Mazagaon Pier-for boarding T.S.Dufferin

MAZAGAON PIER REVISITED

All ex cadets will recall that famous address :
T.S.DUFFERIN, Off Mazagaon Pier, Mazagaon Pier Bombay 10, where our alma Mater was moored and will recall:  

A group of youth- July 1963, Boarding at the pier,  anxious but with keen anticipation.Settling in....

DUFFERIN JOINING--Some recalls of 1963-

Assembly at Mazagaon pier July 1963 , First day arrival..on board. Instructions and Seniors advance party & introductionj to Daily Routine-- to Clean ship & Holystone, Soft soap soda and wash bulkheads , Brasswork polish- oily waste dry waste and Bathbrick powder, PT Exercise in Gym Rig with the PTI with star jumps. Bath &Change under a leaky tap-trickle and esp the Open primitive "Toilets" of a former Troopship !! The various Uniforms -we had about 7 rigs &   more.. Diningroom - culture - Fall in Bugle- Pipers &Calls -Class room & school hours  9.30 to 4pm was a study time and to me a relief ..PHEW --Then the arrival of the Senior  cadets 2 days later  ( some were Aliens from Planet Mars...a few  "Warlike")..some really good -helpful-

That was a start--to 2 years on the T.S.Dufferin--

Dufferin and Mazagaon area -was our home really  for 2 years--from then onwards-

Later----Shore leave on alternate sundays -leave was always in Uniform and the heavy Rain coats in the SW monsoon weather -The launch "Dorothy" and  the motor Cutter Flagged off to leave to the pier at about 9.30 am "Boats away"-after attendance and inspectionm was a much awaited signal by all- Spend a day in the city as we wished.

Boarding the train at Dockyard Rd Station to Matunga ; Or R 43 Bus to Matunga to the home of the late Bhaskar & Mira Nirodys home (local Guardian) for me. Bless their kind souls.Or on alternate to a school days friend at Colaba .Later, just spend time in the city -Matinee show-Seafarers Club- Walk around and see the city.

By 7pm we had to return to Mazagaon - Some who had cash would buy a Soft drink .. some snacks after shore leave when returning. For most of us, stop to purchase essential toiletry  items like -soap, toothpaste etc. at a shop near the Mazagaon  bridge entering the pier road.  

Mazagaon was more than just a place for us-- as this location was even used for Navigation practicals viz. Taking sextant angles of a coconut tree on Mazagaon hill was also a great idea then- 

Mazagaon became our Stop -our anchorage for the next 2 years  -less the leave period, when we went home. We now take a look at  the historical background too:

This great  pier deserves  our Salute- and now we will take a look into the history of Mazagaon in this blog post from various sources.

Salutation - Bombay,  Mazagaon and T.S. DUFFERIN 

With Respects

TR

From various historical sources -ackdwith thanks-

1) The word Mazagaon has been derived from the Sanskrit "Matsya Gram", meaning fishing village. However, folk etymology derives it from the Marathi Maza Gaon, meaning my village.The Mazagaon Fort was a British fort , built around 1680. The fort was razed by the Siddi general Yakut Khan , in June 1690. The fort was located at the present-day Joseph Baptista Gardens, atop Bhandarwada Hill outside the Dockyard  railway station.

2) From another source

Joseph Baptista Garden / Mazagon Hill / Mazagon Fort (Mumbai City) was  built as a public municipal garden around a reservoir atop of the Mazagon Hill. It was named after an Indian freedom fighter "Kaka" Joseph Baptista. The Garden is not as well known as the similar but larger "Hanging Garden" (Kamla Nehru Park), but provides a vantage view of the city, particularly the off-limit docks on the east side.

3) HistoryAfter the British arrived in Bombay in the 1660s, they selected Bhandarwala hill, a basalt rocky outcrop as a site for the Mazagon Fort, that was built in 1680. However, the fort was completely razed by Siddi ruler Yakut Khan after which he withdrew his siege on the orders of the Mughal emperor, Aurangzeb.
.

4) ORIGIN -http://theory.tifr.res.in/bombay/physical/geo/mazagaon.html

One of Mazagaon's oldest claims to fame was a variety of mango trees which fruited twice a year. Apparently a few such trees were extant well into the twentieth century. The small island was rocky, with a hill rising at the north, and forming a cliff over the harbour. To see what Mazagaon might once have been, one has to visit any of the tiny rocky islands bearing mango trees and small villages further down the Konkan coast.

