From the western side of Flora Fountain stretches the Veer Nariman Road. The pavements of this street are packed with roadside stalls selling books, old and new, classics and fiction, academic and porn literature. As you move along, at the intersecting Bhaurao Patil Road is the Bhikha Behram Kuwa, an eighteenth century well, which is considered sacred by the Parsi community. Non-Parsis are not allowed to enter but peering through the flower covered trellis, you can catch a glimpse of the Parsis wearing scarves and satin silk caps, some praying and others lighting the customary lamps.
Further down the road are the Western Railway Headquarters, the majestic building in grey stone facade and white plaster cuppolas. Next to it is Churchgate Station, a sterile post-Independence building teeming with hundreds of commuters at any given time of the day. If you backtrack to the Bhaurao Patil Road, you will confront an impressive Gothic structure in grey stone -- the High Court.
The four storeyed High Court was completed in 1878. This was the site of the Esplanade, a bowling green just outside the fort walls, which were struck down in the 1860s to make way for a row of public buildings. |
