Dadar ke aagey seat hai

Anderi ganderi tipri tenEisen meisen jolly good manO mister ketla vaagya8910rdquoThis was the charming ditty children from the Dadiseth lanes around BabulnathChowpatty shrieked with gusto in the 1960s They chanted it hopping excitedly around their favourite vendor who packed small portions of boiled peanuts and ganderi peeled sugarcane pieces they craved as a daily fix ldquoSafe to have streetside snacks in those years when every road was hosed sparkling clean from water tankers pulled by bullock cartsrdquo remembers a parent Sleater Road where a local matka king shouted out amusing ditties File picNonsense rhyme and lilting limericks folksy fun and soulful verse have warmed every corner of a city offered hundreds of more formal literary paeans As vitally capturing people and places that shaped quintessential Bombay lighter poems and phrases colourfully cover everythingmdashcity transport scenic spots landmarks and monuments A pity we lose plenty of rhythm and beat much metre and cadence reading these in print here rather than recited Even relatively silent they provide entertaining emotional readingApollo Bunder and the old Colaba lighthouse have inspired catchy verseWriter Aban Mukherji sings me a cheerful tangawalarsquos invitation to children for a joyride in his horse carriage Part of The New Era Schoolrsquos preprimary repertoire of rhymes composed and set to music by Indubhai Parekh it goesldquoAavo bababebiMaari gaadi ma besoTamaney faravaa lai jaavuChowpatty ne dariyePaalavaa BunderKamala Nehru Park neRani Baug bataavuGhoda gaadi ghoda gaadiMaari tabdaktabdak chaaley ghoda gaadiMaari ghoda gaadi chaaley jaaney motor gaadi chaaleyTabdaktabdak taale maaro ghodo kevo mahaaleCome boys and girlsHop into my horse carriageDriving you past Chowpatty beach by the seaTo Paalavaa BunderIrsquoll show you Kamala Nehru ParkAnd Rani Baug tooTabdaktabdak flies my ghoda gaadiIt races past like a speeding motorcarAs gaily prances my horseTo the tabdaktabdak beatOf hooves taking him farrdquoA childrenrsquos limerick remembers the sugarcane seller near De Sa Hospital and Chowpatty Band Stand File picWith the trot you hear ringing in the tangawalarsquos voice Paalavaa Bunder is an allusion to Apollo Bunder Palla a herring family fish was sold on these shores Apollo is supposed to be an adaptation of paalavaa a fishing vesselmdashldquoPaalavaa la jaavu yardquo meant ldquoLetrsquos go fishingrdquoA verse describing the Colaba lighthouse in that vicinity is shared and translated by the wonderful Shanta Gokhalemdashalways relied on for the most amazing insights on just about anything I seek Its last line indicates the colonial times it must likely have been framed in ldquoKulabyachi daandi daandivar divaDaryaat ujed padlay hoKhanderiUnderi ya don gaavaaMadhye Kulaba gheto havaMumbaikaraa tu distos kasaTu gora gora tu gora goraThe lighthouse on Colaba daandiSheds its light in the seaBetween the isles of KhanderiUnderiColaba enjoys the breezeMan of Mumbai what do you look likeYou look white you look whiterdquoIn response to an earlier column on the Apollo Bunder row of handsome harbourfacing buildings came this rant from ldquoa Karachi advocaterdquo who carped at the BIT Bombay Improvement TrustldquoWe may not have a Ballard Pier and passengers galoreWe may not have a Taj Mahal upon our sandy shoreWe may not live in an Apollo Bunder flatBut we havenrsquot an Improvement Trust and thank the Lord for thatrdquo From scepticism to optimismhellip A sunny attitude greeted me at Khodadad Circle once Dadar TT Tram Terminus A florist settling for the day with baskets of blooms had started to thread torans on the footpath fronting Dayaram Damodar Mithaiwala He found himself already surrounded by a queue of irate housewives Frazzled from what seemed a regular commute on overcrowded peakhour trains running late he tried to beat back the fatigue and smiled valiantly to placate waiting customers They grew mollified by the mild manner graduating to goodnatured smile as he pointed to the sweaty Tshirt sticking to his chest in the scorching October heat Across it his young daughter had scrawled in paint what guaranteed to melt the angriest stance ldquoHaar ke aagey jeet hai Dadar ke aagey seat hairdquoAs a Central Line local slowed at various stations students like