Parel

Parel
—  neighbourhood  —
Parel Location of Parel in Mumbai and India
Coordinates	18°59′N 72°50′E / 18.99°N 72.84°E / 18.99; 72.84Coordinates: 18°59′N 72°50′E / 18.99°N 72.84°E / 18.99; 72.84
Country	India
State	Maharashtra
Time zone	IST (UTC+05:30)

Parel or Lower Parel (Marathi: परळ) (Portuguese name: Parella^[1]) is central part of Mumbai. It is also lends its name to two railway stations (Parel and Lower Parel) on the Mumbai suburban railway. The Elphinstone Road railway station on the Western line of Mumbai Suburban Railway is also situated in this neighbourhood. It lies in the western part of Parel (Parel West, also known as Elphinstone due to its proximity to the Elphinstone Rd. railway station). Most of the mills in Mumbai used to be in this area till some years ago. Now, most of these mills have shut down.

History

Former seven islands of Bombay

Parel was one of the original seven islands that formed Mumbai. It belonged to the 13th century kingdom of Raja Bhimdev. The name has come from the Parali Vaijanath Mahadev temple, dedicated to Shiva.^{[citation needed]}

When the Portuguese conquered Bombay, they gave the authority of this area to the Jesuit priests, who replaced the Parali Mahadev temple with a church and a convent (probably the present-day St. Pauls' Church and Convent). These buildings remained with the Jesuits until they were confiscated by the British, after the priests sided with the Sidis during their battle with the British in 1689 and spelt the area as Parell.^{[citation needed]}

In the 1770s, William Hornby, the Governor, shifted his official residence to Parel. This area then became one of the poshest areas of the city. In 1867, tanners and dealers in dry fish were relocated in this area. By the 1870s, several cotton mills had been established in the reclaimed lands in Parel (West). Gradually, Paral became very polluted. In 1883, the Governor's wife died of cholera in the Government House. Two years later the Governor's Mansion was moved to Malabar Point. During the plague epidemics of the 1890s, the old Government House was leased to the newly founded Haffkine Institute. After the plague epidemics, mills proliferated in this area. In 1915, the Parel Bridge was built with linked the Western and Central Railway stations. It became an industrial area and in addition provided space for mill workers. With the [1] gradual decline of the mills in the late twentieth century, this space is being recycled.^{[citation needed]}

Maharshi Dayanand College of Arts, Science and Commerce is situated next to MTV office, near ITC grand central hotel and opposite to Mahatma Gandhi Hospital in Parel at Dr.S.S.Rao Road.M. D.College is founded in 1962 by late Mangaldasji Verma. Maharshi Dayanand College is celebrating Golden Jubilee year in 2012.M D College housed 300 students in 1962 and now in 2012 college strength is about 8000 students. M D College students have excelled in Indian game "Kabaddi & Kho-Kho".^{[citation needed]}

Recently Parel has seen an influx of huge enterprises in the compounds of the long gone cotton mills. Five star hotel ITC Hotel The Grand Central, Mumbai - The Luxury Collection is located in Parel. During the time cotton mills were operating in Parel are, many thousands of mill workers called Parel home. Now cotton mill jobs have long disappeared and large cotton mill real estate is being recycled into ultra-expensive gated communities. Parel has thus become an area where lower middle class and rich live side by side.

Parel land is situated to the West Side of South Mumbai and the name taken (पश्चिम रेलवे) PA REL, while this is only resemblance with the पश्चिम रेलवे. The real name is taken from Parali Mahadev temple.^{[citation needed]}

Overview

Mill lands, Parel

Phoenix Mills, Parel - a former mill which has now been converted to a shopping mall called High Street Phoenix

Parel also has some famous hospitals like KEM (Municipal corporation hospital), Tata (specializes in treatment of cancer), Wadia Hospitals { one for Children and one for Women }and MGM (ESI hospital). It even has the Mumbai Veterinary College and the Bai Sakarbai Dinsha Petit Animal Hospital

Parel village also has an important monolithic staue called Baradev.This statue is A Grade I Heritage Monument protected by The Archaeological Survey of India. There is a Chandika, Vyagreshwari and Shiv Temple nearby.[ The Shivlingam and some statues are stated to date back to 600 ad]

Parel was also home to several cultural activities which died down/reduced on account of the shifting of families out of the areas as family sizes started increasing. Moreover, the area has been crowned with 5 Star hotel of ITC Welcomgroup ( ITC Hotel The Grand Central, Mumbai - The Luxury Collection)

The area is also a pass through point for the mono rail project on the eastern side along G D Ambekar Marg.

Unfortunately an area on DR S S Rao Road is now plagued by industrial scale illegal garage activities.

New Developments

Parel happens to one of the fastest developing neighborhoods in the world (outside of Guangdong / Shenzhen, China). This area was dominated by textile mills some decades ago (which all went defunct). The land of these mills are being redeveloped in large stand alone housing buildings such as 1. Ashok Towers (one of the tallest buildings in Mumbai with its own football ground) 2. Ashok Gardens 3. Kingston Towers 4. Kalpataru Habitat

Parel has seen huge property price appreciation in excess of 8X over the last 10 years. Cafe' Coffee day has finally opened up here, MTV has its head office in Parel. Maharshi Dayanand College of Arts, Science and Commerce is situated next to MTV office, near ITC grand central hotel and opposite to Mahatma Gandhi Hospital in Parel at Dr.S.S.Rao Road.

References

• Star Track; Times of India Mumbai; pg-2; 21 April 2006