The Mumbai Double Decker Bus

- By Deepa Krishnan

Recently I was walking in Churchgate when I saw a beautiful red double-decker go by.

I have so many fond memories of these buses! As children, we loved to ride the top section, especially the two front seats with views. We would clamber up the stairs as fast as we could, hoping to beat everyone else to the prized seats. 

I looked up the history of the double-decker, and found some interesting tidbits. Did you know that the earliest "double decker" buses actually pre-date the combustion engine? They were horse-drawn, with open decks on top :) To access the top deck, you had to use a ladder.  In fact, horse-drawn buses continued in rural areas of the UK until 1932.

Photo source: http://www.doubledecker-bus.com/history/

Motorised double-decker buses came to India in 1937, but not to Mumbai. It was in Trivandrum that they first appeared, because His Highness Sri Chitira Thirunal Balarama Varma, the ruler of Travancore decided to modernize the Travancore State Department of Transport.

He appointed a Superintendent, Mr. E G Salter, who used to work for the London Passenger Transport Board. Engines and chassis were imported; and the bodies built locally under Mr. Salter's supervision. Within a year, there were 34 buses ready.

A grand inauguration was organised. His Highness and the royal family were the first passengers on the inaugural bus service in Trivandrum. Mr. Salter, the Superintendent, drove the bus himself! What a fun spectacle it must have been, buses trundling along with the rajah in the lead!

In 1938, motorised double-decker buses started plying in Mumbai (by the way, BEST claims it is 1937, and the Kerala State Transport insists that Mumbai got its buses only in 1938).  I cannot find photos of these buses, but I think they probably looked like the STL buses built by AEC in the UK. They were first introduced in 1932 in London, and became hugely popular. They were the standard bus in London for nearly a decade. So it stands to reason that Mr. Salter used this bus as the basis for his Indian fleet.

Photo source: http://www.doubledecker-bus.com/models/

By 1947, there were 242 double-decker buses on Bombay roads, and they were considered a good way to deal with the city's growing population. I gotta ask my mom if she remembers these; and whether they had front-boarding or rear-boarding.

In 1954, another popular double-decker bus appeared in London, the Routemaster. It used two types of engines, either an AEC engine or a Leyland engine. It took the double-decker world by storm, and became an instant hit. A variant of the Routemaster began to be manufactured in India by Ashok Leyland with 50% of the components sourced locally. The first Indian version of the Routemaster was called 'Titan' and it made its appearance in Mumbai in 1967.

Photo source: http://www.ashokleyland.com/history

Since then, Ashok Leyland's Titan (and its children and grandchildren) have been plying in Mumbai. There have been model upgrades and improvements over the last 75 years. But their numbers have been decreasing. Today there are only 121 such buses in the city, and they are operated only along long-distance routes (they are economically unviable on shorter routes). Older buses have been relegated to the scrapheap, and dismantled for the metal.

Meanwhile, the original Routemasters were discontinued in London in 1968, and now only a few continue on some heritage routes. I wonder if the Bombay double-decker also will be discontinued soon :( Currently, the BEST is offering a rental scheme, where you can hire an open-deck double-decker for private use.

MTDC runs an open-top bus tour on the weekends in the evenings. It is called Nilambari, and the bus is painted blue (can't say I like the colour). I haven't tried the tour, but it looks like a great alternative to scrapping the buses. I hope that MTDC beefs up this tour with more publicity and creates a permanent place for the double-decker in Mumbai's future.

Speaking of the future, the man who has already created a unique permanent place in Mumbai for the double-decker is artist Sudarshan Shetty. Amidst the steel and glass structure of the Maker Maxity office complex in BKC, Shetty has installed a Flying Bus; a double decker with glittering metallic wings. The bus is the venue for different art installations; in effect, it is an art gallery.

I loved the bus the minute I set my eyes on it. It is simply gorgeous, isn't it? To me Sudarshan Shetty's Flying Bus represents the hidden potential of the everyday objects we take for granted. Go take a look at it if you are ever in BKC. 

Three hours at the Kala Ghoda Festival 2014 (phew)

- By Aishwarya Pramod

General scene at Rampart Row

Queen of Hearts sarees and fabric stall (run by mother and daughter)

Inability of my mother to resist red saree at Queen of Hearts

Self getting suckered by awesome indigo
prints at Mura Collective from Delhi

Cute pig I bought for my window-sill:
Laquercraft from Chennapattana, sold by Varnam

Mother taking artsy photos of me and cousin

Random art plus environmental messages

Random art plus grandparents

KEC Greengames - reviving traditional Indian games to improve children's motor skills and emotional intelligence

One more general public

General public under tree (it was hot today)

Festival Summary: Heat and crowds. Random art. Some nice stalls. Next time I'll try to go for the events.

