Where the postbags piled once… and other triangular tales

There is uniqueness here Rarely in the city has a post office more firmly stamped its entire neighbourhood This is Colaba Post Office Since 1940 these three words have actually named the core address of a longish stretch of iconic residences and establishmentsTemporarily closed when this office with the ubiquitous red and yellow India Post logo will return to base from the relocation to Nariman Point is anyonersquos guess Incidentally the arresting symbolmdashsuggestive of a bird in energetic and expansive flightmdashrepresents the dynamic range of our postal department operations committed to swiftness and the ability to reach remote areas Apart from the striking architecture of handsome centuryold buildings some familiar haunts around the triangleshaped post office hub hold charming backstoriesDolly and Polly Parvez Mistry former proprietors of Sunshine Snack Corner presently at Cafe Churchill on Colaba Causeway PicsAtul KambleA pink panther whizzing along on a tricycle was the mascot two generations would recognise in a flash ldquoMeals on Wheelsrdquo read the line tagging that zippy mascot of Sunshine Snack Corner diagonally across the post office ldquoOurs must have been the cityrsquos first delivery facilityrdquo says Dolly Mistry With her husband Parvez she took over Sunshine from a Mr Davar and a Mr Poonegar in the early 1980s to minister to loyalists feasting on their scrumptious sandwiches rolls burgers cutlets fish and chips That was all happily rounded off in the evening by a live counter sizzling with fish koliwada barbequed seekh kabab and steak dishesldquoThe jumbo tuna and egg sandwich and the jumbo ham and cheese sandwich were big hitsrdquo says Dolly ldquoAmong the first to introduce pizzas and the second Frankie outlet in Bombay after Agarsquos at Cusrow Baug on the Causeway we sent out so many deliveries to recently come up lsquomodern Cuffe Paradersquo that those entries filled one address book daily The very kind Munchee Cama came regularly As did patrons from other prominent Parsi families We enjoyed such classy customersrdquoBusloads of kids let out of school engaged in fights complete with boisterous boys grabbing each other by the collar to buy the last grilled items left Parsis beyond Colaba delightedly devoured Sunshinersquos fat chicken farchas and sweet doughy bhakras When the eatery passed into the hands of Mohammed Chaki he promised to retain the Zarathushtra portrait on the right entrance wall He is proud to have kept his word I pop in to see a bare interior perhaps about to be renovated with this metalworked frame the old ceiling fan and clock in place The India Post logo representing a swift bird in flightIn her engrossing book Colaba The Diamond at the Tip of Mumbai Shabnam Minwalla writes ldquoThe light of religion was determined to shine upon Colaba Christianity had begun to assert itself in Bombay and as Archdeacon NixSeaman remarked Colaba was lsquostirred by the same awakeningrsquo First came the little Catholic chapel near Colaba Post Office that was later used by the Portuguese Government to house officials on their way to Goardquo Encircled by a garden twinkling with fairy lightbulbs for this festive month the St Francis Xavierrsquos Chapel clearly announcing that Christmas is in the crisp air does have a rather interesting past The Colaba community of the SSS was born in 1964 with an invitation from the late Valerian Cardinal Gracias then Archbishop of Bombay as he prepared for the 38th Eucharistic Congress held in the city It associates with the Roman Catholic Churchrsquos Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament founded in 1856 in Paris by Saint Peter Julian EymardThe Indian government at the time only allowed Australians or Americans resident visas As the American Province had already invested in the Philippines it fell on Australians to respond to the Cardinal When the diocese of Daman was created in 1886 this became the de facto residence of the Bishop of Daman in Bombay The entire house and chapel were rebuilt in 1900 The first four priests coming over took up residence at St Francis Xavier Chapel in August 1964Hampton Court oldtimers Salim Khan of Fitwell TailorsThe official name of their apostolic Congregation of Pontifical Right is Congregatio Sanctissimi Sacramenti so members add the abbreviated SSS behind their names Earlier ldquoSSSrdquo derived from what Father Eymard founded as Societasmdasha society That explains the triple ldquoSrdquo suffix that I observe the Superior and Administrator Fr Jesu Augustine and the PriestinCharge Fr Christopher Ephrem attach to their names when I visit the chapel ldquoIt is believed that our patron Francis Xavier wants each and every one of us to live like a traveller on a pilgrimage to Godrdquo offers Fr Ephrem