Visits to Dadar are always special. Is it the special Parsi - Marathi feel to it? Or the fact that my parents practically grew there? Or the feel of walking through history? I will never know.
Every city has its past. Its secrets, which are now being buried deep by the layers of modernization being forced onto it.
Every heroic city has its story.
Dadar is that part of Mumbai which housed many of the city's historic events.
The hub of all activities in the Victorian Era, it still does not fail to impress outsiders with its charm. It has this inept ability to capture any passerby's attention. Every time I pass the area, I feel as if Im magically transported back to when India was under the British Raj and half expect horse-carriages with counts in their beautiful attire with that air of hostility on their way to yet another important meet.
The Parsi tea-shops are a common feature, highlighted in many of those movies. A typical old pot-bellied owner with his trademark white cap, black glasses and white khaccha getting all cranky over those good-for-nothing collegians who keep hanging out in that tiny shop of his, drinking milky-chai and eating maska pav.
The long Shivaji Park, where my grandfather used to take me for walks, long long ago. Where you are bound to find the freshest young cricket talent, and perhaps also the next Sachin Tendulkar! Well it was Sachin's homeground!
The nearby beach gives the place a whole different outlook. Cool drifts of wind kept those hot summer afternoons pleasant, kept those trees swaying back and forth.
The area being the best shopping area for festivals. Anything, like any of the rare-est item, can be found here!
And speaking of festivals, the Ganesh Chaturthi period, here being a fortnight-long celebration, second to none! Almost every other house here, houses a Ganesh idol and worships it for a certain time. And the visarjan days are the ones when everybody is out on their verandahs looking for a glimpse of the varied sizes of idols making their way towards immersion. Huge Sarvajanik Ganpati idols and small nuclear-family idols alike. The chants of Ganpati leaving and coming back the next year ring throughout the city and mark the optimism of the city dwellers.
And just as another bull-dozer knocks off yet another worn down structure of the area, bit by bit our heritage is being wiped out, leaving behind nothing more than a few smudges on the city's skyline. I pity the generations to come.
Later.
xx
Every city has its past. Its secrets, which are now being buried deep by the layers of modernization being forced onto it.
Every heroic city has its story.
Dadar is that part of Mumbai which housed many of the city's historic events.
The hub of all activities in the Victorian Era, it still does not fail to impress outsiders with its charm. It has this inept ability to capture any passerby's attention. Every time I pass the area, I feel as if Im magically transported back to when India was under the British Raj and half expect horse-carriages with counts in their beautiful attire with that air of hostility on their way to yet another important meet.
The Parsi tea-shops are a common feature, highlighted in many of those movies. A typical old pot-bellied owner with his trademark white cap, black glasses and white khaccha getting all cranky over those good-for-nothing collegians who keep hanging out in that tiny shop of his, drinking milky-chai and eating maska pav.
The long Shivaji Park, where my grandfather used to take me for walks, long long ago. Where you are bound to find the freshest young cricket talent, and perhaps also the next Sachin Tendulkar! Well it was Sachin's homeground!
The nearby beach gives the place a whole different outlook. Cool drifts of wind kept those hot summer afternoons pleasant, kept those trees swaying back and forth.
The area being the best shopping area for festivals. Anything, like any of the rare-est item, can be found here!
And speaking of festivals, the Ganesh Chaturthi period, here being a fortnight-long celebration, second to none! Almost every other house here, houses a Ganesh idol and worships it for a certain time. And the visarjan days are the ones when everybody is out on their verandahs looking for a glimpse of the varied sizes of idols making their way towards immersion. Huge Sarvajanik Ganpati idols and small nuclear-family idols alike. The chants of Ganpati leaving and coming back the next year ring throughout the city and mark the optimism of the city dwellers.
And just as another bull-dozer knocks off yet another worn down structure of the area, bit by bit our heritage is being wiped out, leaving behind nothing more than a few smudges on the city's skyline. I pity the generations to come.
Later.
xx
Nice post... It's really sad when we see those things being lost that have been close to us and even more that it's being lost in the name of modernization! This reminded me of the cover story of yesterday's 'Brunch' by HT. It covered all those things (animals, birds, places) that we are going to lose, just because we're not caring for them!
ReplyDeleteI liked the way you described Dadar. Looking at parks and remembering walking there with your grandfather! Priceless! ^_^
Thank you, Ashna:)
DeleteTook me down my memory line! I remember my Dad taking me to a particular shop to drink rose milk everyday after school, Mum taking me to a nearby bakery to eat cinnamon banana cake, Granma buying me clothes from a nearby school, going to a particular temple to pray with aunt and so on. That part of Chennai is still beautifully preserved and I hope it remains the same in the years to come.
ReplyDeleteI loved your post, beautifully penned. :)
Im glad. Thank you, AaeKay :D
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