Going South

Travelling from New Bombay (Navi Mumbai if you will) to South Bombay (or the “town” as we call it) is a real pain. You need to switch three local trains to get there and it takes a little more than an hour to reach Churchgate. Ever since I shifted to New Bombay, I haven’t felt the need or found the time to go there, but this Saturday I did just that. I needed to pick up a new graphics card for my home computer and as everyone knows Lamington Road is the place to go to if you need computer accessories quick and cheap.

An office colleague who knew the place well enough offered to help me shop for the card and so I met up with him at 2.30 in the afternoon. It was hot and humid, and by the time I reached Churney Road, where I was to meet my friend, my shirt was sticking to my back with sweat and rivulets of sweat were streaming down my face.

It took one and a half hour to finally find the card I wanted. It may surprise some people, but despite the surmise that Lamington Road is a geek’s paradise, the dealers are largely ignorant and unhelpful bunch of sods who are smart enough to survive partly due to the fact that the customers are more ignorant than them and partly due to the fact that they have an extensive network of “referral system”. If one of them doesn’t have what you want or doesn’t know what you are talking about, he will call up a couple of buddies of his and see if they can help. If they can, the dealer will ask the product to be brought over and take a cut of the percentage with the total cost being passed on to the customer. It’s a fine system that works both for the dealer (he gets a cut even though he doesn’t have the product) and the customer (he doesn’t have to hunt everywhere) and everyone goes home happy.

Anyway, my shopping done (for the record I picked up a XFX 6600GT, 128 MB, AGP for Rs. 9,500/-) my friend and I made our way to Churney Road via a shortcut through Lamington Road. It’s a lane that winds through an old Anglo-Indian community with quaint wooden houses that have architecture typical of the community. Almost every one of them had a small porch, a wooden staircase leading up to the first floor of the house, a balcony overlooking the street, and small glass windows with curtains drawn across them. The streets were clean and unusually quiet, even though it was 5 in the evening. However, we did come across a disembowelled rat that lay in the middle of a narrow lane that passed between two quiet brooding houses. We swiftly passed into a Hindu stronghold dominated by the Gujju community. Saffron flags hung everywhere and kids played cricket in the gallis. The contrast between the quiet of the Anglo-Indian community and the hustle and bustle of the Gujju community was remarkable. The main street was entirely taken over by shops selling greeting cards, although a couple of shops that sold the general necessities were also visible.

I eventually caught a bus to Victoria Terminus from where I would get a direct train to Navi Mumbai. The first thing that strikes you about VT is its architecture consisting of grand arches, ornamental railings and high vaulted ceilings. Take a look at this webpage that gives you a 360 degree view of the station including its surroundings, interiors and the courtyard:

http://www.world-heritage-tour.org/asia/in/chhatrapatiShivajiTerminus/map.html.

(Note how incongruous it looks when compared to its present day surroundings!)

I have a strong urge to make yet another trip down South, if only to see more of Old Bombay. There is so much in this city to see and so little time to see it all!