Malavika’s Mumbaistan: Mumbai’s Thought Balloon and Premier Locus

Last week’s victory parade was historic but not unique in Marine Drive’s trajectory. From the Independence Day celebrations in 1947, when crowds rejoiced in their newfound freedom, to the victory March in 1971 after the Indo-Pak war, Marine Drive has been a site for significant events

It’s being described as historic, epic, and staggering; and certainly, Wednesday’s Victory Parade for India’s T20 World Cup winners when an estimated 500,000 fans gathered to give the team led by captain Rohit Sharma a hero’s welcome, has made headlines and captured public imagination. Travelling in an open-top bus adorned with banners and flags along a parade route stretching from Nariman Point to Chowpatty Beach, the champions were felicitated by vibrant dancers, drummers, musicians and of course wildly cheering fans of all ages, many who were wearing team jerseys, waving Indian flags and chanting “India! India!”

Mumbai, India – July 04, 2024: Indian cricketers gesture during an open bus roadshow upon their arrival after winning the ICC men's Twenty20 World Cup, at Marine Drive to Wankhade Stadium, in Mumbai, India, on Thursday, July 04, 2024. (Photo by Bhushan Koyande/HT Photo)

It captured the zeitgeist of the mood of course but it also highlighted Marine Drive’s unique significance as Mumbai’s premier locus.

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Come to think of it, it’s just a 3.6-kilometer -long boulevard, extending from Nariman Point to Babulnath, built on reclaimed land and few people even know or use its official name: Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Road, but because Marine Drive serves as a key link for commuters, connecting essential parts of South Mumbai, it is one of the city’s key thoroughfares, with almost 100,000 vehicles travelling through it daily. But more than that Marine Drive is a microcosm of Mumbai, flanked as it is by the traditional heft of Walkeshwar and Girgaum’s establishment, even as it points relentlessly to what has served as the first real headquarters of India Inc- Nariman Point. Like tributaries various aspects of Mumbai’s spirit inform its ethos: Churchgate’s fierce daily work ethic; the whiff of Sachivalya’s corridors of power, the ‘chalta hai -chalo bhel puri khayengey’ sprawl of Chowpatty, the antiquated gymkhanas and clubs, the iconic cricket stadiums, and grounds, including the headquarters of the BCCI, IPL, and MCA, Wankhede Stadium, Brabourne Stadium, the Cricket Club of India (CCI), and various Islam Hindu, Catholic gymkhanas, Echoing Mumbai’s cosmopolitan legacy; NCPA, the cultural feather in Sobo’s cap; the glitzy hotels and the seedy ones and the famed talk of the town where Usha Iyer dazzled; discotheques like Cellar, Studio 29, and RGs Which spanned Saturday night fevers for many a youth, Marine Drive appears less as a thoroughfare and more as a universe in Mumbai’s life.

Often compared to the French Riviera, with its wide pavements and balcony view of the roiling Arabian sea, the promenade’s mystique comes as much from the sway of Art Deco built during the 1930s and 1940s, which have earned UNESCO World Heritage status. As its legendary residents like Nargis, and Raj Kapoor, and Suraiya in the 1940s and 50s, it has been no slouch in the glamour department.

Lovers, morning joggers, evening walkers, and those seeking solace by the sea frequent Marine Drive, cheek by jowl with the up and coming, the on the move, the movers and shakers in their speeding cars.

and of course, it has become the eternal backdrop to almost every Mumbaiites’ life: Pramod Navalkar’s thoughtful Nana Nani Park, the poignantly desolate girls’ hostel for out of town students who surely deserve better, and even an antiquated aquarium and a sleepy yoga school, marine drive is quintessentially Mumbai.

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For all these reasons and more, Marine Drive could be called Mumbai’s Thought Balloon, epitomising so faithfully, the city’s emotions, and aspirations. The latter was portrayed so brilliantly in the 1979 chartbuster “Rimjhim Gire Saawan,” From Basu Chatterji’s manzil shot as stars Amitabh Bachchan and Moushumi Chatterjee stroll in real rain through marine drive.

But as profoundly as it mirrors Mumbai marine drive also symbolises the city’s eternal divide between its haves and the have nots, lying as it does at the centre of Mumbai’s psyche, slicing through it like a knife: neatly segregating those who travel to work on trains and those by car, those who toil and struggle wrestle and spar, and others who sail past windows up, headphones on.

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Last week’s victory parade was historic but not unique in Marine Drive’s trajectory. From the Independence Day celebrations in 1947, when crowds rejoiced in their newfound freedom, to the victory (MARCH) in 1971 after the Indo-Pak war, IT has been a site for significant events. The IAF airshow on October 17, 2004, with ITS spectacular air display, the Mumbai Marathon every January, THE jaw dropping Ganesh Visarjan immersions, the New Year’s Eve and Diwali fireworks, have been a communal outpouring of the city’s pride and joy. Along with these, it has also shared in the city’s hurt and heartbreak its trials and tribulations: During the 2008 terror attacks, where Kasab crashed a stolen car in to a traffic island before he was apprehended even while his fellow terrorists attacked the Trident and Oberoi hotels, to the devastating 2005 floods, to the millions of protests and agitations and marches, marine drive has certainly seen it all.

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Besides, almost everyone in Mumbai has their own personal Marine Drive memory: the exhilaration of driving on one’s first day to work in a new job; wildly romantic wedding proposals on Victorias; the random spotting of a famous face that lights up one’s day; the festival of political messaging and banners that erupt before an election, and of course the soul destroying ennui of being caught in a rush hour traffic jam. marine drive has been a silent witness to the journeys of our lives

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And as Mumbai continues to grow and evolve, so does its symbol, Marine Drive. Today its topography has been vastly changed with the construction of the new coastal road extending from Princess Street Flyover to Priyadarshini Park and plans for further transformation are afoot.

But given how much it means to the city and how closely it reflects its evolution, how will these new changes impact our lives and the life of Mumbai?

Already, the divisions of opinions on the T20 Victory Parade, underline the divisions in the city itself with some saying that the gathering was way over the top, and nothing but a reflection of the chronic unemployment that looms in India, even as others laud it as one more instance of the exuberance of Mumbai’s populace and generosity of spirit.

However, whichever side of the divide one stands on, one thing is for sure, that with this week’s victory parade marine drive once again demonstrated how it has always stood at the centre of Mumbai’s psyche-belonging to all.