Open Spaces

Between 1956 to 1968 when I was in school there were a number of open spaces accessible to us from home or school. To name them the st xaviers stadium ,Bhoiwada Maidan,Kamgar Maidan next to R.M.Bhatt school ,the Nare Park maidan and the Purandare Stadium apart from our own school ground.The St Xavier Stadium was a real delight next to our school ground with a small court street running between them .This  always used to be deserted and girls from the convent feared to walk on it especially during evening time. But  huge acacia trees that offered shelter during the monsoons.

 The Bhoiwada Maidan or the Trikoni Maidan and later the Sadakant Dhawan maidan named after a local shivsena boy who got killed by some other party goons. This was the centre of locus of my school days and had a peculiar significance as it was where my cricketing aspirations were waterlood as I was sent packing for 4 runs after a particular bad show in the early part of my sporting life during school days. Yet we did play cricket on this maidan on Sundays at times. Later I was content at becoming a spectator as I was miserable at bowling too. This place became a hub somewhere during 1965 when a Apna Bazar a Co-operative Departmental stores came on one side of the triangle that made the Trikoni maidan  in alignment to the Shetye Market on one side  and BDD chawls of Naigaum on the other.

On the opposite  side was the Bhoiwada Police Station and the third side was delineated  by the small cause court or Magistrate court .All sides had streets which are still there today. On the  side of the cort opened the st pauls street midway. In monsoons grass grew on the Maidan and it used to be a visual delight as we were starved of open spaces. In evenings small groups of mill workers sat there talking and having meetings as  chana wallas tried to sell their merchandise. Bhoiwada still has an emotional significance as it was a landmark , as we walked from or towards school over it and thus it became an everyday affair. As school going kids the maidan was considered as a boundary beyond  which we were not expected to venture unless at times we were bold and crossed the precincts to discover newer streets and roads. My parents on Sundays went to the maidan to sit on the benches as they discussed the  difficulties of family and other matters. When I too went with them at times I would get some candy or Kulfi. The maidan got desecrated when the stupid corporaton build an atrocious podium at one end for political meetings as the maidan was hotbed of politics having a strong vote bank in the chawls of Naigam which we later discovered.Next to Apna Bazar was the Bhoiwada Post Office  and the Mashaallah Irani Restaurant where I spent some of my finest days in youth dreaming of a great future which never arrived.

One of the prominent feature of this spot was the nomadic tribe somewhere from Andhra or may be even Tamil Nad  which we called Houdoodoo  who had settled  in open .They sold weird things from the jungles in form of herbs and even lizards packed in oil supposed to be aphrodisiacs. We were always afraid of this tribe. The men had long hair and the women sported tribal ankle long dresseslike half sarees  which were colorful and would wear beads  which they also sold to the working class populations who could not afford metal ornaments. Most of the women folk had gruff voice and they cooked nonveg stuff which wold make or stomach revolt.The never left the place changing with time  Later I have seen them even selling  electronic goods.They bathed in open cooked in open and slept in open except dring monsoons when the would raise  small  shanties.