Bombay to Mumbai

That's the thing about time travel, you're always moving forward, even when you go back. Time is the most undefinable yet paradoxical of things; the past is gone, the future does not come, and the present becomes the past even while we attempt to define it, and, like the flash of lightning, at once exists and expires...

Bom Bahai to Bombay to Mumbai Time Travel...

(note: all information and data gathered is based on casual research; the author does not claim it's historically accuracy; you may take it more a write-up of exploratory form).

Garcia da Orta, a Portuguese botanist and physician rented a nameless, swampy, H-Shaped Island from the King of Portugal in 1554 for a pittance and built himself a house in which he lived till his death in 1570. A century later, the island, now christened Bom Bahai for its fine bay, passed to the British crown as part of the dowry of the Portuguese princess Catherine of Braganza brought with her when she wed Charles II in 1661, and da Orta's house became the nucleus around which the British built Bombay.

The Seven Islands of the Great City to be...

Story of 7 Islands

Over a period of 5 centuries Bombay, which was one of oldest and best example of fight for human survival in Indian history, has slowly transformed into today’s Mumbai (or Greater Mumbai).

 “All things exist in sevens, since it is the nature of the universe to exist in sevens” – Enoch Tan, creator of Mind Reality

7 days in a week, 7 deadly sins, 7 notes in music, 7 colors in a rainbow, 7 states of matter, 7 continents of the World, 7 seas, snow white’s 7 dwarfs so on and so forth…

The story of Mumbai also starts with 7 – The Seven Islands of Bombay.

 Once upon a time there was an archipelago of lush green seven islands, dotted with 22 hills at the west coast of India, with the Arabian sea washing through them at high tide. These were the habitat of Kolis, the local indigenous people of western India whose main means of living was fishing. Hey consisted of Bombay, which was only 24 km long and 4km wide from Dongri to Malabar Hill (at its broadest point) and was the main harbour and nucleus of British fort around which the city grew, Colaba, Old Woman’s Island, Mazagaon, Worli, Parel and Mahim.

The East India Company saw Bombay's potential and leased all the seven islands from the British Crown in 1668 for an annual rent of 10 pounds. The visionary governor, General Aungier, who took over in 1669, set out to plan the city. The British began building themselves a Fort to live in, docks trade from, and a mint and a printing press to press home their hold over their new properties. All this was, in fact centered on Da Orta's crumbling home, which we resurrected as Bombay Castle continue to read on...

Exploring Mumbai Heritage

Mumbai gateway of India

The honey-colored Gateway of India built to commemorate the visit of the British monarch, George V in 1911 was completed in 1924. The construction was undertaken by the famous architect George Wittet. Ever since then it has been the architectural emblem of Mumbai and is without doubt one of the most popular tourist hotspots of Mumbai. Sitting proudly on the Apollo Bunder, it overlooks the Arabian Sea read on

the Gateway of India

Flora Fountain Landmark

Story to continue...