KNOWING KURLA

Cities grow, get gentrified and change as do meanings, values and people but they don’t get undone. They remain in a passing, slightly frayed, fragile and imperfect form as reminders of our past and its acceptance in the present. Kurla Village occupies that place.

 Kurla, unlike its fairly gentrified kin – Bandra, is not on a regular tourist map. Its villages, Culbavour and Hul, share the same visual language as Ranwar or Chuim, but there is little or no reason for outsiders to enter them. They remain hidden. A lot has to do with how Kurla is measured on the city map - by its proximity to Bandra Kurla Complex and more recently, to Phoenix Market City. The buck usually stops there

PADROADO JURISDICTION

Kurla, the name, comes from ‘kurli’ crab found aplenty in the marshes around the village. It came under the Portuguese after the Treaty of Bassein was signed in 1534 and remained under them until the British, finally, occupied Salsette in 1774. Interestingly, even though the British gained control over the islands after the matrimonial alliance between Charles II and the Portuguese princess, Catherine of Braganza in 1662, Salsette continue to be under the Portuguese

In keeping with the Portuguese vision of pepper and souls, Pope granted the King of Portugal right of patronage over the churches he would establish in the East. It was a faculty granted to the king to nominate bishops to carry on the work of converting the heathen into Roman Catholics. Salsette and Bassein came under the Padroado jurisdiction, manned by the clergy in Goa.

HOLY CROSS CHURCH

St. Francis Xavier, Apostle to the Indies (1548) recommended a church to be built at Kurla in a letter addressed to the King of Portugal, petitioning a land grant at Kurla. The Jesuits came into Bandra and Kurla in 1573 and the Holy Cross Church was built in 1580.

The Church has a distinctive Portuguese style façade and anchors the East Indian Community of Kurla. They congregate here for the Aguera or blessing of Paddy festival, for feasts, fairs, weddings, baptisms and of course Sunday mass. It is also the venue of the annual feast of Phool Dongri Cross. It is believed that the heritage cross stood on a hillock, half a kilometer from Holy Cross Church and once the hillock was razed the Phool Dongri Cross and its celebration, was shifted to the church compound.

TIED BY THE BOTTLE

The villages of Kurla – Hul, Culbavour, Naupada and Kurla Christian village share a syncretic cultural bond with the other East Indian villages of Mumbai who continue to hold on to their pre-Christian traditions while absorbing the foreign one. We are talking about the fishermen (koli), farmers (kunbi) and salt makers who inhabited these villages. We are talking of a common visual language – houses made of wood, open verandahs, overhanging balconies, latticed staircases, Mangalore tiles, haphazard streets opening into little squares which doubled up as places for a chinwag or drying spices, carnivals and novenas. We are also talking about the sorpatel, vindaloo, moile, fugias (East Indian bread), Balchow, Recheado paste used for stuffing the meats, drinks like Khimaad or Maria Branca (Toddy) and of course, the famous Bottle Masala 

Bottle Masala is a flavour born of a cultural admixing. Interestingly, no two families agree on the ingredients but some like chillies, wheat, khus, turmeric, coriander seeds, cinnamon and cloves remain a constant. Made in the hottest, driest days before the monsoon, womenfolk sitting and pounding the masala in the village squares was a common sight. Now, the pounding is outsourced too. The process takes 3 or 4 days and once ready, it is stored in coloured, mostly beer bottles, to protect it from harsh sunlight. It is a must have in every home. The number of ingredients, shrouded in mystery, only add to its intrigue as it connects the villages across the Mumbai map.

GROWTH

Kurla or Coorla, as it was spelt until the 1890s was a major Railway station between Bombay & Thane on the Great India Peninsula Railway. When the GIPR electrification of Harbour line was undertaken, Kurla car and railway shed was created.  Later, the first electric train to run in Asia between CST and Coorla in 1925, was maintained at this shed.

Stone quarries of Kurla provided material for the construction of GPO, Prince of Wales Museum (CSMVS) and other important heritage buildings.

It was an outlier to the main mill zone. A relatively cheaper land value and proximity to water enabled Industrial growth. It converted into an automobile industrial zone with the Premier Automobiles assembly plant in the 50s. The iconic Premier Padmini car was also built at Kurla from 1964 until the plant closed down in 1997.

