Bombay's Traffic Circles

When driving in the city was a breeze, and parking easily available due to fewer vehicles, roundabouts or traffic circles were built to smoothly guide the traffic arriving from different roads onto the junctions. Besides, they were a quiet oasis of green in the centre of noisy traffic. Some circles also had a fountain adding to their charm. Here are some of these traffic circles which most of us Mumbaikars must have passed by at some point in time.

Jacob Circle, situated near Mahalaxmi Station, is commonly known as Saat Rasta as one can access seven different roads from here. It got its name from Sir George Le Grand Jacob, a military General and a scholar who is credited to have transcribed the Ashokan rock inscription in Girnar, Gujarat. There was a fountain in the circle, at present not visible, which was donated by Sir George's adopted daughter. On this circle, we now have a small garden known as the Sant Gadge Maharaj Udyan.

Wellington Circle opposite Regal cinema at the northern end of Colaba was named after the iconic Wellington Memorial Fountain which stands within this traffic island. The fountain was built in the 1860s to honour the memory, and to commemorate the military achievements of the Duke of Wellington. The fountain marks the site where the Duke camped in a tent during his two visits to Bombay in 1801 and 1804. To the east of Wellington Circle stands the Gateway of India, whilst to its north is the Prince of Wales Museum. All those who have shopped at Colaba Causeway must have surely been past this one.

                                           

Flora Fountain was once a circular traffic roundabout in Fort with an exquisitely sculpted fountain at its centre. Mumbai's most visible icon is named after the Roman Goddess of flowers whose statue stands atop the fountain. The fountain designed by Richard Norman Shaw was constructed in 1864 from funds donated by Cursetjee Fardoonjee Parekh. It stands at the junction of Veer Nariman Road (formerly Churchgate Street), M. G. Road (Esplanade) and D. N. Road (Hornby Rd). Grand Victorian structures such as the Bombay High Court, The Central Telegraph Office and the Oriental Building envelop this iconic fountain.

                                               

Horniman Circle lies a few hundred meters to the east of Flora Fountain on what was earlier known as the Bombay Green. Before independence, it was known as Elphinstone Circle after Governor Lord Elphinstone. The circle enclosed a garden (and still does) with an ornamental fountain and a bandstand which made it quite popular with the Parsi community. The Asiatic Society and the Reserve Bank of India lie across the road from here. Between Flora Fountain and Horniman Circle stands Bombay's oldest Anglican church, St. Thomas Cathedral.

CP Tank or Cowasjee Patel Tank Circle stands in the Bhuleshwar area at the junction of V. P. Road, Khadilkar Road and C. P. Tank Road. Earlier, a water tank that supplied drinking water to the Girgaum area existed here. Hence the name. The tank was built by Cowasji Rustamjee Patel in 1775-6 making it the oldest tank constructed in Bombay. Once, the city had many water tanks which were a source of water for its residents before piped water was made available.

Haji Ali Circle used to be a large traffic circle with a beautifully designed garden in it. The circle was replaced by a multi-signal junction as traffic increased in the late 1980s. It was located at the meeting point of five roads with heavy traffic: Lala Lajpatrai Marg (Hornby Vellard) from the north, Warden Road from the southwest, Pedder Road from the south, Tardeo Road from the east, and Dr E Moses Rd from the northeast. The Haji Ali Dargah, a mosque and dargah of Pir Haji Ali Shah Bukhari is located on an islet west of this circle.

                                           

Khodadad Circle in Dadar East was earlier known as Dadar TT as trams coming from South Bombay terminated here. It is named after Khodadad Irani whose sons were developers in this area. Tilak Road and Babasaheb Ambedkar Road meet at Khodadad Circle, over which now stands the Jagannath Sunkersheth Flyover. Agarwal Classes, a much sought after coaching class in the 1970s, 80s and 90s was located just off this circle.

King's Circle, named after British monarch King George V, stands at the junction of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Road (formerly Vincent Road) and Bhandarkar Road. Situated around the circle are the many popular South Indian Udupi Restaurants: Cafe Mysore, Cafe Madras and Anand Bhuvan. In 1962 the circle was renamed B N Maheshwari Udyan and true to its name there is a well laid out garden here.

