Bombay - Mumbai - My Take

Bombay was group of seven islands comprising Colaba, Mazagaon, Old Woman's Island, Wadala, Mahim, Parel, and Matunga-Sion formed a part of the kingdom of Ashoka the Great of Magadh, ironically in North India .



The Bhaiyas and Biharis whom the Thackerays accuse of being outsiders in Mumbai, come from the region, which was a part of Ashoka the Great's empire.. We judge everything according to history and the history of Mumbaiproves that its earliest known ownership was with a North Indian.

The seven islands of Mumbai passed through many hands, the sultans of Gujarat , the Portuguese and the British. Every ruler left behind proof of residence in Mumbai.



Those ruled Bombay gave their contribution towards development of Bombay.



Mauryans Constructed Kanheri, Mahakali and the caves of Gharapuri more popularly called Elephanta. The sultans of Gujarat gave the Dargahs at Mahim and Haji Ali, the Portuguese built the two Portuguese churches, one at Prabhadevi and the other St Andrews at Bandra.

They built forts at Sion, Mahim, Bandra and Bassien. The Portuguese named the group of seven Islands 'Bom Baia', Good Bay . The British built a city out of the group of seven islands and called her Bombay .



The original settlers of the seven islands, the Koli fishermen, worshiped Mumbaidevi, her temple still stands at Babulnath near Chowpatty. The Kolis called the island Mumbai, 'Mumba, Mother Goddess'.



Parsi contributed their best part for the development of Bombay. There are many Parasi businessmen who constructed the boon of business at Bombay.



Gerald Aungier, Governor of Bombay built the Bombay Castle, an area that is even today referred to as Fort. He also constituted the Courts of law. He brought Gujarati traders, Parsi shipbuilders, Muslim and Hindu manufacturers from the mainland and settled them in Bombay .



It was during a period of four decades that the city of Bombay took shape. Reclamation was done to plug the breach at Worli and Mahalakshmi, Hornby Vellard was built in 1784. The Sion Causeway connecting Bombay to Salsette was built in 1803. Colaba Causeway connecting Colaba island to Bombay was built in 1838. A causeway connecting Mahim and Bandra was built in 1845.



Lady Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy, the wife of the First Baronet Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy donated Rs 1, 57,000 to meet construction costs of the causeway.Today Mumbaikars have to pay Rs 75 to use the Bandra-Worli Sealink.



Jamshedji Wadia founded the Bombay Port Trust and built the Princess Dock in 1885 and the Victoria Dock and the Mereweather Dry Docks in 1891. Alexandra Dock was built in 1914.



A Gujarati civil engineer supervised the building of the Gateway of India . The Tatas made Bombay their headquarters and gave it the iconic Taj Mahal Hotel and India 's first civilian airlines, Air India . The Godrejs gave India its first vegetarian soap.



Cowasji Nanabhai Daver established Bombay's first cotton mill, 'The Bombay Spinning Mills' in 1854. By 1915, there were 83 textile mills in Bombay largely owned by Indians.



This brought about a financial boom in Bombay . Although the mills were owned by Gujaratis, Kutchis, Parsis and Marwaris, the workforce was migrant Mahrashtrians from rural Maharashtra . Premchand Roychand, a prosperous Gujarati broker founded the Bombay Stock Exchange. Premchand Roychand donated Rs 2,00,000 to build the Rajabai Tower in 1878.



Migrants from every part of India have also contributed handsomely to Mumbai.



Mumbai is built on the blood and sweat of all Indians. That is why Bombay belongs to all Indians.



Apart from its original inhabitants, the Kolis, everyone else in Mumbai, including Thackeray's 'Marathi Manoos', are immigrants.



The "Mumbai for Marathi Manoos" war cry has once again been raised to shore up the sagging political fortunes of the Thackeray family.



When the Shiv Sena-BJP combine came to power in 1993, under the guise of reverting to the original name they replaced Bombay with Mumbai. Chnage of name that the only think our Political party can do well. We to give respect them for construction of Flyovers all over Mumbai.



I wonder when they will discard the anglicized Thackeray and revert back to their original Marathi surname Thakre?



Those who making the noise about Mumbai today have only contributed hate and violence towards Mumbai. Bombay was part of Saurashtra before 1961 and it came to Maharashtra later on. We the people of India developed Mumbai and not some SENA. We should respect the culture of Mumbai but same time we should respect the humanity. We can not just beat Taxi Wala because he came from out side.



Mumbai belongs to people of India. Mumbai in getting the rapid growth of outsiders. Outsiders means anyone who came out of Mumbai either from Maharashtra or rest part of country. Government should speed up their planning for development of Mumbai to balance the growth.



Human is one of best surplus resource we have with us. If things can be planed well they it'll leads to development. There are many countries and cities in the world having largest density than Mumbai but they have manged the pace with rapid development of Infrastructure.



So don't beat people and help to make development of Infrastructure.



Doing Kamaal,

Kamal Upadhyay,

Your view can change life so have a view.