Piyo Chai Suno Kahani

Black horses and red tablecloths

The vibrant Parsi presence in Kala Ghoda, current haunt of the swish set, confirms the community bent for culture and philanthropy. This lovely heritage quarter has long reigned as south Mumbai’s cultural and educational hub.  

The impact is evident on the pedestal of Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm’s 19th-century, 12 feet 9 inch-heroic bronze equestrian statue of King Edward VII astride the striking black horse giving the area its name. Now in the Byculla zoo gardens, its bas reliefs, depicting the Prince of Wales being presented to eminent citizens, show the Honourable Dossabhoy Framjee among other leading lights.

The district is blessed by a host of generous stalwarts. Boasting alumni as distinguished as Dr Dadabhai Naoroji, Sir Pherozeshah Mehta, Jamsetji Tata and Sir Dinsha Wacha, the Elphinstone College rose in the Romanesque Transitional style, designed by J Trubshawe and Muncherji Murzban. Its construction owed to the munificence of Sir Cowasji Jehangir, whose family gifted the eponymous art gallery.

Across the street, till the 1950s, CJ Hall was the prime location for concerts, political events and art activities until the arrival – besides Jehangir Art Gallery – of air-conditioned auditoriums like Tejpal, Birla and Patkar with better acoustics and lighting. Deterioration followed disuse and the 1960s-’70s saw CJ Hall hired for boxing matches, trade union meetings, wedding receptions and discounted garment sales. It was left to sculptor Pilloo Pochkhanawala and art doyen Kekoo Gandhy (of the iconic Gallery Chemould, then on the Jehangir’s premises), to protest this slide from culture to bazaar. The result was the conversion of the hall into a splendid museum for contemporary art: the NGMA.

A good measure of a precinct’s claim to fame is its eateries. These double up as salon-style addas for conversations as deep as the colour of the coffee or as light as the souffle served, depending on the prevailing customer mood. Everyone’s eternal favourite was Wayside Inn. Its affable proprietor Pervez Patel and his wife Pinky presided warmly over their corner-hugging restaurant strewn with red-checked tablecloths. Wayside witnessed important watershed moments too. Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar would stroll in from the High Court to diligently draft tracts of the country’s Constitution over pots of tea on Table No. 4. Bent over foolscap sheets beside rowed pencils and an eraser, he sometimes requested a pen. The restaurant also saw veteran journalists Russy Karanjia and Benjamin Horniman sit together to animatedly discuss the creation of the fiery newspaper, Blitz.