![]() People were constantly selling things, coming and going. Nearby was the milk seller who would miraculously get hot milk flying from vessel to glass endlessly. In the hurly burly of the street there was even a temple with clanging bells and religious ceremonies going on all day long. There was a balcony which overlooked the street and on the street all day long there was a constant procession of all the wonders of the world – the rickshaw-wallas and poor people and rich people and people with animals and sword-swallowers and fire-breathers.” ![]() “All kinds of traders would come in, my grandfather dealt with GIs during the war, travelers and ambassadors. “The first floor was my grandfather’s gaddi – an old style office where the men would sit on these beds with takkias and conduct business,” recalls Mehta. The son of a Gujarati diamond merchant, Suketu Mehta lived in this very old house on Burtolla Street with his entire extended family till the age of six. ![]() Yes, all the high drama, the tall tales of tall cities like Bombay and New York started on a narrow balcony on a narrow street in Bada Bazaar in an old and densely packed part of Calcutta. Photo: Lavina Melwani Suketu Mehta’s Maximum City ![]() Suketu Mehta, author, Maximum City: Bombay Lost & Found. ![]()
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