‘We live with no chiaow-miaow’

How much do we really have to celebrate On the eve of our 77th Independence Day anniversary we are mired in times that appear to licence violence and vandalism With reports of recent atrocities like the draconian Kanwar Yatra directives hope seems hard to hold on toYet hope and faith are twin talismans which cradle the city gently through the worst tumult and carnage it witnesses down the decades However gingerly communal harmony can push out roots to soothe soil burnt by politically fanned firesCrisscrossing the city to prep for the content of these pages we continue to be privy to heartening firsthand accounts Of simple ordinary people exemplifying a veritable ABC of grace under pressure amity bravery camaraderieRamesh Thadani of Om Cold amp Sweet Pan shop a believer in communal calm over ugly competition File picsUp in flames repeatedly with flashpoint hostilities for all its tinderbox moments Mahimndashthe marshy capital of Bombayrsquos seven islandsndashhas seen as much tenderness as it has tension A certain dense cosmopolitanism particularly from St Michaelrsquos Church to Victoria Church lends this stretch of LJ Road definite beauty and character Threading my way through its narrowest paths over weeks I have watched devotees kneel at pews surrounded by the sound of the call to Azan prayers even as Maharashtrian wedding revellers halt middance respectfully for a Christian funeral processionUnder Muslim rulers of Gujarat at the tomb of Sufi saint Hazarat Makhdoom Ali Mahimi the Qazi of Mahim rose one of Bombayrsquos oldest mosques It was constructed by Sultan Ahmed Shah in 1431 the year dating the Haji Ali dargah as well A 10day Urs festival has pilgrims flock to the shrine where Mahim Police Station cops are the first to offer a chadarFrom her Canossa Convent years Shobha Rao recalls the ambience around the school where hawkers waited to tempt children with boras sheng chana chor and raw mango ldquoWe helloed stylish churchgoing aunties clicked studio pictures at the Urs mela and sang bhajans in Sitladevi Mandir for good exam resultsrdquo Anasuya Dhone and her daughter Shubhangi Jadhav at Agripadarsquos BIT chawl relied on kind Memon shopkeepers in times of curfewLittle lanes here have hummed with unexpected tenderness amid trauma Everywhere as dreaded knocks on doors got louder fearful minority families left their valuables with trusted Hindu and Christian neighbours On a dark night when LJ Cross Road 1 was a gully imposed with the strictest curfew after December 1992 Raorsquos mother Janaki Kanemar found unforgettable kindness ldquoWearing her customary saree and big forehead bindi which so obviously identified her she ventured on the deserted road to bring our maid homerdquo says Rao ldquoA Muslim we barely knew escorted them protectivelyrdquoIn Makhdoomi Restaurant on Mori Road I came across Chandrakant Meher finishing a late lunch one afternoon This was where his Koli family trooped in for occasional treats of double maskapao and khari biscuits ldquoThe kingfisherfilled mangroves are gone and Mahim creek smells most foulrdquo he remarked ldquoWe should at least look forward to fewer communal clashes in our areardquoDespite such fine diversity LJ Road has too often suffered savage mob fury especially in the cityrsquos ignominious 199293 phase Starting from its timber market the blood of coldly hatched pogroms spilt on this stretch But on the most demonic days a sanguine history keeps safe the Vitthal temple cheek by jowl beside the Hazrat Gaitan Shah Peer Rehmatullah dargah on Mori Road In these days of digging and finagling to ldquoproverdquo whether mandir or masjid ought to occupy a site these small sister shrines rest clasped in serene embrace Nestled contiguous in the shelter of an ancient banyan tree they celebrated a joint centenary a few years ago The same phoolwala strung flower torans to adorn both shrines The same chaiwala supplied tea to worshippers bowing before each Kokila Sampat opening the Quit India meeting at Gowalia Tank Maidan now August Kranti Maidan with a rendition of Vande Mataram in August 1942 when she was eight months pregnant Pic Courtesy Sunil SampatJerry Pintorsquos poem highlights his home acre evocativelyI live in a space called Mahim Home to Ram Ronnie RahimSheetala Mata Mother Mary and Guru NanakWith great bazars forfish and paalakParsi bawas make our paoWe live with no chiaowmiaowFor at the north endstands St MichaelGuarding the gates ofour small miracleMoving toward the inner folds of the city in the chaotic core of Agripada I once reached the 112yearold BIT Bombay Improvement Trust Chawl on Madhavrao Gangan Marg to essentially figure whether it was indeed a British jail in an earlier avatar as I had heard Catching the eye of Anasuya Dhone from