Bhulabhai Desai Road, also well known by the old name Warden Road (and the part at and near the swimming pool as Breach Candy), is a niche up-market residential and semi-commercial locality of

South Mumbai South Mumbai, colloquially SoBo from South Bombay in Anglo-Indian English, administratively the Mumbai City District, is the city centre and the southernmost precinct of Greater Bombay. It extends from Colaba to Mahim and Sion neighbour ...

. The area has many famous landmarks beside its long and winding stretch, from the

Breach Candy Hospital Breach Candy Hospital is a private hospital located in Mumbai, India. It is located in the Breach Candy area of South Mumbai. It is well known for the rich and famous patients that have been in the hospital. History It was established in ...

to the Amarsons and Tata gardens and Lincoln House, former location of the

Consulate General of the United States, Mumbai The Consulate General of the United States in Mumbai represents the interests of the U.S. government in Mumbai, India and nearby surrounding areas. Location The Consulate General is located at C-49 G-Block, Bandra-Kurla Complex, Bandra (East) ...

. The elite Breach Candy Club in the neighbourhood features the country's largest India-shaped swimming pool. Just off Bhulabhai Desai Road is the women-only

Sophia College Sophia College (Autonomous) is an undergraduate women's college established in 1941 by Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is affiliated to the University of Mumbai. The governing body of The Society for the Higher Education of Women in In ...

. The 18th century Mahalaxmi Temple, which honors the Hindu goddess of wealth and wisdom, is situated nearby on the edge of sea. It is one of the most famous temples of Mumbai and attracts millions of devotees and tourists each year. The area falls under the 'D-Ward' of the BMC and shares the postal code 400 026 under the Cumballa Hill post office. It lies 21 kilometers south of

Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport is an international airport serving Mumbai and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). It is the second busiest airport in the country in terms of total and international passenger traffic aft ...

and just 2 kilometers from the Mumbai Central station. It is well connected by local buses run by

BEST Best or The Best may refer to: People * Best (surname), people with the surname Best * Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer Companies and organizations * Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain * Best Lock Corporation ...

. Geographically, this road curls around the

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea ( ar, اَلْبَحرْ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Bahr al-ˁArabī) is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan, Iran and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel ...

. Because of its picturesque location, real estate prices here are among the most expensive in the country.

Etymology

The origin of the name ''Breach Candy'', first attested by 1828 at least, is widely given as an Anglicisation of an Arabic-Marathi name ''Burj-khāḍī'' ('the tower of the creek'); this is also given in the famous '' Hobson-Jobson'' dictionary. However, this interpretation is disputed. In seventeenth- to nineteenth-century English, ''breach'' had meanings including 'the breaking of waves on a coast', 'surf made by the sea breaking over rocks; broken water, breakers' and 'a break in a coast, a bay, harbour', and may in the context of Breach Candy even have been used to refer to a

breakwater Breakwater may refer to: * Breakwater (structure), a structure for protecting a beach or harbour Places * Breakwater, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia * Breakwater Island Breakwater Island () is a small island in the Palme ...

at the location. Thus, although the ''breach'' part of the name could be an Anglicisation of a local word, it could simply be an English word in its own right. Meanwhile, ''Candy'' may be an Anglicisation of

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

''khind'' ('mountain pass') or

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

''khindi'' ('a breach').

History

Mahalakshmi Temple at Breach Candy, Bombay by Francis Frith

Not long ago, Breach Candy was sparsely populated with very few bungalows and mansions. Most of the residents were born into

old money Old money is "the inherited wealth of established upper-class families (i.e. gentry, patriciate)" or "a person, family, or lineage possessing inherited wealth". The term typically describes a social class of the rich who have been able to ma ...

. Some of these bungalows and mansions still stand. The Breach Candy House, the Breach Candy Swimming Club and the

have been present since the time of British rule. At the northern foot of the Cumballa Hill, in the part now called Breach Candy, was a temple to three goddesses—

Mahakali Mahakali () is the Hindu goddess of time and death in the goddess-centric tradition of Shaktism. Similar to Kali, Mahakali is a fierce goddess associated with universal power, time, life, death, and both rebirth and liberation. She is the cons ...

, Mahalakshmi and Mahasaraswati. A creek to the north separated the island of Bombay from the Koli island of

Worli Worli (ISO: ''Varaḷī'', �əɾ(ə)ɭiː is a locality in South Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It is one of the four peninsulas of Mumbai while the other being Colaba, Bandra and Malabar Hill. The sea connects it with Bandra via the Band ...

