Reflections of Passions

Mumbai is a unique city because just when you think you have figured it out completely, it tend s to surprise you. The eastern part of Bombay is such a mystery which co-exists amazingly with the present day Mumbai. There are several stories which tend to get lost due to the frantic lifestyle of residents and some of them suffer from lack of representation.  Kusumbala's fountain in Reay Road is one of those stories which have suffered from lack of representation. Kusumbala was the daughter of a cotton broker Lowji Meghji. She was a sickly child and suffered from a terminal disease. At a young age of 13, she succumbed to her disease. The death of his daughter left him devastated.  In the olden days, water charity was considered as a noble deed and often water was donated in the name of a deceased family member. It was believed that donating water would allow the soul of the dead to rest in peace. This fountain is also an example of a water charity donated by Lowji Meghji an...

Rohan Joshi I was born and raised on Malabar Hill, or as the rest of Mumbai calls it "town" and as the Malabar Hill-ites call it, "Wait, there's 'rest of Mumbai'?"    * In the 28 years I've lived there, only two exciting things have happened. Once, at 2 am, a driver fell asleep at the wheel and flipped his car. But it was a Mercedes, so nothing happened to him.  * The other time, the IT department raided a wealthy neighbour's house. Such a raid is only exciting in theory. In practice, it's a bunch of serious middle-aged people looking around a house for nine billion hours. It gets old pretty fast. * There are three parks in a two kilometer radius. One features a giant ugly boot, which has become a tourist attraction. The park next door should get a giant sock and see what happens. * Malabar Hill is predominantly vegetarian. And they've systematically turned the non-vegetarians out of the area. So despite living in one of the hi...

I recently came across a newspaper sheet in which the city's top stand-up comedians decoded some of our neighbourhoods by taking potshots at them. I think sharing this on my blog would help in lightening the spirit of the blog which is otherwise known for its "serious" content. Please do not take these jokes seriously and most of the points made are not relevant anyway. These posts are meant purely-for-laughs. Since I live in Chembur, Mumbai, I thought it would be ideal to begin the series of Mumbai's suburbs. CHEMBUR Sourabh Pant  * Chembur has been "the next big thing" in Mumbai's property scene since 1924. It isn't. * Housemaids in Chembur are not called "bais", they're called "Chembur maids". * Hip locals usually call Chembur, "Che". This confuses many Argentineans.  * Literally translated in the original Marathi text, Chembur means "definitely not Bandra", irrespective of how many times yo...