Santacruz, Mumbai

Santa Cruz (East) consists of Maratha Colony, Prabhat Colony, Agripada, Kalina and Vakola. It also consists of land belonging Airport Authority of India, which consists of the Mumbai Airport and Air India Colony (which comes in Kalina).

The main roads passing through Santa Cruz (E) are the Western Express Highway, Nehru Road, Santacruz-Chembur Link Road and the Kalina-Kurla Link Road. The PIN codes of this area are 400055, 400029 and 400098.

Located near Western Express Highway is the site of Sai Baba Temple which is at the centre of the area where many devotees come to pray daily. Baba Mandir is made of marble and seashells. On The Festival of Ramnavmi Utsav more than 10–20,000 people have visited on this day since 1992. The temple has been located at Achanak Krida Mandel / Siddhi Sai Seva Mandal.

Vakola stretches from the Western Express Highway in the west to the Kalina Military Camp in the east. One of the interesting facts is that the oldest Sindhi colony Aaram Society was inaugurated by India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru in the year 1954 for the refugees who had escaped from Pakistan at 1947 still exists. Yashwant nagar, Dawri Nagar, Nagdevi Nagar, Vakola Bridge, Dhobighat, Shivaji Nagar, Datta Mandir, Vakola Pipeline, Vakola Village and Vakola Masjid areas form most of Vakola, densely populated by Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Catholics and Jains. These communities, though tending to cluster together, live in relative harmony with each other, however, the area of Vakola was among the worst affected during the Bombay riots of 1993.

Vakola village is home to one of the indigenous communities of Mumbai, the East Indians. Formerly known as Vankola for three centuries, the village formed part of the Kalina Parish which was founded in 1606. It was in 1914 that through the initiative of Fr. C. A. Abreo at Kalina Church, that a chapel was contemplated to be built at Vankola. Mr. John Rodrigues popularly known as Jamboo donated the land, and the chapel was finally completed and dedicated to St. Anthony and blessed on 1 January 1921. Practically all the villagers then had relatives (brothers, sisters, in-laws) either at Kalliana (now Kalina) or at Vile Parle. The Church was remodeled in 1977 to suit the changed liturgical norms. Today, St. Anthony's Church is one of the largest parishes in the Archdiocese of Mumbai in terms of the Catholic population, which is estimated to include around 23,000 persons.

To the south of the Vankola village were a few fields and marshy lands reaching right up to the Mithi River at Bandra East that contained a lot of wildlife, birds of all kinds and small animals. Vankola village being on a small rise, the land sloped downwards towards the marshes. All social activity of the people was centered at Kalina Village which was connected to Vakola by a small road skirting the Rye Hills which now houses the Military Camp. This small road is still in use and is used a short cut to Kalina.

Anand Nagar is a large development built as transit accommodation for Post-Partition refugees, but subsequently leased out and sold to various families.

Property prices in Vakola have been on a very steep upward trend in the last couple of years. Vakola has two schools run by the Catholic Church, St Anthony's Boys' School and St. Charles Girls' School. Other educational institutions include The Patuck School and College Complex – founded under the Patuck Polytechnic Trust by the Late Mr. Rustomji Hormusji Patuck, a Parsi businessman turned technical educationist, The New Model English High School, The Municipal School at Vakola Bridge that includes several upper and lower primary schools in Hindi, Marathi, Urdu, Gujarati, Kannada, Telugu mediums and The Nariyalwadi Municipal school that has upper and primary schools in Hindi, Marathi and Tamil mediums And The Public High School & College.

Vakola hosts the corporate headquarters of Asian Paints Limited and a significant number of large commercial banks, including Canara Bank, State Bank of India, The Shamrao Vithal Co-operative Bank, CitizenCredit Co-operative Bank, ICICI Bank and NKGSB Co-Operative Bank . The Grand Hyatt hotel is located at Vakola, on the erstwhile premises of the Standard Batteries factory. Vakola is also famous for its marble stretch which exists on the Nehru Road till the Western Express Highway.

The road stretching from the Western Express Highway to the Military Camp is called Nehru Road. A tributary of the Mithi River, called as the Vakola Nallah flows through Vakola. This river overflowed during the statewide floods of 2005 on 26 July 2005 and caused massive damage to slums and housing societies along its banks. Some buildings were under ten feet of water.

The neighbourhood of Vakola is the setting for the 2011 novel Last Man in Tower, by Booker Prize–winning Indian author Aravind Adiga.[6]

Agripada stretches from the Domestic Airport to Chakki Khan. It is densely populated with many slums. It is also connected to the Western Express Highway directly. It also has a subway named "Aliyavar Jung Marg" which connects it to "Prabhat Colony". It has various general stores, chemists and few health clinics for the people living in the locality. One of the place's uniqueness is that you can see airplanes taking off and landing very closely.It also has the "Mithi Nadi", the River that flows from Santacruz to Bandra.

