Over the past 2 months I have done two Kahki Tours (Keeping Heritage Alive and Kicking in India). This group of volunteers was started by Bharat Gothoskar in 2015 to create awareness about Mumbai’s history and heritage in a fun and interesting manner. They do typical and atypical tours of Mumbai.
When I signed up for the tour, I thought I would be the only person silly enough to tour during Monsoon season, but I was wrong! There were 12 of us!
The first tour I took was of a neighborhood called Wadala which tour guide described by saying, “from nothing to nothing”. As this was his neighborhood, he was curious to research it and as a result he learned that a lot of Indian and Mumbai’s history had connections to this area.
First, I learned this neighborhood started in the 1880s as a desire for sanitary living conditions during a plague. A lot of wealthy people had estates here. Estates always had a temple; this one was reconstructed in the 1950s. I was excited because this is where we came for prayers during my friend’s baby shower! I was proud of myself for recognizing it.
Next, there are a lot of art deco buildings here, a style popular in Mumbai and was a way for young architects to assert independence from the colonial style after World War II.
During World War II, India was a major transit point for troops, especially after the Japanese invaded Burma, so the barracks below were built to house the soldiers. The barracks were used again during the partition to house refugees. In this neighborhood is a school that was originally in Pakistan. During the partition the founder relocated it here and it is still functioning today!
Below is a stylized demarcation between city and landowner’s property since boundary walls were not allowed.
Then we visited a famous temple where the gold statue of Ganesh comes out only during his festival. There were quite a few Ganesh statues depicting him at various ages and states, although the actual temple is dedicated to Ram. Across the street, in direct alignment, is another temple and unfortunately I don’t remember information about it because it started raining again!
This is where a dormitory stood, a location where many freedom fighters used to congregate.
This custom house was were the salt taxes were collected and fines for smuggled salt were levied. If you recall, people were forbidden to make salt until Ghandi’s protest.
Six months ago, the village of Mahala existed, connected to this Christian Church, but it is disappearing. Progress?
At this point notes became impossible to take between holding the umbrella and the phone! However wet we were, we had a great time!
Mumbai’s Freedom Trail
The next walk, on Independence Day, focused on the freedom movement in Mumbai. I did learn that out of the 23 islands that constituted Mumbai when under Portuguese control, only 7 were given to Britain as part of the dowry! I also learned that 60% of Mumbai today is on re-claimed land. In the map below, you can see how many European countries had settlements in India, as they vied for the spice trade. Slowly, Portugual and Britain took major control although other country’s influences remain in certain parts of the country.
The tour started with this view of what used to be a jungle, where the last tiger was sighted in 1822.
Next to the viewpoint is the temple honoring the charitable Seth Goculdas, who believed that the job of the wealthy is to spend on people. Random tidbit: he built the Parle station to transport materials he needed for his house to be built. He also ensured roads were made to connect the South of Mumbai with this ‘country’ area.
We then walked to the building where the Indian Congress met pre Independence. In the years up to Independence, there were many small and disconnected rebellion groups and tensions were very high. The groups were routinely getting squashed and one British gentleman, aware of the pressure valve, had the idea that if Indians had a place to chat about politics the tension and desire for freedom would abate. So this building was built and lawful gatherings were permitted. BOY did his plan backfire!
Until 1880s it was the elite who met for planning independence. In 1907 the Congress split between the moderates and extremists. It was Gopni, the leader of the moderates, who in 1915 called on Ghandi to return to Indian from South Africa to apply his peaceful principles. When Gopni died, Gandhi became the face of that group – and the rest of this story is well known!
During the tour there were many stories of horrific executions of freedom fighters, especially gruesome was when two men were tied to the front of a cannon and the weapon fired.
Elphinstone College with its English name was started by Indians for Indians and is the second oldest college in Mumbai. Originally it was built around a pond. Why did the water disappear? Because the British wanted people to pay for the water they drank and to prevent this water from being drunk, it was removed. Today it is a park.