Kohinoor planet, eyed the property and acquired it to develop an integrated township, Kohinoor city and further expand the project with value adds like school, retail/ commercial space. Phoenix Market City has been a relatively new addition.

Somewhere between all the construction, the pocket grew, far from its village life. The good part – they still exist, hemmed by development on all sides. The best part – the culture has not been obliterated and you only need to walk into the by-lanes to know more.

Our walk - Knowing Kurla, does exactly that!

MORE ON KNOWING KURLA

https://www.mid-day.com/mumbai-guide/things-to-do/article/putting-kurla-on-the-map-19823165

REFERENCES:

https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/ysAFQl56s5DgGbbXdCUAuI/The-Mumbai-neighbourhood-nobody-visits.html

https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/twin-kurla-villages-where-age-old-traditions-still-thrive/

https://www.east-indians.net/Kurla.htm

East Indian Memory Co.

The Making of Mumbai, A History of the metropolis and its Catholic Past

Bombay East Indians Cookbook

WANDERING IN WORLI

The kolis were here first.

It is an oft-repeated sentence in books, conversations, lectures and studies that revolve around Mumbai history. They might have been pushed to the edges but the kolis continue, as do their koliwadas or fishing villages, holding on to a way of life despite the odds stacked against them.

Amongst others, Worli Koliwada is perhaps the most visible, jutting out as a narrow strip of land, with cars zipping past it on the Bandra Worli Sea Link. And naturally, the most locally bypassed. Yet, it makes it presence felt. The Fort, rising from the cluster of colourful houses, the blue, orange and white boats dotting the sea, with bhagwa flags and the waves dashing against the rocks do catch the eye. More than five hundred years old, Worli Koliwada is a poignant reminder of a unique cultural identity of the Koli community - their personal, shared, living and fishing space.

It is believed that fishermen moved up and down the western coast of India never really settling at any place but in the 12th Century when King Pratapbimb established his formal kingdom Mahikawati (Mahim), he invited sixty-six kulas or tribes to become part of his new kingdom and kolis were one of them. The very first into the fold of Worli Koliwada were the nine Patil brothers. They. in turn, invited others from their tribe and the village grew.

The original inhabitants of this growing fishing village are the Son Kolis, who have the highest status among kolis. The name ‘son’ comes from golden or yellow of the turmeric sacred to Khandoba, the family god of the kolis. Sharing space with the Son kolis are the Mahadev kolis, the first koli migrants into this microculture and the Christian Kolis, who converted to Christianity under the Portuguese.  Interestingly, the Christian Kolis retained some of their pre-christian traditions, mixing it with their acquired identity – one encounters this ad- mixing at the Mother Mary grotto, right at the entrance of the village. Mother Mary is dressed in a bright saree and gold jewellery like the kolins with marigold garlands hung as offerings. Fusion much?

That is not where it ends, little grottos of Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus dot the area and at the lands end, next to Vetal Deo Temple, stands a small church with the idol of Jesus placed on a small fishing boat, in keeping with the fishing tradition of the koliwada. It is here that the Christian Kolis hold a mass to mark the beginning of the fishing season. “The day” that marks the new business is celebrated as Narali Punaw or Purnima by all kolis. On this day, the fishermen offer coconut to the sea to appease the sea & wind gods for a good fishing season. The coconuts are decorated and taken in processions led by songas (people in fancy dress) followed by vajantri (people who play musical instruments) and people with offerings. The Police Patil or the headman enters the sea first until water reaches his waist and immerses a coconut. Everyone follows. The other important festival celebrated here is shimga or Holi.

Celebrations are aplenty whether it be singing or dancing at the launch or return of boats at the bandar, purchase of a new boat, betrothal ceremony or shakarpura, naming ceremony, wedding or religious ones like the Mahashivratri and Shravan at the Mahadeo temple or the Golpha Devi festival.

 Golpha Devi is the tutelary goddess of the Son kolis of Worli. No auspicious task, personal or community related is carried out without invoking her through a ritual known as the ‘kaul’. It is almost like seeking out the goddess to ‘take a call’ on pending decisions. The kaul involves the temple priest placing two flower buds to the right and the left of the idol and interpreting it as a good or a bad omen, depending on which bud falls first. The Golpha Devi temple houses the idols of Golpha Devi, Harna Devi and Sakba Devi, carved in stone. However, since a lot less kolis go out fishing and the younger walk out of the village to jobs unrelated to fishing, the kauls have reduced. The Golpha Devi festival has also reduced from a 3-day to an overnight festival. One temple’s loss in kauls is another’s gain in footfalls. The Mahadev temple, established in 1904, has since attracted more people as it has become a site not just for worship but also programmes like yoga, reading from scriptures, meditation, music etc which a lot of youngsters gravitate towards.

