Sketches That Capture The Charm Of Old Bandra Homes

“Bandra still has the essence of quaint old seaside charm, and retains its vibrant history through its characteristic people, buildings and nature in the bustling madness of Bombay,” describes artist Prashant Miranda encapsulating a sentiment that many residents of the city can strongly relate to. From narrow, picturesque lanes to beautiful street corners, Bandra has an old-world charm quite unique to this neighbourhood, despite the rapid gentrification and urbanisation it’s succumbing to simultaneously, which makes it unlike any other in the city.

Paying tribute to the architectural beauty of this homely and culturally rich part of the city, Miranda decided to walk through the inner lanes and outer roads of Bandra to spot the most elegant edifices he could find, and gave them life on sheets of paper. “I only saw Bandra in the mid 1990’s for the first time. Having grown up in a Christian household in old-time Bangalore, I was familiar with quaint old bungalows, and so immediately gravitated to the charm of Bandra,” he tells us, explaining his choice of theme. “I was introduced to Bandra and its surroundings in my first visits to Bombay from Design school. So I became familiar with the surroundings and my friends who inhabited the space. I have a penchant for documenting spaces and buildings which I know might not exist in our rapidly changing world, and so thought it would be a good series for one of our art shows called Artstack in Bombay in 2011. I continued the series in 2012, and did a show called “Bombay Gold” last year with buildings from South Bombay.”

For the uninitiated, Bandra’s charm can be best experienced through the eyes of its long-time inhabitants, most of whom are forever warm, welcoming, and just truly wonderful. As Miranda attests, “whilst painting a bungalow in Ranwar village, a sweet old lady Ms. Alice Flanagan, peeked her head out of the window and asked me to join her for a cup of tea once I was done. What ensued over tea and biscuits was a trip down memory lane with such kindness, hospitality and laughter, and I ended up singing and playing songs on her piano for quite a while.”

The artist’s decision to capture old bungalows came from his innate love for beautiful, historical structures. “I’ve always admired old buildings and architecture, and I’ve documented such buildings in India, Cuba, Spain, and other places on my travels. I feel that old buildings exude their own aura, and I’m gravitated to a mix of history, culture and nature that lure me to them. Each Bungalow in Bandra has their unique sensibility, and it was important for me to try and paint as many as I could. I may have started with familiar ones like ‘Peace Haven’ and ones on Perry Cross due to the proximity of where I was staying, and then moved onto others. I still have a long way to go,” he confides.
With the influx of commercial builders, owners of these quaint bungalows are constantly faced with the pressure to sell, as they sit on prime real estate in one of the most expensive cities in the world. We asked Miranda what he would say to these bungalow owners if given the opportunity, and he said he would ask them, “to be proud of their heritage and history, and to preserve the last remnants of culture which are storehouses of memories and stories for the future.”

The landscape of this locality is changing before the eyes of its residents, with tall, characterless structures constantly replacing individualistic homes, but there are still a few keepers of local heritage that stand against these pressures, preserving the old-world charm of Bandra, and Miranda’s art acts as a poetic tribute to them.