At the India NonFiction Festival - Crime and Politics, served up in a heady brew

- By Deepa Krishnan

Today I went with my cousin Lavanya to the India Non Fiction Festival.

I have been reading 'From Dongri to Dubai', the story of organised crime in Mumbai, so it was great to see and hear the author S Hussain Zaidi. We heard some amazing anecdotes, all the more impactful because they were couched in very no-nonsense terms.

Hussain Zaidi's book is very 'Bambaiya' in character. Only in Bombay would you have three underworld brothers from the Christian quarter of  Byculla called the Johnny Gang, with names like Bada Johnny, Chota Johnny and Chikna Johnny :) As you may have guessed, the youngest was very good-looking.

And only in Bombay would you read an anecdote like this one: Apart from the Johnny Gang, there was a rival gang from Byculla's Muslim area. Ibrahim Dada was the leader of the gang. He once went to the passport office where he met Maria, a receptionist from the Byculla Christian locality. When he and Maria started dating, Bada Johnny confronted him. "Why are you messing around with a girl from our area?" And in reply, Ibrahim Dada actually sang a movie song: Jab Pyaar Kiya to Darna Kya! Where else except in Bombay? :)

The crimelords of Mumbai operated from several areas: Byculla, Dagdi Chawl, Chinchpokli, etc. They were Hindu as well as Muslim. All came from humble beginnings.

Here are some photos, so you get a general sense of street scenes from the Muslim areas of Byculla / Bhendi Bazaar / Dongri:

Muslim tenement, Byculla

Street scene near Gol Deval

Roof of Minara Masjid, seen from JJ flyover

Hussain also spoke about his earlier book the Mafia Queens of Mumbai, a group of essays about some women who were an integral part of Bombay's crime scene. I think I'll buy the book. It sounds murky and fascinating, with a gritty street Bambaiya feel that I can't resist.

I also enjoyed listening to Vaibhav Purandare, author of 'Bal Thackeray - The rise and fall of the Shiv Sena'. The Sena's early years and the inter-linkages between politics, big business and trade unions were very interesting. I haven't read his book, have you?

Here is an aerial view of a section of the textile mill district in Parel. This is the setting for the Shiv Sena's meteoric rise. I clicked this photo in March 2008. Today the skyline of the area is dominated by high rise buildings.

Aerial view, Parel, 2008

I asked Vaibhav Purandare what he thought of the Sena's future strategy; specifically its approach towards violence. He seemed to feel there is no coherent strategy at the moment, given the factional in-fighting and split between the two cousins. He also feels that the Maharashtrian youth of today want jobs and education and to participate in the modern economy; not keep going back to a golden past or to keep throwing stones or damaging property.

Both authors served up a spicy cocktail of Mumbai's political and criminal landscape. The auditorium was completely full and there were lots of questions at the end.

Nehru Centre is always a pleasure to visit. Alongside the festival there was also an exhibition of tribal art; I bought a beautiful large Gond painting. In the photo behind us is a small part of the extensive set of Saura paintings from Orissa. The art exhibition is there tomorrow as well.

David Sassoon - from Baghdad to Bombay

- By Deepa Krishnan

If you walk into the Bhau Daji Lad Museum at Byculla, you'll see a beautiful marble bust of David Sassoon, Mumbai's most famous Jewish businessman and philanthropist.

David Sassoon (1792 to 1864)

The Sassoon family history is a little fuzzy. One theory is that they originally came from the mountainous region of Sason in modern-day Turkey. The Sasoon surname is even today found among the Armenian and Kurd population of Sason. It is possible that some Sephardic (Spanish) ancestry existed among the Jews of Sason. In fact, according to Shaul Sapir, author of "Bombay - Exploring the Jewish Urban Heritage", the Sassoons trace their ancestry to Spain, to a family called the Ibn Shoshan (ibn Susan) who lived in the city of Toledo. Perhaps some branch of the Ibn Shoshan clan migrated to Turkey.

The city of Toledo, near Madrid, Spain

Whatever their history and origins, the earliest member of the Sassoon family to arrive in India was David Sassoon in 1832. He was born in Baghdad (present day Iraq) to a wealthy Jewish family who served as bankers and treasurers to the pasha. Fleeing political trouble, David Sassoon moved his wealth from Baghdad to Bushehr (Iran) in 1828. Four years later, he moved his wealth further east from Bushehr to Bombay.