 Besides shared rites, rituals and authentic food served in patravali, the narrow zigzag lanes and steps running through the koliwada connect people, opening out into small squares at regular intervals. Hang out spaces, fish drying spaces, cricket field, gossip or wedding venue; the squares transform themselves according to need. While on the subject of wedding, it is imperative to mention that Son kolis are endogamous and there have been instances when kolis who married outside the community have been excommunicated - perhaps not the case any longer but marry they must. In fact, if you have wondered where the kolins, known to be aggressive and quarrelsome, get their voice from, it is thanks to their culture. The women have a position of power in a koli household since they bring the kurga or daily earning into the household. Men fish (and drink!), women sell the catch. She is an economically productive member of the family and in keeping with that they follow the custom of Bride price. Though Bride Price is not practised in Hindu culture per se, here it is proposed and solemnised in the presence of the Patil and elders of both the families during the shakarpura or bethrotal ceremony. If a koli is unable to pay a bride price he is either restricted in his selection of a partner or remains a bachelor - latter being unacceptable as his occupation demands a wife. The Christians kolis have an option of embracing religious vocation, if they don’t marry.

 Colourful and loud, the houses of the kolis of Worli koliwada reflect their lives. Purple, yellow, mustard, blue, orange, depending on the choice of the residents are the houses form a distinctive visual language. Inside, with the exception of new constructions, most houses have a small oti (verandah), chool (kitchen space), a common room and a devghar or temple space. It is said the most curious feature of some of the Son koli is the tradition of dressing up a corpse, placing it in a sitting position, photographing them and later, hanging the picture on their walls. If one takes a peep into some houses, you might see the pictures of old people – dead or alive, one cannot say!

There are periods of activity and inactivity, of people flitting in and out, songs, celebrations and then there is business, helmed by the Nakhwa Sangha, a kind of cooperative that facilitates the purchase of diesel and ice in bulk, oil subsidies by the Government and loan schemes for the fisher-folk. It acts as an intermediary. Even though they have a system of domestic business cycle in place, it is fraught with trouble. This is the grey that the fisher folk face.

First, there is the problem of the foreign trawlers that take up 75% of their catch and despite repeated protests their licences have not been cancelled by the government. Second, due to incessant development, the breeding grounds of fishes like the mangroves have been compromised. Third, because Worli Koliwada occupies prime real estate in central Mumbai, there has been an influx of tenants, ‘outsiders’ who do not understand the culture and festivities. If the kolis resist there is a chance that tenants might leave, depriving them of much needed rental income. Fourth, is stiff competition from male migrants, who go door-to-door selling fish. Fifth, trash finds its way to the shores of Koliwada. Of course, there is two month suspension of fishing during peak monsoon, June 15 to August 15 each year by the Coast Guard legislative act of 1981-82. Though it is for safety and the fishermen use this time to repair nets, boats and prepare for the next season, it gets very difficult for small time fisher-folk to maintain a good living by dried fish! And finally, there is the matter of instilling pride in the youngsters, who no longer live by fishing, so the culture doesn’t die out but stays and grows.

From the ‘conserved’ (read badly painted) Worli Fort, built by the British in 1675 as a lookout for enemy ships and pirates, Bandra on one side, Worli on the other, Bandra Worli Sea link along, the village behind and the sea on three sides - all seem to be in conversation with each other. Though Bandra Worli Sea link has become a lifeline for commuters in Mumbai it acts as a visual boundary for the kolis of Worli koliwada. It has reduced catch, changed fish patterns and broken sea currents. The proposed coastal road (stalled at the moment) threatened the same or worse –submerging a socio-economic and cultural identity of the vulnerable, bringing ease and prosperity to others.

 The village will continue to hold on… if we know and if we care not just when it features in a Coldplay or Beyonce song or is part of Film backdrop or song or dance sequence - often stereotyping the kolins in nauwaris with baskets on their heads!

 To enter Worli Koliwada is to leave the city behind. To dismiss this unique koli ethos as a ‘slum’ – ignorance!

