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It is a long road from Bandra to downtown Bombay. As I head towards the huge junction right by the Mahim church, my driver Atul would invariably ask me, “Sirji, inside road?” To be fair, he is now accustomed to the tone, inflections and pitches of my voice such that he knows the answer intuitively. A simple nod or “Hahn…” later, he veers left towards Tulsi Pipe road. I have no clue as to the origins of the name, but it is quite an experience…one that I have become quite accustomed to as I head into town for work and or to meet friends.

I am of course assuming here that the entire stretch from Mahim through to Mahalaxmi is referred to as Tulsi Pipe. At any rate, one must view this road in easily digestible chunks or morsels. Morsel number one…

Mahim and the railway tracks

Easily the most colorful. You hook left at the Mahim church and head away from the Mahim Bay. That short stretch of road towards the railway tracks feels like the Herbie movies, where the little Beetle darts in and out of traffic. Well, you’re always dodging people, cars, bikes, trucks and what have you, but sadly, one never gets to go zip, zig or zag as fast as Herbie. I’m always amazed at how Bombay’s sundry drivers seem to avoid major accidents…the constant dance of pedestrians ducking, bobbing, weaving and darting through gaps in traffic in the proud tradition of the Frogger game. But ‘Frogger’ nearly got his handed to him in one instance that I was able to witness. Actually, it happened right next to me as the car was purring at the traffic light. I hear a thud to my left, look over and see a 20-something dude picking himself up from the street. He dusts himself off and starts looking for his missing sandal in a daze. Meanwhile, the biker who has either hit him full bore or who couldn’t break in time or swerve to avoid would be Frogger, is positioned right in front of my window, and he and his pillion rider are staring at Frogger. Frogger stares back as he collects his orphaned sandal. I’m expecting confrontation, a stare down, a death match, anything. Instead, all 3 and various spectators say and do nothing by which time the light has turned green and we all proceed. It’s as if Frogger was relieved to be unhurt, and everyone shrugged it off.

You turn right at the traffic light and head South and this is the fun part. You get the first brief glimpse of the railway tracks of the Western line before you hit Tulsi Pipe road. I’d like to say this was Bombay at its starkest, but lets be honest, I live in a bubble relatively. The left side of the road is lined with makeshift to pukka dwellings. Most have corrugated tin sheets for roofing, cloth and plastic drapes provide ‘waterproofing’, and are at most 2×2 square for entire families. Not that I’ve ever gotten a look inside or measured, but awfully small. People live virtually on the streets given the shortage of living space. Privacy, yeah right, in your next life!!! On any given day, some things differ, but mostly the same. The last time I drove past, a family of what appeared to 6 were sitting in front of their shack surrounded by ditches courtesy of the PWD.

More morsels to come…

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