MEMORIES OF OLD BOMBAY AND BOLLYWOOD

I hope to make this a series. So I'll begin with some description of time and place.

My earliest memories are of the 40's. British days. We lived on a street in Bombay - Dadar Main Road - which can be called the Bollywood of that time. There were three film studios on that road - Ranjit, Shree Sound and Ranjit Movietone. Stars and lower denizens of the film world went by all day. The view from the third floor verandah of Sakina Building was interesting. Across the road was a south Indian restaurant - a vishranti griha - where, outside, they would be twirling yellow jalebis into hot oil or deep-frying bhajias. At the street corner a stone's throw away was an Irani restaurant which wafted out the scents of pastries and bread pudding.

The restaurant radios (when radios were scarce) would competitively blare out film music. And then suddenly they would be outdone by the air raid siren. It was war time. The busy street would go quiet. People would vanish indoors and black curtains would be drawn across windows in all buildings. The only people on the street would be men of the air raid patrol - with red ARP bands on their arms.

Yes! It seems a totally different time. It was! Another century!
(For more INSIGHT stories see other blogs here and at www.myspace.com/india_realities) My latest Myspace blog is: DO WELL-OFF INDIANS LIVE IN AMERICA IN INDIA?