For those of us who were schooled in English, it is likely that the word 'kirk' would have been first introduced to us through The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Kirk - a quaint, geographically specific word that refers to churches of Scotland. Little did Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who wrote the poem in the late 1700s, know that the word would shortly voyage all the way to India, for Bombay was set to get some kirks of its own.

The Scots' Kirk is an unusual entity in Mumbai today, and for many reasons. Firstly, it's a small architectural legacy that the Scots left behind - a memory that is nestled quietly among the more grandiose structures of the colonial English in Mumbai. Secondly, The Scots' Kirk is the common name for two churches located in two different parts of the city - The Church of St Andrew and St Columba. The former is in Kala Ghoda and the latter in Fort. Two locations, one church, even today.