Our ‘Wandering in Worli’ walk. Banner, Vaydehi Khandelwal

About the Walk

We, at Beyond Bombay, conceptualised this walk in 2010 and ran it for the first time in the pre-monsoon month of May '2011. The idea behind this walk was to take a dive into this locally bypassed pocket and let a heady mix of history, stories, mythology, folklore, music and other fishy tales unfurl different facets of Worli Koliwada.

The article is just a scratch, a hook that hopes more people will wander down this micro -culture and take in what it has to offer.

NOTE:

The article first appeared on GaonConnection in 2020: https://en.gaonconnection.com/tag/kolis-of-worli-koliwada/

For main nodes of the walk and more info follow this from May 2011:

https://www.mid-day.com/articles/worli-see-link/122407

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet..."
                                                  -Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene II

When Juliet says it in Shakespeare’s tragedy Romeo & Juliet, she’s saying that changing what something is called doesn’t change what it inherently is

In a poetic world, it is beautiful. In terms of cities, names take on meanings and become part of its people’s identities. When a city changes names, it assumes the identity of the ruler or the politics of its time. It is no wonder then cities like Mumbai and Delhi, that have changed hands multiple times have assumed different names at different points in history.

The first historical reference to the city we call Mumbai today was given by Ptolemy in 150 BCE. He plotted a cluster of seven islands and called it Heptanesia. This cluster assumed a different identity with the Portuguese sailing into its deep natural harbour in 1508 and calling it Bom Bahia or good bay. They even referred to it as a ilha da boa vida or island of good life. Their ambition did not extend beyond the good life and avowed aim, buscar Christaos e especiaria – to seek Christians and spices. The English received it as part of Charles II’s marriage contract with the Portuguese princess, Catherine of Braganza in 1662. It is said that since she was never to bear a child, it was the sole enduring advantage to accrue to Britain from the marriage. Well, as awful that sounds it did work to an “advantage” not directly for Charles but The East India Company. They always had designs on Bombay but when the Portuguese began making unofficial overtures to buy back the islands from Charles II, The East India Company decided to acquire it for themselves. The King, uninterested in his distant land and chronically short of money agreed to hand it over to them in exchange for a loan of 50,000 pounds repayable at 6 percent interest and a yearly rent of 10 Pounds. 

The agreement was signed in May 1668 making The East India Company ‘the true and absolute Lords and Proprietors of the Fort and the Island…’. Under the English Bom Bahia got anglicised to Bombay, and continued after the English left.

From ‘the city, which by God’s assistance is intended to be built.’ (Gerald Aungier, 1672) to Urbs Prima in Indis, port city, maximum city, fairy-tale city to a city of dreams, movement, films, sounds, smells, colours, and ethnicities – Bombay acquired meaning. Its muchness palpable on streets, in claustrophobia of structures, packed restaurants, packed dabbas, film sets, outside film-star homes, by the sea, under a tree, at bus stops, in trains, on platforms, hotels, pocket sized parks, swanky apartments, old pakhdis, vague parties, inane meetings and even books. It became an identifying emotion.

Then, came the name, Mumbai. It wasn’t new; it just wasn’t in use. It was the name the kolis, the original inhabitants of the islands, called the islands after their patron goddess Mumba, also referred to as Mumba-aai (aai: mother in Marathi). Legend has it that a cruel giant, Mumbarka plundered the islands for fun, disrupting the life of the kolis. Petrified the city dwellers sought guidance from Brahma and he created a goddess with eight arms who slayed Mumbarka. The goddess was called Mumba.

With Shiv Sena coming to power in 1995, came the ‘need’ to discard associations with the Colonial past and usher in a strong ‘Marathi identity’. Bombay became Mumbai. Federal agencies, businesses, newspapers and people were ordered to adopt the change.  And that was that.

Easier to change on paper than on the tongue for when you have hung out with the name for so long, its difficult to let it go. That’s why, perhaps, one still hears ‘Mumbai is a city, Bombay is an emotion.’

To be continued…(Delhi names)

Books Referenced:

Gillian Tindall, City of Gold.

Sharada Dwivedi. Bombay:The Cities Within

Prashant Kidambi, Bombay before Mumbai

Rahul Mehrotra & Sharada Dwivedi, Fort Walks: Around Bombay’s Fort Area

Pauline Rohatgi, Pheroza Godrej, Bombay to Mumbai: Changing Perspectives