The East Indian village of Kole-Kalyan, now known as Kalina (from the original name Kalliana), lay on the eastern side of a forested hillock called The Rye, a mile and half southeast of Vile Parle. The words Kole-Kalyan mean the homes of jackals, foxes and wolves which at one time roamed freely in large numbers in this area. The people of the village gathered their firewood, berries and Fruits from the Hill that gave a panoramic view of the Arabian Sea and the creeks, marshy lagoons, lowlands and coconut groves of Juhu in the west, the Sion Hill and Fort, Mahim, and the Mithi River flowing to the sea at Bandra in the South, the hillocks of Chakala and Bamanwada, the small hamlet of Sahar and the Marol hills and forests to the North and the village of Kurla and the Western Ghats in the east .

The British saw the importance of this hill and promptly put up a military base with training facilities for soldiers and rest houses for the Officers and fully equipped medical facilities. Today the hill and its military base (called Kalina camp) still stand well maintained, untouched by slums and housing societies, buildings and projects.

The Village was divided into sections like, Bhatt Pakady, Matharpakady, Corderio Wadi, Desachi Pakadi and Ranwar Pakadi, and the other village of Kolavree across the southeast. The Parish Church of Our Lady of Egypt sat beside the large freshwater lake, which was used by the villages for washing clothes. Sweet drinking water was obtained from numerous wells in the villages. The main occupation of the people was agriculture. With British setting up their military base on the hill, many of the local people got employment.

In April 1930, The Kole-Kalyan Death Benefit Fund was inaugurated, presided over by Mr. Avelino Miranda at its first meeting who outlined the aims of the Benefit Fund as to render monetary assistance to the poor and needy of the two villages at the time of Funerals. The Callina Catholic Association established in 1923, won fame and popularity in both cricket and hockey.

The Government acquired the vegetable fields to the north of Kalina village from the villagers in the early 1950s. They paid a pittance as compensation to the villagers at four annas per square yard. It was a forced 'take it or get nothing' situation. This land is occupied by large apartment complexes belonging to the government-owned airline, i.e., Air-India colony and Indian Airlines colony.

The village of Kalina had doubled and tripled in size by the mushrooming of buildings and slums, huts and shanties illegally built on the east, hugging the Rye Hill and spilling onto the now defunct railway line. The village is practically strangulated and overrun by slums like Jamblipada and Kunchi Kurve Nagar mainly because the ruling politicians failed to maintain the East Indian Villages as heritage properties.

Kalina has been experiencing high growth over the past few years. The area lies midway between two suburban stations of Kurla and Santa Cruz, which are on the Central and Western Railway Lines respectively. It is also close to the Bandra-Kurla complex and only 15 minutes from the domestic terminals of the Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport. Kalina is also an emerging hub for commercial real estate and private companies with big names such as Microsoft, Rolls Royce (Marine Engines), Mudra Communication setting up shop there. The proposed Mumbai Police Headquarters will be in Kalina. The Santa Cruz-Chembur link road will run through Kalina as part of the Mumbai Urban Transport Project.

The Church of Our Lady of Egypt was built in 1606 and the Parish consisted of the following villages under its jurisdiction: – Kole-kalyan, Aldeia, Sur, Sar, Naugar, Vancolem and Cuddy as of 1761 (Humbert I : 223–238). According to Fr. Paulo da Trindade, the church and the parish was founded when Fr. Antonio da Portiuncula was Custos (1606–1609) and Fr. Manoel de S. Mathias, a great missionary baptized more than a thousand souls. The church is one of the very few churches that escaped ruthless destruction and pillage at the hands of the Marathas during the invasion and occupation of 1739, after which secular priests started functioning at the Church of Kalina. In the late 1960s, the Church was enlarged and renovated due to an increase in the Catholic population. On either side of the main altar, large wings were added to accommodate about 200 people. The main structure is still intact, except the Porch that was redesigned and made larger. A new graveyard was added to the north of the church as the old one became insufficient, as the people from Vakola parish have also to be buried here. The church celebrated its 400th centenary in 2006.

The Ganesh Temple is the oldest temple in Kalina and provides yeoman service to residents of Kalina. Thousands of devotees make a pilgrimage here, thus making it an important event in the Kalina calendar. The South Indian Temple named "Vigneshwar" is located in Sunder Nagar, a large residential area consisting of row houses. It has become a magnet for tourists from all over Mumbai due to its award-winning design. Kalina also has five mosques.

