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This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content.

Chaupatty

The Times of India

Mar 19 2015

Prafulla Marpakwar & Nergish Sunavala

Girgaum Chowpatty, Mumbai's oldest and most famous beach, will soon be called Swaraj Bhoomi.

The BJP-led state government on Wednesday decided to rename the iconic stretch in south Mumbai in keeping with a demand made by the Lokmanya Tilak Gaurav Samiti.

The Samiti had demanded that the spot at Chowpatty where Lokmanya Tilak was cremated, and where a garden stands now, should be called Swaraj Bhoomi. However, the government took it a giant step forward.

There was confusion for some time on Wednesday on whether the garden alone or the entire stretch had been renamed, but a bureaucrat in the chief minister's office confirmed to TOI that not just the garden but the area itself would bear the new name. Though the name Chowpatty has become ge neric in Mumbai over the years, given that Dadar and Juhu beaches too bear the same appendage, it is actually a proper name.

Locals were critical of the name change. Nandita Jhaveri, who has lived near Chowpatty for over 30 years, said, “Before I was born it was called Chowpatty and there is no reason why it should be called something else.“

The Girgaum beach was called `Chau-pati' because of `four channels' of water that existed there. It remains one of the best spots from which to see the sunset in Mumbai.

When, a year ago, the Samiti first made its demand to the then Congress-NCP government, it received no response. CM Devendra Fadnavis, who was then state BJP chief, had strongly supported its proposal. On Wednesday, he confirmed to TOI that the government had “accepted the proposal.

HISTORY BEHIND ITS GEOGRAPHY

The name Chowpatty comes from “chau pati“ or four channels.According to the 1917 book Bombay Place Names and Street Names, this describes the inroads made by the tide before the western foreshore was reclaimed. In 1865, the summit of Malabar Hill was excavated to provide filling for the Chaupati reclamation and the sea-face road which runs to Malabar Hill. The name is similar to Satpaty, a village in the Mahim taluka of Thane district, which is approached by a channel containing seven streams