Mumbai history enthusiast Rafique Baghdadi will lead a walk into the myths of Byculla's lanes
Gloria Church at Byculla
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Byculla, the low-lying extension of Mazagaon, one of the seven islands that originally formed the city, is a historian's paradise. Replete with fantastic stories from colonial era to the early years of Independence, it was one of the most prestigious addresses in a growing city, and was home to some of its most illustrious and interesting names.
Today's Byculla still houses a diverse cosmopolitan mix of communities and places of worship. Writer and raconteur Rafique Baghdadi will lead a walk around the neighbourhoods of Byculla this week as a part of the Heritage Days event of Alliance Française, Mumbai. He picked a few landmarks that participants will be taken through.
Rafique Baghdadi
The Byculla Police Station will be the meeting point for the walk. The station has European and Indian-style buildings, which are still called European and Indian buildings.
Also read: Heritage walk explores the rich history of South Mumbai's Byculla
Roychand and Premchand Bungalow, which now houses the Regina Pacis Convent, was owned by stockbroker, businessman and philanthropist, Premchand Roychand, a prominent figure in Mumbai's history. The Roychand family has been the benefactor of several of Mumbai's great landmarks, including the Rajabai Clock Tower and a state-of-the-art gallery in the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya.
The iconic 150-year-old "Khada Parsi" statue, a Grade I heritage monument at the Byculla flyover junction
Gloria Church features in Kundan Shah's 1983 satire Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron that takes on corruption in politics and bureaucracy. The director used the collapse of a "flyover bridge" near Gloria Church in Byculla, which he had shot a year earlier, to illustrate his point.
Khilafat House is the site where the Khilafat Movement started in 1919. The pan-Islamic political protest campaign was launched in 1919 to influence the British government and later was the leading force in partition.
The Khada Parsi statue (restored in 2014) was commissioned by Manockjee Cursetjee, a Parsi businessman, to commemorate his father. Cursetjee started many schools and was very influential in encouraging education for girls. The statue is now located between two flyovers in Byculla.
Adelphi Chambers was where legendary author Saadat Hassan Manto stayed after he shifted out of Arab Gully in Grant Road. Sarvi restaurant is where the walk ends. Manto and his then superstar friend Ashok Kumar frequented this restaurant known for its delicious kebabs.
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