There are many places to walk in Bombay, but a walk from Byculla Train Station to Breach Candy Hospital is perhaps one with the most contrasts.
It is not an easy of a pleasant walk but if you could suspend judgement and seek what you seek behind the facades and the obvious, you will be surprised by what you will find. Byculla used to be one of the most fashionable suburbs of Bombay. Bombay is really a European city if you look past its modern squalor. When you cross over from the station on the fly-over (walk slowly and avoid the deadly traffic), you will see old buildings that still retain the charm of the old grandeur. After Hornby Vellard was completed in the late 1700s, creating what is known as Breach Candy today (or Bulabhai Desai Road if you prefer), Byculla came to be a fashionable suburb. Mazgaon already had faded as the central point for the ultra-rich and malabar Hill was not yet the in-thing. Later, after a great epidemic, the rich fled further west and built the mansions in Malabar Hill leaving Byculla in its current state.
David Sassoon used to live here. You may not know this, but Vidal Sassoon is a descendant of this David. A great Iraqi Jew, David came to Bombay when he was young and made a fortune and he remained a great benefactor to his adopted city to the end.
Under the flyover there is the small but important Christ Church Lane with its distinct buildings. Most of the residents still know each other and there is a sense of small town camaraderie here. If you walk down the lane, watch out for the most recognized funeral directors across the street - Pinto. I think they might still be the only body embalmers in all of Bombay. This is a long and rambling walk, past much ugly scenery. So you have to look carefully to find architectural gems hidden behind make-shift structures, tin hutments and sidewalk encroachments. The church and the hospital buildings both date back to the heyday of the British empire right before the causeway was constructed. This road, as you walk past much muck with go through the brothels of Madanpura. In Madanpura you will see a lot of interesting buildings way past their prime constructed to house laborers and most of them lived in the rental houses. These houses are still landlord-owned even though only nominally. Aside from prostitution, under the think facade of normalcy, Madanpura also hosts drug sellers and addicts as well as Muslim gangsters. Kamathipura is not that far from here. Be sure not to step on the people sleeping on the streets if it is night. This place comes alive during Ramzan nights with all sorts of exotic food stalls. It is second only to Muhammed Ali Road in its Ramzan night stalls.
Continue past the rotary, you go past Bombay Central station and on to Tardeo. Bombay Central station is a great handsome building built to host the Bombay Baroda and Central India (BB&CI) Railway when it was opened in the 1860s. I don't know when the building was constructed, but from its look I would like to postulate a much later date, perhaps early 1900s. The bridge over the railway tracks is also an interesting basalt and iron structure that will take you down to the middle of Tardeo. Tardeo I assume is named after a shiva temple even though I don't remember ever seeing the temple. There is the police station up ahead and Sardar's, the famous pav bhaji place is right after the bus stop. Across the road is a BEST bus depot that has been there 1950s. A small lane of buildings with great wood construction lies behind the BEST depot called Wadia street. At this point all the interesting buildings begin to taper off. There are two more I think, the rest are concrete monstrosities until you reach Heera Panna and the giant bill boards.
Mahalaxmi temple is barely visible from the road anymore, as you walk to Pedder road. Now you are walking on the first stretch of the famous Horny Vellard. mahalaxmi temple was constructed after a statue was recovered during the construction of the vellard. Most of the interesting mansions on this road were demolished in the 50s and 60s and ugly apartment buildings were constructed in their place. As you go up Warden road, the only old building that still stands is the palace of Gaikwads of Baroda which is now the officers' residence for BARC. Breach candy hospital is right after. Breach Candy is named after the great "breach" which was the gap that let water into the inner central Bombay during high tide. The water reached till Pydhonie (Pydhonie is a corruption of the term Pav-donie.. feet wash). If you have the right connections, you may be able to still enjoy the hospitality of the old Parsi mansions that lie hidden from the road by the ocean. But their days are sadly numbered. Unfortunately, there are no mansions open to the general public.
Our journey ends here. Remember to take a cab back.
