Tales From Bombay
Unusual stories from the last 300 years
Hello reader,
Hope you enjoyed last week’s piece- I was glad to receive feedback from many of you.
I always promote the idea of learning about our past, as I did in the recent Independence Day special. There are many reasons to learn from things that have happened, so we may become more informed and mature in our worldview.
But sometimes, one must look beyond practical considerations and read about the past just for the sake of it. Just because it’s fun and not because it’ll make you 5x smarter or increase your chances of cracking UPSC by 2%.
The past is nothing but a story, and stories are fun to read. There’s so much pleasure to be derived by considering history as just a fun, eventful tale (and often an unconscious piece of creative fiction produced by historians).
We may never know what’s objectively true- so sometimes it’s okay to not get so uptight, lose our shit over those Newshour debates and just enjoy the history books for what they are: fun, little stories.
Having relished many of these narratives, I recently turned to the story of the city I happen to live in. But instead of giving you a linear narrative of how this land got built and which ruler did what kind of crap, let me just write about 5 interesting things I learned while exploring Mumbai’s past:
Origin: Far from the scintillating metropolis that it is today, Bombay originally was an uninhabitable swampland- a stinking bog that the British tried hard to turn into a city where trade could flourish and work could attract people from all over. But how did the Britsh get control of this weird landmass? It may sound like a piece of fake news on your extended family group- but King Charles II actually received it as a dowry gift from the father of his Portuguese bride! That surely must be the most insane wedding gift in the history of this practice. The Brits tried their best to tame this wild land and paid dearly with thousands of lives as people would regularly succumb to malaria, thanks to the mosquito infestation that was a hallmark of this land. I bet you didn’t imagine that this most sparkling of cities started out as a hellscape of death.
The Parsis of Bombay: The British may have been masters of the city but there was another class of people who ascended to the very top of early Bombay society- the Parsis. One has to wonder how such a small community came to exert such a dominant presence in the city over the last few centuries. Globally, there may not be more than 2 Lakh people from this community- but it is because of this tininess, not despite it, that the Parsis have flourished. For them, preservation of the race was important and has guided their entrepreneurial efforts to identify opportunities, build businesses, and remain relevant. The rapid adoption of print technology while others shunned it represents one such instance of moving with the times. While many saw them as British collaborators, they also invested major sums of their wealth in charitable and philanthropic works throughout the city. The JJ School of Art, JJ Hospital, and Cowasji Jehangir Hall are all products of this drive to contribute to society through donations, while also advancing their own social position. Many of us have heard of these institutions but don’t know that JJ stands for Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy- one of the most successful Parsi businessmen from Bombay. Interestingly, he made his money through the lucrative Opium trade with China!
European social life: Europeans comprised of 1% of the city’s population in the interwar years of the 20th Century. It was mostly people aged 20-40 who would try and get out soon because they just couldn’t handle the goddamn heat. Ah, some things never change. But when they did hang around, they ensured that they’d have a blast. The whites had a hectic social life, quite like the SoBo hipster who parties like his dad is a trillionaire. This meant that the city was always abuzz with elaborate parties at clubs, Hollywood movies at theatres, and evenings filled with jazz music at posh hotels like the Taj. Most clubs wouldn’t accept Indian guests. Lord Willingdon was unable to secure entry into a club even for a maharaja, which is why he ended up starting a club in his own name that would allow open access to all (assuming you came from “polished” society, of course). Sports were a big thing too. The British considered themselves the epitome of masculinity and sought to preserve it by engaging in hunting, horse racing, and cricket.
Theatre scenes: The city saw its first theatre- the Bombay Theatre- open up at Fort in 1775. Interestingly, it was a government-funded project because it seemed like a fair idea to invest in entertainment for the public. It attracted the who’s who of Bombay (i.e. the Britishers and their Indian collaborators) and was seen as emblematic of the refinement and taste of the city’s gentry. These theatres were social spaces that reflected sharp class lines- the seating was organized in order of people’s worth and standing, with government officials and elites occupying the front rows. The tedious, behind-the-scenes work that went into the productions was all handled by Indians, and even if the performances were shoddy and vulgar, the newspapers were quick to blame it on the local workers while praising the (British) actors for their splendid performances. The theatre was also a symbol of colonialism, reflective of the power structures of imperialism.
Sex and the city: Many today have heard of Kamathipura, the city’s (in)famous red light area. But the thriving sex trade isn’t new, and its origin goes back to 1795 after the 7 islands of the city got connected. Right from the beginning, it was a hot destination, and the inflow of sex workers from Europe increased drastically after the building of the Suez Canal! Sailors from all over the world would make Kamathipura their first destination the moment they came ashore. Heck, even the government put in place arrangements to take them to this place along with official doctors to help white prostitutes. Racism reigned supreme, for the same treatment was never offered to Indian sex workers. Quite the opposite actually- their rights were ignored and even instances of crime and brutality against them went unaddressed as the city police favored the white workers over the ‘natives’.
This article was written with the help of notes I’d taken while reading Bombay Before Mumbai. It’s a dry and academic read, so try finding some other books if you’re interested in reading about the rich history of this enigmatic city.
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Loved this! More on Bombay history please.