Worli walkers on re-imagined route

A ‘before’ and ‘after’ picture of the pathway from Worli Sea Face to Pochkhanawala Road

We are singing Pather Panchali or Song of the Little Road, though this has little to do with iconic filmmaker Satyajit Ray's film of the same name. This Song of the Little Road refers to a pathway from Worli Sea Face to Pochkhanawala Road, opposite Hotel Hiltop, which has transformed from garbage dumping spot to very good lookin'.

The lane, which connects Worli to the Sea Face and the Sea Face road to the inside of Worli, was dimly lit and had become a convenient spot for dumping trash. G South ward's sub-engineer Sachin Mahajan said, "This project was undertaken by Aaditya Thackerayji in his Worli constituency. We had received a significant number of complaints about this little road becoming dangerous because of poor illumination and low visibility. This is a pedestrian pathway and locals primarily use it as a shortcut to access Worli Sea Face. Even though it is adjacent to the police staff quarters, it was becoming unsafe because of dim light."

A montage of the pathway after the facelift

Safer space now

The path is now lit up with two-pronged poles, throwing light on the road and the footpath. This concept of two-pronged light poles has in fact been adopted at Colaba-Cuffe Parade. While safety is an obvious fallout of better visibility, improved walking with less chances of tripping or injury through falls is a happy consequence. Whether in Worli or Colaba, better lighting through these innovations is a pedestrian empowering move. BMC officials claimed the Worli project comes under the aegis of "reimagining our pathways''. Mahajan said, "The revamped pedestrian walkway to Sir Pochkhanawala Road and Worli Sea Face, with selfie points, thematic murals on the wall and illumination, is a blend of safety as well as aesthetics."

Koli cool

The wall has been freshly painted with a ‘marine' theme and scenes from Koli (fisherfolk) life dominate. The inspiration has been drawn from the fishing village or gaothan at one end of the Sea Face stretch. This wall in the gully was in fact painted in November 2020 by a bunch of young artists, who were mainly from Worli, and that work had given the walls a temporary facelift. Even the area had been cleaned up to an extent by some locals. Unfortunately, it went back to its original state. This time around, the entire clean up and painting have been more streamlined and formalised by the BMC. The re-imagined pathway was officially opened recently. The upgradation and the selfie points put the ‘fun' into the walk, said the BMC.

"We will involve the community in the upkeep of the space. When people realise that they are stakeholders in their surroundings, they will have the motivation to keep the area neat, maintain and preserve this uplift," said civic officials.