Saturday, April 26, 2008

Peddar Road

View:- Peddar Road area and view from there

Peddar Road is the former name of a busy arterial road in South Mumbai passing through the affluent Cumballa Hill neighborhood.It is said to be resting on what was first known as Padam Hill. Its present name is Gopalrao Deshmukh Marg, after a social activist and reformer (Dr. Gopalrao Deshmukh was the first President of the Indian Medical Association and the first Mayor of 'Bombay' after independence. Peddar Road came to be renamed in his honor). The road begins at the well-known intersection of Kemp's Corner and extends down to Cumballa Hill past the Mahalaxmi temple to the Haji Ali intersection. The very first "flyover" built in Mumbai connected Hughes Road to Peddar Road at Kemp's Corner.It is a posh residential area with some of the flats fetching a price of over Rs.10 million. Some of the buildings here too have a very scenic view of Mumbai. The road ends in a flyover which was known as the Kemp's Corner flyover before but has been rechristened as "Dr Goparao Deshmukh Uddanpul(Flyover)".

Monday, April 21, 2008

Kalbadevi Road

View:-Kalbadevi Road, 1890

Kalbadevi is an old neighbourhood in Mumbai. It is named after the Hindu goddess of the same name. Postal code 400 002. Kalbadevi area is one of the most dense areas during peak hours. The area has mostly traders in watches, bicycles, steel utensils, etc.
Kalbadevi is at walking distance from CST, Masjid Bunder and Marine Lines. The traders, buyers, visitors living in suburbs depend on these three station to reach Kalbadevi.
Kalbadevi Road starts near Metro Cinema and continues to Bhuleshwar Road(famous markket of stainless steel utensils in South Mumbai) and further. There are book shops for old and new books. An access to the two cloth wholesale markets, Mulji Jetha Market and Mangaldas Market are from Hanuman Galli, which starts at Kalbadevi Road. You find a lot of people providing services of carrying the wholesale goods from one place to another, screaming heyo heyo. At the further end of Kalbadevi, near Bhuleshwar Road, you find Cotton Exchange. The market for dealing in Cotton. Bhuleshwar Road is the starting point of Angadia services, (a courier service).
Hotel Surti is at the intersection of Bhuleshwar Road and Kalbadevi Road. Other restaurants on Kalbadevi include Anand Bhavan and Krishna Murari near the Hanuman Temple in the "middle" portion along the length of Kalbadevi Road. Towards Metro there are two other restaurants - Raj Mahal and Pushpa Vihar.
Kalbadevi used to be residential area. Abdul Rehman Street, Princess Street, Bhuleshwar Road used to be occupied by families. As the prices of real estate started going up, more and more people opted to leave the area and move towards northern parts of Mumbai. So, the old buildings are more designed for families rather than a business.
Being close to parsi fire temple, a lots of old parsis are found near Metro Cinema in Kalbadevi. Parsi Dairy on Princess Street is a very old establishment in the area. It has undergone a lots of restructuring to keep up with the modern times. The publishers like R. R. Sheth & Co., Navbharat Sahitya Mandir are on Princess Street in this area.
Market has also been developed for designer sarees and readymade garments.
Mahavir, Carron and Ruchika Sarees are landmarks on this road.

Princess Street

Princess Street is a neighbourhood in Mumbai. The road links the Marine Drive flyover with Mahatma Phule(Crawford Market). It serves the busy Marin Lines railway station as well as Thakurdwar(famous market for gold and diamond jewellery in South Mumbai) and Bhuleshwar(famous market for stainless steel utensils in South Mumbai) to the north and Dhobitalao to the south.