In Episode 4 of NDTV Profit's The Habitat, Vishal Bhargava visits 79 Carter Road, a rare sea-facing bungalow that has remained with the same Bandra family for generations. In conversation with Bhargava, resident Ravi recalls a neighbourhood of paddy fields, beaches and barely 10 bungalows.
“When my grandfather came here in the 1920s, there were open lands and beautiful silver sand,” Ravi said. “The paddy fields extended from outside our bungalow right up to Pali Hill.”
His grandfather, Leo, was an advocate at the Bombay High Court and served as mayor when Bandra was a separate municipality. “Bandra had no roads, electricity or drainage,” Ravi said. “It was mainly an agricultural town, so the taxes to the British were paid in rice grown in Bandra itself.”
The family's documents show that 1,000 square metres of land on Carter Road cost about Rs 300 a century ago. Asked what it could be worth now, Ravi said: “A couple of hundred crores.”
The ground floor of the present bungalow was built in 1960 and the upper floors were added in 1980. Ravi has lived there since 1961. The family has deliberately kept much of the property unchanged.
“We want to keep it as it was 100 years ago,” he said. “We have a well that has been here for more than 40 years. We get water throughout the year, which is used for the garden and washrooms.”
The garden contains more than 50 varieties of fruit-bearing trees, including star fruit, moringa and grapefruit. Inside, the bungalow holds furniture inherited across generations, including a piano that Ravi estimates is about 200 years old. “The youngest furniture here is 50 years old,” he said.
Ravi also remembers when Carter Road was quieter and the sea more accessible. “In the 1960s and 1970s, we could walk across the road and jump into the sea,” he said. “We used to catch fish there.”
That changed as debris was dumped along the coast and parts of the beach and mangroves disappeared. The family also surrendered part of its garden for road widening.
Redevelopment could replace the bungalow with a tower of about 22 storeys, but Ravi is not interested. “Builders have approached us, but we are very happy where we are,” he said. “We do not need to live on the 21st floor.”
Asked about the best decision of his life on Carter Road, Ravi answered, "Keeping 79 Carter Road as we inherited it from our grandparents. We want to preserve it for our children and future generations."
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