Bombay Tour 1975

Bombay Tour 1975

I visited Bombay first time during November 1975. It was an official tour. I was deputed for conducting Audit of Bombay Marketing Centre. The moment I landed in Bombay, I realized that it is really a Mahanagar.  During those times, I never felt Delhi as a Mahanagar (Mahanagar Telephone Nigam was also not there. MTNL was created in 1986). Local trains running in seconds’ interval, hundreds of people boarding and deboarding in few seconds, skyscrapers, hustling bursting crowd all-round etc amazed me. I did not find a single person walking especially during peak hours. Everybody was virtually running. During those days Delhi was dominated by Government employees and they had a leisurely life.  Bombay was changed to Mumbai much later in 1995.

During my tour period, I stayed at a Hotel in Sion.  Subsequently I realized that it was the hub of notorious criminal Billa. According to Intelligence reports, Billa and his accomplice Ranga together committed a sensational murder of two teenaged school children of a senior Navy Officer in Delhi, were hiding in Bombay.  The cold blooded murder had created shockwaves and rocked the capital and the country.   The news created terror and fear and in a city where there is no sunset and there is practically no difference between day and night, came to a standstill during late hours.  Cinema theaters cancelled the late night shows and employees were eager to reach home before midnight.  Trains were running half empty during midnight and thereafter, an unusual sight in Bombay. However, I did not cut short my tour and returned to Delhi, unlike another person who went to Bombay on another occasion for 10 day tour and returned after 2 days, after seeing a giant board “Bombay Dyeing”

Popular blockbuster film Sholay was showing in a theater for more than 16 months. I wanted to see the super hit film once again, but current bookings were not available. Taking tickets for one week in advance was not considered feasible.

Sensational, shocking and heart-rending story of the reprehensible murder of two innocent teenaged school children will appear in a series of several episodes in my FB time line shortly.