Bombay, you brought me Good Luck. Review on Mumbai

I came to Bombay in October 1968 from Delhi, and remained there till March 1970. I was working for the Agricultural Finance Corporation as the Information Specialist, and my job was in the areas of Information and Public Relations. I was bringing out a quarterly called Financing Agriculture. The Managing Director of AFC was Mr. B. Rudramoorthy. He is no more. I was staying at Azad Road, Vile Parle (East). AFC was in the Stadium House at Church Gate. Just in front of the Station. Daily I was taking the Electric Train from Vile Parle to Church Gate. Just 30 minutes. Coming from Delhi, where everything was chaotic, I found Bombay to be a disciplined city. No problem in boarding a Bus. The line is there. You won’t have to rush. Another attraction of Bombay was the Dabbawallahs. They give you home cooked lunch in your Office, and the system they follow has never failed. It is worth making a study.

The Victoria Terminus Station is modelled after the Victoria Station of London. Dadar is a very busy station. People commute from long distances. Once from our Ground Floor Flat at Azad Road, I lost all my dresses. Someone took them through a hook, as they were kept near a window facing the Railway line. I had almost nothing to wear. Despite this unfortunate experience, I like Bombay. AFC evolved a scheme of housing assistance to its staff members. I was about to buy a Flat at Borivli, as I had got a loan from my office. Everything was finalised. Soon came a Cable from Paris offering me a UNESCO assignment in Indonesia. I returned the AFC loan with thanks. I was very close to the Films Division through my close friend Pramod Pati, who was the Deputy Chief Producer of FD. We were staying very close to the Airport at Santa Cruz. I used to go there with my family to see how an Air India Plane gets ready for a flight. It takes about two hours. Once there we had met Raj Kapoor and his wife Krishna. In real life Raj was a different man. When Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, the Frontier Gandhi had come to Bombay, we wanted to go to the Airport. It was 4 in the morning. We were standing in front of our Flat to take a chance whether a Taxi would be available. I saw a Police Van coming, and signalled it to stop. The Driver in uniform got down, came to me, and gave me a big salute, and told me ’’ Sir, at this hour ? And in civil dress ?’’ I just entered the Van with my family, and we reached the Airport, when the Air India plane landed. There was the Frontier Gandhi. Later on I discovered that I resembled 99 per cent Mr. Kulkarni, who was then the Deputy Commissioner of Police. My cousin Prafulla Kanungo, IPS, who was then a SP in Bombay had told me this. Funny. Isn’t it ?

I have been to Bombay many times since then; my last visit was in 2000. Bombay has changed a lot. Its name is now Mumbai, and it has a different look. On 29 March 1970, I flew to Paris to join UNESCO, and eventually went to my duty station in Indonesia in June that year. Life took a different turn. It is Bombay, which brought me Good Luck.