In the early 19th century, Bushehr was the primary port in Iran. The East India company had a base at Bushehr and nearly 100 English and Arab ships came there each year from India and Muscat to trade. Goods from China and India were traded at Bushehr: cloth, metals, spices, indigo, tea, rice, sugar, pottery and porcelain, and wood for shipbuilding. Thus, it was possibly logical for David Sassoon to transition from Bushehr to Bombay, another British trading port. 

David Sassoon was 40 years old when he came to Bombay. Initially, he operated as a middleman for the British East India Company, using his contacts in the the middle-east. In 1842, ten years after David Sassoon arrived in Bombay, the British signed the Treaty of Nanking with the Chinese Emperor, opening up the Chinese market for trade in opium. Several Parsi merchants made the most of the opportunity; but David Sassoon was the first Jewish businessman to send his sons to open offices in Canton, Shanghai and Hong Kong to profit from the trade.

Opium export from Bombay and Calcutta 

A sort of three-way flow emerged: the Sassoons would export Indian yarn and opium to China; then from China, they would export tea and silk to Britain; and from Britain they exported textile goods into India. It's too complicated to draw, so I've only shown the first part of the transaction in the map above (the export from India to China). 

If you want to see what the opium factories and inland shipping looked like, click on the engraving below. You can see a larger image:

Apart from Bengal and Bihar (which the East India Company controlled), opium was also grown in the Malwa region; and indeed, it is Malwa opium where the Sassoons made a lot of their wealth. The Sassoon family acted as bankers to finance the Malwa opium crop, making advances to an already established group of dealers in Malwa opium. In effect, they purchased the crop before it was even planted.

David Sassoon with
three of his sons

According to Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy, a contemporary of David Sassoon in the opium business, "....the chief cause of David Sassoon's success was the use he made of his sons". And sons there were several: two from his first wife Hannah Joseph; and after her death, six from his second wife Farha Hyeem. Although David Sassoon spoke no English, his sons learnt the language and adopted Western modes of clothing as well.

As the Sassoon wealth grew, so did their munificence. They built synagogues, gardens, hospitals, schools and colleges in Mumbai. It looked as if David Sassoon decided that Bombay was a good place to settle down permanently. He built a palatial house in Byculla for himself and invested in improving facilities for Jewish people in Bombay.

The Sassoon mansion in Byculla was called 'Sans Souci'. In this photo, you can see the mansion decorated for a party in honour of Lord Monstuart Elphinstone, Governor of Bombay from 1853 to 1860. Check out the lettering on the arch which says 'God Save the Queen of India'

Clearly the Sassoons were keen to establish an excellent relationship with the British. They owned large tracts of land in Byculla, and from their holdings they donated a parcel of land to create the Victoria and Albert Museum (now called Bhau Daji Lad Museum). Here's the statue inside the Bhaudaji Lad Museum, containing the dedication to Prince Albert, by David Sassoon:

Statue of Prince Albert with David Sassoon's statue placed at the foot. The figures on the left and right are Science and Art

The dedication is in five languages: Hebrew, Marathi, Gujarati, Persian and English. It says:

Albert,

Prince Consort

Dear to Science, Dear to Art

Dear to Thy Land and Ours, A Prince Indeed

Dedicated by David Sassoon

1864

David Sassoon spent 32 fruitful years in Bombay, providing leadership (and employment) to the Jewish community of the city. When he died in 1864, his son Albert Abdallah Sassoon took over leadership of the vast Sassoon business interests. By this time, the Sassoons controlled almost 70% of all the Malwa and Patna opium traded from Bombay and Calcutta, according to an estimate I read in this book.

Albert Sassoon migrated to London, married into the very wealthy Rothschild family, and acquired a Baronetcy. Another son, Elias David Sassoon, set up his own independent firm in China, and thus left Bombay. In fact, six of David Sassoon's eight sons eventually migrated, leaving behind very few Sassoons in Mumbai.

I wonder if David Sassoon realised during his lifetime that his family's involvement with Bombay would be limited to 2 or 3 generations. Today there is no member of the family in Bombay. The Sassoon home Sans Souci is now a hospital. But the home and the beautiful monuments they have left behind are a lasting legacy.

