Good ol' days in Bandra

My first job was with L&T in Mumbai, at their factory and office complex in Powai. Back then, Powai was a serene area with green hills encircling Powai Lake. Occasionally, there would be reports of a crocodile making its way onto the IIT Mumbai campus, causing quite a stir among the students.

After some consideration, I decided to live in Bandra West. It was conveniently close to Powai and had come highly recommended by my friend Harvey.

I was to co-board at a ground storeyed house in a catholic village quite close to the Portuguese established St. Andrew's catholic church. The church is adjoining the Arabian sea coastline. The northbound road from the church is Carter road and the Southbound road is the bandstand road, meaning it goes all the way from the church to Bandra bandstand.  Both the sea-hugging roads are very picturesque. Both of these sea-facing roads are picturesque, with people often relaxing on the concrete parapets in the morning and evening.  Between the parapet and the seaface is a wide expanse strewn with black rock and white concrete ballasts, for arresting seawater erosion. That is why this place is called the Bandra reclamation area.  Many  enjoy viewing sunset sitting gingerly on those rocks. 

Bandstand and Carter roads are upmarket areas and those days some Bollywood  stars had expensive sea facing apartments there. 

This coastline was interspersed by Portugese established catholic villages every 1-2 km where East Indians ( erstwhile farmers), Koli fishermen and Goans lead their distinct way of life. 

Drying fish hung outside some houses give a distinct odor which some would find it strong. 

Households in these urban villages rarely were over 2 storeys.  The ground floor doors are rarely shut, allowing free flowing socializing. Music floats out of nearly all households and nobody minds the din.

My terms of stay included all meals and that gave me an opportunity to savor the local cuisine. Somedays it was rice and fish curry.  Other days, we would visit  the nearby village bakery to buy somewhat hard, roundish pav, again to be savored with fish curry cooked with coconut paste.

Sunday morning was usually reserved for Sunday mass at the over 800 years old Saint Andrew's church. Almost the entire parish residents  turning up well groomed in their Sunday finery. 

A catholic village is incomplete without the village drunk and his antics would enthrall the residents. 

Weekend was often busy days with parties, music and dancing. This often went on till late hours, no complaints, no one minded.

Every village had at least one band.  The bands would then participate in inter village competitions.  Often, I would travel with Harvey's Chuim village band in a cramped matador van, struggling to protect the drums from bumpy scratches!

Even in these seemingly homogeneous catholic villages, there are subtle differences.  For instance, Koli village subsection would usually be very distinct.  Perplexed?  Just watch the vigorous, boisterous way the Kolis celebrate their weddings, drunk to the last man and woman!

Near Bandra Bandstand is the famous Mount Mary's church ( its actually an ornate Portugese style basilica) on a  hillock.  There is a long, straight flight of steps from Mount Mary's hill to the seaface. I believe many a bollywood motorcycle chases have been filmed here.  Often, you will find youngsters cartwheeling down the steps in their sports bikes.  

Also at the end of Bandra band-stand is a small Portuguese fort like structure which is mostly in ruins these days. 

The Worli Bay would adruptly start from Bandra fort, giving the place an end-of-land feeling. That's why it's called lands-end. We often walked to the place to enjoy cool sea-breeze and ice popsicle.  Nowadays, of course, we have the imposing 10 km long Bandra-Worli Sealink flyover there. 

Every year, in the month of September, there is a very popular 8 day fair on the road to Mount Mary's church. It's visited by many, not only by local catholics. These days, this fair is very popular with instagramers and reel makers. 

My landlady Ms. D'Souza and her son Troy used to take orders for local sweet delicacies like marzipan and jujubes during Christmas and Easter times. I happily got involved in the preparation, billing and collection process and learnt a bit about sweet making micro business! 

Our ultimate Eldorado those days was Bandra Sea Rock hotel though it was mostly out of reach with our sparing salary then! 

Today, we have the Taj Lands-end hotel there as well. 

After some years, I moved on from Mumbai but the images remain etched in memory, as if it all happened yesterday.