Audio Guided Tour of Matunga & Dadar Parsi Colony, Mumbai

AryaBhavan is one of the

most well-known south Indian

restaurants here. One of the unique dishes they serve

is the ‘Coin Idli’, if you’re going there

we recommend you try it. Further to

the right, in line with AryaBhavan is

a chaat seller named ‘New Pankaj’.

He makes a mean panipuri. You may

want to watch your stomach, though.

It is another iconic South India restaurant and it’s over 80 years old.Ram Ashray usually has

good, wholesome food all around. If you like dishes with spices and

diverse combinations, we recommend

the neerdosa, which is served with

an assortment of chutneys for you to

try. In any case, they write down the

day’s specials on a chalkboard out

front In fact, if you happen to be in

luck and it’s not so crowded, we

suggest that you nip inside and have

something anyway!

Before we reach to Flower Market we will visit Giri Stores.

The store has stood here

for decades, and is a haven for all

items of Tamil culture. There is a

dizzying variety of religious items,

like the ingredients required for

special rituals; sacred books

available in various languages;

statues and photos of the gods,

charms and bracelets, herbal home

remedies, costumes for Indian

Classical dance, CDs of classical and

devotional music and many, many

more things.

At flower market you absolutely must take your time

to walk along the market and just

soak in the colours, the fragrance of

the flowers, the varieties of garlands

and flower arrangements, and of

course, the workers in the stalls

weaving garl-ands with skill and

vigour. The bestsellers here are

garlands made of Rose and Jasmine,

or chameli. And some of them sell my

favourite flower of all – the champa,

known in English as the weirdly

named Frangipani. Old-timers

often complain that Matunga is

losing its south Indian character.

Matunga’s flower market is today a

fraction of its earlier size but it is

undeniably south Indian in its

character, and as you walk, you

might forget that you’re in Mumbai

and imagine that you’re in some

small temple town in Tamil Nadu.

The market is hardly a 100 meters

long.

The AsthikaSamaj temple and

another nearby temple, the

BhajanaSamaj, are among the main

institutions that gave Matunga its

significance in the minds of the South

Indian community. The AsthikaSamaj

was established in 1923, and the

temple was consecrated in 1953. As

far as religious denominations go,

this temple belongs to the

Vaishnavite sect, or the devotees of

Vishnu.

If you want to look inside, we suggest

you pause the tour and go inside for

a quick view.

After visiting AsthikaSamaj Temple we will reach at King's Circle near the VIP Showroom. The King’s Circle, Matunga, is famous for

a few things, and We’ll show them to

you before we move on.

First, stand and face the King’s Circle

garden in the centre of the street.

King’s Circle was renamed

MaheshwariUdyan in 1962.

This family-run shop has been

around since 1939 and there are

coffee lovers all over India who

swear by it. There are no fillers, no

artificial taste enhancers or

preservatives. Mysore Concerns does not add

chicory to their coffee. You can just stand near the shop

and savour the aroma

It is hard to compress into this tour

what Café Madras, or Madras Café, as

it is known, tells us about Mumbai’s

unique character. Café Madras

opened in 1940, and was transferred

to its present ownership in 1950. It is

now managed by the third

generation of descendants of

GopalKamath. Like we said about

UdupiShri Krishna, they take their

duty of feeding you very seriously.

From the time you approach the

entrance, gingerly snaking your way

past the waiting crowd, there’s just

one word to describe your

experience as a diner: clockwork. As

the crowd buzzes around

impatiently, a no-nonsense man at

the counter takes your name down in

an old diary. About once every

minute he will impatiently call out a

name, a maximum of three times. If

he doesn’t get an answer, he moves

on to the next name. When it’s your

turn, you squeeze yourself into one

of the tiny benches at the table.

Tables are always shared in Café

Madras, as they are in all the south

Indian restaurants here. Across the street from

Madras Café you will spot the rear

end of the Sheetal Book Depot. From

this bookstall there extends another

arc of the circle. There you will find

two more iconic south Indian

restaurants, Café Mysoreand Café

AnandBhavan.Café Mysore has a

reputation to match Café Madras, as

it was the favourite haunt of actor

Raj Kapoor and industrialist

MukeshAmbani.

Now that you’re across the road,

welcome to the DadarParsi colony!

