'H for Heritage: Mumbai' traces transformation of India's financial capital

Do you know that the American national anthem - The Star-Spangled Banner was written on a ship that is made in India. Or for that matter, the “Treaty of Nanking” was signed on a ship made in India.

American lawyer Francis Scott Key was on board HMS Minden when he wrote The Star-Spangled Banner. He was on a visit to Baltimore. The poem went on to become the national anthem of the United States of America. HMS Minden was the first ship in India to be commissioned by the Royal Navy. It was launched in 1810 from Duncan Dock in the Naval Dockyard.

The “Treaty of Nanking” that ceded Hong Kong to the British was signed on board HMS Cornwallis, which was also built at the Bombay Dockyard.

Several such interesting aspects of heritage of the financial capital of India and the transformation of Bombay to Mumbai - has been presented in H for Heritage: Mumbai written by journalist and writer Fiona Fernandez with illustrations by Sumedha Sah, which has been brought out by HarperCollins Children’s Books.

Part guide and part trivia trove, this book is an alphabetical exploration from A to Z that criss-crosses the city and its suburbs.

The book also points out that the Banganga Tank has a direct connection with the Ramayana. Lord Ram was feeling thirsty while on his journey to Lanka to rescue Sita is believed to have struck an arrow into the ground there leading to emergence of a water spring. The water tank is considered a revered site frequented by devotees on auspicious days of the Hindu calendar.

“Using the letters of the Alphabet in this title, I’ve attempted to unravel these aspects in a more fun and less intimidating way. Curious-minded across age groups will find this book as a raconteur into Mumbai's origins and its famous faces, one letter at a time,” said Fernandez.

Mumbai houses the Bombay Stock Exchange, the biggest bourse of the country - but actually the trading started below a banyan tree which exists even now.

Before Elphinstone Circle and its garden (later renamed Horniman Circle) were created, the site was called Bombay Green. It was an open ground where bales of cotton were piled up and auctioned. Cotton traders and stockbrokers would assemble there. In 1851, twenty-two stock brokers began trading under a banyan tree. They invested a sum of Rs one, which was worth little even in those days. That group was called the Native Share and Stock Brokers Association. Today, that banyan tree still exists, and stands witness to the foundation laid by those traders. It was to become BSE on Dalal Street, just a stones throw distance away from the tree.