Turner Road Circle. A roundabout at the junction of Turner Road, SV Road and Linking road was known as Turner Road Circle. On one side of this circle was the Esso (now HP) Petrol Pump, and on the other was Coin Tea and the Tata Blocks. This circular patch of green was removed in the late 1960s or early 70s.

                                          

As Mumbai's population and the number of vehicles increased some of these circles had to make way for a modern system of traffic management and sadly we lost some of our city's landmarks.

Bombay's First Mass Vaccination Drive

Today, just as thousands of Mumbaikars are queueing up everyday to get vaccinated for the Novel Corona Virus, a similar situation arose a century and a quarter ago when the city was in the midst of the bubonic plague epidemic.

Like the Corona Virus 2019 or Covid 19, the bubonic plague also is thought to have originated in China where it spread in the mainland before reaching the Chinese port cities in about 1894. From there it eventually reached India via the ships trading between the two countries and was first detected in Bombay in 1896.

Dr. Acacio Gabriel Viegas, a Goan born medical practitioner having his clinic in Mandvi (the area east of Mohammad Ali Road) was the first doctor to have identified the infection as bubonic plague. As the disease spread rapidly taking a heavy toll on lives it was designated as an epidemic. In fear, many fled the city just as we saw an exodus of people from Mumbai in the summer of 2020. Trade and commerce in the city were affected then as they did last year. The textile industry which depended on manpower was grounded. There was fear all around.

Dr. Viegas who had correctly identified this disease quickly swung into action. He launched a campaign to clean up the slums and chawls and to rid the affected areas of rats. It helped that besides being a medical practitioner, Dr. Viegas was also a Municipal Councilor. Besides these initiatives, he also continued to tend to patients at great personal risk.

Meanwhile, the government sought to reconfirm Dr. Viegas' diagnoses with other experts and once it was established that it was indeed the bubonic plague, it lost no time in inviting the Ukrainian bacteriologist Dr. Waldemar Haffkine, then stationed in Calcutta, to Bombay. Dr. Haffkine who had earlier formulated a vaccine for Cholera was asked to develop one for the plague. He got to work in a makeshift laboratory set up in the corridors of the Grant Medical College. His approach to finding a solution to conquer the infection was through preventive inoculation. He studied the infected rats and extracted the bacteria which was then allowed to grow before being weakened by heating. This weakened bacteria would then be inoculated in an uninfected human which in turn would produce antibodies in the body needed to fight the bacteria.

Finally, when the vaccine was ready Dr. Haffkine tried it first on himself. However, not all were convinced and there was another hurdle to overcome before mass vaccinations could begin. Many people were not convinced of its efficacy, some due to religious superstitions, and thus finding volunteers for clinical trials proved difficult. So, prison inmates were roped in and after trials on them and some volunteers, the vaccine was ready for use on the general public.

Here again, the good Dr. Viegas played a pivotal role by vaccinating about 18000 people himself. By 1902/3 about half a million people were vaccinated which is a considerable number given the demographics and the reach of the day. Sadly, despite the efforts of the government and individuals alike, about 50000 people died in Bombay alone. Many more, especially amongst the working class, fled the city thus severely crippling the economic activity. The scene then held a mirror to what we have experienced in the past year.

For the government of the day, the priority was not only to find a cure but also to contain the spread of the plague. And measures quite similar to the ones we are experiencing now were enforced by the authorities. Pilgrimage to Mecca was prohibited and so was emigration from India, railway bookings stood cancelled, religious gatherings were banned and a strict check was kept on essential commodities to prevent hoarding. Further, to check the spread orders were issued to separate the infected from the healthy. And those who were in close contact with the patients were quarantined.

 

However, all this did not go as smoothly as envisaged. Overzealous British officers and soldiers often behaved rudely and forcefully with the general public as well as with patients. To compound this, arrangements at the hospitals and quarantine camps were found to be substandard. The government's heavy-handed approach caused much public discontent which took a turn for the worst when in Poona the Chapekar brothers shot dead that city's Plague Commissioner, Walter Charles Rand accusing him of inconsiderate and highhanded behaviour.

The bubonic plague finally petered out by 1905 but not before taking a heavy toll on the city and its inhabitants. However, this black swan event made the authorities sit up and take notice of the pathetic living conditions in many poorer areas of the city. Consequently, the Bombay City Improvement Trust was created to upgrade the sanitary and living conditions in Bombay.

