Khada Parsi may be moved

There is much opposition to the Bombay Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) plan to relocate the statue of Khada Parsi to Five Gardens in Dadar Parsi Colony, as per a news report published by Mumbai Mirror (MM) on April 2, 2008. The century-old statue of the illustrious Seth Cursetjee Man­ock­jee, which once stood at the center of a road junction, is now sandwiched between the two flyovers which came up later in Byculla. It was commissioned by his youngest son, Manockjee Cursetjee, a judge in the Small Causes Court, who shelled out the then princely sum of Rs 20,000 for the purpose. The family later "gifted” the statue to the BMC on the condition that it would be maintained properly.

Ironically, the reason cited by the BMC for moving this landmark is that the statue is deteriorating because of the effect of traffic fumes and bird droppings. The Corporation feels that moving it to Dadar would protect it from the corrosive effects of pollution, MM elaborates. Street dwellers who live below the flyover use the base of the statue, modeled after an ornamental fountain ordered by the government of Chile, to dry their clothes on.

Khada Parsi statue at Byculla today and what it looked like earlier (bottom left) Picture courtesy: Bombay Through a Camera, D. B. Taraporevala Sons & Co. 1922 Alexandra Girl’s School (bottom right)

However, residents of Dadar Parsi Colony would rather have the BMC erect the statue of the Colony’s founder, Mancherji E. Joshi in Five Gardens. City historian Sharada Dwivedi too feels that Dadar is not the right place for the Khada Parsi. "The statue should remain in south Bombay. The Alexandra Girls’ School had told the Heritage Committee that they wanted to reinstate the statue at their School premises near Bombay Gymkhana,” she informed MM. The institution was founded in 1863 by his son, who had commissioned the statue.

Additionally, the BMC has asked the fire brigade to clean up this statue and other prominent monuments which have been similarly defaced, MM of April 10, 2008 reveals. "These statues need to be washed from time to time. The work has been assigned to the fire brigade as they have the necessary equipment such as turntables, automatic ladders and long hose pipes,” a senior civic official said. But fire officials feel the BMC has enough manpower to do the job itself with equipment lent by the fire brigade. "Our main job is to douse fires and rescue people, and not clean statues and monuments… This is not a fireman’s job,” the officer explained to MM.