Read about back-stories of Mumbais roads

In Santa Cruz West not very far from the station there is a township where until 30 years ago local resident and historian Debashish Chakraverty remembers with glowing pride how trees on either side of the streets would meet in the sky to provide a lofty green cover The area boasted of many such avenuesThats how the roads here got their names Chakraverty tells us of his colony Main Avenue which further opens into NorthSouth WestEast and Central avenues This place now has a different name The new BMC signage at the entrance of this residential colony reads Main Avenue Road Thats an oxymoron says Chakraverty If its an avenue it cannot be a road and vice versaMain Avenue Santa Cruz West The residential colony which further opens into NorthSouth WestEast and Central avenues was named so because the streets here had trees growing on either side PicsAshish RajeAppalled by the lexical error Chakraverty wrote to the BMC demanding that this mistake be corrected When his emails went ignored he logged on to Google Maps last year and edited the names of all the lanes on Main Avenue to erase the word road It took six months to get the approval But at least now your Uber or Ola wont show you a Central Avenue Road he informs Whats worrying though says Chakraverty is that the local rickshaw and taxiwallahs who dont rely on virtual maps to navigate the citys streets have no clue about the original names of these famed avenues In fact you need to direct them to a landmark if you want to get here he says And all because some blocks on these avenues have got new identities one named after Bengali novelist Sarat Chandra Chatterjee This confusion persists across Mumbai a city that was once allembracing when it came to naming its streets and placesBarber Lane FortThe lane between Cawasji Patel Street and Pitha Street named after an old pitha or liquor shop in Fort was formerly known as Barber Lane in the early 20th century While some said that it got its name because barbers lived here in 1915 the then municipal commissioner PB Cadell claimed it could have been named after a police officer named Barber A letter sent to a newspaper later pointed out that Barbary pirates once had their dens on this streetLast year renaming of streets was the secondmost discussed issue in the BMC There has been a concerted effort on part of the administration to do away with names that are foreign colonial or perceived to be not their BMC version of Indian feels ChakravertyBut the politics of Mumbais streetnaming aside Indus Source Books reprint of a forgotten yet important 102yearold city book by historiographer Samuel Townsend Sheppard titled Bombay PlaceNames and StreetNames points to how our romance with Mumbais old streets will never endWritten over a century ago the book doubles up as an encyclopedia which offers historical and documented explanation as well as myths surrounding the origins of names of streets in then Bombay which stretched from Colaba to MahimWhen the BMC put up new sign boards Croft Lane near Main Avenue in Santa Cruz West was erroneously spelled as Craft until local resident Debashish Chakraverty wrote to the authorities to get it changedA nostalgic journeyUnlike many cities in India and abroad which have a structured system when naming roads places in old Bombay got their names more organically says veteran journalist Sidharth Bhatia who has written the foreword for the new edition of Sheppards book Here he reveals how New York for example follows a grid system that divides the city into avenues and side streets while Delhis wide boulevards are named after grand Mughals and cultural figures and the inner streets of its recentlydeveloped residential enclaves segmented into blocksFrom my own reading of the book I am deducing that Bombay got its road names soon after the Bombay Municipal Corporation was founded in 1888 so that it became easier to map the city he says Traditionally streets in Bombay came to be named after the templechurch located in the area influential people or landlords who lived there communities that inhabited the place Israeli Moholla the place where the BeneIsraelis first moved before settling in Umarkhadi professions Dalal Street or Hamam Lane today Ambalal Doshi Marg or after the commonly found flora and fauna Ash Oak and Fanaswadi lanes says Bhatia There were also roads named after the Governors and makers of Bombay And so unlike the popular myth that most of the names were colonial handmedowns the streets represented a diverse group of people and time in historySidharth BhatiaThe book is also imbued with fascinating legends surrounding the naming of certain streets For instance the genesis of Barber lane which stretched from Cawasji Patel Street to Pitha Street in Fort has always been uncertain While some said that it was named after the barbers in the city who had houses here in 1915 the then municipal commissioner PB Cadell claimed it could have been named after a police officer named Barber A letter sent to a leading English newspaper later however pointed out that Barbary pirates Ottoman and Maghrebi pirates once had their dens here Then there is Rampart Row today K Dubash Marg Kala Ghoda which was formerly also called Rope Walk Street because of a rope walk kept here for many years by the East India Company for manufacture of coir ropesWhats in a nameIn 2016 RTI activist Anil Galgali had written a letter to the BMC demanding an explanation for why Old Hanuman Lane on Kalbadevi Road which had got its name after the two centuriesold Hanuman temples there had suddenly been changed to Dhirubhai Parekh Marg Nothing came of the letter But if I remember nobody in that area even knew who Dhirubhai was I understand that you are opposed to foreign names but Hanuman is part of our Indian tradition Why change thatGalgali says that this happens despite the BMC following a very rigorous process for renaming of streets which includes clearing the proposal at the local ward office level before it is discussed at the works committee city or suburbs and finally in the corporationI think we need more local participation in such decisions says Bhatia Because renaming of streets does affect a citys character Chakraverty adds When you change the name of a street you are also erasing its history We need to value our past instead of denying itCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates