portugali flavor in aamchi mumbai

Just couple of nights back; I saw a play where the city of bombay was compared to bhelpuri, where each and every part of india from kashmir to kanyakumari has added to its unique flavor.

In our country of paradoxes, my city of contradictions stands out. As each and every one tries to define the city, blinded by their experiences and limited by the geography of their movements - we are told a million different stories all of which are true to the ones who have experienced them. 

As the contradictions get wider the tales get exaggerated and the mythical spirit of the city emerges to represent all its residents.

Bom-bai was named so by the Portuguese who were one of the early settlers in the islands. And before they gifted the city as a dowry gift to the British, they built not only the gateway of india but also beautiful settlements resembling the decor way back home.  One such hamlet is khotachiwadi in girgaum - south bombay.

This beautiful colony which has brightly colored houses with the decor resembling European architecture is nestled in the midst of new buildings and old marwadi markets of girgaum.

We were lucky to see some of the most beautiful houses – some of being on the verge of being torn down, some holding on with the grace of an proud ageing town. 

From the crowded market street of girgaum to a quaint street probably in the outskirts of goa all in 60 secs by walk. For an outsider walking in the narrow streets with brightly colored individual houses in bombay is a very surreal experience.

Most of the houses are over 100 years old and have two or three stories with narrow wooden staircases, art deco windows, a large veranda at the entrance and high ceiling inside the rooms.

 As we kept wandering around the lanes we were invited to by the felizardos – where we spent the next half an hour watching wide eyed the beautiful veranda which was tiled with a unique theme, the decoration at the entrance, the small shrine near the gate, the beautiful fish ponds and the water plants, the birds, rabbits and goldfishes.

The owner Willy engaged us in tales of how he restored the house. A former bartender and world traveller he passionately shared with us descriptions of how he created each of the masterpieces in the house. Sad about the recent developments in the area with “outsiders” taking over the heritage village where his community has spent centuries – he seemed driven to retain the beauty of the place in his own small way of decorating his house.

As we left his place with a few water plants and pictures of us with his pet rabbit and with the promise of returning during Christmas to see his decorations, the importance of retaining the simple joys of life was impressed upon us.

We walked around the place and took pictures of the small roadside chapel with the mural on the wall, the 200 year old James Ferreira house, and the graffiti outside Willy’s house - basically everything that caught our eye.

It started drizzling as we decided to leave the place, promising to come back during daylight. In a few years as more traffic and noise and vehicles seeps into the veins of this street - this unique architectural village may or may not survive. The brightly coloured houses may or may not be pulled down to be replaced by restaurants, shops and apartments. And Willy may or may not continue to work on his house.

But one thing is for sure that in the future, we will exaggerate and overstate of the time that we walked in a quiet and simple village in south bombay.