A Heritage Walk in the City of Mumbai

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Mumbai, the capital city of Maharashtra, also known as city of dreams is famous for Bollywood and is also the financial capital of India.

The city has rich colonial history. The British era buildings were of a blend of Gothic Revival, Indo-Saracenic, Art Deco, and other contemporary styles.

One weekend in 2011. I decided to go out for a heritage walk in the city to explore the colonial era.  I took a train from Thane to CSMT.

The first stop was my destination railway station. Yes you heard me right CSMT is one of the most iconic structures in the city is the iconic Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus which was earlier known as Victoria Terminus.

It’s not just the building but is also one of the busiest station in the city. Thousands of people use the station and no one seem to find time to glance at its beauty.

To its opposite lies another iconic structure which is Brihanmumbai Mahanagar Palika or BMC’s headquarter.

Those beautiful statues and cravings are really worth seeing. Before I resuming my heritage walk, I reached to one of the famous restaurant “Pancham Puriwala” opposite to GPO which is another great building.

I enjoyed a delicious thali meal after waiting in queue for 15mins. I was served Puri, Ric, Dal, Kadi, Sabji. Unfortunately, I was too hungry to take a picture of my lunch.

Using Google map, I walk pass the heritage streets, exploring Fort and Ballard Estate on my way to next intended destination, the gateway of India. I didn’t miss a chance in clicking photos.

On the way, I came across the Asiatic Library and Horniman Circle. Instead of going straight I decided to take a right turn to reach Bombay Stock Exchange which was heavily guarded.

From there I continued walking towards Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Chowk, where one can find Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sanghralaya earlier known as Prince of Wales Museum, National Gallery of Modern Art and also the Mumbai Police Headquarter.

Finally, I made my way to the Gateway of India. As always, it was full of tourists. From the gateway, you can get an iconic back view of Taj Mahal Palace Hotel.

So I decide to walk away from these two iconic structures to avoid the crowd and found myself a seat near the sea where I was able to get a great view of  both.

After resting a while I headed back to Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Chowk. I took the Mahatma Gandhi Road and walked to reach Mumbai university. I have always been visiting the Kalina campus during my college days but this campus is really iconic. The building is built in the Gothic style and one can also find the Rajabai Clock Tower inside the campus.

After walking beside Oval Maidan one can find Mumbai High Court also and on the crossing, I looked around in 360-degree angle to get the glimpse of all the other heritage sites like Eros cinema, Western Railway headquarter and Churchgate Railway station.

Without wasting much time I walked towards the iconic Marine Drive. Despite being 4 pm the place was quite soothing and I started walking towards Nariman Point. The place remains crowded every time, however, I managed to find a place and enjoyed the Sunset.

The sky turned black and the street lights turned on before I could even realise. Many heritage streets were left uncovered that day. Feeling a bit tired, it’s my time to head back.  I took a double-decker back and headed back to CSMT to take a local(suburban train) to my home, Thane.

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