13 April,2025 07:16 AM IST | Mumbai | Meher Marfatia
Rui de Lima and his wife Zelia at the Bluthner piano on which his father Joseph de Lima (inset) gave Zubin Mehta some of his first music lessons
So said the affable Captain Reza Beg to me. "I'll show you my lovely gully," he offered. Then he passed on. And I continued exploring other paths.
This one's for you, Reza.
Keeping that promise is his brother Moin Beg, journalist and writer of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Heeramandi. Warm with memories and hospitality, he has a high tea spread on the table in their third floor flat of Maimoon Manzil, tip-ending the cul-de-sac.
The youngest of 10 siblings, Moin narrates how his father, Unani practitioner Hakim Mirza Haider Beg, drew patients from film stars to mill mazdoors. He hosted mehfils that echoed the sonorous strains of Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Vilayat Khan, Shakeela Bano Bhopali and Allah Rakha.
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Kathak queen Sitara Devi was a familiar visitor at these soirees with white-gloved waiters in attendance. As was Ashok Kumar, Haider Beg's patient for throat and eye issues. The actor noticed two Beg daughters, Rahat and Farhat, practising "pretend piano" on their balcony. The next morning, he gifted them a beautiful instrument. Steering me through the road named after Spence (member of the Bombay Municipal Council mentioned in an 1895 document, according to Bombayphile Deepak Rao), Moin takes me to the de Limas of Alisha Apartments, earlier Karani Building. We admire the Bluthner on which Rui de Lima's father Joseph gave first lessons to Zubin Mehta. Settled since the 1930s, the de Limas miss neighbours like Gloria de Souza who founded the environmental education centre, Parisar Asha, and Stanley the elegant tap dancer.
Rui smiles, reminded of the humming, strumming neighbourhood. Shaukat Beg, who performed regularly at Bombelli's and Kamling, would strike up lilting piano tunes. Ian Saldanha of Bibibai Terrace joined on the accordion. Everyone crooned everything, from jaunty jive numbers to the more soulful Blue Moon and I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles. Pop singer Tony Brent, scoring seven successive UK Top 20 chart hits, was from Bibibai Terrace as well. Guitarist Mr Points ran a dance class where mothers pushed shy sons to learn the foxtrot.
"At barely two years, I sensed Spence Lane's cheerful vibe," declares Olympic hockey champ MM Somaya, who lived in Karani Building. "Extremely social, Christians and Anglo-Indians had real swag and style. After midnight mass, our landings converted to dance floors. Record players belted out music to which young and old boogied the night away. From a conservative South Indian family, I watched celebrations with awe. The de Lima and de Souza families on our floor were dear to us. Getting a home phone implied a long wait. There weren't public booths either. The large-hearted de Souzas and de Limas enabled us to receive calls even in the dead of night." The overriding fun children had was unbelievable, says writer Jerry Pinto. A Mahim boy, he walked to Khalil Mansion, now Ali Apartments, to his maternal grandmother Bertha's home. A sea of children flocked to play from 5 pm until, if they had their way, past the time street gaslights were switched on.
"For me, the spirit of Spence Lane was encapsulated by this moment when adult heads popped out, at sunset, to summon kids reluctant to get home," Jerry says. "We heard amusing threats: âYou're waiting for pudding to come upstairs?' or âI'll throw down your bedsheet, stay on the street where you belong.'" All this drama while Mr Dunn stood beneath Khalil Mansion serenading his wife with Silver Threads Among the Gold - till she appeared at the window to flick ash off her cigarette.
Tulsidas the parrot, named by the person gifting the cheeky bird to little Moin, often slyly squawked an imitation of his mother calling Moin home with his sisters - "Lupi, Cookie, Munoo, come on up!" (Hashmat, Bahjat and Moin respectively.)
With barely a car or two around, children roamed free. Families usually engaged ghoda gaadis. Some, like Haider Beg, owned their horse carriage, kept tethered in a Bombay Central tabela.
Ruing the drastically changed scene, Fatima Pinto in Maimoon Manzil, says, "The lane resembles a swanky car showroom. Parked bikes are particularly a nuisance. Then, we were so cosmopolitan, too. Different communities reflected the country's diversity. At 7 pm, practically every child in the lane came to pray the rosary daily together, Hindus and Muslims included."
She shares recollections of interesting inhabitants of Rehanabad, architecturally a mirror image of her building. Kathleen and Joe Pereira, parents of Fr Lancy Pereira - who went on to be St Xavier's College principal - ran the Fatima Club for children. Among activities arranged was an annual picnic ride to Juhu
in a hired lorry.
It is worth noting the incredible number of teachers in every Spence Lane building. They worked in nearby St Mary's, Christ Church, St Agnes, Convent of
Jesus and Mary, Antonio Da Silva and David Sassoon School, and further citywide at Hill Grange, Campion, Sacred Heart and Udayachal School.
Communicating from Toronto, Marie D'Rozario, adman Frank Simoes' sister, remembers moving from the next lane, Shepherd Road, to a larger space in Karani Building on their father's return from work in Iran. "The children of the Blacks, the McGills, the Parks, the Spencers and the Soares were my playmates. Behind us was the Anglican Christ Church. It was edifying to see worshippers dressed in their Sunday best with fancy hats. Catholics went to St Anne's Church in Mazgaon. At our lane entrance was Cafe Savoy, whose cakes and crisp bruns everyone craved and stopped to have with chai, especially after mass."
That restaurant corner is presently a Vodafone store. It faced the Jesuit-run Sodality House, better known as Seva Niketan, which still stands. Erected in the mid-'60s on the vacant maidan where travelling gypsies used to pitch tents, the centre rented rooms to outstation men, and had a chapel and catering service.
From the 1970s, several residents emigrated - Jewish families to Israel, the Anglo Indians to London, Australia or New Zealand. Victor Rangel-Ribeiro of Khalil Mansion, who authored the award-winning Tivolem and a biography of FN Souza, left for the US where he became director of the New York Beethoven Society.
Last here six months ago, Imre Gomes, who went to Sydney, says, "I've been back at least 40 times on business and pleasure since 1968. Growing up in Spence Lane was a wonderful experience, like nowhere else no other place anywhere in the world."
MM Somaya
"Our house faced Christ Church School (CCS), my go-to place. I'm from St Mary's, but the CCS principal, Mr Lilywhite, permitted me on the premises after CCS matches were over. Those concrete tennis court and grass ground games prepared my sports career. The lane knew me as Prem Muttana. Prem being my name at home, Muttana my dad's name. As newspapers referred to MM Somaya bringing India a Gold, neighbours didn't realise it was me at the Moscow Olympics."
Norma Arklie Otter
Norma Arklie (who just turned 91) married Colin Otter to become Maimoon Manzil's first tenant; the Begs came an hour after. At 19, Arklie represented India among 16 participant countries at the International Federation of Women's Hockey Association Conference and Tournament in Folkestone, Kent, England in 1953. This was the first women's hockey team to England. The gully witnessed rambunctious rounds of hopscotch, seven tiles, dabba doobi and cricket matches. Otter's daughter Gwenda says, "At Christmas the star strung up was created by us kids. At New Year's we stuffed crackers inside a man of hay dressed in donated clothes. Trundling him in a handcart, we'd shout âOld Man, old man'. On the dot of midnight, he was brought to the middle of the lane and burnt."
Author-publisher Meher Marfatia writes fortnightly on everything that makes her love Mumbai and adore Bombay. You can reach her at meher.marfatia@mid-day.com/www.meher marfatia.com