Building No 3 I trailed her into a tiny home ldquoMy husband kept store for a boss who was Parsi like you Limji Seth of Bombay Cycle and Motor Agencyrdquo she smiledA glass of cool rose doodh promptly pressed in my hands the moment I entered shook the sweat off a scorching hot day Anasuyabairsquos daughter Shubhangi said ldquoThe 1993 riots shattered our peace With everything closed under curfew we survived on bread and milk which our Memon shopkeepers supplied usrdquo Popping in from a nextdoor kholi to borrow flour wizened old Vithabai piped in with her impressions of the bustee after waves of communal strife ndash ldquoWe remain united though things are changing with matlabi political netas They think we are poor and illiterate but we have eyes noticing what is whatrdquo A runaway success of an enterprise triumphing over the terrors of forced migration is presented by the example of an iconic Bombay eatery Preceded by ancestors surviving Partition JK Kapur emerged a film distributor in Bombay and the proprietor of Copper Chimney restaurant since 1972 His father Amolak Ram Kapur among the lawyers defending Bhagat Singh in the Lahore Conspiracy Case fled their No 4 Fane Road Lahore overnight in 1947 It was noble Pakistani neighbours the Kasuris who helped the Kapurs reach Delhimdashahead of Bombaymdashriding on top of one of the trains ferrying refugees from Lahore in the Punjab Province of British India to newly independent India After securing them safe passage the Kasuris actually also ensured the Kapursrsquo belongings followed in trunks Amolak Ram gratefully wrote to Mian Mahmud Ali Kasuri quoted by Mian Mahmud Alirsquos politician son Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri in his memoir Neither a Hawk nor a Dove ldquoAap ke liye dil se dua nikaltee hairdquoFurther south in Shop No 91 of Nanik Niwas colony on Bhulabhai Desai Road I interviewed Ramesh Thadani of Om Cold amp Sweet Pan Exiles from Sindh his father Bhagwandas Prataprai Thadani and elder brother Sundarlal Prataprai came in 1947 to Ahmedabad Stepping on Bombay shores a year later they first settled at SS Nagar in SionldquoBahut hee bhaari waqt tha woh we underwent the toughest times Neighbours of many communities helped as much as they possibly could for us to get back on our feet a bitrdquo explained Ramesh born in Nanik Niwas where the Thadanis set up their stall opposite Tata Garden Soon enough besides pleasing local palates they were as adroitly packing permutations and combinations of every conceivable pan delight in foil for overseas fans Savouring the most marvellous mix of flavours from a chilled ldquopan ballrdquo burst in my mouth I heard Ramesh say ldquoThis shop is my temple Loyal Muslim customers greet me with a lsquoHari Omrsquo with ease without a second thought Whatrsquos the issuerdquoJazz impresario Sunil Sampat believes India is ldquoinherently a secular allencompassing tolerant place Ours is a land welcoming lsquoforeignersrsquo of every colour and religion There is no greater proof needed of this attitude than a glimpse at our history We never allowed differences to act as barriers to the acceptance of travellers and even invaders As a people we were motivated by the basic shared focus on a common causerdquoIt was in this climate that his remarkable mother Kokila grew up She was the daughter of a devout follower of Mahatma Gandhi who sacrificed a lucrative family textiles business to serve the freedom struggle Touring Europe in 1935 with her parents when she was 11 she observed Hitler at a Nazi rally in Berlin She later told her son how she had seen the most evil and the most peaceful men on earth Always fiercely independent her song of inspiration was Tagorersquos Ekla cholo re Walk on aloneKokila Sampat opened the legendary Quit India meeting on August 9 1942 defiantly singing Vande Mataram It was a courageous act of patriotismmdash18 years old she was eight months pregnant with her baby son Handing me a photograph of that epic moment Sampat adds ldquoNaturally being born in 1942 I was raised with cherished values my mother imbibed in her lifetime In Nagpur where my family moved I attended the Bishop Cotton School run by Christian missionaries My best friend and fellow cricketer there was a boy called Miya Khan It wasnrsquot until I was 12 that a visitor to our home told me he was Muslim I did not see the point of that remark and happy to say donrsquot see it today We were forged into one wholesome people in the cauldron of colonial rule And are still a considerable force as Indians but neo colonial powers are trying the very trick as the BritsrdquoAuthorpublisher Meher Marfatia writes fortnightly on everything that makes her love Mumbai and adore Bombay You can reach her at mehermarfatiamiddaycomwwwmeher marfatiacom