Kudd in the Konkani language means 'room'. In the 1950s Matharpacady housed dozens of kudds, which catered to expatriate Goans working as sailors or in the dockyard in and around Mazagaon. Kudds offered them a home away from home. However, migration from Goa declined with its integration with India in 1960 and the rise of tourism from the 1980s. Many kudds have closed due to a fall in occupancy and the ones remaining are run-down. Seen here, at the end of the street, is the Paroda kudd, at 21/B Matharpacady.
Lopez House, at 23D Matharpacady, was the residence of Lt Cdr Eric Lopes and his daughter Dagmar Lopez. On Sundays, Dagmar played Western music on the musical saw (a popular vaudeville instrument, which looks like a flexible carpenter’s handsaw, played with a bow drawn across the non-toothed side by holding the handle between the knees and bending the blade while bowing along the flat edge) accompanied by his brother Ian Lopes on the guitar.
During Christmas, Matharpacady comes alive at night. Every house is given a fresh coat of paint and the Star of Bethlehem is hung from the balcony. The lanes are decorated with lights and illuminative symbols of reindeer, candy sticks, bells, stars, snowflakes, and fairies. Christmas is celebrated by the entire gaothan, irrespective of community and religion. Inside the homes, families come together to decorate Christmas trees and install miniature nativity scenes.
The metal balustrade on the balcony at Mi Casa, 20A Matharpacady, features portraits of Queen Victoria, clearly installed in the late 19th century during her rule. The name Mi Casa means ‘My Home’ in Spanish. Like Mi Casa, most of the 40-odd surviving heritage bungalows in Matharpacady are painted in bright colours, a feature of Indo-Portuguese architecture, seen in neighbourhoods like Fontainhas in Panjim, Goa.
Lion’s Den is the home of the Leao family. Built-in 1892, the yellow-painted, two-storied house is located at 85 R Naik Road. It has a sprawling open balcony running along the perimeter of the first floor, with decorative metal grille balusters. The staircase to the first floor is located from the outside (to the left). It is one of the best-preserved houses typical of Indo-Portuguese architecture and has changed little in over 130 years of existence.
Most of the bungalows at Matharpacady are double-storey with balconies on the first floor, supported by rows of wooden brackets. Additionally, columns on the ground floor may also support the balcony above. Most of the bungalows have wooden flooring and gable roofs covered in tiles. Such details are typical of Indo-Portuguese architecture found in other East Indian gaothans in Mumbai, like Khotachiwadi.
22 Matharpacady was the ancestral residence of the Miranda family. Among its members, Peter Miranda was the former principal of St. Isabel School. Under his charge, St. Isabel won accolades as one of the leading Christian Schools in the neighbourhood. He was also a piano virtuoso and the house was a venue for theatre, singing, and dancing. In 2006, Edward Miranda generously gifted the house to the Blessed Sacrament Fathers, and it was renamed Eymard Cottage.
A coconut vendor outside Mary Lodge, commonly referred to as David and Stanny’s house. The ground floor of the bungalow still has vestiges of classroom numbers from the time St. Isabel’s Primary School was established here to promote female education. The school was set up by the Ladies Charitable Association, Mazagaon Circle, and the first class took place on 9th November 1887, with 40 students and two teachers. Later St. Isabel’s Primary School relocated to Tank Square, and thereafter, Mount Road (39, Dr Masceranhas Road), where it stands now.
Atmaram is the village mochi (cobbler), plying his trade in the footsteps of his father, who also worked in Matharpacady. His tiny workshop is a hole-in-the-wall located below a staircase at 31 Matharpacady. His customers wait on stools as he goes about repairing their bags and shoes. This is among the rare shops inside Matharpacady, which is otherwise entirely a residential zone.
Lawrence D'Souza, an East Indian, is undertaking renovations at 11 Matharpacady. The East Indians have lived at Matharpacady for more than two centuries. The East Indians—as recorded in history—are the original inhabitants living in the seven islands of Bombay, Salsette, and Bassein (Vasai). Belonging to various native communities, they were converted to Catholicism by missionaries in the 16th and 17th centuries, when Bombay was governed by the Portuguese.