Retrieved via the Wayback Machine. Originally posted by Dilip D’souzaNot even the KGAF is enough to prevent smoke shooting out of my ears - I’ve just been typing for a good 45 minutes, and some peculiar inadvertent keystroke has taken away my outpourings! It’s enough to . well, here I go again.

Akshay’s marvelous photos (those of you others too, but I was just struck by Akshay’s shots of the steel flowers and the flute seller) that are below on this page have me intimidated enough that I forgot to bring my own camera with me for my first brush with the KGAF, this Monday morning. So if this post has no fine pix of mine, blame Akshay. Got that?

I’m going to tell you about this morning in reverse order. No particular reason, except that when we got done with our Oval Heritage Walk, outside the High Court, and after I said bye to all and shook hands and turned to leave, a man passed. And this man was shouting into his cellphone loud enough to shut down the KGAF, almost. And I heard one thing he said, and I want to share it with you.

Here it comes now.

Wait for it.

Yes, just about here.

We’re just sitting here waiting for this line to roll around, is what we’re doing.

Here it really comes.

Now.

” Aisa bolta hai kya tum ?”

“That’s what you’re saying?”

Not that it was particularly profound. Just loud. My eardrums are still reverberating. I think I still hear him.

So we started our Heritage Walk in the cool shade of the Oval Maidan, opposite the University buildings and behind the BEST buses and urinals. Luckily we were far enough from that last that we couldn’t smell them, but that lacuna was rectified later in the morning. We spent several minutes with Abha giving us a quick rundown of the history of Bombay, including the dramatic part where the city was a dowry for a queen (Catherine of Braganza in case anyone’s asking, and anyway go take a look at that Portuguese town sometime).

And I was also trying hard to imagine the sea lapping at the western edge of the Oval, as it did till about a century ago. The entire land area west of there was reclaimed in the early years of the 20th, and I would give anything to be transported back to watch that happen. How many suburban hills have vanished below the art-deco Queen’s Road buildings, KC College, Nariman Point and Marine Drive?

(About now, you’re wanting to know, what about the reverse story? I was just kidding, pal! Just wanted to tell you first, the skilled journalist that I am, about that yelling man).

Art-deco. Abha informs us that Bombay is home to the second-largest collection of art-deco architecture in the world, after . well, I expected to hear Berlin or Milan or some such, but no. It’s Miami. Who would have thunk? All the more reason to go to Miami, anyone willing to send me there to go look at art-deco and bronzed bodies? (Oops, scratch that latter).

It’s interesting the visualize the layout of the imperial statement that this area was, for the British. From the steps of the Asiatic Library, one axis arrows west through Horniman Circle, Flora Fountain and out to the sea. From the Gateway, the other axis bows north past Regal, along MG Road, to Fountain, DN Road and VT. And at the intersection of these two axes is Frere Fountain, named after Sir Bartle Frere who visualized all this, only the name has been transformed first to Flora Fountain then to Hutatma Chowk.

Go figure.

A man in the group asks, how come the water over at the Parsi well (between Fountain and Churchgate) is sweet, if the sea was so close once? Nobody has an answer. But the question does make us suddenly thirsty.

And that’s how we finally give up drinking in the charm of art-deco and turn to cross the road to the University/High Court side of the street. Of that, more in a bit.