Traversing the busy lanes of Girgaun in the heart of the city, I took a slight
detour to one of the narrow gullies, not knowing where it leads to and I was in
for a very pleasant surprise. What unfolded before my eyes was something unlike
Mumbai – far away from the reaches of a metropolis and deep rooted in the thick
of it. Khotachiwadi is a heritage village in south Mumbai, around which the
city has grown to its present magnificence. Though it appears to be a misfit to
the cosmopolitan countenance of the megalopolis, it is a testimony to the
generous ability of Mumbai to give its people the liberty to choose and shape
their own place and environment.
This
19th century settlement was founded by Mr. Khot, after whom it is named,
who was the landlord who leased these plots to the early settlers in the area.
It was first inhabited by the city’s east-Indian Christians who are believed to
have worked for the East India Company and hence got the name. Most of these
people had a mix of Indian and Portuguese origins, as a result of which,
Khotachiwadi looks like a forgotten piece of Portugal with its quaint old
houses, trellised balconies and latticed windows. In the recent past, many
Gujarati and Marwari families have also moved into the area.
It’s a labyrinth of small narrow lanes wandering
off the main road into the belly of the city. Once you enter it feels like a
different world – so much away from the hustle and bustle of fast-paced city
life and completely not invaded by traffic, which seems a utopian wish in a
city like Mumbai. The houses are made of wood, with a large open front
verandah, a back courtyard and an external staircase to access the top bedroom.
Earlier, there used to be 65 of these houses and the number has now reduced to
only 28, as old buildings are being pulled down to make way for new skyscrapers
to accommodate the ever swelling population of the city.
Particularly, the charming architecture of the village has won the
attention of many urban heritage conservation initiatives. Most of the people
are attracted to its distinctive low-rise, high-density landscape showcasing a
variety of individual homes, chawls
and apartment buildings in bright colours that reveal Indo-Portuguese
flourishes, port-town styles off the western coast and modernist decor touches. But
it is indeed limited to talk of the place only in terms of its architectural
and historical uniqueness. It is also the intimate involvement of the residents
in times of emergencies that makes the place so special. As of the residents,
Shirley, puts it firmly that “I have been living here for the past 40 years and
what keeps me attached to this place is the generosity and warmheartedness of
the people. In times of need, we are there for each other.”
There every house has an engaging tale to tell of its existence and of the
generations of families who have lived in this neighborhood The community is
passionately involved in its present and future as for them the place is
stretched between communitarian nostalgia and the aspirations of its younger
generations. One has to run through the history lessons of the city in order to
understand the significance and the status Khotachiwadi holds within the
metropolis of Mumbai. The area comprises
most of the layers of social and cultural changes that have transformed the
face of the city through the last five centuries. It’s lanes, family names,
architectural forms, social, cultural and culinary traditions continue to
perpetuate the customs and habits from days that have long gone. Tracing the
history of the place and of its people requires approaching it from different
perspectives. It’s like catching a glimpse of the evolution of an incrementally
built city, generation after generation.
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