smilingAfter meeting him I walk slightly onward to find an unexpected connection between the chapel and a couturier At Fitwell Tailors on the Wodehouse Road flank of Hampton Court Salim Khan recalls how besides top industrialists and movie stars his fatherrsquos expertise once also extended to stitching the cassock robes for the St Francis Xavier Chapel priests ldquoHe never charged them of courserdquo he says of Mohammed Miya Khan a BareillytoBombay migrant who moved into Shop No 2 of Hampton Court in 1954 a year after Shapoorji Pallonji constructed itHaving spotted the master coat cutter at Charagh Din and especially marvelling at the sharp jackets he fashioned with practised ease Shapoorji Mistry encouraged Mohammed Miya to pursue his craft from this space in his new buildingMohammed Miya Khan founder proprietor of FitwellldquoMy father expired when I was 13 leaving me forced to learn his skill Reluctantly until I realised I was good at itrdquo Salim says glancing at an ancestral iron and pairs of scissors that have snipped the best suits for everyone from the Birlas and Seksarias to his own filmi favourites Vinod Khanna and Sunny DeolmdashldquoThey were truly nice gentlemen Back in the day people really knew how to dress identifying what was appropriate for them individually Youngsters today just pick international styles online to get suits donerdquo And where would the Khansrsquo smart suits get laundered and pressed if not at Drymanrsquos Dry Cleaners barely three shop galas away Opened in 1960 and run by Mark Martis it soon came to be widely appreciated for the immaculate manual dry cleaning which grew to be its hallmark ldquoGone are the years when people brought mainly simple cottons to take care of Now itrsquos all about heavy embroidery shiny sherwanis and elaborate lehengas They need a lot of extra delicate handlingrdquo says Dilip Kanojia running the show since the last 15 years As he reminisces with oldtimer Bharat Sawant who has been employed at Drymanrsquos for 35 years I hear of the Bollywood brigade and other showbiz celebrities who brought their choicest wardrobe items to themmdashfrom the lovely Nutan to Juhi Chawla Raveena Tandon and Anup Jalota All this is on the Wodehouse Road end of the post office On the facing Shahid Bhagat Singh Road side stands the Bombay Baptist Church For background information on it I turn again to Minwallarsquos text Describing two tall white tombs ldquoon the middle of Colaba Islandrdquo she writes ldquoOne of the tombs belonged to Sir John Child the luckless governor compelled to strike a deal with the Sidi of Janjira Distressed by his inability to evict the gutsy admiral and by vicious accusations of corruption Sir John Child is supposed to have died of shame He was buried in desolate Colaba while a fleet of boats fired three volleys For over a century his tomb towered over the narrow island and greeted seaweary sailorsDilip Kanojia right and Bharat Sawant of Drymanrsquos Dry CleanersldquolsquoReferences were also found to another large towerlike tomb known as the Jewrsquos tomb or Moorrsquos Sepulchre situated probably where the Baptist Church now standsrsquo stated AJ NixSeaman who was the Archdeacon of Bombay in the 1930s and wrote a book called The Afghan War Memorial Church and Historical Notes on Colaba The Bombay Baptist Church that NixSeaman mentioned is a sturdy stone edifice dispensing blessings near Colaba Post Officehellip Sir John Childrsquos Tomb and the Moorrsquos Sepulchre served as both a welcome and a warning to ships heading for Bombayrdquo Hitting Bombay shores in 1867 the Baptist Missionary Society was befriended by a group of Canadian Christians worshipping in Colaba They moved to a Byculla ice factory where the counter doubled as a pulpit on Sundays and members brought chairs from homeThe church shifted to Bombay Central before resting in Colaba in 1911 Its Canadian and British pastors paved the spiritual path for the tenures of ministers like Charles Lazaro and Stanley Mehta As families migrated to the suburbs several satellite branches were planted across townUndertaking various outreach and rehabilitation programmes the Baptist Church seems to have consistently abided by the words of Henry Procter Chairman of the Bombay Chamber of Commerce At the inaugural service in 1911 he urgedmdashldquoThe life of the individual should be lived for the good of the nation and lives as individuals and members of the nation should be lived as unto GodrdquoAmen to that And fingers crossedmdashthat the next bunch of Xmas cards might just end up sorted at the original site The spot where the small post office resolutely christened this southern stripAuthorpublisher Meher Marfatia writes fortnightly on everything that makes her love Mumbai and adore Bombay You can reach her at mehermarfatiamiddaycomwwwmeher marfatiacom