Challenge Accepted !!! How I Saw 7 Ultimate Hidden Places in Mumbai in 4 Weekends !!!

Challenge Accepted

01/09/2013

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Hi Friends,

For those who know me welcome back and For those who Don’t

I am Ahmed Abubaker (Resident of Mumbai)

Explorer and avid Traveller

And If you are a Mumbaikar or were a Mumbaikar

You will Love this

Below Noted is a Challenge unto myself to Visit 7 of the 11 forts in Mumbai

In the Next 4 Weekends…. Right Here  in Mumbai !!!

Yes you read that Actual Forts From the time of the British and the Marathas

Hidden in Places like Sewri,Mazgoan, Vasai Mahim Etc,

These are Well Hidden in the City within the City and are over 500 years old

And The City has Taken over in Several ways

In the Course of my Explorations I Have Found Forts or Parts of it housing
a Dargah, Cricket Pitch, Childrens Garden, Hospital Grounds, Opium Joints and who knows many other things….

Below are Pics of Me and My friends Who joined me in my Search

Please Go through and Let me know your feed back

I Will be visiting 2 Forts Every Weekend in Mumbai

and Updating my Experience Every Week


So click on Follow if you wish to Get Updates and new Pics

of What we've been upto

So Here's Sharing My Experiences......Enjoy them

I Certainly Did....

Ahmed

Click on Read More.. to Start

Mumbai -From the Sky

So We've All Heard A Million Times in School

"Mumbai Was Formerly 7 Different Island Unified into One"

Its One Thing to Memorize Something So that I Don't Flunk my Unit Test

A Totally Different Thing to Figure that out As An Average Mumbaikar

How Can One ??

Nothing Suggests the same in Present Day Mumbai ....

In the maze of Rail Tracks, Flyovers, East/West, Subway, Sealinks.....

Difficult to Imagine 70% of this being Seawater and the rest Just 7 Small Islands

Very Few Maps and Records Survive at least

And Even if they do.... Very Difficult to Relate to it 

Try Looking up your House from a Zoomed Out View in Google Maps

You'll Come to know what I Mean

So What is it that still remain.... Our Last bond to that bygone era....

When Santacruz was a hunting Ground for Wild hounds and Vasai was Bassein (A City Much Older than Bombay) and Mahim was a town in itself Seperate and far from Mumbai

Please Understand this is not your British Bombay of which many relics survive

So I Had my Brains Racking....Thinking and Thinking finding that elusive link....


And then The Answer Hit Me like a Bolt Last Sunday.....


After 2 Back to Back Movies at PVR (We're the Millers and Satyagraha.....Whew).
Was rushing to Piccadilly for My Sunday Take of Shoarma (Yum..).... and as we were Driving... I gotta a call from a Client asking for Directions for my office ..he was due to visit tomorrow...and I Explained the memorized phrase that we all have to explain our Addresses.. some nearby landmark... that identifies the area and saves lots of explaining.....

So I went on..." Ya sir See you tommorrow...office is at VT Fort...Bang Opp General Post Office...2 Mins from VT Station'


After I Was done with that too late for my Shoarma so Had Dosa Instead....

and that's when my thoughts went back to the recent conversation....We All know VT (Victoria Terminus/Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus....whatever you call it depending on which side of the Decade you are born in)  and the General Post Office the Good ol' GPO.

But Where in the Blistering barnacles is there a Fort in Mumbai....

Where to Find A Fort

For those needing their History 101# Lessons:  The Fairlex Dictionary Defines Fort as A Fortified Place or Position Stationed with Troops as a place of strength and Stronghold... From a Military Point of View...


You Get the Picture....

Walking around Mumbai or Even South Mumbai (Old Mumbai) I am very sure you will find No Traces  of the namesake of the Fort Area

So Is the Namesake of Mumbai's oldest area (The Invisible Fort)... a stuff of legends...


So I Did what any Modern Tech Savvy Guy of My Age Does

Dr Google to the Rescue....

And the Answers I Got Surprised me....

Forts in Mumbai

You See when the Big Powers of the Ages... back from the 1500 to 1700 were slugging it out for the control of the Western India and through it the Lucrative trade through the Arabian Sea... their borders were a bit to close for comfort

So they did what any suspicious Neighbor or Rival Power would do...


Build Defenses (Read Forts) Against each other to Guard their Border and their Coastlines....Everyone did it in that age the Portuguese the Maratha's  the British, The Shah of Gujarat..... each in their own Style and Fashion


and Surprisingly they Still Survive this day in Modern Day Mumbai

A Testament to the adage

"Time Ravages what it chooses and Preserves What it Chooses"

From all the sights that One Would see in Mumbai Darshan (Ie what we Mumbaikars call our City Tour)  this by far is least explored


With the city Suffocating under burden of ever Increasing Burden of its Population... No Place is left Sacred and every Place has its uses Even the Historical Ones


One Can See The City Take over the Past...in Intresting Ways


In the Course of my Explorations I Have Found Forts or Parts of it housing
a Dargah, Cricket Pitch, Childrens Garden, Hospital Grounds, Opium Joints and who knows many other things

View From Atop a Fort

Many are Hidden in Open View

Some have Skywalks Passing through others are last stops of the Local BEST buses


So Here's the Challenge to my Self

Wikipedia Lists 11 Forts that survive in some form or the other no matter how small  in Mumbai and its Suburbs

1. Bombay Castle (Fort)
2. Castella De Aguada (Bandra)
3. Dongri Fort (Dongri)
4. Fort George (Dongri)
5. Riwa Fort (Dharavi)
6. Madh Fort (Versova Madh Island)
7. Mahim Fort (Mahim)
8. Mazagoan Fort (Mazagon)
9. Sion Fort (Sion East)
10. Sewri Fort (Sewri)
11. Worli Fort (Worli)

Of these some are dilapitated (ruins) Some Restored and Some Unfortunately Demolished

Of Some Barely a wall or a Structure or 2 Survive and Some are Still Sprawaling in Grandeur

My Challenge is in the Coming 4 Weekends I will Explore 7 of these interesting Structures Hiding in the Open

Which Seven... Well That's a Surprise that we have to wait for in my Next Post

Some of My Pics of Upcoming Post

Crazzy Pose.. by Deepu

Who knows what experiences I have on my Way....New People I Meet.... and Old Friends who choose to join me.... for an interesting experience closer to Home than we could imagine


So here is me signing of Saying ... Challlenge Accepted


Stay Posted and Follow me for More Updates


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NOTES:
I am No Historian Just a History Enthusiast interested in Our Cities Past

Some of the Places Mentioned are Quite Remote and Some time Restrcited
Avoid Venturing Alone ... Especially alone



Your Constructive Feedback awaited on//

Contact: ahmed7thsky@gmail.com

"We are only doomed to relive our past if we fail to learn from it. The past is not a map to where you are going, it's a record of where you have been. Its purpose is not to drag you back through emotional muck, but to serve you best by reminding you of lessons learned so you can avoid them in the future."

Quote- Unknown

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