The National Centre for the Performing Arts is reviving the practice of holding public musical performances at Bombay’s heritage bandstands
Firdaus Gandavia
Khushroo Suntook, chairman of the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), fondly remembers the time when, as a schoolboy, he and his friends used to alight at Churchgate, walk past the buildings facing Oval Maidan, race up to the Cooperage and listen to the various bands — police, military, navy — that performed at the Bandstand. The program was eclectic and included military marches, popular Western and Indian music — Stars and Stripes, God Save the Queen and Saré Jahan sé Achha — depending on which band was playing. The police band played a lot of Indian songs; the......