MASALA MAKERS WITHIN & WITHOUT THE FORT
1. Farida Umrigar has reestablished the relations her family of masala makers shared with Fort’s inhabitants who once lived within the settlement but over the years have migrated to the suburbs.
2. And these long relations mean that there are adjustments, mane jasti spicy joyech, mane jara milder joyech, and the recipes are tweaked with a little more or less chilli powder, coriander seeds or cumin…
3. …but the Umrigars’ Dhansak Masala and Sambhar Masala are a legacy, not touched for anybody.
4. Keki Umrigar had created these special recipe masalas in the 1970s, sensing the needs of the Parsis in the vicinity. Britannia & Co. Restaurant started using their Dhansak and Sambhar Masalas as well as their sarko (vinegar) sourced from Navsari, for fish patra and cutlet gravy.
5. Najoo Umrigar introduced seasonal condiments- bafenu in the mango season, garabh nu achar or fish roe pickle, vasanu in the winter season-- all made by her at 164 Bohra Bazaar Street, their residence.
6. Keki would go between the store at Fort Market and their residence close-by. In the afternoons, when Fort Market practically closed, he would go to the wholesale market at Masjid Bunder to pick up the raw material.
7. And within their residence, Keki would go between the first and ground floor where the sacred well had his attention. On Sundays, Keki would gather a team to service and clean the wells in fire temples across the city. For 40 years he served as a Parsi well keeper.
8. Over the last decade as Keki aged, these activities became more difficult. The masala making was moved from the store to their residence.
9. Farida, Keki and Najoo’s daughter-in-law, introduced home delivery, reaching the inhabitants of the Fort now based in Andheri and Jogeshwari. She also makes sweets-- almond rock, cakesicle, chocolates with Baileys Creme…
UMRIGAR STORES
Stall No. 14-15-16, Fort Market, Mint Road
&
Keki House, 164 Bohra Bazaar Street, Fort.
29th September 2021
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Bombay’s wells had tempers. Theatres lost their audiences, construction came to a standstill, inhabitants fell dangerously ill, if the resident well was offended. Defilement of any kind— kicking a stone on which there were offerings, sleeping near the well in matrimony, closing a well with concrete— all had dire consequences. Death. Dangerous illness.
And so, the wire-gauze trap doors placed on the wells in the early 1900s were consolatory, keeping the three stakeholders at ease: The municipal authorities battling infectious disease who wanted the wells sealed, the inhabitants first cooperating then finding their family members falling ill, and the well spirit who wanted free play in the water, to watch the sky and get some sunlight…Otherwise…
…The well would start to overflow, emitting foul water…
By and large Fort’s wells had genial spirits. Murgha Bawa allowed the children of the house to eat the sweets offered to him. He would emerge from the well in the still of the night and walk up the staircase of the house on Ghoga Street.
As scholar R. P. Masani has noted, the well spirits of Parsi homes were generally Mohammedan. Murgha Bawa is believed to be a corruption of Yusuf Murgay, after whom a lane, Murgha Seri, is also named.
Like the theatres on Falkland Road which have dargahs in their basements, Bombay’s landscape is suffused with spirits dwelling below the surface.
Photos by Philippe Calia.
