Ehsaan Noorani of the famed composer trio of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy speaks about his earliest memories of Bandra
I grew up in South Mumbai; Churchgate to be precise. I spent 30 years of my life there so that makes me a certified 'towny'. I moved to Bandra in 1994 and was quite intrigued as to what it would be like.
On the first evening, I could hear a band rehearsing in the next building; it was called The Seventh Galaxy. The next day was a Sunday and what struck me was how quiet the neighbourhood seemed—just the call of someone selling something on the street. The silence was broken by an old Catholic man living on the first floor, playing Welcome to My World by Jim Reeves. All of that was so cool. The aromas of lunch being cooked in various houses—stuff like fish fry truly made me feel that I was living in a residential neighbourhood. I was in love with Bandra the moment I moved there. The traffic was much less then for some reason, which was great.
As the years passed, however, I could see the neighbourhood changing. Old bungalows that were built in a Portuguese style are now being broken down to give way to buildings constructed by random builders with the worst possible aesthetic sense or even a total lack of it.
The traffic has gone haywire and traffic jams are all over the place. Even an early morning walk on the Mount Mary Road is disrupted by the honking of auto rickshaws. While some of the roads resemble the surface of the moon, the slums in the reclamation area have grown. Add to that, we have posters of politicians taking credit for paving a footpath to adorn the sides of the roads.
The one thing that never changes, however, is the spirit shown by the people and the community here—from the churches, the hymns on Sundays, the congregations of people catching up on neighbourhood talk before they buy loaves of 'pav' to take home for lunch. Eventually, it all fits in but I say, give me the old Bandra any day!
