The Byculla Club - down memory lane......

515 views
Skip to first unread message

Colonel (Retd) Ronnie Burjor Mistry

unread,
Jul 5, 2012, 8:22:10 AM7/5/12
to
 
Dedicated to all from Mumbai.....a part of our history......and, especially old-timers : Bombayites.....
 
......especially to my NDA non-Bombayite coursemates and othercoursemates, who had spent a few days at my home at "Rustom Baug", Byculla, during the mid/end/beginning-of-term breaks - sneaking out of the NDA w/o 'Out-pass' after the POP, and rushing back to K'dakvasla - to be present at the Roll Call - and this included me because, sadly, the Bombay-boys were the last ones out of NDA - for the outward-bound NDA "Military Specials", chugging them off to distant destinations across our Country........the unlucky ones who were caught during the occasional surprise check of the Squadron-lines after the POP and Monday morn, had to undergo 'restrictions' at the beginning of the next term! It is to the credit of my coursemates that, though caught and did the 'restrictions', none squealed on me, else I would've been doing 'em 'restrictions' endlessly! Amen!
 
..........and also Veterans from the IN and IAF who were (fortunate enough to be) stationed at Bombay/Mumbai..........may (be able to) re-collect a few of these scenes.....
 
A few tit-bits of info from me, for those who would like to know :
  • Byculla used to be the 'centre' of Bombay, with the Bombay Police HQ, as well as of the Fire Brigade, in 'em days;
  • Byculla Rly Station is the first rly stn in India, if not in Asia - Ha! I can hear the uproar!....please, please do NOT be confused between a Rly Station and a Rly Terminus : VT/CST and Thane were RlyTerminuses (Terminii?);
  • the first (Cross-bar) automatic telephone exchange - replacing the good ole 'Strowger' system (SODE guys will remember good ol' Lt Col Inderjit Singh at the School of SIGNALS, rattling off the innumerable relays.......with me always asking :"Sir, where is the ON/OFF switch?" at the end of each lecture. Ha!) - in India, was installed at Byculla; and,
  • just 100 m beyond Byculla rly stn is the little-known "Double-S" bridge (affectionately called the 'Jalebi bridge' by locals), linking tfc between west and east, over the railway line. It is considered an engineering marvel, raising the tfc to such an height as to clear the rly traction lines and dropping down again within just about 100 m span. Recently, there was talk of breaking it down and constructing another one, but I am told there was no way it could be changed!

..........and, with humility, I add that a major portion (almost all) of Byculla, in 'em days, was owned by my father's maternal uncle : his statue, titled "Kha-da Parsi" stands at the foot of 'Byculla bridge', opposite the HQ, Mumbai Fire Brigade. On top of his pugree there is a "katori" - a small vessel....legend has it that this g'man who owned this vast property, was a great philantrophist, always offering food, water and shelter to the poor, mainly traders and entrepreneurs from outside Bombay, who came to Bombay with a money-gleam in their eyes.........to the extent that he had ordered this be done, after his passing, to offer water to the birds.....sadly, his pugree, as well most of the statue, today, is festooned with pigeon droppings.....Amen!

 
Do click on this link :
**************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
Hey, Randhir,
 
Who is Hemant?
 
Is he your coursemate/IN? Also, Ross Carvalho? Where are they? Please fwd this to them, with my warm regards.
 
I have taken the liberty of doing a bit of editing..........
 
Ronnie

On 5 July 2012 15:15, randhir singh <randhir........


---
 
This is a bit long but full of interesting information.  I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.  By the way, I lived on Clare Road.
Rgds
 
Hemant
 
 
Subject: The Byculla Club

Came across this one while cleaning out my mail box and apologies if I've sent it before This may bring back some memories.----------------------

Pictures are slow to view and need some patience.
 


 
Read to the end and click on the link > >
 
Judging from the map, the Byculla Club house was located in what I think, is now the ramshackle Potia compound, opposite St Stephens Church, Belassis Rd, Bombay Central.
 
