House of Commons session addressed by William Gladstone It is the east surface I admire showing the statesman who championed womenrsquos education lead ladies and children to Saraswati Mandir The fourword phrase in the upper corner packs a Capitallettered punchmdashldquoMothers really build nationsrdquo Sad how this notion is hardhit by damning statistics for schoolgirl dropout rates the pandemic sinks dailyNaoroji is but one city father carved for posterity by the legendary BV Talim His 1918introduced Art and Sculpture Studio on VP Road opposite Shapur Baug has uniquely witnessed three more generations of Talims deftly chisel bronze plaster and metal busts of patriots and philanthropistsldquoMothers really build nationsrdquo is engraved on this pedestal sceneMoving midtown brings the simply expressed Marathi tribute ldquoTee bahutaas sahaayya karnaari hoti She was one who helped so manyrdquo This salutes the feminist activist Pandita Ramabai at the entrance of the ladiesrsquo hostel attached to Wilson College instituted in her memory Lecturing on womenrsquos emancipation the scholarreformer with a global following was hailed Pandita for her erudition in Sanskrit at an exceptionally young age Ramabai was responsible for one of the countryrsquos first shelters and school in 1889 for women particularly widows She tirelessly lobbied before the English Education Commission to improve syllabus requirements and campaigned for women doctors to examine female patients who otherwise ignored symptoms and refused treatment With Queen Victoriarsquos nod the Womenrsquos Medical Movement launched in Lady Dufferin CollegeIn the French Bridge neighbourhood rest quiet charms Malad stoneencased 1928built Blavatsky Lodge belongs to the Theosophical Society of India The intriguing seal on its main facade blends a host of eclectic elements encircled by the Society motto ldquoThere is no religion higher than truthrdquoNowrosjee Wadiarsquos handandhammer symbol reads ldquoIn Deo Fide Et Perseverantiardquo PicBipin KokateThe Ouroboros symbol of a serpent biting its tail is the Greek allusion to infinity The Hexagram star interlaces two triangles representing matter and spirit At its core the Crux Ansata from Egypt suggests resurrection with the six triangular points and central ankh ldquokey of liferdquo hieroglyph for seven universal principles The Swastikastyle ringed whirling cross signifies expansive creative energies ldquoOmrdquo tops the seal as the Absolute divine primal beginning The secularism of these diverse influences asserts the brotherhood of manJust beyond on the south flank of Khareghat Colony on Hughes Road stand a pair of cenotaph columns One dated 1926 is the oldest and only war memorialmdashother than at India Gate Delhimdasherected by civilians With a list of the honoured is inscribed ldquoIn pious memory of Zoroastrians who died doing their duty during the Great War of 1914 to 1918rdquo A smaller structure beside acknowledges later martyrs of World War II and subsequent battles with China and Pakistan The Zoroastrian equivalent of All Souls Day Farvardin mahino and Farvardin roj observes a wreathlaying ceremony with a bugler playing The Last Post and Le ReveilleBust of Jerbai Masina with HW Longfellowrsquos verse PicAtul KambleFurther inner city eight sprawling acres of the Masina Hospital on Victoria Road in Byculla are gently suffused with a soothing thought condensed from HWrsquos Longfellow verse The writing underlying Jerbai Masinarsquos statue on the manicured lawn should lift the mood of the very frailest ldquoThere is no death what seems so is transition from breath to life ElysianrdquoWith an aunt heading its paediatric department years back we would often swing by the hospital to take her home Waiting for her to finish putting a stethoscope to tiny baby chests there was enough time to savour this statuersquos gloriously carved details depicting human qualities and guiding principles The hospital was previously the 19thcentury residence of eminent Baghdadi Jew trader David Sassoon called Sans Souci French for ldquono worriesrdquoThe 1926 column at Khareghat Colony is the earliest civilianerected war memorial File picThe Sassoons bequeathed their property to Dr Hormasji Manekji Masina when he cured David Sassoon who was suffering an acute hernia attack The third Indian to be granted the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons Dr Masina raised charity funds for the hospital of his dreams with his devoted wife Jerbai Masina is probably Bombayrsquos first private hospital in 1902 followed by Parsi General Hospital in 1908 and Harkisondas Hospital in 1925 Jerbai established the Postgraduate Medical College and Lady Broacha College of Nursing in 1923Masina Hospital is a rare facility serving both the 1918 Spanish flu spread and current Coronavirus crisis Growing from four beds into a 270bedded multispecialty tertiary care hospital it is credited with the cityrsquos pioneering neonatal care unitThe St Thomasrsquo Cathedral fountain bears a soothing Gospel of St John inscription File picWithin the gates of Rustom Baug which shares a wall with the hospital an arresting logo emblazons its buildings ldquoIn Deo Fide Et Perseverantia Faith in God and Perseverancerdquo circles a hand holding a hammer symbol of industrymdashregistered trademark of the company Nowrosjee Wadia amp Sons This striking image caught my eye when I interviewed comedy doyen Dinyar Contractor for a book on Parsi theatre Searching for his block I stared at a sight mirrored directly under the Latin emblem An old lady with thick glasses under her scarfcovered head sat multitasking at her groundfloor window Chanting prayers as she kept trying hard and patiently to thread a needle for the chintzy embroidery frame on her lap A picture of the piety and perseverance exhorted by the motto she equally evoked the seamstress skills of benefactor Lady Jerbai Wadia who constructed this baug in memory of her son Rustom Sometimes rather than a seal or motto lifeaffirming embellishments attract Leafy Khar lanes boast such a gem Hugging Madhu Park the Ghanteshwar Lord of the Bells Temple from the 1950s is unusually sheathed in thousands of metal bells hung by devotees Favours asked fulfilled they return to tie bells in gratitude Newer brass specimens gleam alongside counterparts crusted with time Fervent prayers surely go up from desperate men huddling in a little labour mandi here For most of the morning jobless strugglers hang around the Khar Station chowk identified by typical bags and boxes Paintersrsquo brushes peep from scruffy thelas carpenters and plumbers proffer their toolkitsOther lines resonate from lustrous Latin originals Profiling iconoclast architect and Swatantra Party founder Piloo Mody made me notice the name his father Sir Homi Mody gave their Carmichael Road bungalow ldquoSpiro Spero Whilst there is life there is hoperdquo is engraved on that gatepost the Japanese Consulate todayThe early Jesuits have left legacies of profundity Privileged meeting Fr Peter Ribes the Spanish priest distinguished as the last Latin tutor in the city I heard sonorous nuances of the classic language he taught at St Stanislaus Bandra and St Maryrsquos Byculla from the 1950s to the 1980s Reaching the country as a 25yearold from Barcelona Ribes told municipal officials ldquoMee tumchya peksha jaast Indian aahe Irsquom more Indian than yourdquoSeeing him scrawl ldquoAudentes fortuna juvat Fortune favours the braverdquo on a blackboard I was fascinated to arrive at the ancient rootof ldquoaudaciousrdquoAnother edifying favourite of Fr Ribes was ldquoPer aspera ad astra Through hardship to the starsrdquo A loftier cadenced version of ldquoWe shall overcomerdquo Indeed we shallAuthorpublisher Meher Marfatia writes fortnightly on everything that makes her love Mumbai and adore Bombay Reach her at mehermarfatiamiddaycomwwwmeher marfatiacom