A hundred and fifty years ago, this was sea. Back Bay reached almost to Oval Maidan. During the cotton boom of 1864, the company of Premchand Roychand, the donor of the Rajabai Tower, promised to fill it in; its shares soared tenfold and, when the bubble burst in 1865, they collapsed. Half a century passed before new reclamation schemes in the 1920s and 1930s finally won the ground you are standing on.

1An Art Deco promenade

The promenade opened in 1940, and its official name is Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Road, though nobody uses it. On the reclaimed land rose Art Deco apartment blocks from the 1930s, with rounded corners and names such as Kapur Mahal and Zaver Mahal. They are part of the ensemble declared a World Heritage Site in 2018.

2The Queen's Necklace

Stay until the streetlights come on: seen from Malabar Hill, they trace a curve of pearls, hence the name Queen's Necklace. About three kilometres to the north lies Girgaum Chowpatty, the beach of bhel puri and kulfi stalls and of the great Ganesh immersions. A kilometre from there stands Mani Bhavan, the house where Gandhi stayed in Bombay. And high on Malabar Hill is the Banganga tank, which according to tradition sprang from an arrow shot by Rama. From June to September, during the monsoon, the waves leap the wall: keep away from the edge at high tide and cross the road only at the lights.

A city that won its ground from the sea and then sat down to look at it.

3What to look for

  • The curve of the bay up to Malabar Hill.
  • The rounded balconies of the Art Deco buildings.
  • The concrete tetrapods that break the monsoon waves.
Orange sunset over the sea from Marine Drive, with the city skyline
Sunset over Back Bay from Marine Drive.
Aerial view of the curve of Marine Drive along the bay
The curve of Marine Drive from above: the Queen's Necklace.

Documented

The promenade was completed in 1940 on land reclaimed from Back Bay; its Art Deco buildings have been part of a World Heritage Site since 2018.

Oral tradition

That the Banganga tank sprang from an arrow shot by Rama belongs to Hindu tradition.

Sources and credits

UNESCO, 'Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles of Mumbai' (2018); Art Deco Mumbai Trust, inventory of Marine Drive buildings; Mariam Dossal, 'Theatre of Conflict, City of Hope: Mumbai 1660 to Present Times' (2010).

Photos:

  • The Marine Drive promenade with its wall of concrete tetrapods and the bay curving towards the skyline: Manas46951, CC BY-SA 4.0.
  • Orange sunset over the sea from Marine Drive, with the city skyline: Rajarshi MITRA from Mumbai, India, CC BY 2.0.
  • Aerial view of the curve of Marine Drive along the bay: Arun Viswam, CC BY-SA 3.0.

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