Gratefully, the heroes of the day were not forgotten. Dr. Viegas went on to become the President of the Bombay Municipal Corporation in 1906. After he died in 1933, a statue honouring him was built which still stands opposite Metro Cinema at Dhobi Talao, and a street in Chira Bazaar is named after him. As for Dr. Waldemar Mordecai Haffkine, the country's first biomedical research institute is named after him. The British Government whilst recognising his efforts awarded him the Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE) in 1897. The Indian Government too honoured him with a postal stamp in 1964.

     

Matunga - abode of yesteryear stars

 Matunga – abode of yesteryear stars

Today when we think of homes of Bollywood stars we think of Bandra, Juhu and Versova. But in the 1930s and 40s most of these areas were not as urban as they are today. And most people who worked in Bombay preferred to live in the island city. And so was the case with yesteryear’s movie stars, quite a few of whom lived in Matunga.

Earlier, Hindi films were made not just in Bombay but in Calcutta and Lahore as well. However, by the early 1940s many film personalities made their way to Bombay realising its growing importance.

Prithviraj Kapoor who had arrived in Bombay 1928 lived at Matunga's Punjabi Galli situated between Adenwala Road and VJTI and, a stone's throw away from Five Gardens. Though the official name of the street is R. P. Masani Marg, the name Punjabi Galli was apt as most of these actors were Punjabis. Besides Prithviraj Kapoor, there were Kundan Lal Saigal, villain Madan Puri and director Lekh Tandon, to name a few.

Prithviraj Kapoor lived with his extended family which included his father, his siblings and of course his own family that included future stars of Hindi Cinema – Raj, Shamsher Raj (Shammi) and Balbir Raj (Shashi). His home was open to many young men who had come to Bombay to seek their fortune in Hindi films. One of them was Lekh Tandon who went on to become a well-known film maker. Whilst Prithviraj Kapoor's younger brother Trilok Kapoor made a name for himself often playing the role of Lord Shiva. 

The other famous resident of Punjabi Galli was Swar Samrat Kundan Lal Saigal. His voice had won him stardom at New Theaters, Calcutta in their Hindi and Bengali movies, and he later moved to Bombay in 1941 / 42 to join Chandulal Shah’s Ranjit Movietone. He stayed in a building called Radha Kunj (now renamed Amar Kunj) with his wife Asha Rani and their children. Saigal would often host family and friends for a movie on the terrace of his building.

Another resident of Radha Niwas was the family of Madan Puri, Hindi cinema’s quintessential villain. He was a cousin to K. L. Saigal who helped him find a footing in the film industry here. Madan Puri later went on to do the same for his younger brother Amrish Puri, famously known for his dialogue “Mogambo Khush Hua”.

Well known actor-writer-director J. K. Nanda also resided in Punjabi Gully. He is credited with writing the script of Mirza Ghalib which was the first film to win the President’s Gold Medal. Naturally, his house was often visited by beautiful heroines such as Suraiya, Nargis, Madhubala and Nimmi which was quite an attraction for the other residents in the lane. Another attraction was Shammi Kapoor dressed in his shorts, walking his Alsatian dog in the lane which brought out the galli’s girls to their balconies. The galli was also used for lane cricket which the Kapoors, the Tandons and others played in their spare time, using the fire hydrant as stumps.

Punjabi Galli was also home to popular actor–director Manmohan Krishna, himself a physics professor, and Jagdish Sethi who co-acted with Prithviraj Kapoor in India's first talkie, Alam Ara. In the next lane lived K. N. Singh known for his “gentleman-villain” roles, often seen onscreen smoking a pipe whilst dressed in fine suits. His hallmark style was his menacing look whilst delivering dialogues in a cold, calm manner.

                              

There was a lot of bonhomie between the families of these film personalities. They would frequently visit each others homes whilst their children played together. Manmohan Krishna who had done his M.A. in Physics would also teach the children. And, they were ready to lend a helping hand when the need arose.

