Bombay is a very old city and by that merit, has some very
old building, albeit in very good shape. It is not only the old ones though
that are picturesque, modern buildings hold their own in competition. They just
lack one thing, the weight of history that defines their older counterparts.
This is the third and final part of the Bombay Chronicles series. You
can read the first and second parts here.
The BSE is a building I had wanted to see up close from a
long time. The Bombay Stock Exchange, the centre of trade and commerce
that essentially makes the city the financial capital of the country is an
imposing structure and one can only describe the feeling of staring up at it as
one of awe. The scroll of companies listed there and the giant screen outside
the building coupled with high fences, roadblocks and what seems like a whole battalion
of security personnel truly presents a visage that goes with something as
important as the protection of a nation’s finance. And yeah, I got told off for
trying to put national security at risk by almost clicking a picture of the
building.
The Haji Ali Dargah, the mosque that is literally in
the sea, is another place that I wanted to visit, thanks to Bollywood. The mosque,
although thronging with tourists and the faithful is a place of immense calm if
one were to look for it. Sitting on the edge of the border wall, staring into
the water, one can feeling peace wash over with the salty breeze and crashing
waves.
A happenstance led us to Horniman circle, an area
next to Dalal Street which looks like Connaught Place in Delhi. We, as media
students, decided to visit Bombay Samachar, India’s oldest newspaper. It
was amazing to see that the old building was exactly how it would have been
when it was first constructed. More files than computers, more fans than air
conditioners and senior journalists looking up over the edge of their glasses
at this bunch of prospective media persons. There were three different types of
printing machines. And the best thing: They don’t use key cards to log entry
and exit, they use the quaint punching system to remind them of the values that
were integrated with the paper.
Marine Drive, where the wave of humanity meets the
waves of the ocean at the edge of land (or rather the island). Watching the
place in movies does no justice to the place… at all. Need a place to unwind at
the end of a hard day but don’t want to do so at the bottom of a bottle, this
is the place to be. The sunset, the water, the rocks, the concrete, the crows
and the crabs present such a vivid mix of sensory perceptions that one can
absolutely be lost in the fine line between nature and civilization. The pure
energy thrown off by the city behind and the water in front, the clash of
opposite forces and the feeling of being equidistant from both, in no man’s
land so to speak is an experience unlike any other. It is truly the refuge of
the tired mind weary heart.
The Gateway of India, one of the two most prominent ‘Gates’
in the nation is beautiful after sunset. Obviously, selfie-crazy people need to
go before that but the beauty of the yellow stone, the lighting and the
hilarious signboards together with the history of the place gives a sombre
reminder of days before Independence. And of course, the Taj hotel just next to it adds up to the whole experience of patriotism as symbol of steadfast reserve
of the Indian people and their ability to bounce back from anything at all.
 |
| The Gateway of India. |
This was all the beauty I managed to cram into my short stay
in Mumbai and the rest… perhaps another time.
No comments:
Post a Comment