Earlier than the Byculla Zoo bungalow, Mumbai’s mayors used to stay at Dadar Shivaji Park, which is now being transformed into Bal Thackeray’s memorial. A lot of the work is full, however the memorial has not opened to the general public, thus far.

Shiv Sena’s Vishwanath Mahadeshwar and Kishori Pednekar have earlier walked the halls of the Byculla bungalow.

Mahadeshwar was the primary mayor to reside within the bungalow after vacating the Shivaji Park residence. On 20 January 2019, he moved into the residence and remained there till the tip of his time period.

From November 2019 to March 2022, Sena’s Kishori Pednekar served because the mayor and lived in the home.

“I’ve a lot of recollections in that bungalow. From my son’s wedding ceremony to staying with workers all locked up throughout COVID-19—my recollections are fairly candy and unforgettable,” ex-mayor Pednekar advised ThePrint.

Since then, the bungalow has been empty.

Following the company elections final month, the Mahayuti is about to type the BMC administration, with the BJP getting its first go on the mayoral publish.

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Shivaji Park mayor’s bungalow

Round a century in the past, this Victorian-era construction was in-built 1928 because the residence of the queen of Bikaner. Later, the British used this property to retailer paperwork.

Spanning 4 acres, it’s a Grade-II heritage construction, a significant native landmark that defines a area’s identification and the place inner modifications and adaptive reuse are permitted.

A curved driveway leads as much as the bungalow, which comes with a backyard within the yard. Sea-facing, the bungalow is lined on its perimeter by coconut and mango timber, with waves persistently thrashing its again fence.

After Independence in 1962, the BMC purchased the bungalow to make it the official mayoral residence and spent almost Rs 1.5 lakh for its renovation. The primary mayor to remain in the home was Dr B.P. Devgi from 1964-65. Since then, 76 mayors of Bombay/Mumbai have labored and rested inside its partitions.

The ocean-facing property is ground-plus-one storey. The bottom ground has two halls, every of 500 sq. toes. It additionally has a kitchen and a 300 sq ft VIP room. On the higher ground, the bungalow has 4 bedrooms.

Because the flip of the century, the bungalow has undergone beauty renovations for upkeep functions.

In 1966, Bal Thackeray based the Shiv Sena get together and held its first rally at Shivaji Park floor, reverse the Mayor’s bungalow. Since then, the bungalow has been a witness to a number of thundering speeches of Bal Thackeray for the following 40 years.

This property could be very near the center of Thackerays and Shiv Sainiks. Based on outdated Shiv Sainiks, Bal Thackeray would go to the bungalow earlier than his Dussehra rally speech, spending a while with the Shiv Sainiks and the mayor earlier than heading to the park.

Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray’s affiliation with the mayor’s bungalow ran deeper. When he wished to satisfy corporators or MLAs, he most popular the sea-facing bungalow.

The bungalow can be witness to an occasion—now etched in historical past—when the then dwelling minister of Maharashtra, Chhagan Bhujbal, dared to do what no one else had. Bhujbal, as soon as a protégé of Bal Thackeray, break up from Shiv Sena in 1990. He joined the Congress after which the Nationalist Congress Get together.

In 1999, when the Congress-NCP got here to energy within the state, Bhujbal was made the deputy and residential minister. And he issued orders to arrest Bal Thackeray in a case that concerned hate speech and inflicting enmity between communities by his editorials in Saamana, the Sena mouthpiece.

Since Thackeray didn’t wish to be arrested from his residence, Matoshree, and didn’t wish to go to the police commissionerate, he went to the sea-facing bungalow.

With all the metropolis tense, Thackeray was arrested from this bungalow, in a never-seen-before incident and was produced within the Justice of the Peace’s courtroom in Bhoiwada almost half an hour later. He was let go inside an hour.

After the demise of Bal Thackeray, Shiv Sena was in search of a spot to construct a memorial for Thackeray, and the household wished the memorial in Dadar.

In 2017, the BMC determined to transform the sea-facing bungalow into the late Bal Thackeray’s memorial. The final physique of the BMC corporators authorized the proposal to lease the bungalow to a belief constituted by the state authorities for the duty at a nominal annual price of Re 1 for the following 30 years. Nevertheless, the development of the memorial was to be carried out with out touching or damaging the prevailing heritage construction.

The mayor’s residence, thereafter, shifted to the bungalow inside Byculla Zoo.

