Once upon a time, this stretch in Mumbai was address of 14 markets

A bustling Yusuf Meherally Street. (Prashant Nadkar)

The Yusuf Meherally road located at the north end of the Masjid Bandar railway station that connects the P D’Mello Road to the Mohammad Ali Road, is like a set of small markets rolled into one road. Thanks to the several semi-wholesale and retail shops specialising in dry fruit, tarpaulins, masalas and farsan, one has to carefully wade through the railway station-bound crowd or worse, loaded handcarts swiftly pushed around. Named after Indian freedom fighter and socialist leader Yusuf Meherally, credited with coining the slogans ‘Quit India’ and ‘Simon Go Back’, the road, locals say, has the legacy of 14 markets that at one point in time operated from the very road, selling goods ranging from sofa sets to fruits to iron.

Indrajeet K Thakkar, who owns a dry fruits store on the Yusuf Meherally Road, alternatively called the Y M Road or the Masjid Bunder Road, has been operating out of the street for decades. Talking about the history of the road, Thakkar said, “At one point of time there were 14 markets that operated out of here. These included sofa bazaar, lokhand bazaar, chemical bazaar, dry fruit market, fruit and vegetable market among others. Later, several markets like the fruit and vegetable market moved out to the APMC market in Navi Mumbai. The dry fruit and masala market are the few markets that still survive here.”

The nearly kilometre long stretch has clusters of shops selling dry fruits, spices, farsan with a bunch of shops selling tarpaulin sheets towards the western end of the road. Sameer Thakkar, owner of one of the tarpaulin shops, said, “There were in fact many more shops selling tarpaulin sheets here when my father operated the shop. Comparatively, the number of shops have actually gone down over the years.” The road also houses the Zakariya mosque and the ‘Israeli Mohalla’ named thus as several jews resided there until a couple of decades ago.

Towards the eastern end of the road, as one walks towards the P D’Mello Road, there are slums on both sides. Towards the eastern end, however, there are huge godowns filled with goods. An employee at the godown said, “This was actually part of dana bandar and was used to store fruits and vegetables for the market that operated out of here before it moved to APMC market. Later, the transport companies took this godown on rent and now goods transported from across the country are brought here by trucks. The goods are stored here before being sent to local factories/ shops within the city.” As a result of these godowns, the already congested road faces a steady inflow of large trucks packed with goods headed for the godowns.

The road also has several streets like Samuel Street, teeming with shops, Dontaad Street, better known as ‘Damar gali’ for the tar shops it housed once, Daryasthan Street, Karambekar Street and the Narsi Natha Street named after a temple on the lane. Majority of people operating out of this street are unaware about the origins of the street name or even who Yusuf Meherally was.

Meherally was an Indian freedom fighter and socialist leader credited with coining the term ‘Simon Go Back’ and ‘Quit India’. While he was in Yerwada prison for his role in the Quit India Movement, he was also elected the Mayor of Bombay in 1942. There are several Yusuf Meherally centres set up by his supporters after his death to continue his work.

GG Parekh (93), one of the co-founders of the Yusuf Meherally centres, who knew Mehrally, said, “Meherally along with 40 odd people had dressed up as coolies when they heard the officials of the Simon Commission were headed to Mumbai in steamers. As soon as the officials reached Gateway of India, they shouted slogans ‘Simon Go Back’” Parekh said. He added, “As a result of this, Meherally was roughed up by the British and rolled in a drum.” As per news reports of 1942, when asked about being rolled in a drum, Meherally had wryly called it a “moving experience.”

Parekh said, “Meherally, who hailed from Kutch, was particularly loved by the Kutchi community of grain traders who primarily operated out of what is now the Yusuf Meherally Road. Hence after his death, they approached the authorities asking for the particular road to be named after him. The request was approved and the road was eventually named after him.” “There was a time when horse carts would move around here when it was called the Masjid Bunder Road. Later, it was renamed after Yusuf Meherally who has widely worked for the people of the area. But these days with the number of vehicles plying here there is lot of traffic and something needs to be done about it soon,” says Mansukhlal Kothari , owner of one of the oldest dry fruit shops.