. This creek was filled after the completion of the

Hornby Vellard The Hornby Vellard was a project to build a causeway uniting all seven islands of Bombay into a single island with a deep natural harbour. The project was started by the governor William Hornby in 1782 and all islands were linked by 1838. The wo ...

in 1784. Soon after, the modern temple of Mahalakshmi was built here. What are now the Amarson and Tata gardens were landfills with abandoned construction trucks, cranes and bulldozers probably used in land reclamation projects. A few of these trucks were parked in a truck-sized garage behind Scandal Point. Similarly, trucks, cranes and bulldozers were seen abandoned on the land which is now known as Priyadarshini Park.

Notable residents

* Kailash Surendranath, film director * RK Laxman, Cartoonist *

Asha Bhosle Asha Bhosle (; Mangeshkar; born 8 September 1933) is an Indian playback singer, entrepreneur and occasional actress and television personality who predominantly works in Indian Cinema. Known for her versatility, she has been described in the ...

, Singer * Ronnie Screwvala, producer and CEO and founding chairman of UTV Group * Annapurna Devi, notable Indian classical musician and former wife of Pandit Ravi Shankar *Apeksha Desai, Marathoner *

Homi Adajania Homi Adajania (born 1972) is an Indian film director and writer. He made his directorial debut with ''Being Cyrus'' (2006), an English-language psychological drama. He followed this with the commercially successful Hindi-language romantic comedy ...

, Filmmaker * Bhanu Athaiya, Oscar-winning costume designer for ''Gandhi'' *

Naina Lal Kidwai Naina Lal Kidwai (born 1957) is an Indian banker, chartered accountant and business executive. She was formerly a Group General Manager and the Country Head of HSBC India. She is also a former President of the Federation of Indian Chambers of C ...

, businesswoman * Jagjit Singh, classical singer * Aarti Chhabria, actress *

Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and Wes ...

, author. Born and raised in Breach Candy, he describes the area as it was from Indian independence to the 1960s in ''

Midnight's Children ''Midnight's Children'' is a 1981 novel by Indian-British writer Salman Rushdie, published by Jonathan Cape with cover design by Bill Botten, about India's transition from British colonial rule to independence and partition. It is a postcolo ...

''. * Azim Premji, chairman and CEO of Wipro Technologies *

Shibani Bathija Shibani Bathija is an Indian screenwriter known for her works in Bollywood films such as ''Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna'', ''Kidnap'', '' My Name Is Khan'' and '' Fanaa''. Bathija studied English at DePauw University and Communications at San Francisc ...

, screenwriter * Supriya Sule, politician *

Tara Sharma Tara Sharma (born 11 January 1977) is a British actress, entrepreneur, creator, co-producer and host of ''The Tara Sharma Show''. She is the daughter of authors Partap Sharma and Susan Sharma. She made her bollywood debut in Anupam Kher direct ...

, actress * Partap Sharma, author and playwright *

Alyque Padamsee Alyque Padamsee (5 March 1928 – 17 November 2018) was an Indian theatre personality and ad film maker. He played Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the 1982 British period film ''Gandhi''. Besides being involved in Indian theatre as an actor and producer ...

, theatre producer and actor *

Ramesh Balsekar Ramesh S. Balsekar (25 May 1917 – 27 September 2009) was a disciple and principle translator of the late Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, a renowned Advaita master. From early childhood, Balsekar was drawn to Advaita, a nondual teaching, particularl ...

, Advaita Vendanta master *

Kishore Kumar Kishore Kumar (born as Abhas Kumar Ganguly (); 4 August 1929 – 13 October 1987) was an Indian playback singer and actor. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest, most influential and dynamic singers in the history of Indian music. He ...

, Singer *

Lata Mangeshkar Lata Mangeshkar () (born as Hema Mangeshkar; 28 September 1929 – 06 February 2022) was an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is widely considered to have been the greatest and most influential singers in India. Her cont ...

, Singer

Education

* Green Lawns High School * Activity High School *

DSB International School DSB International School, also known as Deutsche Schule Bombay, is an international school located in the city of Mumbai, India. It provides the National Curriculum of England and the German Curriculum of Thuringia and was established in 1961 ...

(German school) Garden CampusContact Us
."

. Retrieved on 11 February 2015. "Garden Campus: Students from Kindergarten to Year 3 / Klasse 4 DSB INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL 76 Bhulabhai Desai Road, Breach Candy Mumbai - 400 026 India." and "Aurum House: Students from Year 5 / Klasse 5 DSB INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL 25 Dadi Seth Road, Babulnath Mumbai - 400 007 India. "

Picture links

Gordon Gibbons Photographs of Breach Candy 1937-1940

References

{{Tourist attractions in Mumbai Neighbourhoods in Mumbai Streets in Mumbai