Socially too your mind gets into a melancholy when you hear of some past iconic places dying. There were two news articles alongside in the TOI Mumbai edition dtd 26.11.15. One was Cafe Madras selling Idlis at 20 Paise (the younger generation would ask what are these paisas and how they looked?) at the price at which it sold Idlis in 1940. This was to commemorate 75 years of its presence in Matunga without any change in taste and quality. This elevated my heart for the fond memories i had over the visits to my in laws place there and the frequent visits to Cafe Madras. On the other hand there was this news of The Rythm House, the shop selling music over seven decades at the famous location of Kala Ghoda, closing down. No one listens to CD’s and DVD’s anymore. They are bought online or simply downloaded free.
The old is waning. As the suburbs have their own shopping and Bazaar culture evolved there is no attendance at these iconic places. The Irani restaurants have mostly disappeared replaced by jazzy clothing and apparel shops. Dadar lost Mama Kane. The textile mills and along with it an entire culture lost in half of Mumbai now being replaced by plush sky scrapers. So many green areas so many hills and knolls cut down to make way for popping up new residential complex.
We are developing. We are making the world a better place to live in. But we are definitely losing something. Our generations to come may not have anything from the old past to show them to their grandchildren as the earth becomes a more populated place, may be just the Tajmahal and the Kutubminar and other such major structures.