This is not exactly the Parsi Colony

itself, but your entry point to it. And

our very first glimpse of it begins

with an Irani café – an enduring

symbol of the Iraniinflux to India. The café opened in 1932, and

today it is run by the sons of the

original founder. The brothers –

Amir and Ali Koolar, are loud, jolly,

stylish and flamboyant. If

you can bear owner's constant yelling and

cursing his waiters, you may go in and relish

some very, very tasty Irani snacks

and lunch items. You can try the Irani

café staple snack – Bun Maska with

Chai. If you’re a little hungrier, try

the eggs - the Iranis and Parsis just

love their eggs. Koolar offers a

massive 5-egg Omelette called the

Wrestler Omelette and actual

bodybuilders and fitness freaks

swear by it! My favourite, though, is

the Chilli Garlic Potato Bhurji. Then

there’s the heavenly KheemaPao,

minced mutton stir fried with spices

like Bay leaf, Pepper corns, cloves

and cinnamon.

Walking down towards Lane 34 Crossing, you might

notice a number of small snack shops

on both sides, and if you’re here in

the daytime you’ll probably see

bunches of youngsters milling about

in that generally aimless manner that

kids have. You might spot young

couples, sitting in small cafes,

sharing greasy starters and making

googly eyes at one another. They’re

mostly students of the Khalsa college

that will appear at the end of the

street to your right. But more about

that later. As you walk up to the end

of the lane, a large cream-coloured

sandstone structure will appear

before you. This is the Don Bosco

church. Look up at the dome of the

church as you walk, and soon a tall,

golden statue will be visible ahead.

You can stop for a second if you like,

and observe the statue. Do you see

her? That is Mary, Help of Christians.

She is twelve feet tall, and plated in

gold. In the days when Matunga was

a small, marshy suburb, she was

visible for miles around, and was a

major landmark of the area.

The church that stands tall in

front of you is one of the most

imposing and delightful structures

you will see on this tour. If you’re

here in the daytime, you might hear

the noisy classrooms on either side

of the church. If you’re here in the

evening or on a Sunday, you might

see glimpses of Mass inside. The

church is officially known as the

Shrine of Don Bosco’s Madonna, and

it sits at the head of the Don Bosco

High School Campus.

The construction of the church began

in 1955, and was completed in 1957,.

The exterior was made using granite

quarried from a district called Malad,

which used to be jungle and is now

the most crowded suburb of

Mumbai. The interior was laid with

imported Italian marble. The statue

of Mary was cast in the Italian city of

Turin. The mosaic on the façade

depicts Don Bosco with the

Madonna.

The campus of the Khalsa College, run

by a Sikh religious trust. Remember

what we said about Matunga being a

melting pot of multiple

communities? The Khalsa College

was founded here in 1937, 10 years

before India’s independence. While

the Khalsa college is not one of the

top collegesin Bombay, some of its

students have gone on to become

great sports players. The most

famous student to have come out of

here, though, is the great actor Dilip

Kumar of Bollywood. The college

also hosts a number of Punjabi

cultural events to promote their

culture, and in particular they

organize an elaborate celebration of

Baisakhi, the Punjabi spring festival.

Before we reach to VJTI Main Gate we will visit the Lane 32 Crossing towards the VJTI lane. We will visit or stand under a Rain tree and talk about them how they end up here.

We have seen a

temple and a church, and soon we

shall see a Parsi Fire
-Temple. We

won’t even get around to seeing the

Sikh Gurudwara and the Mosque in

the nearby areas, for they are not

part of our tour. All these places of

worship in such close proximity

clearly indicate a life of harmony

amidst diversity. These communities

live cheek
-by
-jowl next to each other,

and yet are stratified along caste and

religious lines.

Mumbai’s

multiculturalism, its cosmopolitan

spirit, is marked by a high tolerance

for differences, and even friendships

and cooperation, without losing sight

of one’s own cultural roots.

Coming down the lane, we are

headed towards our next stop,

known as VJTI college.

You will also see armored cars date back

to the Second World War! They’re

known as the Chevrolet Staghounds.

They were manufactured by the

American company

,
- and were used

by the British against the Japanese in

Burma. Stop outside the gate awhile,

and We’ll tell you more about the place around.

The city of Mumbai has built itself up

like anexpanding blob, an unplanned

sprawl. People are starved of

greenery and open spaces. So as you

walk out into the 5 Gardens area, you

are walking into one of Bombay’s few

Green Lungs, as they’re called. The

city’s thousands come here for their

recreation all through the day and

night. To your left is the football and

cricket ground, which has no grass.

