This morning, while reading the The Times of India I found a unique article. I was excited to read it at first. But that excitement didn't last long. The article was presumably just "about the origins of several stations' names". Hence my initial joys. But on a closer read, I was shocked to say the least. The special article enlisted the names of certain stations, and their origins, but just below that, some other names as well. I realised then, that the whole reason this article was written, was to convey that it was these stations whose 'colonial era' names were to be changed now.
These were the proposed changes-
Mumbai Central > Sir Jagannath Shankar Seth
Marine Lines > Mumbadevi
Charni Rd > Girgaon
Currey Road > Lalbaug
Sandhrust Rd. > Dongri
Cotton Green > Kala Chowki
Dockyard Rd. > Mazgaon
King's Circle > Tirthankar Parshvanath
My emotions were terrible. They were mildly akin to a feeling of losing something dear. They were of shock, and hurt. They were, on an honest note, also of anger. I felt it was an unnecessary action, one that would have painful, and lasting consequences on us rail historians and enthusiasts. I gave a rough read to the article, to get an idea of which stations were being renamed.
Just below this, was another related article. It was about the public opinion. The title read 'New names may confuse rly commuters'. In it, several people gave their opinions on the decision. Some highlighted the fact that some stations on the list viz. Marine lines and Charni Rd had no colonial connection. Others went more philosophical, bringing up the question, that where are we exactly heading by changing the name of stations. One person lamented that despite any name change, the old names will forever remain in the minds of commuters. For instance despite being renamed CSMT long ago, the popular name of the CR's grand terminus remains VT. A conservationist beautifully stated that developments and achievements ought not be built by tampering the nomenclature of the past.
The issue is much larger than what the title suggests as the issue. Long before railways arrived in India, the places where the stations today lie, had been known by a name for one or the other reason. The reasons, for some, originate decades or centuries before the advent of rail in India. You might have also wondered about why the suffix 'Road' (as in Charni Rd) or 'Marg' (as in Kanjur Marg) exist. This story belongs to the early decades of railway. Every name has a backstory. And each story is curiosity provoking, and wonderful.
Let's begin with Charni Rd. In the 1830s, Cattle belonging to the residents of Bombay's old Fort area would graze at the site of the present day Azad Maidan. The British introduced a fee for grazing in 1838, something some owners couldn't afford. Thus, the well known Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy bought a piece of land at Thakurdwar , just so that the cattle owners to graze their livestock for free. 'Grazing' is known as 'Charna' in Marathi and Hindi. Hence the region began to be called as Charni, and a station in the same region opened in 1868, was be named 'Charni Rd'. This is the tale of philanthropy behind this station's nameplate.
Let's get to Currey Road. This station was built as a permanent halt between 1890 and 1895, though it existed much before, for transporting horses. It was named after Charles Currey, the Agent (General Manager as it is called today), of the neighboring Bombay Baroda & Central India Railway (BB&CI Railway), today's Western Railway. It was kind of how we name certain parks, and stations after prominent figures today. The station has a part in India's Independence Movement, for it was this station that Mill workers had partially burnt in 1908, to protest the arrest of Lokmanya Tilak.
Onward to Cotton Green. Now's an interesting part. Bombay was like a cotton hub of India back then. Several bales of cotton would be brought to the port city of Bombay to be transported to Britain. In fact cotton was among the most prominent reason for the beginning of Railways in India per se. The bales were stored in a region near the docks, close to where Horniman Circle lies today, hence the place was named Cotton Green. The store of cotton was, by 1844, shifted to the reclaimed land in Colaba, which became the new cotton hub. It was later shifted to another reclaimed site near Sewri-Mazgaon. The station that was built just close to the cotton exchange building now came to be known as Cotton Green as well.
Now to Sandhurst Rd. In 1896, Bombay was struck by a Plague Epidemic. Thousands of Bombay's residents died in this tragic happenstance. Soon, the authorities made several reforms, aimed at improving the living and sanitary conditions in the city, as well as improving the infrastructure. For this, the Bombay Improvement Trust (BIT) was formed by the government at the end of 1898. The Governor of Bombay during this time was William Mansfield, the First Viscount Sandhurst, better known as Lord Sandhurst. He was assigned to this task of destruction of insanitary property, and cleansing of the city and suburbs, for, it was believed that these insanitary condition played a role in the spread of the disease. India's first two-tiered station, that came up in the 1920s in view of the extension of Harbour line to VT, and the upcoming electrification of this line (another first in India), was named after this very governor, who took up the task of purifying the city, to prevent the infection of the local populace.
Mumbai Central. Still known by some with its former name 'Bombay Central', it was one of Bombay's most important Terminus. The other two being Victoria Terminus, and the erstwhile Colaba Terminus that existed on the BB&CI line. It was constructed, because the Colaba Terminus was to be demolished to avoid interruptions in the then upcoming reclamation scheme, and BB&CI needed another long distance terminus. This station was to be Bombay's Central terminus, and was completed in a time frame of 18 months, and opened in December 1930. Since Colaba Terminus too went defunct in the end of that year, this became BB&CIR, and later WR's main long distance train station. The name in my opinion, be it Bombay or Mumbai Central, has a stature, a strong personality of its own. It gives it a status close to that of New York's Grand Central station.
There exist about a hundred stations in Mumbai's Suburban rail network. I told the tale of just a few, but they suffice to give an idea about the nomenclature they possess. Each had a unique element, the same applies to every other station. Some stations are named after the local vegetation, be it Chinchpokali, the purpose of the region, as in Vidya Vihar, the geography of the region, as in Ghatkopar, the name of some important personality, as in Grant Rd (after governor Robert Grant), the connection to some place of commerce, as in Dockyard Rd. Every name is significant in on or other reasons. In this rapidly changing world, where future arrives quicker than anticipated, after hundreds of alterations, these names remain as a testament to the humble past, and wonderful anecdotes. And these names are all, that provoke people to know their home-place's rich history and reasons for certain practices and traditions to exist, the way they do.
Changing names, in the name of just erasing the colonial links with no practical basis whatsoever is irrational. Doing so might please some groups, but inevitably, it acts to diminish the feel of a place's historical importance. Its just to some, like I mentioned before, akin to losing something dear. Hence I dearly feel, that something as rich as a name, must never be changed, and rather left to us curious explorers as treasure clues leading us to the eventual treasure, the stories and links are.
Even now, as I finish this article, I am incredibly grieved upon the prospect of the names of my Rich Bombay's links being broken, just as my feeling are right now.
Some References taken from-
- Anchoring a City Line: 2000, Rahul Mehrotra, and Sharada Dwivedi
- Halt Station India: 2014: Rajendra Aklekar