Bharat Gothoskar in their years at Somaiya Engineering College Vidyavihar would routinely burst into singing ldquoSion aaya Sion aaya Dadar Matunga Sion aayardquo This to strains of ldquoSayonara sayonarahelliprdquo from the film Love in Tokyo Bemused fellow travellers grew to expect to hear this routineOur friend Jerry Pinto highlights his neighbourhoodmdashtypically within a quick minutemdashwith evocative words strung together specially for this themeldquoI live in a space called MahimHome to Ram Ronnie RahimSheetala Mata Mother Mary and Guru NanakWith great bazaars for fish and paalakParsi bawas make our paoWe live with no chiaowmiaowFor at the north end standsSt MichaelGuarding the gates of oursmall miraclerdquoA cosmopolitan mix of communities was also more flamboyantly hailed in a Grant Road gully On Sleater Road nearer Wimbridge Compound where Edward Wimbridge who designed the cover and engraved the heading of The Theosophistrsquos inaugural issue in 1879 had a furniture factory residents recall amusing diversions Roughly one block down where a family brewed kegs of vinegar smelling tart for miles the Sleater Road Parsi Mandal encouraged the lanersquos little old ladies to glean gossip A popular topic of discussion was the rambunctious adda of Ramu Dada causing traffic jams at 830 on certain evenings Throngs of gamblers gathered each hoping to hit the satta jackpot The matka king shouted a town criertype refrain ldquoBawa aao buwa aao bus naseebwala mat aaomdashCome one come all only the lucky mustnrsquot comerdquoSpeaking of good fortune Which Irani cafe lover hasnrsquot encountered the late Boman Kohinoor of Britannia at Ballard Estate Every bit as spry and spirited as we remember him from college days the restaurateur served thousands of lunch customers history on a plate The Kohinoor family had owned Britannia amp Company since Bomanrsquos father Rashid opened it in 1923 coincidentally the year Boman was born in YazdDespite a stoop and slowed gait towards 2019 when the city lost him bowtie firm against wrinkled neck folds Boman shuffled taking orders between tables layered with redchecked cloths Engaging customers with personal attention lavished on them he treated each to staccatostyle couplets Everybodyrsquos predictable favourite whenever he recommended a cool drink wasmdashldquoTry fresh lime soda sweet to beat the Mumbai heatrdquo From the mid1950s Parsi theatre presented uniquely adapted Gujarati lyrics which stars sang before the interval or as curtain closer A rousing example of the former from the pen of the inimitable writerdirector Adi Marzban would be chorused to the 1904 tune ldquoBlue Bellrdquo albeit a complete departure from the original context of a soldierrsquos farewell to his sweetheartldquoChhaiyyey hamey ZarthostiEk mek ne daiyyech gaarDhansakh ne achaar gameyCricket ma khaiyyey maarNaatak cinema race maNathi hamey pachhaatLaganNavjote ni ses maPeraavyech rupya saatNaach rang ni shaukheenKhoob hasmukhiJeegarey dulli rehjeyO Parsi kaumTooj per chhey aafreenReh tu sukhiHamesaa hasti rehjeyO Parsi kaumWe are proud ZoroastriansSwearing at each otherDhansaakh and pickle loversThough we tend to lose cricket gamesIn theatre cinema and the racesWe sure never lag behindWeddings and Navjotes see usSlip in gifts of 7 rupeesEnjoying song dance and festivityWersquore out to have good funA community so largeheartedAll blessings unto youMay you always stay happyAnd full of laughter in the houseO ye Parsisrdquo The traditional finale saw the entire cast of Marzbanrsquos musical revues wave to madly clapping audiences To the jaunty riffs of ldquoWhen Irish eyes are smilingrdquo his actors chorusedldquoHavey gupchup gher jaavoNahi toh hall ma thi kaarsey bahaarGher jai ne faraaghaat thhaavoKhaavaanu hosey taiyyarhellipNaatak paachho jovo hoiHamesaa taiyyaar hameyPun ticket veychaati leyjoKhoda bakhast na thhataa tameyNow itrsquos time to head home quietlyOr yoursquoll be thrown out of the hallGo home relax comfortablyDinner is ready and waiting If you want to see the play againWe are ever ready to stage itBut do pay for your own ticketDonrsquot shamelessly come withoutrdquoAuthorpublisher Meher Marfatia writes fortnightly on everything that makes her love Mumbai and adore Bombay You can reach her at mehermarfatiamiddaycomwwwmeher marfatiacom