Elphinstone Road - Prabhadevi ... and Chai Pe Charcha !!

It was a small restaurant interestingly named ‘ chai pe charcha’ ~ more interestingly, a board on food table read : ‘Some of our servers are hearing and speech impaired’ – we call them Sign experts – please be patient and show your skills’. The place of stay on 2^nd Feb 2017 was room on 19^th floor of a 27 storeyed building in Prabhadevi; outside one could many skyscrapers, something of them under construction . .. .. ..  here is something collated.  Elphinstone Road is a railway station on the Western line of the Mumbai Suburban Railway in Mumbai, named after Lord Elphinstone, the Governor of Bombay from 1853 to 1860.  A footbridge links Elphinstone Road to Parel station on the Central Line. Web search reveals that - Lord Elphinstone is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. The title  was created by King James IV in 1510 for Sir Alexander Elphinstone of Elphinstone, who was killed at the Battle of Flodden three years later. He was succeeded by his son, the second Lord, killed at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh in 1547.   In that family came - John Elphinstone, 13th Lord Elphinstone and 1st Baron Elphinstone GCB GCH PC (1807 – 1860) a Scottish soldier, politician and colonial administrator. He was twice elected to the Parliament of the United Kingdom as a Scottish Representative peer, his political career also included the governorships of Madras and of Bombay. After renaming Oshiwara, an upcoming railway station in the Western line of Mumbai suburban railway, to Ram Mandir, the Maharashtra Government recently  passed a resolution to change the name of Elphinstone Road railway station to Prabhadevi. The details for change in name has been sent to the Ministry of Railways in Delhi. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had proposed to rename Elphinstone Road station to Prabhadevi. The proposal was passed by an all party MLA resolution in the state assembly. Media reports suggest that political parties of the State have been demanding change of names of three more Mumbai suburban railway stations: Dadar railway station to Chaityabhumi, Grant Road railway station to August Kranti and Charni Road railway station to Gaondevi. Prabhadevi is a small up-scale southern neighbourhood of Mumbai, situated between the Shivaji Park Residential Zone to the north and Worli to the south and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is a thriving residential district with high-rise buildings built in recent years; the major landmark is the famous Siddhivinayak Temple dedicated to Lord Ganesha.  Sure, there would be so many restaurants and eateries big and small in this locality as existing in other places – this small one has a rickety auto rickshaw placed inside serving as food table.  On the other food table, there are games painted and a couple were happily rolling ‘dais’ as they waited for their vadapav or something else ordered. I could not find any ‘sign expert’ – however the food was tasty and atmosphere interesting ! and hence the post.


With regards – S. Sampathkumar
5^th Feb 2017.