Bombay is a city high on nostalgia, Mumbai low on charm
We’re midway through December and that’s usually when nostalgia kicks in with a look back at some of the best and worst of the year. But in 2015, the sentiment seems to have been lingering in the air throughout the year. We longed for a time when the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) chairman was someone the students respected, when we were able to eat an untarnished Maggi for breakfasts, lunches or dinners, and chomp on some juicy bu*f in peace.
Nostalgia ran especially high in Mumbai, where it wasn’t just about a rising sense of intolerance but also about losing a cultural essence that gave the city its character. In 2015, it began probably around the time when the announcement of the legendary Café Samovar at the Jehangir Art Gallery shutting shop started trickling in.
Mumbai’s culture vultures were still reeling under the loss of its quintessential Irani cafes, which seemed to be falling like dominoes, and losing this art haven was just as bad. Mourning the disappearance of familiar landscapes, ad man and columnist Rahul Da Cunha wrote: “I long for a time that my metropolis was not 'Neanderthal'. I walk down the streets of the city, landmarks remain the same. But the landscape has changed radically. I'm not old-fashioned. I see the merits of WhatsApp. I embrace change with some reservations.” When news of the seven-decade-old music store Rhythm House shutting shop broke out, more recently, it was confirmed that the iconic Kala Ghoda area was going to get a complete facelift.
Restaurateurs seemed to have taken the cue and menus in the city took on a sentimentality hue. Instead of going avante-garde, losing the old and turning to an insipid modern, they decided to give foodies a plateful of nostalgia. One of this year’s most popular openings, Bombay Canteen styled in an Old Bombay art deco look, urged you to go back in time when eating at the gymkhanas was the coolest thing to do. Just like that, "Eggs Kejriwal" found its way to several other menus across the city, as did so many other forgotten favourites.
After a successful run in Gurgaon, Bangalore and Hyderabad, SodaBottleOpenerWala — an ode to the Irani cafes — also finally found its way home to Mumbai this year. With quaint little cafes and home-inspired bistros like Villa Vandre and Grandmama’s Café coming up, it seemed that the chefs were hoping their food reminded you of your grandmother’s cooking.
From food to films, it was Anurag Kashyap’s period drama that took us back to the 1960s Mumbai. What the director had wanted to achieve was to infuse nostalgia and recreate the era. “There is a whole history behind how the city was made. You find that world online but don't see in our old movies," Kashyap said.
"The land scams today have their root in Bombay of that era. There was smuggling of gold and silk and the city had a great tabloid culture. British hangover was still there, alcohol was banned, there was bootlegging. How many know that Mohammad Rafi was a great jazz singer in Konkani?” Whether or not Bombay Velvet achieved it through its storytelling, its meticulously designed art deco sets and Amit Trivedi jazz compositions certainly made sure we were nosediving into a nostalgia trip.
Those who still call the city Bombay might struggle to see the changes it is going through. When the iconic Queen’s Necklace, which once sparkled along Marine Drive with a golden glow of sodium vapour lamps, was dressed in white LED lights, it stirred up a quite a storm. In this case, the old charm is slated to return soon. But does the rest of the city’s heritage face Kala Ghoda’s fate? And does the new necessarily equate with uninspired?