Mumbai before the Expressways

Mumbai had two arterial roads before the Eastern and the Western Express Highways came up. The one on the Western side was Ghodbunder Road, originally connecting Bandra creek to the scenic Ghodbunder. It is believed that horses of excellent breed from Arbastan used to be brought to this port, apart from Mandvi in Kutch. Probably hence the name Ghodbunder . It is still used for bringing sand into the city. Those days, however, ships with sails used to dot its  scenic landscape. It looked very similar to the scene in “Safar”, where “Nadiya chale re chale re dhara”  song goes on in background and Rajesh Khanna and Sharmila Tagore sit quietly, watching a boat go by. Also, I am told “Awara”’s opening song “Naiya  teri mazdhar, hoshiyar” was shot at Ghodbunder. Apart from starring four generations of the Kapoor family, Premnath, in that scene, complemented, being the brother in law of Raj Kapoor.

The Ghodbunder Road, passing through Santacruz, had paddy fields on its Western side and Willingdon Colony on its Eastern side.   A cluster of plots opposite the Willingdon Colony, was named Willingdon Colony (West).  The plots got sold later and the name did not remain.

The Ghodbunder Road then was  not asphalted.  Water was sprinkled in the evenings, to make the evenings dust-free and pleasant.

There was a small eatery, Café Marisa, which served mouth watering sandwiches, pastries and typical English type tea.  There was hardly any traffic on the road. Occasionally, a private bus, run on kerosene, coming from Bandra,  would bring a few residents home in the evening.

The  trains running on the Bombay Baroda & Central  India  (B B & C I ) Railway were far and few in between. Office goers  from  Santa Cruz could see a train leaving Vile Parle station and  had ample time to walk  to Santacruz station to catch it.

Coming from South to North, along the Western side of the city, the last road overbridge on the railway was at Dadar.  There were all level crossings thereafter.  I do not know when the subways at Khar, Milan and Andheri came up. The credit for the Milan subway, however, must go to a journalist’s martyrdom .  Earlier there was only a level crossing there.  After Pandit Jawaharlal’s motorcade passed from there, an open  truck  carrying some journalists followed. A barrier to guard against overhead traction cables of the electric railway caused a fatal hit. A subway was promptly ordered,  An existing naalah was then slightly widened, without taking up any studies regarding the possibility of flooding. It has now become a perennial spot for monsoon flooding. TV channels routinely show stock scenes of flooding there.

Since the Ghodbunder Road ended at Ghodbunder, vehicular traffic to North Western Maharashtra and Gujarat had to take the only available road running along the Eastern stretch. That road was originally named Bombay Agra Road, giving a clear indication of its historic destination city. With time and after the 1965 war with Pakistan, it was aptly renamed as Lal Bahadur Shastri (LBS)  Marg.

It was the only road then, to get out of the city.  Travellers going to Pune loved to eat biryani at Taloja and batatawadas at Ramakant Bhavan in Khopoli.  A  school principal’s school going son drove down, with his friends, to eat the batatawadas and lost his life in an accident.  The school offered a garland over his portrait every year, in memory of his losing his life for batatawadas.

When getting out of Mumbai by driving down on the polluted industrial establishments on both sides of the road did irritate but great relief came when one passed Johnson & Johnson’s factory at Mulund. Its manicured vast expanse of  lush green lawn, sprawling from the fence on the road right up to the factory building, located fairly inside, offered great visual relief. People of Mumbai must feel grateful to J & J for this mercy.

Imagine going to a picnic  those days to Vajreshwari, passing through Sion, Thane, and Bhiwandi ! Bassein Creek Bridge then existed only on a blue print and hence the long detour !

I also remember a family picnic to Bassein Fort. Rather than driving from South Mumbai to Bassein, it was considered prudent then to take a suburban train. The train had hardly any commuters. Cool breeze coming through the doors and windows made the journey very pleasant.

I  also remember being driven over Ghodbunder Road, for attending a function at Goregaon East.  It was a grand function, for inauguration of Aarey Colony.  Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru inaugurated the Dairy. True to his style,  he endeared himself to the “doodhwala bhaiyas” of Mumbai, by wearing a head gear similar to theirs ! He looked very handsome, though, in that funny attire.

Since the Eastern parts of the Western suburbs were not connected by a road running through and through, rents there were very low, making it affordable for most people. Take for example  Pushpa Park in Malad East.  Families connected with films, such as Mumtaz Ali (Father of Mehmood ), Nadiadwallas etc  resided there, probably because Bombay Talkies was located at Malad West.  Ashok Kumar owned it, along with Devika Rani.  Dev Anand, Kishore Kumar and many others made their true debuts there.

When going to visit some relatives in Pushpa Park, in Malad East, children would stray on to a road under construction.  Curiosity prevailed because people said the road, when completed, would have Ahmedabad at the other end.

One day, finally, the Western Express Highway got completed.  The then Governor’s wife remarked that it lacked greenery on both its sides.  Promptly the ever obedient Government babus swung into action.  They got the ugliest of concrete lollypops ( massive pillars with huge concrete discs  erected on either side of the highway ) . Soon fat contracts were awarded, to paint pictures of plants  with green foliage on the eye sore like discs. That was greenery for the Mumbaikars.