Bombay Gymkhana And Cricket At Azad Maidan, 1900 Photo
A 1910 photo of Bombay Gymkhana and cricket game in Azad Maidan. The photo was taken from the Bombay Gymkhana Club that faces the Azad Maidan in front. It is a green fenced-in area, a tent is pitched on the Maidan as a pavilion. People watch engrossed in what looks like a game of cricket.
Beyond are the Gothic structures of the Victoria Terminus and Municipal Corporation building. Established in 1875 as the amalgam of a group of clubs. The Bombay Gymkhana’s sporting activities included cricket, hockey, football, golf, and so on. Although cricket was its likely mainstay.
The Club is located at a prime site at the southern apex of the Azad Maidan. In its early days, the Bombay Gymkhana had a tent pitched in as a pavilion, as you can a portion of it in this image. This is noticeable in this old 1890 photo. The first of these recreation institutions with their own premises in Bombay was the Byculla Club, founded in 1833. Then came the Bombay Gymkhana in 1875. Then the Royal Yacht Club on the harbour front near Apollo Bunder, in 1880.
Did you know- the Parsis were the first of the Indians to take to cricket.
From the collection- Vintage Oleograph Raja Ravi Varma “Vishnu On Sheshnag”., Taj Mahal From River Yamuna Side – Old Photo 1865., 1948 Mumbai Great Cyclone – Two Old Newspaper Pages., Ooty Train Over The Wellington Viaduct – Old Postcard 1909.
