Mumbai: Standing before the ageing staff quarters where they had spent their childhood, many former residents of Air India and Indian Airlines colonies in Kalina had to hold back their tears as memories came flooding back.
On Friday evening, nearly 100 former residents returned to the Air India and Indian Airlines colonies for a final nostalgia walk weeks after its last occupants moved out. “The reunion allowed former residents to revisit familiar lanes, locate former homes and reconnect with neighbours and schoolmates after decades. Most of them left the colony in the last four years,” said a staffer, requesting anonymity.
The visitors wandered through deserted courtyards and crumbling apartment blocks now being reclaimed by vegetation. Groups paused to exchange stories, recreate old photographs and recall school days, cricket matches and evenings spent in what many described as a village within the city.
The “reunion and nostalgia visit” was arranged following permission from the Mumbai International Airport Ltd, which is now in possession of the land.
The reunion marked the end of an era for one of Mumbai’s most distinctive residential communities. Spread across 184 acres in Kalina, the Air India colonies housed generations of airline employees and their families. As reported by TOI on May 31, the last residents vacated the township after a prolonged legal battle following Air India’s privatisation, bringing down the curtain on a community known for its sporting culture, open spaces and close-knit social life.
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