There were many plots and strategies to squash the Indians as well as to trick the British. The man on left below was a bi-racial gentleman worked for the police and was a master of disguise. He was sent to infiltrate a wealthy and philanthropic man’s home to see if he was funding the fighters (he was not) but others he investigated were executed.
Yusef Mehalaal couldn’t get a law degree because he participated in the uprising however, he was the one who is credited with coming up with the slogans that rallied the people. In August of 1942 Britain asked Indians to join in the fighting during WWII. The Congress said yes, if India was given independence. When this was denied, the working committee presented the idea of ‘do or die’ to the Congress which became another rallying cry.
In this park, a major speech was to be given by Gandhi and Nehru (I believe). To prevent the rally the two men were arrested. It is at this point when the students took up the baton and gave the speeches, saying, ‘we know what he’s going to say!’. The pillar is in honor a woman who held on to the tricolor flag while tear gas was launched.
When the press gag order was issued, secret radio broadcasts were started. For protection, the locations constantly changed. The buildings that were chosen had to have two doors so that when the police came, the activists could escape though the other door. This building was one such location.
At the time of the Independence movement, there was a parallel movement that worked on social reforms. There was one female doctor, Dr. Kashibai Nawrange, who opened her own clinic. She and Pandita Ramabai did wonderful work for women, especially getting milk to lactating women as well as taking care of abandoned and abused women. The school for women one of them started still exists.
The man who led the movement before Gandhi and started the Ganpati festival was cremated at Chowpatty beach in the sitting position, which is reserved for Saints. If you don’t remember, the huge outdoor celebration of the Ganesh festival is not historical but started for political reasons. Indians were not allowed to gather in groups unless it was for religious festivals. So…he started the outpouring of celebrations for Ganesh, called Ganpati, which is a hallmark of Mumbai to this day.
The tour ended at the house where Ghandi stayed while in Mumbai. Our tour guide, with a smile, said a lot of money was spent to allow Ghandi to live in poverty. For example, he insisted on traveling second class, so the sponsors bought all the tickets in the car so that no one would pose a threat to him. He wanted to live outside the house, so a space was built on the roof for him to live (as opposed to the room I saw when previously visiting the house).
dahi Handi
Last, but not least, was my first experience with Dahi Handi. This is a festival that celebrates the birth of Krishna. However, it is famous for the human towers that try to break the clay pot! The clay pots are full of milk, curd, butter, fruits and water – often with coins inside as well. The practice evolved from the legend that though there was an ample supply of milk products, the evil king denied children the protein. Krishna and his friends would steal the milk products and share them. I was hoping to see Rajat and Swapnil’s teams (they work in my school) but what I learned this year was the teams go all around Mumbai looking for pots to break. Rajat and Swapnil are on ‘professional’ teams and even won prizes. Next year, I will hire a car and driver for 2 hours and follow them around! These are photos they sent to me.
This year, I walked in the neighborhood where I thought this event was taking place and had the BEST time wandering and finding two groups ‘playing’. The joy is palpable in the photos.
As I drove to the location, I saw teams driving around looking for another pot to break or a competition to win!
After I exited the taxi, there were lots of teams walking as well. As one group passed me on motorbikes, they invited me to join them. I politely declined saying it was too far for me when I really didn’t want to ride on a motorbike! LOL
As with every Indian festival, music was everywhere – live or recorded.
The two teams I saw were not professional but friends and families. The first one took several tries to break the pot, at which point the person on the top of the pyramid gets fully doused, while kids (and some adults in the spirit of the event) scamper for the coins. If you notice on the video, the two guys in charge of the pot raise it as soon as she gets close…plus they pour water on the participants from the roof!
The second team was larger, with a young boy at the top. Before the climb he was happily yelling and cheering. Right after, he was a bit shaken but with a little prodding started smiling again! A lot of the teams I saw had children wearing helmets, as there can be a lot of injuries during this festival.
Before and after….
I end with some street art I saw while walking and driving around.
