Round and about the circle for a king

This is the roundabout that completes a trio The one in the middle Between Khodadad Circle and Sion Circle Kingrsquos Circle is Matungarsquos vibrant core ringing the Maheshwari Udyan gardenFormerly called Kingrsquos Way acknowledging George V this broad avenue stretch of Dr Ambedkar Road resulted from the Improvement Trustrsquos 18991900 initiative to develop the Dadar Matunga and Sion schemes in north Bombay The idea being to provide space for structured expansion in the ldquocentral suburbsrdquoThe harbour branch of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway from 1925 plus the Tramway Company extending lines to DadarMatunga vitally connected Kingrsquos Circle so that properties were leased and built by the 1930sWith growing Gujarati Kutchi and Jain populations wanting to locate close to their derasars the predominance of communities from Tamil Nadu Karnataka Andhra Pradesh and Kerala has dippedIn its century year however the Asthika Samaj on Bhandarkar Road continues to hum as the centre of religious and cultural life its banyan tree ascribed powers of fulfilling wishes of thousands of devotees In more serene environs the Hanuman Mandir is tucked away behind Laxmi Lodge well over a hundred yearsrsquo vintageFully representing the countryrsquos flavourful South of course are famed Udipi cafes galore far too extensively written about to be named let alone have their histories reiterated A pavement bookseller at the circle Mama Paanwala in Mohan NiwasOn a sultry Sunday morning radiologist Bhavin Jankharia writer of the popular blog Man from Matunga walks us through his home turf starting from Aurora theatre We pass 1939established Matunga Gujarati Club and the temple of Marubai the tribal gaon devi worshipped under a peepul tree since 1700ldquoA fundamental change is the surfeit of salons and ice cream parlours proliferating here Ten years back there were just two barbers and no confectionersrdquo says Dr Jankharia The glut of signage advertising cheesecake gelatos pastries and pies is decidedly mindboggling Thanks to a thriving teen clientele from Don Bosco School Khalsa College Institute of Chemical Technology and VJTI Victoria Jubilee Technical Institute neatly reinitialed Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute round the corner these hubs flourish Hordes of youngsters on motorbikes vroom around and traffic swells crazily past midnight ldquoWhen Theobroma and Starbucks initially made an entry it was a lsquoWe have arrivedrsquo feeling over Kingrsquos Circlerdquo says JankhariaSavitri and Mohandas Kamath of 1936opened Orient Cleaners PicSujata RaoPicking up a pair of Murakami paperbacks for his wife from the pavement outside Cafe Mysore he remembers buying science fiction titles from Asimov to Clarke from these booksellers in the late rsquo70s Another booklover has even found a luminous copy of Edward Fitzgeraldrsquos Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam with calligraphic font and exquisite illustrations Published by DB Taravorevala Sons the nonpaginated and undated gem belonged to the Keropet Club Library of Burmah Shell purchased for the princely sum of Rs 950These streetside purveyors of the printed word were also the haunt of pathologist Sanjay Pai Having frequented Kingrsquos Circle in the rsquo80s and rsquo90s he says ldquoAn article on Bombayrsquos five best bookshops noted the Kingrsquos Circle raddiwala among them The best was near Madras Cafe Serving delicious pesarattu and ulundhu dosai this place was perfect to browse through fresh acquisitions Imagine the joy Precious books followedby dosairdquoHushang Mazdayasna on his grandfatherrsquos 1962 Lambretta with Kalu the cat outside New Roshan BakeryWe attack ambrosial brunch bites including rasam vada biscuit roti and pineapple sheera at Anand Bhavan in Ram Niwas ldquoTake a photo before you eat with us and then one right after There will be a glow on your faces in the second shot such is the satisfying quality of our foodrdquo declares proprietor Haridas Nayak running the 1946introduced eatery with his son Pritesh A frame above the takeaway rack rowed with masalas and pickles conclusively states ldquoCustomer is the King and a King Never BargainsrdquoIn the same building another homespun truism reads ldquoMoney canrsquot buy happiness but you can buy pao and thatrsquos kind of the same thingrdquo Beneath this wall scrawl Hushang Mazdayasna attentively obliges regulars popping in barely a minute apart Part of the third generation at New Roshan Bakery since 1934 he informs us this was once a soap factory site ldquoIrsquom told the sole of my grandparsquos foot resembled a hard horseshoe tough after walking most of the distance