Bells and stars beyond midnight hours

Though they beam brightest tonight the twinkling stars and gleaming bells across town there are some nicely surprising twists to traditional tales of their sparkle and sheen While neighbourhood stars shine strong and bells chime loud fine examples of both glow yearlong and beyond Catholic communitiesTo start with a few unusual churchrelated bells including an impressive much travelled one In Dabul village of Chira Bazaar from the 150yearold Saint Francis Xavier Church rings an intriguingly mismatched 344yearold bell Cast in 1674 by Hiram Tavarres Bocarro this seventh bell of St Josephrsquos Church in Bassein Vasai fell silent with the Maratha siege in 1739Sarah Lodge at Shivaji Park with a view of the Star of David embedded in its compound and balcony grillsInstead of swinging within belfries the other halfdozen now interestingly hang at Hindu temples dotting the interiors of Maharashtra Taken as victory trophies by vanquishing armies they announce warning of calamities like floods and earthquakes Barring the cracks inevitably formed with age the bells are maintained with the respect they were extended at their original siteWhen the British procured the Dabul bell from the subdued Portuguese it tolled for over a century in St Thomas Cathedral This sole war survivor adorning a city church was handed to the Bombay Arsenal in 1869 With fullcircle luck its long journey finally halted in 1883 with the Portuguese VicarGeneral of the North bequeathing the bell to St Francis Xavier Church ldquoEven worshippers from the suburbs visit Dabulrdquo says crossword ace Joe Albuquerque in Hendre Building opposite where he hears the bell peal daily halfanhour before every massA Scots statesman reluctant to bridge the miles between Byculla and St Thomasrsquo at Fort seems to have been responsible for melodic Sunday sounds of Christ Church bells pealing Explaining the lovely lines of this Neo Classicaldesigned church legend has it that in 1833 the Governor of Bombay Mountstuart Elphinstone declared his shift from Fort to his ldquocountry homerdquo in the then pastoral acres of BycullaParel Fluted columned Christ Church was commissioned to supposedly save him the bother of attending mass all the way at the cathedralAnother remarkable set of bells are paired tall twins in the courtyard of The Church of Our Lady of Salvation popularly referred to as Portuguese Church The Dadar church is one of the cityrsquos oldest its sixteenthcentury foundation laid by Portuguese Franciscans naming it Nossa Senhora da Salvacao Its normbreaker architect in the 1970s Charles Correa reinterpreted it radically with clean cuts and new angles gifting the flat shellroofed space a unique crossshaped bell tower His invitation to artists like MF Husain and Anjolie Ela Menon to paint Biblical episodes added luminosity Company founder Mohan T AdvaniSouthflagging Afghan Church in Colaba was constructed as the principal memorial to casualties of the First AngloAfghan War fought from 1839 to 1842 Besides the striking beauty of stainedglass panels adorning this buff basalt and limestone gem these were rare church bells only in western India Sir Charles Cayzer of Gartmore a Colaba resident donated them to commemorate his wedding at a cost of Rs 8000 They were expertly cast by John Taylor from the foundry of his family famous for studying acoustic fundamentals and innovations in bell tuningJump to a leafy Khar lane which boasts a multitude of bells packed so tight not an inch of wall shows beneath Hugging the Madhu Park periphery the Ghanteshwar Lord of the Bells Temple from the 1950s is startlingly sheathed in thousands of metal specimens Their favours asked fulfilled devotees return to tie bells in gratitude New brass sparkles alongside counterparts crusted down decades The most fervent prayers must surely rise to the heavens from desperate men huddling in a little labour mandi nearby Mornings see jobless strugglers huddle around the railway station chowk identified by their workboxes and bagsmdashpaintersrsquo brushes peep from scruffy thelas carpenters and plumbers proffer their toolkitsThe 1943 and 2017 logos of Blue StarAmong several quiet architectural charms strewn around midtown French Bridge is the Malad stoneencased 1928built Blavatsky Lodge belonging to the Theosophical Society of India The seal on its facade blends a host of eclectic elements encircled by the Society motto ldquoThere is no religion higher than truthrdquo The Ouroboros symbol of a serpent biting its tail is the Greek allusion to infinity The Hexagram star typically interlaces two triangles representing matter and