Wassiamal Building, Grant Road, Mumbai

In January 1955 Shri Nathji made a road trip from Mussoorie to Mumbai and stayed over in Mumbai at a flat in Grant Road. This flat was arranged by Shri Wassiamal.

Shri Nathji went to an address at Malabar Hill where the owner’s relatives lived. They told Shri Nathji that the flat Shri Wassiamal had arranged would be available from the next day and that Shri Nathji was welcome to stay the night with them.

The next day they went to the flat that was to be their residence in Bombay for the next three months. The address of the place was:

Wassiamal Building

4th Floor, D Block

Grant Road, Bombay - 7

 The building was located in a crowded area of Bombay, unlike Mayfair Building at Churchgate, where Shri Nathji had stayed in 1951. It was an old building and the lift in it was not working. Shri Nathji, Mateshwari and the boys had to climb up to the fourth floor. Although Shri Nathji and the boys managed the stairs fairly well, it was a very difficult task for Mateshwari who was in weak health.

Once in the flat, it was discovered that there was no kitchen there! Mateshwari was at a loss as to how to feed Shri Nathji. However, a manager of Wassiamal’s office lived on the same floor, adjacent to Shri Nathji's flat, and he immediately invited Shri Nathji to have lunch with him. The sheer impact of Shri Nathji's personality was so great that the man became a devotee at first sight. It was as if he had found real peace for the first time in his life.

The man had recognized God in Shri Nathji and knew this opportunity would never come again He knew of the predicament in Shri Nathji’s flat and prayed to Shri Nathji to eat with him every day or else accept the food he wished to send to Shri Nathji's flat. And it was thus that Shri Nathji ate the food of this man for two weeks till an improvised kitchen could be made inside Shri Nathji's flat.

Shri Nathji's flat consisted of three rooms and an attached bathroom. The main sitting room had a large replica of a Japanese shrine, apparently brought by Wassiamal during his visits abroad. It was apparent the flat had been used for merely entertaining guests and not a place where a family could reside and cook their food. Though Mateshwari tried to make-do with a stove in one of the rooms, it was difficult cooking without any water tap or sink, which were essential for a kitchen.

Shri Nathji and Mateshwari remained mostly in their flat, rarely going out because of the difficult climb on the stairs. However, the children insisted that they go out, and that led Shri Nathji and Mateshwari to make several trips outside the house.

The windows on one side of the flat opened towards a courtyard, on all sides of which there were more flats. Shri Nathji was thus able to see the crowded conditions in which the people of Bombay lived. He blessed them silently from his window, and continued doing so till the end of his stay there.

Grant Road in a popular shopping area and the Wassiamal Building still stands just in the same condition as it was when Shri Nathji stayed here in 1951. To reach this place, one has to first get down at Grant Road Station, which is on the western line of the Mumbai Suburban rail network. Then go to the East side. 

The Wassiamal Buildings are about 300 meters from the station on the right hand side of the road. It has different blocks. All the buildings have shops on the ground floor as it is a popular shopping area. Also there are small shops lining the pavement. A good landmark of the D block of Wassiamal Building, is the sweet shop of the famous Chandu Halvai.  This popular shop in the same block in which Shri Nathji stayed. So one can easily reach this place from the Grant Road Station by inquiring about Chandu Halvai. The photos of the D block of the building and the shop of Chandu Halvai are given. Another landmark in that the third floor of this building now has a hotel named Sangam. This building is still exactly the same. The same old wooden staircase is there, whose photo is given. Also that lift still exists pity much in the same condition. Now two doctors have clinics in this building on the first and second floor. There are also very few private residential flats. The third floor has the Sangan Hotel, whose photo is given. The fourth floor which we can see in the picture above has some private residence and an office. The lift area can be visible in this photo. This was the floor were Shri Nathji resided for three months. 

Kalbadevi Residence of Shri Nathji in Mumbai

In 1948 Shri Nathji came to Mumbai at the earnest prayer of Mr. and Mrs. Khera. So Shri Nathji came to grace the city of Bombay and stay with them for a while at their residence opposite Swadeshi Market, at Kalba Devi.

The flat was a small one, and the Kheras were worried that Shri Nathji was living in cramped quarters in an already overcrowded flat. But Shri Nathji stayed there with His entourage. This was also in this flat that Captain Sukhdev Vats, an officer of high rank in the Royal Indian Air Force of that time, came to meet Shri Nathji and later requested Shri Nathji to stay at His flat at the Mayfair Building at Church Gate. 

   

The photograph of Swadeshi Market is given here. There are two building opposite Swadeshi Market, whose photo is also given here.  Shri Nathji used to stay probably in one of these. 

This area of Mumbai still looks and feels the same as it used to when Shri Nathji was stating here in 1948. I have given an old photo of the place. Kalbadevi is an old neighborhood in Mumbai It is named after the Hindu Goddess of the same name. I have given the photograph of the small temple of Kalbadevi.

