Calling King’s Circle as Maheshwari Udyan is like dethroning a king. It did not, however, end with that. My engineering college, which we used to proudly call Victoria Jubilee Technical Institute (VJTI), was unceremoniously renamed as Veer mata Jeejabaj Technical Institute, The mandate to some bright chap, who was asked to change (or massacre) the name, must have been to retain the abbreviation VJTI and yet bring in the “son of the soil” element. (or shall we say “daughter of the soil” ?)
My early remembrance of King’s Circle dates back to taking a tram right up to the tram terminus (TT) and getting into Arora Cinema, to watch a Laurel & Hardy film. As the tram, from Museum, traversed the congested areas of Bhendi Bazar and the mill area with a cluster of chimneys, reaching Dadar TT was a great relief. The last lap from there to King’s Circle was like passing through heaven, with well laid out houses and greenery as a part of one of the first town planning schemes. It was almost like traversing through a new city.
The locality, popularly known as Matunga (GIP), was a major suburb served by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway. Predominantly the South Indian community made Matunga its home. The whole of Mumbai benefitted by patronizing the several excellent South Indian eateries. Starting from a first floor restaurant just outside the railway station serving meals on the most environment friendly banana leaf to the restaurants around the King’s Circle, the South Indian cuisine available at Matunga is as authentic as in yhe state of Tamilnadu. Coffee is still served by yards and dhotis are wrapped like half lungis.
Amongst the South Indian eateries, a very small Punjabi dhaba served freshly made parathas with loads of Polson butter, just one variety each of veg and non veg djshes and steaming daal. The “bhatti” was right in front and there were only three small tables facing it. (One didn’t need a fire place !) Food was unadulterated, as their religion strictly forebids adulteration. Even the butter was full of cholesterol !
Though the Railways named another station as Vidya Vihar, it was Matunga which deserved that name. The VJTI , which started 125 years ago, by offering a Textile Technology course, later extended to other branches of engineering. Eventually VJTI got the distinction of being the third engineering degree college in Western India. Till then, only Pune and Karachi offered engineering degree courses.
Next to the VJTI is Khalsa College, with its equally imposing pillars’architecture. Just behind is the University Department of Chemical Technology (UDCT). A little farther away is the Ruia College. Among schools, Don Bosco and Amulakh Amichand schools truly make Matungs as the Vidya Nagari.
While I was in VJTI, the then President of India, Dr Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, was the Guest of Honour at our annual function. No doubt he had an impressive personality. Equally enthralling was the rendering of our National Anthem by the President’s personal and exclusive orchestra.
The next annual function, however, saw seats getting vacated fast. As news spread that the neighbouring Khalsa College’s annual function had a new singer performing there, there was an exodus of students from VJTI to Khalsa. He was Mahendra Kapoor, singing “Chaand dhalaa aur taare dube, raat gazabki aayee, husna chalaa hai iskse milne, julmki badly chhayee.” He was Mahendra Kapoor, who had shot to fame by singing it for “Sohni Mahiwal”.
A parting gift for my memory, on the last day in VJTI, was a pleasant surprise. I suddenly found a big banner of “XYZ Medical College” , pasted on a wall behind the marble stairs in front entrance. Debonair Shashi Kapoor and Sadhana, looking extremely pretty, both dressed like collegians, kept going up and down. Bimal Roy stood in a corner, directing a key scene of “Prem Patrs. Shashi Kapoor drops a letter on the staircase. Sadhana later picks it up, reads and goes straight to the Principal, to complain. That ruins his academic career. After the movie was released, boys, including me, learnt a lesson that they should never pass on a letter like that !
VJTI is located on a quiet lane, which housed many small villas. Legendary singer K L Saigal and Prithviraj JKapoor lived in two of the villas. Prithviraj, while taking an evening stroll, dropped in at the VJTI canteen. Some of us were sitting there, trying to complete our journals. He smiled at us and gracefully ordered tea for all of us, saying “Tum hi hamara bhavishya ho. Tum engineers banoge, deshko aage le jaaoge.”
He lived in a first floor apartment, which had two bedrooms. He and his wife occupied one and raj Kapoor and his wife occupied the other. Shammi Kapoor and Shashi Kapoor slept in the balconies. Both of them studied in Don Bosco School, which was just behind.
V Shantaram had announced making of “Shakuntala”. Prithviraj was tipped to get the lead role of Dushyant. Shantaram, however, opted for Chandramohan. Prithviraj s disappointed and decided to play the role by producing a drama “Shakuntala” himself. He set up Prithvi Theatres, with a shoe string budget. He played the main character of Dushyant and eclipsed Chandramohan’s image from viewers’ minds.
He gave the responsibility of stage management to Raj Kapoor. Satyanarayan, who later became choreographer and Shankar, who later joined Jaikishan to score music, assisted Raj Kapoor.
Shammi Kapoor was cast as Bharat (Dushyant’s son). Dresses were stitched on their terrace and rehearsals were held at Royal Opera House. Shammi Kapoor’s attendance in school, however, started falling and their Principal became furious. He asked Shammi Kapoor to get his father to school. He, however, got his elder brother Raj Kapoor to schhol, to hear the dressing down. The Principal said that Shammi would have to choose either studies or acting. Raj Kapoor lost no time in replying that it would have to be acting then. That was the end of Shammi Kapoor’s school career in Don Bosco. He was soon admitted to New Era School at Hughes Road, which was closer to Royal Opera House and would, therefore, make it easier for him to attend rehearsals.
What is not known in public domain about this area is its importance for power supply to the city of Mumbai. Tatas put up their third and the then the largest hydro electric power station at Bhira in southern Maharashtra in mid twenties. This power was brought to Mumbai at Dharavi at Matunga and distributed to railways, mills and residences from there. When Tatas ordered hughe transformers then, the manufacturers in Britain were aghast at their size. Those were the largest made in the world at that time. Tatas, however, had even bigger visions.
Their Dharavi Receiving station housed the office of one of their senior executives, in charge of their hydro electric power stations. His hobby was his penchant for mathematics. Tatas hand picked him, to lead their foray into software, He came to be known as the father of software technology business in India.
P.S. Some of the information stated above has been sourced from an informative write up in a popular column in "Mumbai Samachar" daily newspaper, run by Shri Amrit Gangar. He is very knowledgeable and I acnowledge, with thanks, his valuable contribution.
JVV:R0:19.3.2012
