Vanakkam to Matunga

Matunga is one of the first well planned localities set in the heart of Mumbai city. As its history states, Matunga formed a part of the seven original islands of Mumbai with Mahim, then known as 'Mahikavati'.The 13th century king Bhimdeo of Mahikavati supposedly stationed his elephants at Matunga. Elephants are called 'Matanga' in Sanskrit and that's how 'Matunga' got its name centuries ago.      

During its early days in the last century, Matunga wore a predominantly South Indian texture in its look and culture (mainly Tamil Brahmin, Palakkad Iyers or Pattars as they are called).The 1960's and 1970's saw a huge number of South Indians migrate to Mumbai from their villages in South India. The Tam Brahms, proud of their roots, replicated their ecosystem back home in Matunga.

Those were the days, a South Indian man would walk the streets of Matunga in his traditional dhoti or mundu and feel so much at home.The mornings in Matunga meant waking up to late Carnatic singer M.S. Subbulakshmi's divine chants of 'Sri Venkateswara Suprabhatam' playing from the simple Tam Brahm homes. The aroma of piping hot filter coffee and the fragrance of Mangalore Mallige* (a costly variety of jasmine flower from the southern state of Karnataka) filled up the morning air and set the mood for a long day.

Over the last few decades, the South Indian cultural flavour of Matunga has diminished with most of its earlier population moving to suburbs and places like Chembur, Mulund, Thane and Navi Mumbai. It has paved way to the affluent Gujarati and Kutchi business community.The earliest Gujarati inhabitants of Matunga were from the Kapol community who are also few in number in the area now.

From "Thaatha Epide Iruke" (means grandpa, how are you? in Tamil) to "Bhai Kemcho" (means brother, how are you? in Gujarati), Matunga has seen a transition. A walk down the old lanes of Matunga and you notice most of the old structures and mansions have made way for attractive high rises.Some of the old shops and restaurants have either shut business or moved to other areas in Mumbai.

Yet, Matunga retains and exhibits its old charm and flavour through its wide range of decades old Udupi restaurants attracting patrons from all over Mumbai city.The Madras Cafe, The Mysore Cafe, Ananda Bhavan, Arya Bhavan, Sharada Bhavan, Rama Ashreya or the roadside Ayyappa Idli serving quality South Indian delicacies at affordable prices remain unique to Matunga with no branches elsewhere. Believe me, the dosas, uttapams, pongal, kotta idlis, rasam wadas, bisibele baath and filter coffee does not taste so mouth watering and authentic anywhere else in Mumbai as it does in Matunga. A. Rama Nayak Udupi, near Matunga central station is also one of the oldest and best restaurants serving South Indian veg meals on banana leaves.             

Matunga houses one of the oldest Irani cafes at Maheshwari Udyan circle, 'Koolar and Co' which serves the best Irani chai, brun maska, kheema pao and other Parsi delicacies.

Traditional temples: Kochu Guruvayoor temple(Asthika Samaj) at Bhandarkar Marg, Shankara Matt, Kanyakaparmeshwari and Bhajana Samaj at Telang Road and the Jain temples attract large number of devotees.

Educational Institutions: S.I.E.S (South Indian Education Society) school, Don Bosco High school, Khalsa College, R.A.Podar College, Ramnarain Ruia college, Institute of Chemical technology (formerly UDCT), V.J.T.I (one of the oldest engineering colleges).

Ganpati Pandals: The GSB (Gowd Saraswat Brahmin) pandal famous for its Gold Ganesha and beautiful mandap sees a large number of Ganesh devotees during the Ganeshotsav festival.The Ganpati pandal at Matunga Railway station started by the famous don of the 1960's to 80's Varadarajan Mudaliar alias Vardha Bhai (Remember the tamil movie 'Nayakan' or its hindi remake 'Dayavan').      

Fresh Sugarcane juice centres (not the mobile rickshaw ones we see nowadays), small boutiques to big stores like Pramanik and Milap for garment shopping, Nallis and Mahalaxmi stores for beautiful Kanjeevaram sarees, Giri Trading stores for books, religious scriptures, music CDs, artefacts, Bharatanatyam temple jewellery, Chedda stores for the vast variety of packed food items that they offer and fresh Gujarati snacks and munchings that reportedly satisfies the taste buds of the rich and famous Ambanis too who personally visit the store, Matunga is a complete destination.   

And.... Matunga and my blog would be incomplete without a mention of the legendary "Annapoorneshwari Stores" founded in the year 1958 by my Late grandfather Shri O.V. Narayanan Nambiar alongwith his elder brother Late Shri O.V. Achuthan Nambiar. They represent the generation of young South Indians who migrated to the city of dreams and opportunities 'Mumbai' from a remote village in Kerala to make a living.The shop was set up to cater to the demands of the growing South Indian population in Mumbai.It houses everything from variety of South Indian snacks and savouries, banana chips, papadams and pooja items. Till date, its speciality remains its in- house, freshly roasted and ground sambhar powder. Its old patrons come from far off suburbs to buy these items.

Matunga also holds a special place in my imagination as a place where my mother and her younger sisters grew up and spent the best years of their life.

My own earliest memories of Matunga are as a child accompanying my ammama (maternal grandmother in Malayalam) to the shop or the local vegetable market in Matunga. A boring activity for me those days, my incentive to accompany her would be a bar of my favourite 5 star chocolate or a treat to a sumptuous masala dosa. Ugh....the simple joys of life those days offered to us. Sadly, the pizza burger generation of today's India who are spoilt for choice would be alien to such feelings.

Having lived in Navi Mumbai for a long time now, irrespective of the distance, I always make sure I run to get my dose of Matunga once in a while.It is definitely not just a place but an emotion for me.

As I gaze into the open skies from my balcony, my heart and mind wanders through the lanes and bylanes of Matunga. A pleasant monsoon wind hits me softly and I hum these lines from one of my favourite Jagjit Singh ghazals "Kabhi yun bhi to ho, yeh naram mulaayam thandi havaayen, jab ghar se tumhare guzaren tumhari khushboo churaayen, mere ghar le aayen".

And my passionate affair with Matunga continues...........

Jayashree Nambiar Nair

30th June 2017

* Mangalore Mallige -  A South Indian bride's attire is incomplete without adorning the Mallige flowers on her hair. Most South Indians from all parts of Mumbai and Navi Mumbai travel all the way to Matunga to fetch these flowers in bulk for weddings or other functions from its famous flower market.