from Tehran in his 20s He hit work in a Matunga Station tea stall then this chaipao joint with a jukebox which got the first beer licence in central Bombayrdquo As Mazdayasnarsquos cats Goldy and Kalu spring and curl comfortably a caninefeline drama unfolds on the kerb Chhoti the dog from Koolar amp Co opposite in Noor Mahal where Ambedkar Road abuts Adenwala Road has finished playing with the billis and tries to cross the road returning to the Koolar base Clogged traffic presents the barest possibility of nosing a way through Ears pricked up alert the pooch waits with patient resignationIconic enough to avoid a retelling of its story Koolar racks up brownie points for commendable courage The 1932opened landmark commendably ignored discrimination against Dalits who were forced to eat outside from separate cups and plates till Saffaro Koolar invited them in as equals A little shrine plaque fronting the cafe tenderly grieves the loss of a pet pupmdashldquoCokino my rottweiler Born 15122000 Died 3042001 at 1030 am We all loved yourdquoNotwithstanding space shifts like a Bachelorrrsquos ice cream and juice branch replacing Abbas Circulating Library in Mohanlal Mansion some of the old faithful soldier on Game Space in Radha Bhuvan New Star Hair Dresser and Capital Hair Dresser The watch repairer in a tiny alcove Authentic handroasted kaapi continues being dispensed panIndia by Mysore Concerns the 1939 pioneer of aromatic filter coffee blends And loyalists still buy mattresses and hosiery items from small stores in Mohanlal MansionWersquore arrested by the name of 75yearold Scientific Cleaners at Durlabh Niwas It is Orient Cleaners in Vora Bhavan where Mohandas Kamath offers an engrossing potted history of Kingrsquos Circle ldquoLaundry line mein munafa nahi hain it earns no profit When my father Ananth Ram came from Kasaragod as a 10yearold his uncle taught him the basics In 1933 we were among this buildingrsquos first tenants Orient opened three years laterrdquoA professor friend of Ananth Ram Kamath was Ramchandar Nanda bringing to Kingrsquos Circle what GD Agrawal did to Khodadad Circle in the mid1950s Agrawal came from Ajmer with R29 from selling his bicycle He taught math and science to Mazagaon mill mazdoorsrsquo kids free of cost Turning professional in a cramped Matunga room which the family had to vacate during coaching hours his class finally moved to Harganga Mahal in 1955 That was around when Nanda started Ramchandarrsquos Institute from a Wadala garage before progressing to Kingrsquos Circle catering to commerce science and economics studentsBrimming with memories of the neighbourhoodrsquos filmi fabric in the last century Mohandas Kamath reels off stories effortlessly The sound of music emanated from gramophone records in the evenings and people would congregate at Maheshwari Udyan to listen or just plain gossip and socialise The decades from the 1940s to the 1970s witnessed stars and musicians here like KL Saigal the Kapoors Nalini Jaywant Geeta Dutt Kanhaiyalal KN Singh Manmohan Krishna and Vidya SinhaA short hop on the Tak familyrsquos Mama Paanwala shop in Mohan Niwas is a fixture from 1978 It makes it to every list of top 10 paan vendors of the city ldquoApna cold meetha variety ladies log zyaada pasand karte hainrdquo we hear The tobaccoless mawa paan gets bulk demand The awning announces ldquoLagnache ani party che orders ghetordquo In a 2005 diversification Mama Foods came up next door Photo studios have fared less well Sangam and Rupam survive both in delightfully named Vasant Breezy Chambers from a bunch of at least five former studiosmdashKumar Zenith Pradeep Kingrsquos and Photo Circle ldquoGone is the rigour of dark rooms now itrsquos instant selfies and photoshopped images We deal more in framing and lamination than shooting except for functionsrdquo says an employee behind a counter An institution in Manu Mahal Sobti Hospital began operating when urologist Manu Sobtirsquos fraternal uncle Dr Indranath Sobti set up as a general practitioner around 1940 ldquoMy grandfather and his family lived in a threeroom flat in the building Specialised as a surgeon my father Kashinath joined the practice in 1945 married my mother Vidya a gynaecologist and worked from threeroomed lsquoSobti Hospitalrsquo at his residence We ceased obstetrics six years ago only consulting in urology and gynaecology with no inpatients My mother cooked three daily meals for her patients in addition to delivering so many babies Irsquom not sure that with lsquomodern techniquesrsquo we are doing a better jobrdquoAuthorpublisher Meher Marfatia writes fortnightly on everything that makes her love Mumbai and adore Bombay You can reach her at mehermarfatiamiddaycomwwwmeher marfatiacom