Monday, November 22nd, 2004
Where the old money lives
In South Mumbai, money doesn’t talk. It whispers. Very, very softly.
As you drive up the Walkeshwar waterfront, you pass the imposing gates of the Shapoorji Pallonji mansion but you never hear of the man or see pictures of him splashed across the media. Honestly, now. Does anyone really know what the magnate even looks like? That’s precisely the way he likes it, thank you very much.
In North Mumbai, a music baron recently made a lot of noise about buying two Ferraris. That’s loose change for Pranlal Bhogilal, who can drive a different vintage car daily from his home at Malabar Hill to his office at Fort, and not repeat cars for over a month.
South Mumbai is home to most old money. The Tatas, the Birlas, the Mahindras. Young Kumar Mangalam is shifting from an apartment in the quiet confines off Little Gibbs Road to a house on the even quieter Carmichael Road but remains ensconced in South Mumbai. Speaking of Carmichael Road, is there a quieter, leafier, more stately stretch in the city? Don’t say Juhu Scheme, please.
And speaking of Carmichael Road, the Ambanis used to live in Usha Kiran at a time when it was Mumbai’s tallest building and at a time when the Ambani money was still new (that was two decades ago). Then, old man Ambani constructed Sea Wind, an apartment block at Cuffe parade that is as vertical as the Reliance growth chart. With that move, the Ambanis moved from the ranks of the nouveau riche to the ranks of the richie rich.
South Mumbai has the art deco Marine Drive, North Mumbai has the chaat splattered Juhu Beach and the occasional cleanliness drive. South Mumbai has NCPA, NGMA and the Jehangir Art Gallery and Café Samovar. To be fair, North Mumbai has the Prithvi Theatre and Prithvi Café but let’s face it, Prithvi is Shashi Kapoor’s baby and he is the one Kapoor who lives in South Mumbai. Actually, so does Shammi Kapoor (yahoo to that).
Karan Johar grew up in South Mumbai (although he now lives and works in Bandra) but he retains a certain sensibility that enables his films appeal to South Mumbai (and Southall). The man cuts a wide swathe.
Parmeshwar Godrej married into old money, which probably explains why she has seaside villas in North Mumbai and South Mumbai. When she’s entertaining corporate folk, the venue is the Walkeshwar home. When she’s having a shindig for her filmi friends, the venue is the Juhu home. (Unless the filmi friend happens to be Goldie Hawn or Richard Gere. Then, it’s back to Walkeshwar.)
Vijay Mallya, who private jets into Mumbai occasionally and should logically have picked up property close to the airport has chosen, instead, to make his home at Niladri on one of the southernmost tips of Mumbai. But Vijay is a south kinda guy. South Mumbai, today, south India tomorrow, south Goa this weekend and south of France next weekend.
The unspoken dress code in South Mumbai is blue genes. And it is said the blood bank at Breach Candy Hospital is lined with vaults full of blue blood.