spirit At its core the Crux Ansata from Egypt suggests resurrection its six triangular points plus central Ankh ldquokey of liferdquo hieroglyph embracing seven principles The Swastikastyle ringed whirling cross signifies expansive creative energies ldquoOmrdquo tops the seal as the Absolute divine primal beginning These diverse influences assert secularism essential to the brotherhood of manSometimes a motif metamorphoses in pace with changing times I fell in love with the Star of David winking on a decrepit verandah in stained glass on Sarah Lodge bordering Shivaji Park It fronts the buildingrsquos balconies and boundary wall in a metal current avatar Sarah Lodge was once occupied by a Jewish family the pride of post office employee Eliab Erulkar his wife Sarah and five children carving careers in medicine and engineeringThe Hexagram star within the seal of The Theosophical Society of India on the wall of Blavatsky LodgeArun Gadre a grandson who is a surgeon in San Diego remembers ldquoIf that house could speak it would tell tales of the Independence struggle teargas dispensed my grandmother under constant suspicion for keeping water buckets ready for freedom fighters policemen firing at mobs fiery speeches by political leaders There was the mayflower tree whose flowers my grandfather counted the Irish stew stirred over a slow lsquobadamirsquo coal fire bath water heated similarly in a large copper samovar We learnt to ride bicycles enjoyed cricket and football in the park Lagori and Hututu with cousins in our compound Who plays those games anymorerdquoLeisure hours were as well spent reading books of course Before Warden Book House was introduced as possibly Bombayrsquos first circulating library it served as a small community refuge hub Ketan Shah at the counter reported to work as a 16yearold on losing his father Mavjibhai With roots in Beraja village of Kutch Mavjibhai migrated to the city with four brothers to run Five Star as a social arrangement of convenience Like the Goan coors of Dhobi Talao Five Star provided shelter and camaraderie for migrants seeking fresh futuresThe Shahs gradually converted Five Star to a raddi outletmdashldquoEighty per cent of Kutchis took to this dhandha We possessed nothing and this needs zero investment a weighing scale and hundredodd rupeesrdquo Shah says Consular officers and royals of the princely states on the Breach Candy strip looking to discard hardbound editions also scouted for a place to both borrow and buy books Voila Warden Book House was bornAmong beacons signalling a legacy of trust in the business world is Blue Star The crisp 1943 logo Mohan T Advani chose for his airconditioning and refrigeration company ensured the enterprise was not to be identified personally with him but should radiate its own character The label intended to brand into public consciousness with distinctive form and colour Blazoned against the sky it sought to be pithy and recognisable After a process of elimination Advani arrived at Blue Star ldquoBlue not for the icy coolness of his products but because it denotes aiming high into the blue yonderrdquo says the pioneerrsquos daughter Suneeta VaswaniAt least two generations fondly recall the silver Mercedes Benz star atop the Fulchand Niwas corner clock tower at Chowpatty The threepoint classicmdashto represent modern motorisation with luxury car engines dominating land sea and airmdashwas replaced in the 1980s by the Thums Up neon signOther star connotations offer more surprising histories Few associate a thali eatery with Baharsquoi spiritualism There they are entwined at Golden Star on the Girgaum corner facing Charni Road Hindus considered such plots inauspicious Industrious Iranis spotted twice the trade at junctions Gazing towards Mount Damavand in the land of their birth brimming with hope they whispered ldquoNumo Khodurdquo touch wood in their Dari dialect and moved in to brew the cup that cheersldquoGolden Star was a basic bunmaska and kheemapao joint before serving thalisrdquo recollects Zia Eshraghi His father Aziz came as a 13yearold from Yazd in 1934 Humbly waiting tables at this cafe he worked his way up The Eshraghis being Baharsquoi proprietors the restaurant name alludes to the 9pointed star symbolising tenets of universal amity the religion propagates The whole number 9 being a perfect culminating digit each tip of the Baharsquoi star hails messiahs of nine different faiths walking the same path to peace and justiceAuthorpublisher Meher Marfatia writes fortnightly on everything that makes her love Mumbai and adore Bombay You can reach her at mehermarfatiamiddaycomwwwmeher marfatiacom