Among coastal cities, Mumbai was made distinct by Haji Ali. Everybody who traveled on the busy road connecting South Mumbai to Mahim stared at the low white mausoleum in the middle of the sea, its lone minaret blending with the horizon. That known sight is no longer there.

Bombay The Haji Ali dargah wasn’t packed on Wednesday, the 557th urs (death anniversary) of Pir Haji Ali Shah Bukhari, which disappointed Akthar Ali, who operates a share-a-taxi from the dargah to Mahalakshmi station. The cab driver blamed school and college examinations for the absence of crowds, but a shopkeeper on the dargah property pointed out that stalls have vanished ever since Coastal Road construction started.

“Visits have decreased by thirty percent,” he stated. “In the past, people came to pray and purchase. That is now gone.

Among coastal cities, Mumbai was made distinct by Haji Ali. Everybody who traveled on the busy road connecting South Mumbai to Mahim stared at the low white mausoleum in the middle of the sea, its lone minaret blending with the horizon. That familiar sight has vanished now.

The complex’s overall design has been altered by the Coastal Road. Before, the instant one turned onto the small entry road, the dargah was visible. then proceeded to go along the slender route that led to the shrine while crossing the sea.

As soon as you enter the entry pathway, there is no longer any sea or dargah. Before you catch a glimpse of the sea or dargah, you have to pass through a gravelly road where vehicles drive up and down, a dark tunnel stained with paan, and a steep wall on one side.

What Basheera Banu misses most about the sea is the sensation of it. She sits as her mother did for decades, perched at the brink of what’s left of the sea’s tiny channel. In return for notes, Basheera gives coins to people who wish to give alms before they leave. She laments, “The sea is all around us, but it doesn’t wash over us as much as it used to.”

Most of the hawkers that line the road leading to the dargah, like Basheera, are native to the area and long for the open ocean. They lament that not only has the raunaq vanished from the area, but that now the sea water needs to be pumped out on the infrequent occasions when it rushes in. In the past, the waves would go away right away.

Source- Hindustan times