The first Portuguese settlers were the Jesuits, who established a church sometime in the sixteenth century. Notwithstanding their claim, in 1572 the King of Portugal granted the island in perpetuity to the de Souza e Lima family, from whom the D'Souzas of Bombay trace their descent. When the Portuguese ceded the island to the British, there was a well established population of Roman Catholics, mainly fishermen. Most were Hindu converts, although Eurasians were not uncommon. Some black African slaves brought by the Portuguese, known as Kaffirs had also entered the ethnic mix. Some of their traditional wooden houses can still be seen, and are now protected heritage structures.

The original Gloria church, Nossa Senhora de Gloria, was built in 1632 from a donation by the de Souza family. It was destroyed in 1911, and two years later a new, standard issue Gothic, church of the same name was built a kilometer away.

4B) Mazagaon was occupied by the Sidi of Janjira, an admiral in the Mughal navy in 1690. It is said that he was driven away a year later by the Rustomji Dorabji, who organised the fishermen in Dongri into a fleet. Rustomji was given the title Patel after this feat, and his descendants remain the only Parsi family of Patels till now.

5) At the end of the seventeenth century, Mazagaon became an outlying suburb of Bombay and a fashionable place to live in. One of the famous houses was the neo-classical Tarala, built by a member of the Wadia family in the late eighteenth century. Sold to the Jeejeebhoy family about a century later, it became the Sadar Adalat in 1925, when they moved out to Malabar Hill. Later still it was taken over by the army, and then donated to the J J Hospital  in 1943 after a fire. It was used as a staff hostel for a few years before it was demolished.

6) Other bungalows and plantations also grew up in Mazagaon as the British and the more affluent Indians moved out of the crowded fort. When the Esplanade was cleared in the fort area   the armoury moved from Bombay Castle to Mazagaon in 1760 and gave its name to Gunpowder Lane.

7) In 1790 the docks at Mazagaon were completed. In 1793, after the construction of the Hornby Vellard, the Bellasis Road was built to join Mazagaon and Malabar Hill.

The next century saw a slow decline in Mazagaon's fortunes, as the neighbouring Bycullah became the fashionable suburb, and people began moving out. The process accelerated after the docks were reclaimed in the last thirty years of the century on the eastern shore of Mazagaon. Mazagaon was left landlocked, and the fumes from the developing mills drove the last money out of this area.

In the twentieth century, Mazagaon has become a working class area, deep within the crowded heart of the city. There is a large Catholic population still living here, although the Muslim population of neighbouring Umarkhadi and Mandvi has spread northward.

8.References

http://envis.maharashtra.gov.in/envis_data/?q=EvolutionOfMumbai_IslandEnvironmentToUrbanEnvironment

9. Dr. Buist wrote in 1851 that Bombay Island for most part rose in to round or nearly flat topped hills varying in height from 100 to 1000 ft. At that time there existed a belt of Coconut trees adoring the Shores of Bombay having within it an infinite variety of Woodland, Mountain, Lake and River Scenery every where. According to him Bombay island scarcely surpassed in picturesqueness and beauty anywhere in the world. Within one hundred years there is a tremendous change in Bombay. Many of the hills like Mazagaon hill (150 ft.) Chinchpokli Hill (150 ft.). Matunga Hill, Tardeo Hill has vanished from Bombay's topography. Even the hills like Malbar Hill, Worli Hill do not look like hills now. Most of the hills in Greater Bombay have already been digested by our greed for more land and for housing industry & other activities.

10) Must see ---Old photos view of Bombay, From Mazagon Hill.and other views of Bombay -18th ,19th century

http://oldphotosbombay.blogspot.in/2012/07/view-of-bombay-from-mazagon-hill.html

Plate one from J M Gonsalves' "Views at Bombay". Mazagon hill was an outlying suburb of Bombay and became a fashionable place to live in the 18th century. Bungalows and plantation houses were built by the British and more affluent Indians moving out of the crowded fort area. During the 19th century, Mazagon experienced a decline as residents moved into the fashionable Bycullah area nearby. The docks were reclaimed towards the end of the century and Mazagon was left landlocked; eventually the fumes from the developing mills drove out any remaining affluent residents.

With rgds

TR