The Mumbai Midway: A Portrayal & the Portraits of the Middle Class Area of Mumbai

The Mumbai Midway

A portrayal & the portraits of the middle class area of Mumbai

Pradeep C. Kirtikar

Copyright © 2013 by Pradeep C. Kirtikar.

      Softcover      978-1-4828-1141-4

      Ebook         978-1-4828-1142-1

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgement

Introduction

The Meanings Of The Marathi Common Nouns Used In The Work

PART - 1

A PORTRAYAL

There Stays The Middle Class Of Mumbai

Girgaon, The Middle Class Mumbai

The Middle Class Status

The Girgaon Culture

The Names Of The Lanes In Girgaon

The Expanse Of Girgaon

The Life In Girgaon

The Guests And Visitors Of The Girgaonkars

The Hotels In Girgaon

The Craze Of Dramas In Girgaon

An Evening Out Of A Hand To Mouth Family

A Well To Do Family’s Evening Out

The Girgaon Chowpaty

The Irani Hotels In Girgaon

The Seasons In Girgaon

The Atmosphere In Girgaon Of That Time

The Systems—Sewerage, Gutters, Water Supply

The Modes Of Transport Used In Girgaon

The Telephone Lines In Girgaon

The Street Lights

The Pedlars

The Police, The Dadas, And The Mawalis

Calling Funny Names, A Girgaonkar Business

PART - 2

THE PORTRAITS

Shamu Pawankar

Babicha Navra

Appa Tadge

Bappa Kamerkar

Baba

Mai And Bapu

Dagdoo Mama

Manmohan

Madhavrao

Nanitai

He

The Balus

A Friend’s Hotel

‘I’

The Madman

Baa

THE MUMBAI MIDWAY

". . . . A way of life in Mumbai by Middle class people has been depicted in this book. It gives a detailed account of the various facets say social, financial, political, and psychological of the life of the class that is the backbone of the society and without which the rich and poor classes would not have the meaning provided to them about their own survival. This particular class in India and especially in Mumbai has not yet been vividly sketched in English language. The book will attract those who show delight in knowing about the social structure of Mumbai, livings in metropolis of India, history of Mumbai, and those who want to revive the memories of the life they lived, or they were surrounded by. An articulate and witty commentary on the middle class of Mumbai . . . ."

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Firstly, I am grateful to my son, Rugved, who, since he started staying in London 7 years since, has always been on the lookout for finding some or other resources convenient for the access to the English literature. He, despite my not being so eager, on his own sent me the e-book reader by means of which I could see a lot of English literature, for which, in fact, I was longing for, but which, before, was available for reading only on a piecemeal basis. For the publication of the present book, he has put a lot of effort in contacting and interacting with the required agencies.

My wife, Vinda, supported me a lot and helped to save my soul upright, which an initial writer requires the most.

My brothers, unknowingly to them, helped to keep the memories and passion about the earlier life existing in the mind, through the topics conversed whenever the coming together was occasioned.

Many friends pursued me with the praises, for which I do not know how honest I have been, and coaxed for writing.

I am grateful to all of them. My feelings are true and from the heart

Pradeep C. Kirtikar

Mumbai,

30th July 2013

INTRODUCTION

Having had a chance to spend years of childhood in the area that was, and instead is, predominantly middle class area of Mumbai, a great metropolis of the world, it was dwelling in my mind for quite a sometime that such useful observation, which I was exposed to, should not go waste without having put in the words, and presented to the world for feeling the life that is different, but not prominently accounted for as yet.

The book has been clearly divided into two parts, the first part describing the surrounding in which the characters depicted in the second part stayed or are staying. The first part elucidates the various aspects of the way of life of people in Girgaon, where the middle class inhabitants of Mumbai have been staying intensely; this first part itself is a captivating work that presents the aspects of life there in a striking manner. The first part provides for the insight of the flow of life in which the characters in the second part had their life spent.

Our family, comprising father—mother—my—my brothers, had an opportunity to stay in the area of Girgaon, and we the children of our parents passed the most part of our early days there, though our living accommodation was singularly different from the characteristically typical houses there. We could feel and enjoy the culture and surroundings of Girgaon, and for which we did not have to get entangled in life there on a day to day or say a minute to minute basis. The bird’s eye view, for which I was subjected to, of life around gave an inclination to write, unknowingly and in the back of mind, the singular aspects of proximate atmosphere, and traits of the characters living therein.

The people of Girgaon, who of course largely belonged to middle class of the society, was exhilarated by themselves, they never repented or sulked for having them deprived of luxury and financial happy place that the higher and richer class was enjoying; their subordinate position, in comparison to that of the privileged upper class of the society and their not so fortunate position, did not bother them in a large scale so as to frustrate their constant effort at rising higher in the life; they sought for elementary form of life without harbouring hatred toward their current situation, on the contrary they were found to be taking maximum pleasure and enjoyment out of their current situation, so much so that others were inclined to regard their that position as their complacency. Their positive attitudinal way toward their current situation and the atmosphere was their beliefs that made them agree to stand current position and aim for better. They lived in dingy rooms, with ever increasing family, celebrating each and every occasion with such a frenzy that the wealthy upper class people would come to such a pass that they would appear to envy them and, sometimes, sulk by the soul for having deprived of such condition that they could not enjoy the life that the middle class of Girgaon was enjoying. They, the middle class, were never majorly overtaken by the financial worries that they were consistently exposed to, and any such problems never stopped them from enjoying the moments of life to the fullest, but within the means and sources easily available to them. The wealth and resources did not present to the fortunate class the ways of merriment that were available to the middle class; the ways available to the wealthy upper class were better as far as ‘pomp and show’ was concerned, but the joy and the buzz generated was bland in comparison to the lively delectation availed by the middle class out of their not fancy but enthusiastic celebrations.

The life of a middle class was easy, but certainly not dull, in contrast it was full of life; their problems of whatsoever nature also would affect their social life, because the concern shown by handy people, in such moments of problems, and over the course of several years of cohabitation, helped them to create, strengthen, and maintain the relations that were beyond the birth relations. And for a congenital condition of being like that they were not required to provide any additional efforts, for that condition used to take place effortlessly due to the near identical situation and congested cohabitation of them.

The characters depicted in the second part are right but not singularly similar to any living or deceased person because the traits that comprise each of the characters are a blending of several symbolic traits discovered in various real characters that lived or are living, in this middle class pocket in Mumbai that is Girgaon. I, therefore, consider myself fortunate to have saved from making a defensive cliché statement that, any resemblance of the characters with any living or deceased person is purely coincidental. Any reader who stayed or is staying in Girgaon will not be inclined to claim that he never have met or heard of the individuals sketched in this work, even though his efforts of identifying them with any of the persons that he knew from the area of Girgaon will cause him only to estimate. Though the characters have been sketched in a slight humorous style, that was the requirement of the work for making it appealing, and there has been no intention of casting any aspersion on any character that anybody may try to conjecture.

I will be glad to receive your reflections on the work, which you are suggested to send to my e-mail address.

Pradeep C. Kirtikar

Mumbai, India.

Email address:—pradeep.kirtikar@rediffmail.com

THE MEANINGS OF THE MARATHI COMMON NOUNS USED IN THE WORK

Aai :—mother

Aaji :—grandmother

Ahar :—a meal

Aytas :—stanzas from Kurran

Baraf Golawala :—a supplier of balls of grated ice sprinkled with sweet syrup

Barke Sheth :—a wealthy boy or a son of a wealthy man

Batata Bhaji :—an oil fried potato slice coated with thin dough of gram flour

Batata Wada :—a deep fried small ball of boiled potatoes coated with thin dough of gram flour

Bechanwala :—one who handles the sale in the illegal booze joint

Bhaji Galli :—a lane where vegetable vendors sit in the business

Bhajni Mandal :—a group singing religious, devotional songs

Bhatji :—a Hindu Brahmin that performs rituals

Bhojanalaya :—an eatery

Bhuvan :—a mansion

Bidi :—tobacco filled, folded, dry leaf for the purpose of smoking

Brun Maska :—soft bread with butter applied in it

Bun Maska :—sweetish, soft bread with butter applied in it

Chalwal :—a movement

Champi Malishwala :—a masseur

Chapati :—a flattened wheat dough baked on hot griddle

Chappal :—sandals of natural form

Chawl :—a tenement

Chhakka :—a womanish man

Chicken Masala :—thick gravy containing chicken pieces

Chivda :—a mixture of fried ground nuts, coconut slices, and beaten rice added with condiments

Chowpaty :—an area of sea shore

Chutney :—a crushed mixture of likes of chilli, coconut, coriander, and so on

Daal :—soup of pulses

Dada :—a chief of the miscreants from the lane

Dalimbi :—sweetish curry of peeled beans

Dholki :—a small drum

Dhotar :—a thin, long cloth worn systematically to serve the purpose of leg wear

Egg Masala :—thick gravy containing pieces of boiled eggs

Gada :—a game played with the unused rim of the bicycle and a staff

Gajra :—a small garland of fragrant flowers meant for wearing in hairdo

Ganderi :—sugarcane—peeled and made into pieces

Ganderiwala :—a seller of ganderis

Ghungru :—small bells

Girgaonkar :—a resident of Girgaon

Gola :—a medium ball

Goonda :—a ruffian

Gulab Jamun :—refined butter (ghee) fried small balls of dough of combination of refined flour(maida) and condensed milk immersed in sugar syrup)