"Touched by Bhupen"

- By Deepa Krishnan

There's an exhibition currently going on at two art galleries, Max Mueller Bhavan and Mirchandani+Steinruecke. It's called "Touched by Bhupen", and it pays homage to the artist Bhupen Khakhar, who died in 2003. A group of 26 artists have come together to display art works and installations inspired by Khakhar.

Poster as soon as you enter Galerie Max Mueller

So why all the fuss about Bhupen Khakhar, you ask? Who was he, anyway?

Photos of Bhupen Khakhar, sourced from http://bhupenkhakharcollection.com

Bhupen Khakkar is considered to be one of most iconic, provocative and controversial artists of 20th century India. Born in Bombay in 1934, he moved to Baroda in the 60's. His paintings, with their street and daily life imagery, combined with some sardonic and playful twists, have been a major influence on Indian artists. He was among the earliest to portray the ordinary - the tailor, the rickshawalla, the barber - in ways that celebrated the mundane. He used historical and mythological references, as well as stylistic references to traditional painting techniques, to create a unique style of his own. Khakhar was the leading member of what is called the 'Baroda group', a set of artists who defined the art scene in the 70's. . 

In the 80's Khakhar created a sensation by becoming India's first openly gay artist to express his homosexuality on canvas. In a repressed era where such subjects were taboo, this made him iconic. 

"You can't please all", 1981, Bhupen Khakhar

In "You can't please all", Bhupen Khakkar references the Aesop's fable of the boy and his father taking a donkey to the market. The man on the balcony overlooking this street scene is himself. He painted this at his house in Baroda, at a point in time where he had not yet openly declared himself gay.

My introduction to Bhupen Khakhar came in Bangalore this September, where I attended a talk at the NGMA. I learnt that it was only after the death of his mother that he could bring himself to come out. "I can't do this to her", he told a friend. "She won't understand."

But after she died, he began expressing himself through his work. Here is one that moved me, because you can see he is not afraid to express his insecurity and need: 

"How many hands do I need
to declare my love to you?"
Watercolour, 1994

Since that talk at NGMA, I have looked up many of Bhupen Khakhar's works online, checked out photos and tidbits, trying to piece together who he was, and how this boy from a traditional Gujju family in Khetwadi could actually come out finally and declare his sexual orientation to the world. I've read what his friends have to say about him. What emerges from all the things written about him is that he was a unique man. Someone who was not afraid to paint his inner world, someone who appreciated the beauty within the mundane, who was not afraid of the grotesque. Above all, a man who was not afraid to declare his hurts and disappointments.

Anyway - I was quite intrigued by the concept of 26 artists doing tribute to Khakhar, and it so happened that I was passing by Max Mueller Bhavan, so I popped in to have a look:

Jogen Chowdhury's "His peaceful life in Heaven" on the left. I don't remember what the one on the right was called.

Karmakar's "Door" and "35 Views", two installations referencing how Khakhar shows both the inner and outer worlds. And also referencing the voyeurism in Khakhar's art

Of course, one of the problems with this kind of tribute/homage is that it tends to have all kinds of impossible-to-understand references, since each artist is influenced by Khakhar in different ways. But leaving that aside, there is some really good stuff to see. These 26 include some of the major contemporary artists in India today, so if you are anywhere near the Gateway of India, then you have until Jan 6th to check it out.

Like I said earlier, there are two venues; Max Mueller Bhavan and Mirchandani+Steinruecke.

I did not go to Mirchandani+Steinreucke, but I am very tempted to go, having seen all these interesting installations and exhibits on their website

Ram Rahman: Akhara Gate, Panchkuian Road, Delhi, 1980s. The photographer Ram Rahman shares Khakkar's interest in the depiction of street scenes, and finds some playful humor as well in this photograph.

Clockwise: Anju Dodiya, Sudhir Patwardhan and Gulammohammed Sheikh

In case you are planning to go, here is some practical information:

Exhibition details:

Dates: Friday, 29th November 2013 to Monday, 6th January 2014

Venues:

1) Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke
(Tuesday – Saturday 11 am to 7 pm)

2 Sunny House, 16/18 Mereweather Road, Behind Taj Mahal Hotel, Colaba, Mumbai 400 001 

2) Galerie Max Mueller, Max Mueller Bhavan, next to Jehangir Art Gallery - +91 22 2202 3030/ 3434 - Call and check opening days and hours before you go. I think they are closed Mondays.

Santacruz Market Walk

- By Deepa Krishnan

A couple of days ago, I walked through Santacruz Market. It's great for photography, with lots of colour! There's a meat and fish market, a vegetable market, lots of spices and snacks, as well as fabrics and jewellery. I had only a camera-phone and I didn't really photograph everything in the market. But here are some photos of the food section.