“That outdated Shivaji Park bungalow was lovely, and anybody who has stayed there liked it. We had been fortunate to have stayed there,” Pooja Mahadeshwar, corporator of Shiv Sena-UBT and spouse of late mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar, advised ThePrint.

The Mahadeshwar household was the final to remain on the Shivaji Park bungalow, the place they stayed for two-and-a-half years.

“It was fairly a historic property, and staying there was an enormous deal. At any time when I used to face on the porch on the primary ground, I may see individuals peeping in from the gate solely to get a glimpse of it,” mentioned Pooja Mahadeshwar.

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Byculla mayor’s bungalow

After the choice to transform the Dadar bungalow into the Bal Thackeray memorial, the Byculla bungalow was chosen.

“When the query arose the place to shift the Mayor, we had two choices in entrance of us—Malabar Hill and Byculla. However Malabar Hill was Mumbai’s finish, and for individuals coming from North Mumbai or elsewhere, it was far off. Because the Byculla one was centrally positioned and was simpler for individuals to come back and go, Uddhav saheb mentioned we should always shift right here,” mentioned Kishori Pednekar.

However some Shiv Sainiks, together with then-mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar, opposed the choice, preferring the Malabar Hill bungalow because the mayoral residence.

At the moment, Mahadeshwar opposed the residence, saying it fell in a silent zone, and he feared that the incoming crowds couldn’t be managed. He mentioned that staying there would disturb the zoo’s atmosphere. Within the space, actions after 6 pm had been prohibited, and that might create hurdles in organising mayoral features, he believed. He even wrote a letter to then-civic chief Ajoy Mehta, stating that the bungalow’s small measurement may make it troublesome for him, particularly to satisfy dignitaries and overseas delegates.

Nevertheless, he later relented. The Mahadeshwars stayed at this bungalow for under 6 months earlier than Kishori Pednekar moved in.

“When Uddhav saheb advised us, we needed to transfer. Naturally, we felt a bit unhappy leaving that bungalow, however we weren’t offended,” mentioned Pooja Mahadeshwar.

Its serene calm—for Pednekar—was an added magnificence.

“There isn’t a greater peace than staying surrounded by nature and animals. This bungalow was very quiet. That Dadar bungalow had a continuing sound of waves and on the entrance facet, the noise of site visitors,” she mentioned.

“Once I first entered the mayor’s bungalow, I discovered there was no portrait of Babasaheb Ambedkar. I took cost in November, so instantly on sixth December, I put in an image of Ambedkar on the entrance,” she added.

The Byculla bungalow, part of the Byculla Zoo, can be a heritage construction. It’s almost 6,000 sqft, with a garden within the yard. Earlier than changing into the mayor’s residence, extra municipal commissioners of the BMC used to remain at this bungalow.

The present mayor’s bungalow is a ground-plus-one-storey construction with an enormous corridor for conferences and official functions on the bottom ground, and a small bed room and main bedroom upstairs with a balcony.

Pednekar shifted to the mayor’s bungalow in Byculla in November 2019 after her election and invested the following two to 3 years in redesigning the bungalow with natural world.

“Let anybody say something, I’m religious at coronary heart. I planted timber there within the yard. I planted 8 Audumbar timber (cluster fig). In a single nook, 4 timber stood shut to one another. I re-modelled the world with a cover and constructed a bench there. I made it into swami kata,” Pednekar mentioned. “Publish that, and even immediately, the workers meditates right here for 10-15 minutes day-after-day.”

Including that the entrance yard can’t be modified due to protocols, she mentioned within the again garden, she even constructed two ponds, “the place I had planted lotuses, which might bloom from time to time”.

Pednekar shared that one among her most vital recollections in the home was her son’s wedding ceremony, which she held in 2021 throughout the pandemic and carried out in accordance with all protocols. “…one among my sweetest recollections.”

The bungalow, which is hooked up to the enduring Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan/Rani Baug/Byculla Zoo, stays categorised as a silent zone.

“And so, at instances, I may hear Shakti and Karishma (tigers on the zoo) roar. It was so soothing. Typically, the elephant (she died a few years in the past) would additionally make noise, which was audible,” Pednekar mentioned.

The bungalow has stray cats too, and Pednekar mentioned that when she moved in, 12 cats visited, and the quantity later grew to 24. “Even immediately, I ship two-and-a-half litres of milk and fish for them,” she mentioned.

(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)

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