Lighting up Cursetjee

The lamps surrounding the iconic 150-year-old Grade I heritage statue of Cursetjee Manockjee, popularly known as Khada Parsi, the 19th century educationist and founder of the Alexandra Girls English Institution, will be lit by gas soon. The local E ward office of the Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC) in Byculla where the statue stands wanted to use LPG cylinders for the lamps, but did not get permissions to do so from the Bombay Fire Brigade, reported the MumbaiMirror of May 15, 2018. Assistant commissioner for E ward, Sahebrao Gaikwad told the newspaper that "We had no choice but to apply for an MGL (Mahanagar Gas Limited) pipeline. But there is none near our site.” According to the E ward officials, drug addicts, urchins and homeless people have taken over the site in the absence of lighting and proper security. "Though we take regular action, it’s important that the lamps are lit,” he said.

Khada Parsi: gas lamps to shine

Photo: Sakshi Kapoor

The only cast-iron statue in the city, according to MM, the sculpture stands on a Corinthian pillar surrounded by sculptures of four mermaids. Originally commissioned by Cursetjee’s son Manockjee in the 1860s at a then princely sum of Rs 20,000 and later handed over to the BMC, the statue was restored four years ago to its former splendor, after decades of increasing decrepitude at a cost of Rs 1.3 crore (see "Splendor of the statue,” Parsiana, August 7, 2014).
"With the renovation, new water and gas connections for the statue were approved, but the lamps are still awaiting fuel,” noted MM. Stating that the eight lamp burners would use eight kg of gas per hour, MM forebodes that "if not lit, (they) run the risk of being stolen again,” a reference to the "400 pieces from the statue (that) got damaged or stolen over the years.”