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Journalism of Courage
Being the only link between the business district of Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) and Bandra railway station, Anant Kanekar Marg in Bandra East is known for its traffic jams. With share autos queuing up outside the station and illegal parking taking up some more space, the road is always chaotic. But incredibly, four decades back, the 700-metre stretch did not even exist.
Named after the Marathi writer Anant Kanekar, the road connects Bandra station to the Western Express Highway. The literary figure lived nearby in Sahitya Sahavas at Kala Nagar. “The government had allotted some land for journalists, artists, architects and writers and these colonies came up here. He lived in the writers’ colony for many years,” said Bharatkumar Raut, a journalist who was also Kanekar’s neighbour. He is known to have played a role in the foundation of the colony. “It was his idea to have a colony for writers and he brought together some literary figures and pushed for it,” said Vijaya Rajadhyaksha, a writer herself and also Kanekar’s neighbour at Sahitya Sahavas. Recalling memories from her time as his neighbour, the 85-year-old writer said, “He was a friendly person and had a lot of friends. He was a great conversationalist and we would enjoy spending time with him. His wife was also a great host and welcoming. Having taught at Siddharth College for many years, he was known to be popular among students and even years after his retirement they continued to visit him.”
The road today has several offices including the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA), Prakashgad and even the Bandra Magistrate Court, apart from a swathe of open land used by locals for growing vegetables. Lined by a foot overbridge on one side and slums on the other, the road was built in the early 1980s. Rajadhyaksha’s daughter, Mugdha, recollects a time when the road did not exist. “We moved here from Colaba in the late 1970s and then the area was marshy and full of mosquitoes. This road did not exist then and we had to travel by bus to Bandra West to get into the station. It is only in the 80s that the road came up and the autos began plying here,” said Mugdha.
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