Indoor market for vegetables

The fish market was nearby, with a busy looking kolin inviting me to check out the day's catch. There were a couple of men selling dried fish as well. 

Neatly slicing with her curved fish-knife

The meat market was gross as usual, dirty and bloody. I walked quickly past it. I think Mumbai customers should make more of a fuss about how the meat is displayed and sold. No wonder people are buying super-market meats! It was a relief to come out to the open street.

General street view: The awnings of the shops offer protection from sun and rain

Jalaram Stores, selling tea-time snacks

Pickle and spice shop

Leafy vegetables being arranged. The daily stock arrives in jute bags and is cleaned and presented on bamboo baskets.

Several spice shops sell fried stuff. This shop had a board advertising various types of fresh-ground flours. Looks like pasta is very popular in Santacruz!

As usual, the most fragrant thing was coriander.

The coriander stall also had fenugreek and mint, as well as chillies, garlic, lemongrass, fresh turmeric, ginger and amba-harad. I was very tempted to buy some amba-harad for pickling, but I had a deadline and lots of other work in the market, so I reluctantly walked away. 

The winter fruits were interesting too. They deserve a whole post of their own!

I'm definitely going back to Santacruz Market. Next time, I'll photograph the fabric markets and the little stalls that sell embellishments for sarees and salwar kameez.  And I'll see what else I can find. What a fabulous market it is. I think a new bazaar walk may be coming up!

In which a little bit of Greece comes to Mumbai

- By Deepa Krishnan

In 2007, before the era where food shows took over Indian television, I went to a little village called Zaros in the island of Crete. 

We stayed at Studios Keramos, a small B&B, where our hostess Katerina was famous for her fantastic breakfasts. She made fresh bread for us every morning, and also all kinds of other Greek peasant-style baked treats. 

I peeped into her kitchen, saw her old oven, and fell in love with the idea of baking. 

It was alien to me, this whole thing about ovens. I had seen clay tandoors in India, with naans being stuck to the sides. But Katerina's kitchen was my first look at a 'proper' oven. 

It seemed like magic. Ordinary dough, transformed into pies with savoury and sweet fillings - how amazing it was! Sarikopita, spanakopita, kalitsounia...Katerina would pull all these Cretan specialties out of the oven, brown and delicious. To add to my delight, many were vegetarian, reflecting the abundant greens grown in the local farms. The typical breakfast table had some 15 baked goodies, absolutely stunning. 

But it was bread, plain bread, that caught my fancy. Fresh and warm, straight out of the oven, eaten with loads of butter, olive oil, feta and salad. 

I've been wanting to bake my own bread ever since I first ate Katerina's bread in 2007. But you know how it is. These thoughts are fleeting, and you rarely have time in your busy career to do anything about it.

The biggest problem was yeast, which is a smelly, ugly fungus, with a rotting odour that makes you wonder why you ever thought of baking anything. It's not something I am familiar with, and I didn't have the necessary initiative to go find it and tread into unfamiliar terrain. 

Then as luck would have it, I happened to find dried yeast at the food store at the Mumbai airport, when I went to pickup my in-laws who were visiting for Diwali. I plonked 350 rupees on the counter and brought it home. And finally this week, I took my first stab at baking. 

Here is the result - my first attempt at baking yesterday (which I converted into bruschetta), and my second one today (which is garnished with sesame and still whole). 

It's not as if this is a stupendous achievement, but after years of eating store-bought white bread, and having to depend on bakeries in Bandra and Colaba for better stuff, it is great to be able to bake my own bread.

More importantly, whenever I do something new, I feel good. Today it was the beauty of baking that gave me creative joy. But whether it is baking or snorkelling or climbing a mountain, I want my life to have a sense of newness and wonder all the time. I never want to be a bored, cranky, negative person who wonders how to get through the day.

In fact, I think the secret to happiness is always having many new "firsts", all through life. I hope I can keep myself open to new things, so that I never lose the joy of living. 

I think I will be baking some more. And I have Katerina to thank for it :) :)

By the way, she doesn't speak a word of English. It was all hand gestures and smiles. When we left the B&B, she gifted us her famous herbed tea, it was a bunch of wild herbs from the Cretan countryside. Aishwarya's journey into herbed tea began with Katerina's wild herbs :) And Katerina also gifted my husband a bottle of raki.

When people talk about travel and how it brings strangers closer, I always think about Katerina and how she introduced me to herbed tea and baking.