Bori Bunder

A new visitor to Mumbai, going Northwards from Apollo Bunder, will come across Carnac Bunder, Wadi Bunder and so on but will keep wondering where, on his way, he missed Bori Bunder. He will further start wondering  about one more  bunder, viz Masjid Bunder. Its  masjid, viz, the Jumma Masjid, is not so close and there is no bunder at all, unless some Carnac got the  bunder named after him !

Coming to Bori Bunder, however, we are told there was a shallow stretch behind what was once called Frere Road. Small boats, mainly of fishermen,  landed up there. Bori muslims, who set up shops on Mohammed Ali Road, brought their merchandise from Surat towards North and Ratnagiri towards South, off-loaded here. Probably that’s how it got its name.

When the British planned the first railway in the country, they looked for a place where heavy materials like rails, sleepers, girders etc could be brought and stacked up, to start with. A little later, the same facility would be used for unloading heavy locomotives, coaches and wagons. They, therefore, worked on making the shallow stretch deep enough, to build a jetty.  The jetty opposite the original Rex Cinema became this place.

The railway station had to be protected from invaders and hence, a location inside the then Fort was chosen.   A part of the fort has been still kept, though not at all cared for.

Tracks were also laid till Ballard Pier. This enabled Frontier Mail to start from there, so that the  British could directly get down from a  ship berthed there and board a train, which would take  them right up tp the Frontier Province, which had Peshawar as its capital.

The British needed communication throughout the country. They, therefore, built the General Post Office (GPO) just next to the station, since mail was those days carried in trains.  That is how the Frontier Mail got its name. They also built the Central Telegraph  office (CTO), sort of mid way between Bori Bunder, which was to be the main line terminus for Great Indian Peninsula (GIP)Railway  and the future main line terminus of the then Bombay Baroda & Central India  (BB&CI) Railway.   Telegraph lines ran parallel to railway tracks and hence the CTO had to be close to where the railway lines came close enough !

The British also needed to run the administration of the city from a place which was close enough to where they lived, viz, Colaba and Cuffe Parade. The working staff, however, had to commute conveniently. Hence the BMC Head Quarters came to be located at Bori Bunder.

The only English newspaper, viz, The Times of India, as it is known today, had to get its heavy rolls of paper and the newspaper had to be delivered to the readers early in the morning. Their press, therefore, was located right opposite the station.

The British also set up a hospital, named after Sir Gokuldas Tejpal (GT Hospital). Recently tunnels forming war time shelters have been discovered under the GT Hopital as well as the GPO. It is likely that these ran right up to Ballard Pier, to facilitate emergency evacuation of the British, trapped in the city.

Proximity to the station was a major consideration for locating the wholesale fruit market at Crawford Market. With many architectural projects coming up in the city and the country, Sir J J School of Art was set up nearby.

Entertainment places and eateries around a station find a ready, need based market. Rex Cinema for English movies and Capitol Cinema, opposite the station, offered entertainment to travellers and commuters. In addition, Excelsior Cinema and New Empire Cinema always brought star attractions. Excelsior, which had a foyer with a nice fountain, was well known for its hot dogs, which still remain in one’s memory.

A Mumbaikar  is never at ease,  if he does not find bhel being  served somewhere. Vithal Bhelwalla, in an obscure lane, made a fortune by selling bhel in this locality.

Some of the early eateries, which survived, are those opposite the GPO. They serve big size hot puris and customers are charged only for the number of puris that they take. Potato-tomato bhaji, onion salad and pickles are  served free ! When one walks on this street  and reaches the other end, he emerges from Bazar Gate.  The bazaar here served the population residing in the then walled city.

For those who love Gujarati thalis, Narasimha Lodge, above a small book shop , mainly selling text books, on D N Rd  (then known as Hornby Rd), has been serving mouth watering food. It is a boon for office goers coming to this area.

There may be others who want continental style food at value for money rates. The railway’s upmarket restaurant on the first floor of the main line station offered a six course meal at a throw away rate. The restaurant retained its hat rack, though both, the British and hats disappeared from the scene.

We referred to a book shop above, which reminds me of two of the largest book shops in Mumbai. Taraporewalla Sons and New Book Company both had so much space that, if emptied, one could run a scooter inside !

Few may know that this area also boasts of a palace. Tata Palace, on Waudby Road,  is a structure par excellence.  Sterling Theatre was built adjoining  it. Tata Electric Companies had their offices in six floors, above the theatre. I happened to have worked in this office. I remember an exasperated person, who had come to collect a document from the first floor of this office.  Thinking that it was  only the first floor and, therefore, why take the lift, he started climbing the stairs.  He kept climbing, till the equivalent of six floors’ height was reached, when he saw the board “First Floor” !

One of my memories there is of late Mr Naval Tata contesting an election. It was a sight to see Mr Ratan Tata, wearing jeans and a handloom shirt, leading the election campaign !

I wrote, in my last blog on Dadar, that many well known cricketers have come from Shivaji Park.  Bori Bunder area has also contributed,  by nurturing many eminent cricketers, most of them being Parsis. They studied in Bharda School, next to the Capitol Cinema. Nari Contractor, Polly Umarigar, Rusi Surti and Farukh Engineer come to my mind.

A male teacher, from our community, taught there. After spending many years there, he himself looked almost like a Parsi !

Thanks to Queen Victoria, Bori Bunder got renamed as Victoria Terminus (VT).

Its glory came  alive, in Raj Kapoor’s magnum opus “Mera Naam Joker”.   The movie’s titles  appeared  with the backdrop of a procession, to give publicity to a circus, passing through the main road in front of the station. This scene was Randhir Kapoor’s maiden directorial  assignment.  The scene had gorgeous  and unforgettable musical score by Shankar Jaikishan .

The queen’s good fortune, after renaming of the station and the area, however,  did not last for too long. It got renamed once again, as “Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus” (CST)

It appeared in an Oscar winning film, with a song, which also got an Oscar. The terminus, however, left scars in the memory of the city, when unwelcome  foreigners landed at Cuffe Parade, without  visas and opened fire at innocent commuters, during evening peak hours.  I realized, it is a strange coincidence, that this post in the blog is being drafted on the fifth painful memory of that fateful night.

The Times of India, apart from doing a signal service to the city, has also gifted a world class cartoonist to us. He is none other than Shri R K Laxman.  I would like to conclude this by recalling one of his outstanding cartoons.

It showed  a typical foreigner, getting down from a taxi  in front of the CST station  and telling its driver:

“Thank you for bringing me in time. My flight is about to leave in half an hour !”