There were others like actor Jayant (Amjad Khan's father), music composer Anil Biswas, actors P. Jairaj, Kanaiyalal & Bharat Kapoor, singer Manna Dey, danseuse Sitara Devi as well as the noted director and screen writer Phani Majumdar all of whom lived in Punjabi Galli. Many are not aware that P. Jairaj who starred in movies of the 40's & 50's and a winner of Dadasaheb Phalke Award, was a nephew to Sarojini Naidu. Whilst Phani Majumdar had made a name for himself in New Theaters, Calcutta before shifting to Bombay.

Later, Mithun Chakravarty lived in a building neighbouring K. N. Singh's, whilst Dr. Sinha who was a film producer and uncle to "sweet girl next door" Vidya Sinha also lived close-by.

Over time as Bombay expanded many actors in the mid-1950s made Bandra and Juhu, their new home. Availability of open plots meant they could build their own spacious and luxurious bungalows there.  Members of the Kapoor family too moved on with Raj Kapoor setting up his studio and residence in Chembur and, Shammi and Shashi Kapoor shifting to the Malabar Hill area of South Bombay. However, the aura of Punjabi Galli, also known as Actor’s Lane or Hollywood Lane will continue to live on, especially in the memory of many senior citizens as well as in the children of those who began their 'filmy career' in this nondescript lane.

The two Gateways of Bombay

Almost all Mumbaikars must have at some point of time visited the Gateway of India at Colaba. But very few know that there is another Gateway of India in Mumbai, at Gamdevi to be precise, a miniature version of the original, but built by the same man who constructed the one at Apollo Bunder.

       
                    

Yeshwantrao Harishchandra Desai worked as an Engineer in the Public Works Department of Bombay. Born in 1876 to a family of Architects and Engineers, he did his schooling at Wilson High School before joining his uncle as an unpaid assistant. Young Yeshwantrao showed his mettle when he was sent on a survey of a plot by his uncle, himself an honorary Assistant Engineer in the PWD. His work impressed an English officer who offered him a permanent job in the PWD at a handsome salary of Rs.10/- pm. But Yeshwantrao was not one to rest on his laurels. He decided to study further and applied for the Elementary Architecture Exam from the Sir J J School of Arts and later obtained the A.I.M.E. degree.

Yeshwantrao was fortunate to be at a very opportune time in the history of Bombay. Great buildings were coming up around the turn of the 19th century. And, many of these bear the mark of this outstanding civil engineer. The grand dome of the GPO building, a difficult piece of construction, is credited to him. The other monumental structure built during early 20th century, the Prince Wales Museum, also bears the stamp of his skill and competence.

With these accomplishments behind him it was only natural that when the King George V arrived in India in 1911 for the Delhi Durbar, the construction of the monument to be built to commemorate his landing at Apollo Bunder would be given to this talented engineer.

The architect of Gateway of India was a man of equally outstanding abilities, George Wittet who has also designed the Prince of Wales Museum. Construction of the Gateway began in 1913 and it took 11 years to build this beautiful triumphal arch.

The miniature Gateway of India which Yeshwantrao built at his residence was built with the same Malad Basalt stone which is used at Apollo Bunder. It was built when the construction of the Gateway of India began and it is said that this miniature model was perhaps used by him as a reference model.

Besides these two important landmarks of Bombay, he is also credited for building the Institute of Science and Sir Cowasji Jehangir Public Hall.

For these achievements, he received high praise not only from his employers and architects but also from the government who conferred upon him the title Rao Sahib.

It can be truly said that for the magnificent designs of architects like F. W. Stevens and George Wittet to come alive, outstanding civil engineers like Yeshwantrao Harishchandra Desai were required.

Hunterwali Nadia

Much before movies with sound became the norm action movies were very much part of the silent era. As the saying goes, action speaks louder than words. But if there is someone best remembered for thrilling and awe-inspiring action scenes in early Indian cinema, it was Mary Ann Evans, better known as Fearless Nadia.

Born in 1910 in Perth, Australia to Scotsman Herbert Evans and Margaret, she spent her early years in Peshawar where she learnt to hunt, fish and shoot.

 

But before she became an action star, Mary Evans performed in Zacko’s Russian Circus. Later, she joined Madame Astrova’s ballet group which was touring the Asian subcontinent, doing live shows between silent films for British and Indian troops. She changed her name to Nadia after being advised by a fortuneteller. And ‘Fearless Nadia’ was a carry forward from her days as a circus acrobat.

