Through this fortnightly column, Tales From TJ Road, Bachi Karkaria tells the story of Mumbai s metromorphosis Bachi Karkaria January 09, 2021 12:34:32 IST Bhupendra, son of ‘Petiwalla’ Kanji Keshavji Savla
Read more columns in this series here.
A Street of New Beginnings
In the first column of the new year, it’s apt to doff my hat to a family of traders that has been on TJ Road since mill times but whose chameleon businesses have changed with the millennium.
I first heard about ‘Petiwalla’ while researching the second column of this series. Speaking to our security guard who had worked in the China Mill where our housing complex now stands, I discovered a fascinating nugget. Yadav casually mentioned that millhands would deposit their pay with a particular shopkeeper for safe-keeping. “When we wanted to go home to our villages, he’d hand us the full amou