Walk with me through Tara Baug,” he wrote. I accepted, as I sometimes do when readers proactively extend invitations to exciting destinations. Barring occasional mention in regional papers, this one appears to have almost no prior description in the English press. The Girgaum colony Mahendra Shah steers me through is indeed special. Not discounting the encumbrances of chawl life, the 90-year history of Tara Baug Estate holds accounts of brimming bonhomie and community spirit among families spanning three generations.        

In a phone interview from Bridgeport, Connecticut, octogenarian Jatin Mehta says, “I left Tara Baug decades ago, with an exodus of residents winging away to America. With an overall neat environment, running water for part of the day and civic-minded neighbours, Tara Baug won a reputation of being the best chawl in 1930s-1940s Bombay.” And 82-year-old Saryu Thorat, of F Block, moist-eyed with emotion, declares, “Mala Tara Baug baddal khupach abhimaan aahe [I have great pride in Tara Baug].”

Saryu Thorat and Prem Pande of Block F with Brownie the cat. Pics/Sayyed Sameer Abedi