Lovely. Feel so wistful thinking of what was lost as the city kept expanding. Loved the photo of them floating on barrels and jumping directly into the sea from their wall. This article really brought reclamation to life for me. How everyday peoples lives changed overnight.
Shormishta, thank you for this. I see Francis Dharmai signed on the 1 anna stamp. I am a Dharmai and my great great grandfather was a Francis Dharmai (he did carpentry though). I wonder of there's a connection. We have only two branches of Dharmais, one in Chimbai and one on Chapel Road. I belong to the Chimbai one so I doubt it's the same Francis. I will come back to this when I begin working on my larger family tree. Thank you!
Hi Britney. Such a coincidence. I just met someone from Chapel Road, who said his surname was originally Dharmai, and he was from Chimbai. I'd love to know who was the person who signed the document. Hopefully, somewhere it'll connect to something, and we'll know.
This is priceless! Thank you for sharing. Jazzman Joe was telling us about bathing in the sea, back in the day, at these spots and was wondering what the water and the views would've been like.
. This was forwarded to me by Fr Aubrey Fernandes SJ. Aubrey, Tucky and I were class mates in St Stanislaus. Later National College/ MMK.
Yes Tucky would take us for a boat ride and anchor somewhere opp Mahim Church. All 3 of us would then swim in the open sea. Fortunately JAWS had not released then, so we were ignorant of any danger lurking below!
Tucky also had a cowdung Badminton Court in his compound. It had a beautiful aroma! Cspt Melville too would join us in playing.
These memories give me goosebumps and bring tears to my eyes. I was born in '78 in Bandra, and what we experienced then compared to what we see now is truly disheartening. Our children no longer have open spaces to play. The green and blue Bandra we once knew is gone. I believe my generation was the last to truly enjoy Bandra and play freely in the open. The fun and spirit that people had back then are hard to find in today’s Bandra. Now, the lost love of Bandra lives on only in our hearts and memories, until we walk away from this life."
I just documented someone in my lane and they spoke about all the games they used to play on the road. How all the neighbourhood kids knew each other. Now it’s impossible to walk in my lane without looking over your shoulder for a speeding vehicle.
You're doing amazing work documenting these lives and places! :) Big fan, always looking forward to your work! Please never stop writing, you're great at this!
Those were the days my friend, when the current Pioneer Hall was the cigarette manufacturing factory for the Crown Tobacco Company at No. 9 St. John Baptist Rd. If I remember rightly, there was no wall or only a very short one (in height) between No’s 9 & 10.
Mr. Benny Curzai (Tucky’s late father) & my late father, Mr. NS Rao Sr. were friends through the original owner of No. 8, Tideways, the late Mr. Robert Miranda. That’s a whole story in itself, I’ll save it for another time.
Anyway, I was only a teeny weeny kid when we visited the cigarette factory one day. Uncle Benny was in a panic, cigarette in his mouth, hands all greasy & his workers standing around with nothing to do, as a component of one of the cigarette making machine’s had sheared & broken off. It would take months to replace, not like today, with UPS or FEDEX, parts from anywhere around the world could be delivered within 72 hours.
NS, as my late father was known to his friends was an Aeronautical Ground & Flight Engineer. On speaking with Tucky’s late father & being told that the factory would have to be shut for weeks or months, Dad went to his car, a Studebaker Champion, grabbed some tools from the booth (dicky as it was referred to back then), went into the factory to see what the problem was, dismantled the machine to extract the sheared part & assured Uncle Benny that he’d make the part for him within a few days. At that stage dad was site engineer, constructing Indira Dock near Masjid Railway Station. (There’s another whole story there). So dad saved the day.
This episode is pre-reclamation, when the Curzai’s had a private beach just off the rear of their properties that butted onto Mahim Bay, from where the newly opened Western Express Highway, the Mosque near Bandra Railway Station & St. Michael’s Church at Mahim were visible.
That was when it was just called Bandra, no West had to be included to specify which one you were referring to.
Lovely. Feel so wistful thinking of what was lost as the city kept expanding. Loved the photo of them floating on barrels and jumping directly into the sea from their wall. This article really brought reclamation to life for me. How everyday peoples lives changed overnight.