One needs to peer hard to decipher familiar names like Moreland, Ripon and Clare roads on the map. In the right hand bottom corner is shown the House of Correction on Clare Rd. which still survives today as a prison for women, situated opposite the now extinct Rogers Soda factory, and American Express Bakery which is still going strong under our affable 'Pauwalla' buddy Ross Carvalho and his able sons Emil and Yvan whose mantra could well be "We need your dough... so... We knead your dough" < yes, it is still there, I vouch for it!
 
Next to the HoC on Clare Rd is the 'League of Mercy' bungalow originally meant for unmarried anglo mothers and their (bastard) children. Sordid testimony to the wild oats sowed by White Bada Sahibs of yore. Many a naive young AI girl ended up seeking refuge in the LoM. Years later it was restricted mainly to destitute girl children, and adult victims of debauchery were not accomodated. Clare road residents will be familiar with the caretaker, dear old Mrs Andrews who selflessly ran the home with great love, efficiency and discipline for 36 years, ably assisted by Esmie Peters and Blossom Lillywhite.
 
The map roughly marks the "Jew's cemetery" next to it and which, in those days was part of a larger Christian graveyard adjoining the Christ Church grounds and covering the area of what later became Spence Rd and Shepherd Rd. We always suspected my building terrace was spooked,  and for which your brother Kevin and my young brother Munnoo will readily testify with wide eyes, trembling hands and imaginations run wild. The defunct Jew cemetery was part of the predominantly Nagpada layout, and was later converted to a public garden, opposite the popular Sarvi (Kebab) Restaurant (superb Kebabs, any time of the day/night - I vouch for that), and next to the Nagpada Police Station.
 
My accuracy of location is open to correction by fellow Bombayites whose inputs are most welcome. Unlike the anti-interactive and insular world of the current computer games age, we were lucky to have grown up in Bombay and Byculla and Nagpada in wonderful, simpler times when neighbourliness and camaraderie were a part of our daily lives. No violence-filled video games, PlayStation or XBox. Our Play stations were the nearest lamp posts where we devised our own games and pastimes like the rough-n-tumble Kithi-Kithi, Tip-the-Den, Chinese Crackers, Dumb Charade, Queen of Sheba, Salts and many other innocent, fun-filled "Physically Inter-Active" pastimes. With closest and dearest friends from all faiths...Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Jew, Sikh and the best loved Parsi, we never had any communal problems in our society, since :
 
  • Santa Claus belonged to everybody;
 
  • Biriyani was shared by all;
 
  • Benarsi sweets and Bengali rossogolas were a universal sweet tooth; and,
 
  • Bhel & Pani Puri qualified you as a true Bombaywalla. More so if you asked for extra chilli. "Bhaiya, thick-kha jasti dalo" 
 

We weren't rich in terms of money but we took pride in the wealth of our values, customs and social mores that emphasised good manners, respect for elders, regard for other religions and active participation in all sports and festivals, with much partiality towards Holi and Divali, whose riot of colour and pyrotechnics automatically gave an ecstatic meaning to egalitarianism. Non-toxic colour powders and liquids, water balloons and "atom bomb" firecrackers were a tame version of what the world faces today, and the most dangerous arson we indulged in was on new year's eve when, at the stroke of midnight we'd burn the hapless 'OLD MAN' stuffed with rags, hay, firecrackers and wickedly positioned "rockets" 

 
Today, WMDs threaten to wipe out this wonderful world. > Oh how I'd love to take that romantic choo choo train back in time to good old Bombay......NOT Mumbai. > Click Click..Ticket please! > > M. Reza Beg > (M for : Memory Lane) > (M for: Maymoon Manzil, Spence Lane, Byculla, Bombay....not Mumbai).  Click on the link below and later on the other links to take you back in time. > > > > http://oldphotosbombay.blogspot.in/search?updated-max=2011-11-11T03:13:00-08:00&max-results=1&start=24&by-date=false > > > > > >



--
 
 
"To fight the darkness do not draw your sword, light a candle"   -   Zarathustra
 
Note:
If you  would like to forward this mail to others, please delete my email trail before forwarding. Thank you.




--
 
 
"To fight the darkness do not draw your sword, light a candle"   -   Zarathustra
 
Note:
If you  would like to forward this mail to others, please delete my email trail before forwarding. Thank you.

Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages