The Kanheri Caves in the Borivali National Park

Sometime ago I had a couchsurfer over and I was wondering how to entertain her. Suddenly it occurred to me that I was due a visit to the Kanheri Caves in the Borivali National Park and it would be a great idea to time it during Jo’s stay with me.

Jo is a Jamaican of Indian origin who was brought up in Toronto, Canada and now lives in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Such an interesting history. She is a wonderful girl, very soft spoken, easy to be with, quite accommodating, ever willing to go with the flow and try new things. So when I discussed Kanheri Caves with her, she was keen to go.

It is best to go as early as you can before the hordes of tourists and local Indians descend on the caves. Also it is much cooler in the morning and you can take beautiful pictures. And try and go there on a weekday so that you get the place to yourself.

Kanheri Caves is a popular destination for school picnics. However, I doubt many people living in Bombay actually are aware or appreciate having these historic caves in their backyard. I found them fascinating and I must admit that I felt like kicking myself for not having visited earlier and more often.

The caves are situated deep inside the Borivali National Park. They date back to the 1st century BC. There are about 109 caves carved from basalt rock. Kanheri was an important Buddhist settlement on the Konkan coast by the 3rd century AD. There are quite a few caves which are quite spartan and unadorned which I believe were living quarters for the monks. But there is a huge congregational hall with stone pillars and a stupa (Buddhist shrine). There are beautiful reliefs of the Buddha and his disciples all over.

They say Kanheri was a university centre in the times of the Mauryan and Kushan empires. It connected with many trade centres and ports. Most of the caves were used as Buddhist viharas meant for meditating, studying and living.

We got there by about 10 am and had the place pretty much to ourselves. I was pleased as I could take many pictures with no people in the background. At the ticket office, Jo passed off as an Indian from Kerala. Her Indian blood came to some use after all. We spent an hour walking around, peeking into the caves and discovering the ancient water systems. From the very top of the hill you could see the golden dome of the Vipassana centre at Gorai. The view of the greenery of the national park and then the dense skyline of the suburbs of Bombay brought home the paradox of the city we live in. Truly we need more green spaces to ease the pollution in our overcrowded city.

We then decided to try the “Tiger and Lion safari” in another part of the National park. As we were leaving the caves area, we saw buses of tourists drive in. Boy, were we glad to have had the place to ourselves before the swarming masses drove in.

The safari was a joke. We were asked to wait till there were 25 people enrolled. Luckily we didn’t have to wait for long. We were huddled into a mini bus with grills outside the windows. I was concerned that we would not see the big cats as it was too hot but the guide calmly told me that we would definitely see them as this was the first bus trip of the day. I soon realized why and felt like a complete fool. First stop, the bus halted outside a building with a grill door. We were asked to look out for the lions. I was wondering how could there be lions near a building. Silly me! Suddenly we heard a lot of roaring making me wonder if someone had prodded the lions with a stick or something. Then the grill door was raised and a poor lion walked out. He looked at us and then quite calmly turned his back on us as if to say “Get lost. I am the King of the Jungle and you are but minions in my kingdom”. He then proceeded to rub his back against the bark of a tree and then answered nature’s call. He refused to turn towards us so we had no choice but to move on. We then passed some deer and later we stopped outside another enclosure where there was a white tiger basking in the sun and in another enclosure a yellow tiger hiding amongst the grass. They were too far to see clearly or take any pictures.

I felt sad for these majestic animals as they should be left to live in their natural habitat. They definitely do not deserve to be gawked at by tourists in a grilled bus! I felt cheated as an individual as the entire experience was quite pathetic. Nevertheless, the National Park and the Kanheri caves are a true treasure which every person in Bombay must cherish.

Club Cricket and Royal Challengers Bangalore

The Indian Premier League is in its 5th season. Club cricket was a new concept which was introduced. Each club was based in a city with an iconic player (not necessarily from that city). Owners auctioned for the clubs and then in turn for the players. Great excitement! Cos whoever bought Mumbai, got Sachin Tendulkar.

Anyway my boss Dr. Mallya bought the Bangalore club - The Royal Challengers. So it was but natural that I would support RCB rather than Mumbai Indians. My reasoning - I have nothing in common with the Ambanis or Reliance. And my loyalties had nothing to do with the city....afterall I was born in Bombay and do not really identify with Mumbai. ;)

I have been following the team's progress for the last 5 years. Though I am not a cricket fan, I must say I do enjoy this format of the game. The team's performance has improved over the years and last year we even reached the finals.

Some of the things I love about the current team:

• We have some super players like Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, Dan Vettori, Virat Kohli, etc who are not only talented players but very good human beings.
• Dan Vettori has no hesitation in stepping down as Captain to make way for another foreign player in the interest of the team. In the IPL, a team can field only 4 foreign players. We need Murali to bowl as he is the most economical and Dan (who is also a bowler) has stepped down for the last 2 matches.
• AB de Villiers is a true gentleman. He actually shared his man of the match award for one of the matches with a bowler. Cricket is a batsman's game and very rarely does a bowler win the award or get recognition. But AB felt he had to share the stage and thus encourage the young bowler. I thought it was truly commendable.
• AB again showed that when it matters, one can win for the side. At one of the recent matches he came in at the end and saved RCB from an impossible situation. We will be talking about that innings for a very long time. He says he did it for his charity initiative "The Battle of the Bush".
• Dilshan is a quiet man but again a great team player. Yesterday, I told him that I was rooting for him to win the Man of the Match as everytime he posts a big score, someone else gets the award for their spectacular performance. Right off the bat he responded saying that it did not matter and the only thing that mattered was that the team won. He has my respect.
• Virat Kohli is turning out to be a fantastic player and I will not be surprised if he is going to be the star of the Indian team for a very long time.
• Chris Gayle is a big man but very humble at heart. At one of the matches, one of his sixes hit a little girl in the stadium. When he heard about it, he immediately rushed to visit her at the hospital post the match. He does have a large heart.
  
  
  

  

AB de Villiers with Smita and myself

Chris Gayle and myself

 

The Bombay City Museum - a hidden gem

The Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, is Bombay's oldest museum. It was built in Victorian style and opened as The Victoria and Albert Museum. It was built for a specific purpose - to be the city museum.

Thus, its exhibits capture the life and times of the Bombay Presidency as it was so called. It has been restored by INTACH and is a real treat to visit. This Sunday I attended a free historic walk through of one of the galleries where they used maps and models to explain the history of Bombay. Interesting, fun and educative is how I would describe it.

The Bhau Daji Lad Museum

This beautiful table and screen was donated by one of the merchant prince families.

The interiors have been restored to their original design and colour.

The Star of David is in recognition of the contribution of David Sassoon

The old town map

The Bombay Castle. You can read more about it here.

The Koli - the earliest inhabitant of Bombay

The different people who made up the community of Bombay...........

.........a very diverse group............

......including people from other parts of the world.

The first mention of Bombay was in Ptolemy's The Geography where he makes mention of Heptanesia or the seven islands on the West Coast of India.

The Portuguese took over these seven islands in the 1600s and later gave them away as dowry to the British as an incentive to marry off their ugly princess the Infanta Catherine in the 1700s (or so legend has it). The British did not think much of it and in turn leased it to the East India Company for a sum of 10 pounds a year.

It was the East India company that invited people from all parts of the country and overseas to settle in Bombay within the security of the Fort and set up businesses. The underlying motive was trade and to encourage it. People obliged as they were promised religious freedom. Thus the culture of Bombay was established - a financial centre and a cosmopolitan outlook. 

Bombay - a walk down memory lane.....

Yesterday, I had the opportunity of rediscovering a little bit about my fascinating city Bombay. Smita and I had signed up for a heritage walk of the Fort area with Alisha of The Inheritage Project. Though it was a hot day to begin with, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and at the end thought it a very well spent afternoon.

Alisha was a very captivating and knowledgeable guide. And she is passionate about this fascinating city which really makes you want to enrol for more tours with her in the future. As she describes her project on her facebook page........

The Inheritage Project aims to promote active, hands-on and minds-on engagement with heritage. This mission is grounded in the belief that heritage – tangible and intangible, cultural and physical, yours, mine and ours – matters. It matters as a vital source of pride and identity, of learning and understanding, and of fun, pleasure and inspiration. By building understanding and appreciation for heritage amongst those to whom it belongs, one step and individual at a time, the Inheritage Project aspires to stimulate its preservation in the long run.

‘Inheritage’, a play on the word 'inheritance', reflects our fundamental aim of putting the individual at the centre of our activities. We believe that heritage is rendered meaningless without the people that inherit it, that understand, interpret, value, use, and eventually transmit this heritage.

The heritage walk that we had chosen was for a duration of 3 hours and started at the Asiatic Library. The Asiatic Library was built as the Town Hall on the island of Bombay where the East India Company had decided to build a Fort. Pity, that the remnants of the fort no longer exist..........but ironically the area is still referred to as Fort. Am sure not many people even know why. At least I didn't, till yesterday.

 

The Horniman Circle as it stands today, didn't exist till much later. It used to be the Cotton Green where the cotton was assembled, weighed, packed and transported. Much later, a garden was built and around it a crescent shaped set of buildings which were the first buildings to house the business district of Bombay.

 

The East India Company was quite progressive and invited people of all religions, regions and backgrounds to live within the fort area and set up their businesses. Therefore it is not surprising that Bombay has been cosmopolitan and business oriented for over 500 years.

 

We revisited sights that we had seen and probably visited in the past but were now getting to know more intimately through Alisha. St Thomas Cathedral was next on the list. It was the first Anglican church in Bombay and was built between the European quarter and Indian quarter in the Fort Area. It was built as a place of worship for the English population and was also built to attract people from other faiths so that they could be converted.

 

Post that we walked by the University, the Rajabai Tower, the High Court, the Watson Hotel, Kalaghoda, the Army Navy building, Sassoon Library, Elphinstone College, Jehangir Art Gallery, the NGMA, the Police Headquarters, Dhanraj Mahal and ending at the Gateway of India.

 

Some of the things I picked up during the tour:

• Every building has a story which makes the building most fascinating. For eg. The Asiatic Library was built in 1804 in the neo Classical style because they wanted to make a statement about the importance of Bombay.
• The Asiatic Library was originally the Town Hall and the side wings were offices of the Asiatic Society which was formed to collect and record information about the region. This was to promote learning and understanding of the people, culture and region. In the bargain it served as an archive of our past and is great reservoir of information.
• Only one of two known original copies of Dante's Divine Comedy is part of its collection. Apparently in the 1940s Mussolini had offered the society over a million dollars to buy the copy as he termed it "Italy's national treasure". To our good fortune, the society turned down the offer.
• The Fort area is known as Fort because there actually was one there.
• St Thomas Cathedral was the first Anglican church in Bombay and its tower was meant to be the highest point in the city.
• The road we now know as DN Road was actually the boundary of the fort and had walls with a moat separating it from the Esplanade.
• There were 3 gates to the Fort - Apollo Gate which is now Lion's Gate, Church Gate which is near the Flora Fountain and the Bazaar Gate which is near VT.
• Bombay Gothic is a style of architecture which is unique to Bombay. What makes it unique is the modification to the original Gothic style where in the new style they had larger windows with some verandahs which were meant to capture the cool sea breeze, the double roofing to ease the heat and the decorative motifs which are uniquely Indian in nature.
• The University and the High Courts were built in the Bombay Gothic style. They were all meant to be sea facing buildings which would impress the people arriving on the ship to a new land.
• The Gateway of India was supposed to be a gateway to the city. The architect had originally planned to demolish all the buildings in its path and create an impressive central avenue with waterways, etc. He unfortunately could not implement his idea as he ran out of funds.
• It was also known as the getaway point of India as the British troops left from there amidst great fanfare.
• The Watson Hotel is India's oldest surviving cast iron building and is unique in its own right. Much as we do not realise its importance, elsewhere in the world other heritage societies are interested in its conservation. This is because there are very few examples of such buildings in the world and we should be proud to have it in India. The entire frame and the bricks for the building were made in England and transported to India. Such a design was a precussor to the skyscrapers which would come much later.
• After Miami, Bombay has the highest number of Art Deco buildings. These were built by rich Indians who wanted to make a style statement as well as wanted to be treated with respect and equality. These Indians were educated overseas, were thinkers, merchant princes and did not want to be treated like second class citizens. Prime examples of these buildings are Eros, Metro and all the other cinema halls, Dhanraj Mahal, etc.
• The entrance to the Taj Mahal Hotel was always supposed to be where it is and not as rumour has it built incorrectly. Also the French architect did not commit suicide as is widely believed. The hotel was supposed to take advantage of the sea breeze and that is why most of the rooms are sea facing.
• If you look closely at the Taj building, you will see influences from every part of India - arches of all kinds, Hindu and Muslim influences and most surprisingly (which I confess have never noticed before) verandahs from the East Indian villages of Bombay.
• Indo-Saracenic style of architecture is again unique to India and was the British way of amalgamating Hindu and Muslim influences. They did so with no fixed method. So we have examples of such architecture which is very unique - The Gateway of India. The Indo-Saracenic architecture found in Calcutta and Madras are very different from that found in Bombay.
• The merchant princes who funded these important buildings were actually into the opium trade! Bombay was the drug capital of India.
• When Maharashtra was founded and the zealots wanted the statues of all things/people British removed, they were sent to the Bombay Zoo! I wonder. That is going to be my next stop.

As we walked through the old Fort area and listened to Alisha recount stories from yester years, one could not help feeling a barrage of emotions - pride, that Bombay used to be one of the most important cities in the world; sorrow, to see the neglect and apathy; despair, to see there is no sense of urgency to conserve our rich history and heritage for future generations; hope, to note that there are still some (like Alisha) who care and are doing their bit even if it is a drop in the ocean.

The Asiatic Library was built as the Town Hall

It was built in the Greco Roman style with Doric columns

St Thomas Cathedral

Each gravestone has its own story to tell.

Beautiful stained glass

The Flora Fountain

Rajabai Tower

The High Court

The University Convocation Hall

The Watson Hotel with its original iron grill work

The Army Navy Building which was always a department store.

The Watson Hotel (now a decrepit building) and the Rajabai tower in the distance.

The David Sassoon Library

Elphinstone College

The frieze featuring Neptune and merlions.

The Police Headquarters