You might see children playing here.

Coming up on your left at the tip of

this park, is an open-air gymnasium.

Before we reach Dadar Parsee Gymkhana we will walk through the Jame Jamshed Road Crossing and will tell you more about Parsi religion - The

Parsis follow Zoroastrianism, after

their most prominent prophet,

Zarathustra, Anglicized as Zoroaster.

The Parsis worship a supreme spirit

known as Ahura Mazda. This religion

flourished in what is Modern-day

Iran, once known as Persia, which is

related to the term Parsi.

After the crossing on your right you can just about

make out the large cricket grounds of

the DadarParsi Gymkhana. Today,

cricket is one of the greatest crazes

in India. You’d have to search long

and hard to find Parsi cricketers

amongst the Sporting gods in India, I

think there’s just one Parsi who has

played for India in the last 20 years.

But would you believe, the Parsis

were the first among the Indians to

start playing cricket in India? It’s

true! You can resume walking down

Jam-e-Jamshed Lane now. As you

walk on, take a look at the pretty

buildings and balconies, and We’ll tell

you the story of the first Indian

Cricket Team.

Before we reach at Della Towers we will walk through the Parsi Colony towards a Nagchampa tree. The Nag-Champa tree, and its flowers

are very fragrant in season. The

flower is used to make incense,

essential oil and fragrances.

Sometimes, when the flowers are in

bloom, if you walk under this tree it

blesses you with a simply divine

fragrance. If you’re here during

season by any chance, do stop and

take a whiff! To the right of the tree

stands yet another building that

features those external columns we

told you about - i.e buildings have retained their old

character, with their stone facades,

their expansive balconies with

wrought iron grilles, and even some

stained glass on the windows, do you see?

Now we will walk towards the end of the lane as recommended on the map in our app.

Della Towers was built very

recently, and became famous almost

immediately, and you will soon see

why. If you stand outside and look at

the façade you will see how the

builder has attempted to blend

contemporary urban architecture

with ancient Iranian cultural icons in

order to revive the pride of the

Parsis in their cultural heritage. Della

Tower was designed by the

Parsibuilder Jimmy Mistry, who says

he was inspired by the Achaemenian

Architecture, the splendid style of

ancient Persia, especially as seen in

the historic city of Persepolis in Iran.

The large columns extending

upwards on either side reflect this

style very clearly.

Before we reach at Rustom Framna Agiary we will walk through Adenwala Road Crossing. As you walk down Adenwala Road

you can see why DadarParsi Colony

is a subject of much fascination for

newcomers to Bombay. Most of our

population lives in densely crowded

suburbs, which consist of narrow

and dusty lanes, and lined with

identical looking buildings with

matchbox sized flats inside. So to

come to this old-fashioned

neighbourhood of an old-fashioned

community, to walk down this broad,

tree-shaded road with these sweet

old houses on either side - all of this

becomes a tourist experience for the

Mumbaikar within his own city.

There’s one thing you might wonder

about on this tour – why have we

focused so much on Parsis?. We will tell you.

The RustomFaramnaAgiary is an

‘AtashAdaran’, or ‘Fire of Fires’,

which is the intermediate grade of

Fire Temples. The agiary must keep a

fire burning at all times. Non-

believers are not allowed inside. To put it broadly, the Parsis are

worshippers of the Sacred Fire. The

fire is a manifestation of Ahura

Mazda, the Creator and Lord of the

Highest Wisdom. There are different

kinds of Fire, and a fire temple is

graded based on how sacred is the

Fire within. The fire temple itself is

usually not very ornate, as it is

considered to be simply the abode of

the fire, and need not attract

attention to itself. We will tell you the story about RustomFaramna, after whom this

agiary was named.

Before we reach at JB Vacha we will visit pretty features of the houses like the proud façade of the Dinu Villa and the Greek elegance of Khorshed Villa.

The JB Vacha school is a school set

up by the community for Parsi girls.

Of course, girls from all communities

in the area also attend the school. The school itself

is nearly a 100 years old! We will tell you more while you look at it.

If you have reached the end of the JB

Vacha school campus, you will find

yourself back at the 5 Gardens block.

This ends our exhaustive tour of the

cultural heritage of bombay - This

endless variety, this rich harmonious

existence is what fuels my constant

delight in my city, and We are happy to

share it with you. We encourage you to

continue strolling up Adenwala road,

enjoying the scenery.