 

Fearless Nadia burst onto the Indian screen in the 1930s brandishing whips, swords, guns and sometimes battling villains with her bare hands.

 

Her career in Hindi movies began as a chorus girl in a Wadia Movietone film. But the movie that launched her career in Hindi films was the 1935 stunt movie Hunterwali starring herself as a brave princess. Portrayed as ‘the protector of the poor and punisher of evildoers’ she was presented to the public as Fearless Nadia, a name that stuck to her for the rest of her film career. Much to the acclaim of audiences, as a masked heroine she battled soldiers, rode horses, jumped over a moving cart, fought with the bad guys on the roof of a train, all to defeat the villain. There was also a rare scene in Hunterwali of Nadia bathing nude in the river, something that was far ahead of its time but was cleared by the British censors.

 

With Hunterwali a great success, Wadia Movietone signed her up for more movies of a similar genre, some of the notable ones being Miss Frontier Mail (1936), Hurricane Hansa (1937), Lutaru Lalna (1938), Punjab Mail (1939) and Diamond Queen (1940). These movies not only enthralled the audiences but also changed the image of a woman on the screen. As a blonde, blue-eyed girl with Indian names such as Madhuri (Hunterwali), Savita (Miss Frontier Mail) and Madhurika (Diamond Queen), she championed the common man’s cause and fought for women’s rights, something unheard of and unseen in those pre-independence days. In Diamond Queen, she echoed this sentiment with the dialogue, ‘If India is to be free, women must be given their freedom. If you try and stop them, you’ll face the consequences'.

 

In an era when stunt doubles were unheard of, she used to perform the stunts herself. Many a time, she performed stunts that men were afraid of doing. And most of these stunts were shown as performed, without the use of trick photography. These dare-devil acts characterized her own brave and carefree spirit.

 

Her usual co-stars in these films were Master Mohammed, Atish Sayani, John Cawas, Boman Shroff, Jaidev (who later on went on to become a music composer), and a horse named Punjab ka beta. Whilst Mohammed played the role of an elder to Nadia, Atish Sayani was the villain, Jaidev in a supporting role and Boman Shroff or John Cawas played the hero and her love interest. But her real love interest in life was her director Homi Wadia whom she married in 1959 after a long-standing relationship.

 

After starring in more than 50 films she retired and, in true Fearless Nadia style, she took to breeding racehorses.

 

She passed away in 1996, her later years spent enjoying domestic life.

Bombay Bhel Puri

When one travels outside Mumbai there is a chance that one may come across a name on a food stall that reads “Bombay Bhel Puri”. Much before Vada Pav became the signature snack of Mumbai, Bhel Puri, or just called bhel was the chaat of choice for Bombayites. It was the go-to snack when outing at a park or beach. The multitude of people eating bhel at Girguam Chowpatty and Juhu beaches are a testimony to this. Over the years many streets in the city had their own bhelwala vending this chaat under a shady tree or a prime corner. Such was the popularity of Bhel Puri in Bombay that the name of the city got associated with it.

The word ‘Chaat’ is derived from the Hindi verb ‘Chaatna’, meaning to lick. And this chaat, like Mumbai’s diverse potpourri of immigrants from all over India, is a mixture of different ingredients, flavours and textures.

One of the earliest vendors of Bhel Puri in Bombay was Vithal Khadawala who came to this city from Surat in 1875, and sold bhel under a tree opposite New Empire Cinema near Victoria Terminus (now CSMT). He operated from there for many years until he was evicted by the Municipal Corporation in 1939, prompting him to move to a rented shop in the vicinity and start his own restaurant, eponymously called Vithal Bhelwala. Whilst Vithal Bhelwala is presently closed, one can sample Vithal’s Bhel next door at the Vithal’s Family Restaurant and Bar run by his descendants.

But, like other chaats, Bhel Puri is best enjoyed at a roadside stall. Besides eating it, the other joy comes from watching the vendor put it together in a paper cone made from pages of discarded magazines. The main ingredient is puffed rice to which he adds sev, crushed puris, diced onions, chopped boiled potatoes, sweet and spicy chutneys, all of which he mixes with a few firm twists of his hand before topping it off with a squeeze of lime, some more sev and finally coriander. Finely diced green mango is a welcome addition. And the way to eat is not with a spoon, but with a puri. This mixture tastes crunchy, soft, sweet, sour, and spicy all in the same bite creating a fusion of flavours in the mouth, and sometimes tears in the eyes which is quickly remedied with a handful of ‘sev-kurmura’ generously dispensed by the bhelwala.

