Discovering the lesser known heritage secrets of Byculla neighbourhood
Byculla in the 19th century was part of textile mills belt of Bombay, It is said that there were in total 136 mills operating in areas of Parel, Lalbaug, Byculla, Prabhadevi, Chinchpokli etc which collectively was known as "Girangaon" meaning "Village of mills". By 1982 the textile mills had started to struggle and with the famous "Greater Bombay textile strike" which lasted for 18 months,by which time most of these mills had closed down. Byculla with its neighbourhood of Nagpada, Agripada, Chinchpokli, Kamathipura and the Mazgaon docks became known for its underworld activities. Today there are no strikes, underworld activities at its near zero and what we see now are the high rise building towers. But within all this there is another side of Byculla - the 18th century Byculla . Byculla came into existence as an extension of Mazgaon - one of the seven islands of Bombay. The low lying flat land which used to be flooded during high tide was made inha...