 Postal code 400002. Kalbadevi area is one of the busiest areas during peak hours. The area has mostly traders in watches, bicycles, steel utensils, etc. Kalbadevi Road starts near Metro Cinema and continues up to Bhuleshwar Road and further to the Khetwadi road. There are a number of book shops for old and new books. One of these, the New and Secondhand Bookshop was founded in 1905. An access to the two cloth wholesale markets, Mulji Jetha Market and Mangaldas Market, are the main cloth markets in South Mumbai from Hanuman Galli, which starts at Kalbadevi Road. At the further end of Kalbadevi, near Bhuleshwar Road, is the Cotton Exchange, the market for cotton trade. Marine Lines is the closest train station to this area. 

Fruit Salt

Shri Nathji used to take Fruit Salt as medicine for excessive gas buildup and it proved to be an effective medicine for Shri Nathji. Dr. Bawa had suggested that Shri Nathji try using Fruit Salt whenever the gas risings were very severe – and Shri Nathji finds it to be very, very, effective in many agonizing moments, just a quarter teaspoonful suffices every time.

Shri Nathji’s blessings go out spontaneously towards the doctor for the “elixir” he had prescribed. If only someone had advised Fruit Salt right from the start, Shri Nathji would have been spared months and months of agony from the gas.

Other doctors are aghast at Dr. Bawa prescribing Fruit Salt, which they say contains Sodium, which is bad for the heart. However HH Priya Nath reads the Sodium content on the bottle and calculates how much he can give Shri Nathji safely. Sometimes it is just a quarter of a tea spoonful.

The fact that it brings relief to Shri Nathji from the agonizing distress of mental toxicity and restlessness in the body makes it a very valuable medicine for Priya Nath and he uses it whenever Shri Nathji has the gas attacks. And it invariably works. Indeed Shri Nathji was blessing the Eno Fruit Salt Company.

Priya Nath would recall Shri Nathji keeping fruit salt in the house ever since the days of his childhood. Shri Nathji would then tell the boys to drink it while it was still effervescing, and they would rush to finish it before the bubbles stopped.

In Shri Nathji’s case it appeared that the gas in the fruit salt brought almost instant relief. 

Every time that Shri Nathji would take fruit salt he would belch repeatedly, sometimes the eructations would be almost ten or twenty in number, and they would definitely bring great relief, with Shri Nathji saying:

Aankh see khul jaati hai!

“The eyes appear to gain sight!”

Eno is a fast-acting effervescent fruit salt, used as an antacid and reliever of bloatedness. It was invented in the 1850s by James Crossley Eno of Newcastle (1827-1915). The Fruit Salt sold like hotcakes to sailors looking for something to keep them healthy on long journeys. 

The product is still available today – now manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline(GSK), it sells in vast quantities worldwide and is a popular ingredient in Indian cookery. It contains sodium bicarbonate, citric acid and sodium carbonate, but in 1906 the Pharmaceutische Centralhalle für Deutschland analysed it as 50% sodium bicarbonate, 15% sodium bitartrate and 35% free tartaric acid. It has sales of nearly £30 million; its major markets are Spain, India, Brazil, South Africa, Malaysia and Thailand. It is frequently used as a substitute for baking powder.

Eno Tagline: "Gets to work in 6 seconds"

Shri Nathji's Watch

Shri Nathji used to wear a Favre Leuba watch. In 1990, Shri Nathji gives his old Favre Leuba watch of brass to HH Priya Nath and asks him to put it on, saying:

“Isse lagaa ke dekho, shubh hoti hai.

“Try putting on this watch, it is auspicious.”

HH Priya Nath takes it but reluctantly. Shri Nathji has had this watch for over 50 years and it is still in a very good condition.

There is a photograph taken in 1990 which shows the Favre Leuba watch on Shri Nathji’s wrist. A close up of the watch is taken from the same photo.

The history of Favre-Leuba begins in 1718, when watch enthusiast Abraham Favre decided to become a watchmaker. His profession was soon recognized, and his manufactory was officially registered in 1737. In 1814, Abraham Favre's grandson Henry-Auguste went into partnership with Auguste Leuba, a watch dealer from Buttes in the Val-de-Travers. The business remained in the Favre family for eight generations, until 1969, when the quartz revolution greatly increased competition for the company's relatively expensive mechanical watches.

The brand was among the first to be introduced to India, where it gained great popularity. During British times there were very few watch brands available in India. Favre Leuba was one of them and the most popular one. The wrist watch segment was available in India till late 70’s. As well, it is the most popular watch in India even today. It was a very popular and affordable brand in India before the advent of HMT in 1961-62. The Sea King and Sea Chef are the last two models which were available in India till a few years back. Notable Favre-Leuba watches include the Bivouac (1962), which had a barometer/altimeter, and the Bathy (1966), a diving watch, both of which are now collectors' items.

Favre-Leuba, one of the largest companies of its time, passed through different hands such as Benedom SA and LVMH before finally regaining its independence in 2003. On November 16, 2011, Titan Industries acquired Favre-Leuba for €2 million. But now there is latest news that Titan Industries is looking at selling off Swiss watch brand Favre-Leuba. The decision comes after the company felt that developing Favre-Leuba brand in India would take almost a year, while their own Swiss label, Xylys will help them grow in the lucrative premium segment.