Such are the emotions attached to this chaat that many people prefer to have it from a particular bhelwala, swearing that his bhel is the best in town. But no matter where you have it, this is one snack mixture that will always be connected to the soul of cosmopolitan Mumbai.

Raj Bhavans of Bombay

Raj Bhavans of Bombay

Many Mumbaikars as well as visitors to Mumbai have not visited a charming but grand colonial bungalow in a very scenic location, in the midst of flora and fauna, and surrounded by the sea on three sides. Yes, that’s Mumbai’s Raj Bhavan and it is open to visitors who need to take an early morning guided tour to see around this beautiful property.

The present Raj Bhavan, the official residence of the Governor of Maharashtra is situated at Malabar point, the tip of the Malabar Hill gradient. But in the last 355 years of Mumbai’s history, this is the fourth location on which the Governor’s residence stands.

When Humphrey Cooke became the first governor of the islands of Bombay in 1665, there was no residence officially marked for use by the governor. There existed a Government House which the Portuguese called the Manor House, but in 1665 this building was in a bad shape having been burnt down earlier by the Dutch and the British when they invaded the Portuguese held islands of Bombaim. Subsequently, this building, situated behind the Asiatic Society building in Fort was repaired, fortified and renamed Bombay Castle. It became the official residence of the English Governors of Bombay from 1674 onwards.

In 1757, the government of the day purchased John Spencer’s House at Apollo Street (now Bombay Samachar Marg) for use by the Governor, and renamed it New House. With the passage of time, as Bombay began to grow and the heart of the city, Fort became congested, Governor William Hornby preferring  “the climes at the occasional hot weather residence at Parell”, shifted residence there. However, the administration continued to function from New House for a few more decades before shifting to Parel. New House still stands, now occupied by many commercial firms, making it one of the oldest standing buildings in Mumbai.

In 1827, the Government House during the tenure of Sir John Malcolm moved entirely to Parel. This grand colonial building surrounded by gardens in the peace and quiet of an idyllic ‘suburb’ of Bombay was aptly called Sans Pareil, meaning without peer or beyond compare. It was indeed a grand mansion where “melody and mellifluous voices filled the Durbar Hall during gala evenings when china and crystal would glitter under the chandeliers in the Banquet Hall”. Many memorable events in Bombay’s colonial history took place at Sans Pareil. It was here that Governor Jonathan Duncan held a banquet in 1804 to launch The Literary Society of Bombay which is now known as the Asiatic Society.  It was in this building that the future King-Emperor Edward VII and the last Czar of Russia, Nicholas II were entertained when they visited Bombay. Sadly, with the mills coming up in and around Parel in the second half of the 19th century and the resultant rise in pollution, this place was abandoned in 1882 after the wife of Governor Lord James Fergusson died here of cholera. Like New House in Fort, the Government House at Parel still stands and is now known to us as the Haffkine’s Institute.

Governor Sir Richard Temple initiated the formal transfer of the Government House from Parel to Malabar Point. Marine Villa, the building that housed the early residence and office of the Governor stood on a fifty-acre property laced by beach and forest. Over the years many more structures were added to make it into a formidable administrative complex from where British Governors held sway over large swathes of Western India known as the Bombay Presidency.

Upon independence, Government House was renamed Raj Bhavan. The Raj Bhavan serves not only as a residence to the Governor of Maharashtra but also for visiting dignitaries such as the Prime Minister and the President of India, as well as visiting heads of state. Momentous occasions such as swearing-in ceremonies and functions felicitating litterateurs and artists are also held here.

The Mumbai Raj Bhavan has a precious collection of beautiful carpets, paintings, exquisitely carved doors and elegant French style chairs and sofas with intricate portraits on them, and is a treat to the lovers of art and history.

Most significantly, Mumbai’s Raj Bhavan at Malabar Point breathes a century and a half of history making it a must-visit destination for all wanting to know more about our city.