We turned ghostbusters for the night, unravelling urban legends about spirits, bhoot banglas and cemeteries around the SoBo neighbourhood
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"Girgaonkars believe that if your child gets hurt in this garden, the wounds don't heal easily. That's because it was built on a graveyard," says Bharat Gothoskar, as we enter SK Patil Udyan on a weeknight. Here, we spot a stone plinth, which distinctly resembles a grave. "There's one more," he says, guiding us to a square slab of stone, half-hidden in the bushes.
The garden is the starting point of the Grisly Girgaon Ghost Walk. Presented by Blue Bulb, it's a unique night trail, where guests will hear stories and myths of spirits, haunted houses and cemeteries that dot the bylanes. The two-hour walk will end at a graveyard. "Nine generations of my maternal family lived in Girgaon. I have grown up listening to these stories," reveals Gothoskar, who conducts heritage trails.
Trace the history
Back in the 18th and 19th centuries, when the city's boundaries were restricted to the Port area, the stretch along Maharshi Karve Marg, known as Back Bay, was used by communities to bury their dead. Later, the area was converted into a residential zone that became Girgaon. "There are burial grounds for Hindus, Kutchi Memons, Dawoodi Bohras and Muslims. Once you step out of the garden, you will feel the yin-ness," he says, referring to the Chinese principle associated with all things dark and cold.
Myths and legends
On Jagannath Shankar Sheth Marg, we spot a gate that leads to Thakurdwar, a temple built by an ascetic to protect the neighbourhood. "So, the crossroads are considered auspicious," he says, pointing to a brightly lit junction nearby.
However, our walk veers into dark and narrow bylanes, or wadis, which don a garb of silence post 10 pm. One is the Kranti Nagar chawl, known as Sarkari Tabela before Independence, as it housed horse stables. "When my father rented a flat here, the neighbours told him they could still hear horses neigh," he says, and then points to a roundel fitted into the stone wall of the main building. "He would have been its owner. Looks eerie in the dark, right?"
A roundel of the owner of the main building in Kranti Nagar Chawl
Spirited calls
There's never a dull moment as Gothoskar regales us with spooky tales about child ghosts and shares tips on how to spot an "authentic spirit". He also delves into folklore about local deities. He peppers his talk with historical facts about the private graveyard of Muhammad Ali Roghay, and the Bombay Dog Riots of 1832. When we come across a plaque, which states that the pathway we're walking on has been created on a Catholic burial ground, he chuckles, "So, you're actually walking on dead bodies."
As we enter Khotachiwadi, Gothoskar urges us to travel back in time and imagine a headless ghost, now known as the legendary Mankapya, who would slit the throats of passersby. We walk through the maze of the heritage precinct — where cottages, some abandoned even, cast eerie shadows on the ground - and his words echo in our ears: "You'll not look at Girgaon the same way again."
On: September 9, 10 pm to 12 am Meeting point SK Patil Udyan, Kalbadevi
Log on to: bluebulb.in
Call: 9022270033
Cost: '699
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