My Heritage Chronicles

Apart from the rich history that is attached to the formation of India and its legend, Mumbai has a unique chapter and can make historian's minds heavy. Mumbai's culture act as pure palimpsest and is a complete meal for anyone suffering from a deficiency in history lessons. The numerous forts scattered around the city are a testimony for the same. It comes as surprise to many that there were in total 11 forts in the city. Sitting on the urban fringe of Thane city and on a hill just south of Ulhas river and overlooking the natural creek on its west side, Ghodbunder fort is one of the forts and Mumbai's 16th-century marvelous piece of architecture. The humble Ghodbunder road, the state highway that connects Thane with the northern suburbs of Mumbai today once acted as a bridge between different cultures. The significance of this place was such that it is said to have played a crucial role in Indo- Arab trade which the Portuguese later used to monopolize sea routes in the Arab...

Mumbai is mainly associated with population, pollution and if this wasn't enough we have some unique haphazard ways of developing our city for the next few decades by clogging the already clogged roads with development projects which adds to our woes. We seek green spaces in the concrete jungles of Mumbai but when we have one like Aarey forest or Sanjay Gandhi national park, we make it a litter zone by throwing our empty food packets and empty plastic bottles. One would sometimes think there are no places left in Mumbai where we don't have pollution or littering, all place natural. But then an ardent nature lover would always find some pockets of green, someplace of solace and peace. And believe it or not, there exist such places in the deepest corners of our city where we can still find chirping birds, nature, greenery, and some uninterrupted shades of peace.  One such place that I had recently read about - Jamdar Dam and a small lake, a place with abundant shade a...

Standing on the fringes of Aarey forest, lies Marol village, a mid point between the western and central suburbs of Mumbai. Today it may have lost its sheen but it has been in existence from more than 1500 years and was once an important trading center along with Kondivita (Mahakali caves area) and Prajapur area inside Aarey. This surely would raise many eyebrows !!  Archaeologist have confirmed that Marol indeed was an important trading center along with Kondivita (Mahakali caves area) and Prajapur (now a slum in Aarey). Trade would happen with various ports of that era namely Mahim, Sopara etc and one theory goes that there would gave existed land routes from pre historic ports to these towns located on mainland. Another theory is that trading may have also happened via Mithi river which is today not more than a sewage, but was once an important river which flowed close to Marol and discharged into Mahim creek. These rivers were trading channels with boats moving from the ports i...