So well said. Wistful is the word I was looking for. And yes, it really was that, lives and a way of living changing overnight.
Loved this blast from the past.
Thank you :)
Shormishta, thank you for this. I see Francis Dharmai signed on the 1 anna stamp. I am a Dharmai and my great great grandfather was a Francis Dharmai (he did carpentry though). I wonder of there's a connection. We have only two branches of Dharmais, one in Chimbai and one on Chapel Road. I belong to the Chimbai one so I doubt it's the same Francis. I will come back to this when I begin working on my larger family tree. Thank you!
Hi Britney. Such a coincidence. I just met someone from Chapel Road, who said his surname was originally Dharmai, and he was from Chimbai. I'd love to know who was the person who signed the document. Hopefully, somewhere it'll connect to something, and we'll know.
This is priceless! Thank you for sharing. Jazzman Joe was telling us about bathing in the sea, back in the day, at these spots and was wondering what the water and the views would've been like.
Shared part of this with Tucky, Halcyon days
. This was forwarded to me by Fr Aubrey Fernandes SJ. Aubrey, Tucky and I were class mates in St Stanislaus. Later National College/ MMK.
Yes Tucky would take us for a boat ride and anchor somewhere opp Mahim Church. All 3 of us would then swim in the open sea. Fortunately JAWS had not released then, so we were ignorant of any danger lurking below!
Tucky also had a cowdung Badminton Court in his compound. It had a beautiful aroma! Cspt Melville too would join us in playing.
Lovely memories
Edwin Fernandes
haha! Love the bit about JAWS had not released. Thank you for sharing your memories. So lovely to imagine a peaceful, easy Bandra.
These memories give me goosebumps and bring tears to my eyes. I was born in '78 in Bandra, and what we experienced then compared to what we see now is truly disheartening. Our children no longer have open spaces to play. The green and blue Bandra we once knew is gone. I believe my generation was the last to truly enjoy Bandra and play freely in the open. The fun and spirit that people had back then are hard to find in today’s Bandra. Now, the lost love of Bandra lives on only in our hearts and memories, until we walk away from this life."
I just documented someone in my lane and they spoke about all the games they used to play on the road. How all the neighbourhood kids knew each other. Now it’s impossible to walk in my lane without looking over your shoulder for a speeding vehicle.
You're doing amazing work documenting these lives and places! :) Big fan, always looking forward to your work! Please never stop writing, you're great at this!
Thank you :) You made my day
Good Old Bandra
Those were the days my friend, when the current Pioneer Hall was the cigarette manufacturing factory for the Crown Tobacco Company at No. 9 St. John Baptist Rd. If I remember rightly, there was no wall or only a very short one (in height) between No’s 9 & 10.
Mr. Benny Curzai (Tucky’s late father) & my late father, Mr. NS Rao Sr. were friends through the original owner of No. 8, Tideways, the late Mr. Robert Miranda. That’s a whole story in itself, I’ll save it for another time.
Anyway, I was only a teeny weeny kid when we visited the cigarette factory one day. Uncle Benny was in a panic, cigarette in his mouth, hands all greasy & his workers standing around with nothing to do, as a component of one of the cigarette making machine’s had sheared & broken off. It would take months to replace, not like today, with UPS or FEDEX, parts from anywhere around the world could be delivered within 72 hours.
NS, as my late father was known to his friends was an Aeronautical Ground & Flight Engineer. On speaking with Tucky’s late father & being told that the factory would have to be shut for weeks or months, Dad went to his car, a Studebaker Champion, grabbed some tools from the booth (dicky as it was referred to back then), went into the factory to see what the problem was, dismantled the machine to extract the sheared part & assured Uncle Benny that he’d make the part for him within a few days. At that stage dad was site engineer, constructing Indira Dock near Masjid Railway Station. (There’s another whole story there). So dad saved the day.
This episode is pre-reclamation, when the Curzai’s had a private beach just off the rear of their properties that butted onto Mahim Bay, from where the newly opened Western Express Highway, the Mosque near Bandra Railway Station & St. Michael’s Church at Mahim were visible.
That was when it was just called Bandra, no West had to be included to specify which one you were referring to.