Kalina is home to a number of schools and colleges besides the Kalina Campus of the University of Mumbai and the Govt College of Pharmacy. The Saint Mary's School had its origin as far back as 1876 and was known as The Little Portuguese School when Fr. Custodio Fernandes was the Vicar. The school came into prominence around the year 1912; The number of students increased from 130 to 180 and a temporary structure was built in 1914 to accommodate the growing number. The only problem was that the villagers were not willing to pay any fees and hence the Diocese of Daman and the Bombay Catholic Welfare Organization had to render financial help. By now most well-off families sent their children to school in Bandra, the girls at St. Joseph Convent and the boys at St. Stanislaus and St. Andrews. The children had no transport facilities in those days and would walk the distance daily. In 1936 Archbishop of Bombay took a special interest, and seeing that there was an urgent need for a good building made a substantial gift of Rs. 7000/- and with the efforts of the Vicar and his assistant they managed to get a subscription of Rs. 1100/- from the public. The Foundation stone was laid by Mr. Katrak, the manager of the Kurla Estate. The new building had four large well-ventilated rooms and could accommodate 200 pupils. The strength of the school in 1937 was now 247 pupils, the principal now was Fr. P. Pereira who deserves credit for his able management of the school. Today the school is not only a high school but also a junior college.

Other notable schools in the vicinity are Mary Immaculate High School, a school run by sisters of Ajmer, the Kalina Education Society School, which was set up by the late M.L.A, Mr. Hans Bhugra and Air India Modern School. Shops and restaurants which are renowned in Kalina are "Geeta vihar restaurant" ,"Natural ice cream store" and "Monginese cake shop". It is considered a good place for startup for foodies e.g. "stella" During the statewide floods in 2005, Air India Colony was flooded with water five to six metres deep. In many buildings, the water had entered in the ground floor and first floor level houses and the people had to take shelter on the upper floors. Rescue boats of Navy were requisitioned deployed in the area. Immediately after the deluge, restoration programme was implemented and portable pumps were installed at Air India colony, helping the early discharge of flood water.[7]

A prominent "I Love Kalina" sign proudly marks this location, standing in the busy junction known as Kalina Signal.

Sacred Heart Boys High School

Santa Cruz (West) is strikingly more affluent than the eastern part of the suburb. It is bordered by Khar, Bandra, Juhu and Vile Parle.

It is primarily a residential area, with the market situated near the railway station. The residential colonies include such as 1st & 2nd Gauthan Lane [East Indians Village] (where the original inhabitants of Santacruz and Mumbai resided there) Amar Subway Society, the Reserve Bank of India Quarters, Vithaldas Nagar Colony, Sangeeta Apartments, Shree Sai Darshan CHS, Girnar CHS, Rizvi Park, Bansraj Singh Estate, Khotwadi, Bhimwada, T.P.S. 6th Residential colony Ramas Plaza, Khira Nagar and NABARD Park, Shastri Nagar, Jeevan Sona society, Bhagwati Society, Main Avenue, Convent Avenue, St. Joseph's Avenue, St. Francis Avenue & Church Avenue, Juhu Koliwada. Indira Nagar, Shivaji nagar, Chandra Bai nagar, Anand nagar are the densely populated area near Kishore Kumar Bungalow named after him. In the past, most of the residences used to be small bungalows, which are now being replaced by high-rise buildings.

It also has Famous Sadhana School which Produced Great Film Musician like Anu Malik. Raheja's Educational complex has many institutions. The SNDT, the women University is in the area, a new entrance has been opened towards Raheja college Road. The St. Lawrence High School is also one of the oldest schools located just adjacent to the Saraswat Colony. The Juhu's aeroplane garden is frequented by both children and the elderly.

The main roads in Santa Cruz (W) are Swami Vivekanand Road, Juhu Road, Juhu Tara Road, KKG marg and Linking Road (now officially called Vithalbhai Patel Marg). PIN code for Santa Cruz (west) are 400054 and 400049. The Bungalow of Famous Singer Kishor Kumar is on Juhu Tara Road, just behind Little Italy Cafe.

The Bombay Catholic Cooperative Housing Society, commonly known as Willingdon Colony, is a tenement constructed by the Catholic community in 1930 as low-cost housing for members of their community. The Colony was spread over 5.5 acres and managed by the Bombay Catholic Cooperative Housing Society. Before the redevelopment of the Colony in 2014, the property was home to 103 trees.[8]

The old neighbourhood belonging to the Saraswat Brahmins is one of the most beautiful neighbourhoods in Mumbai with its private gardens, a private playground and pebbled walkways. The colony has more than 15 buildings and now consists of members that belong to various communities. The Bhramakumari Garden is located close to the colony.

Known for its immersive shopping experiences, Hasnabad Lane is one of the most visited and loved areas of Santacruz West. It is divided into 1st Hasnabad (only a residential area) and 2nd Hasnabad (residential and commercial). Hasnabad Lane is often crowded with shoppers during festivals such as Diwali, Eid, and Christmas.