A large part of how one becomes fascinated about cities is by walking through them; exploring by foot the possibilities and complexities that a place could offer. The best way to experience the local neighborhood is to move through them; bringing yourself closer to the street and in contact with an immense variety of other lives and places that could help one feel a part of it. Everyone has been to South Bombay as we call "SOBO" but hardly are people aware of life in South Borivali. Exploring the world of walking tour online, one would find a plethora of ones navigating through the historic fort complex. Our objective through the walk is to help people understand the area of Borivali-Kandivali through the local lens. How its local community of residents and businesses uses it, interacts with it, and thinks about it. By treading the streets and moving through the place, it uncovers far more than the simple conversation.
SOuth BOrivali Walking Tour: Exploring "SO-BO"
Duration : 2 hours
Distance : 2 KM
Audience : Outstation students / men and women who come to the neighborhood for studies and work, people who are keen to explore the city
The walk began from the Vazira Ganesh Temple. Swayambhu Siddhivinayak Ganesh Devasthan literally translated as self manifested divine abode of Lord Ganesh is one of the most famous temples and a key landmark of Vazira Naka - a neighborhood in the western suburbs of Borivali. This is one of the oldest temple of Borivali. The story says that many years ago the area was covered with rocks and marshy lands, in order to develop the area there were laborers who were cutting down the stones where one of the laborer got a dream of Lord Ganesh asking him not to cut a particular rock as he was going to appear from it. The next day it happened and a deity of Ganpati appeared from a huge rock, it was then brought to the eye level and then made into a mandir. Next we walked through the furniture gully. The furniture gully has had many furniture shops for 40 years. The whole area was a forest and marshy land before. The lane is now officialy called Pandit Malahrao Kulkarni Road. He was a very famous and well respected musician who used to live here. There are two 25 year old buildings which were among the first few buildings to be built here and one of them has gone through a recent redevelopment. As we move forward we can see the road connecting this gully which was built upon the gutter which meets the Gorai creek. Atal museum - the space was first a dumping ground, which was then converted to a museum dedicated Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Mahavirnagar khaugalli- it started from few shops and now the entire mahavir nagar has eateries. It is a budget friendly space ranging from Rs.10 vadapav to Rs.400 coffee.