Haldi Kunku :—literally turmeric powder and vermillion, but referred to celebration of women

Havaldar :—a police constable

Hijda : a eunuch

Hututu :—an outdoor game played between two teams of seven members each

Idli :—a vapoury boiled flattened balls of rice dough

Jayanti :—a posthumous birth anniversary

Kabaddi :—an outdoor game played between two teams of seven members each

Kandil :—a paper lantern

Khadi :—hand spun coarse cloth

Kheema :—minced mutton and a recipe of that

Kulfi :—home—made ice—cream made of thickened milk

Kulfiwala :—a seller of Kulfi

Lagori :—a game played with seven small pieces of tiles and a softball

Lenga :—a leg wear like pants but of thin cloth

Mandal :—a circle or group of people coming together with a common motto

Mandir :—a temple

Masala Dosa :—a griddle fried thin layer of soft rice dough

Maska :—butter

Matoshri :—a reverend mother

Mawali :—a miscreant

Medu Wada :—an oil fried flat ball of fermented dough of Vigna Mungo (Urad)

Missal :—a legume curry mixed with chivda

Mukadam :—a supervisor

Naman :—a devotional salutation

Navmi :—9th day of the Hindu fortnight

Niwas :—residence

Paan :—a betel leaf

Pagote :—a headgear made of a long piece of cloth

Paisa :—a coin valuing 100th part of a rupee, plural paise

Pandit :—a learned person

Pav :—a small bread

Pir :—a Muslim religious man

Piyush :—sweet buttermilk mixed with condiments

Pooja :—a ritualistic performance

Poornima :—a full moon day

Pugree :—a crimson coloured headgear of a vivid shape

Rangoli :—a temporary design made on the ground using marble dust and dry colours

Sabhagruh :—a hall where meetings take place

Sabudana Wada :—an oil fried ball of a combination of soaked sago and boiled potatoes and groundnuts

Sadra :—a wearing like a shirt

Sanyukta :—integrated

Shakha :—a branch

Sherbet :—a combination of grated ice, water, and sweet syrup

Shenga :—groundnuts boiled in salted water

Shengwala :—a seller of shengas

Sheth :—a moneyed man

Shrikhand :—water dripped out curd mixed with ground sugar and condiments

Tabla :—a pair of the tuned hand drums

Topi :—a cap

Vahini :—sister in law

Varkari :—a regular voyager of a religious place

Vassvalle :—fragrant

Vasudev :—a person visiting the areas after the dawn singing religious poems

Veni :—a small, tightly woven garland of fragrant flowers meant for wearing in hairdo

Wadi :—a hamlet

Zabba :—a wearing like an oversized shirt

PART - 1

A PORTRAYAL

THERE STAYS THE

MIDDLE CLASS OF MUMBAI

GIRGAON, THE MIDDLE CLASS MUMBAI

Before the independence, Mumbai was restricted from Fort to Dadar, and even Dadar was a sparsely populated area. The population of Mumbai, in those pre-independence days, was staying in the mixed way, spread all over the city, and no area was identified with any particular class of the population; the ruling British and some affluent Indians like the mill owners, the brokers, and the rulers of princely states had bungalows in areas like Malbar Hill and Cumballa Hill, which were considered as a rich class area; except the rich class area, all other areas were known as non-rich class areas or rather those areas were not identified with any particular class of the Indian population in Mumbai by that time, as classes in the Indians had not vividly emerged as yet. With the sense of freedom slowly overcoming the minds of Indians, many began coming to Mumbai for jobs or for starting the small businesses, with their small capital; the original residents of Mumbai began either to strive for higher education, for the purpose of establishing in rewarding professions and the important jobs, or to prepare for setting a new business and expanding the old one, which they had. By the mid of sixth decade, the people began settling in the areas, distinctly meant for the classes to which they belonged, which had emerged vividly in the 10 years after the independence; moreover, the inhabitation beyond Dadar, in the northern part of Mumbai, also had begun getting set by that time, providing the space for the newer and newer classes.

Many years since, before the independence, it was a boom period for the textile mills, and as a result of which the mills had been providing jobs for many in numbers. A flood of people had been coming from Konkan, and other regions of Maharashtra to Mumbai to join the mills as a worker; the jobs were plentiful in number and the pay was reasonably good, so many different aspirants kept on coming to join the mills, in addition to the existing workers finding jobs for their relatives. The mill workers preferred to stay in areas where their mills were located; the mills were mainly located in the central Mumbai, in areas like Parel, Lalbaug, Delile Road, Jacob Circle, Byculla, Eastern Worli, and in their nearby areas; hence those areas were predominantly inhabited by the mill workers and workers in the ancillary industries; naturally, the common population began knowing that area as the working class area. After the independence, the rich and influential Indians preferred staying, besides Malbar Hill and Cumballa Hill, in Church