Old Bombay Project

At my instigation we had planned an Old Bombay Photo Project which involved the joint effort of Mumbai-ite 56er Ubi and Toronto-ian 59er Hasnain Chinwalla when the later was on a visit to India.

Unfortunately, just at the time, Ubi was unwell and we have that project on hold.

However, that did not stop Hasnain from doing some shooting on his own.

He just posted a couple of pictures on our 59er Google Group which I had to share with the wider Seventh Heaven world.

This is the context in Hasnain's words:

Hi Guys,

I am currently in New Jersey, and came across a book titled 'Bombay - The Cities Within' by Sharada Dwivedi and Rahul Mehrotra. It contains some fabulous pictures of old Bombay, that remind me of the fabulous pictures on the walls at Viney Sethi's house in Alibaug, as well as the same type of pictures in Ubi's flat on A Road.

I got a big surprise when I came across this picture that I have attached.

I wonder how many of you were aware of this 'fact'.

I am also attaching another picture of the same building that I took in Jan 2008.

(Please ignore the text about Wilson College, Chowpatty, as this was cut out from the shot.)



Oriental Buildings, Flora Fountain in 2008:



From my archives I am adding two pictures.

The first is the oldest picture I have of our present school from 1890. I wonder when it moved from the now Oriental Building? That part of the history that it was OUR School Building was definitely missing from my records.



The second is Flora Fountain in 1952, but sadly not the view I would have liked to have here!



My mouth waters at the quality of Hasnain's photography as his composition and photo quality are what I strive to attain, but I am nowhere near that level.

Now that I have my new digital I am certainly going to have better quality pictures on the Blog, but it will be a far cry from the work of my correspondent! :-)

I am waiting for Hasnain's inputs from his recent trip to India as I am sure he has some great shots to share with you.

Please send me your best photographs of the school and its history for my November 2009 multi media project. You too can be part of this effort.

Thanks, Hasnain, for this great input. Without you this BLOG would be drab!