Station gets steadily popular

The 37th station on the western line is named after a well-maintained temple that has been an important landmark for visitors to the area for over 150 years.I don’t get surprised when people ask me whether there is indeed a Ram Mandir on Ram Mandir Road,” says Ramesh Iyer. “Most people miss this onion-domed temple that seems to have been here forever.”The temple Iyer, an architect and resident of Goregaon, is referring to is the one that the recently operationalised suburban station at Oshiwara is named after. The Ram Mandir Road station, which passed through various, seemingly interminable, stages of construction since 2008, was thrown open to the public on Thursday. The station is located between the Jogeshwari and Goregaon railway stations on the western line, and is expected to be a boon for commuters who reside in the area, particularly in the upscale Lokhandwala Complex.The road that the over 150-yearold temple is located on is called Ram Mandir Road. The temple is located on sprawling grounds, in Goregaon west, and its weathered dome lends it a pleasant patina of age. A signboard inside the temple informs visitors that it was renovated in 1897, and residents say that a temple existed at the current location prior to that year. The idols -- of Lord Ram, Lakshman and Sita – inside the sanctum sanctorum of the smaller temple were transferred to the renovated structure.The temple has been an important landmark for commuters and visitors to the area, says Vilas Goregaonkar, 75. Vilas claims that his family have been the temple’s caretakers since his great grandfather Harishchandra renovated it in 1897. “My great grandfather was a building contractor, and would frequently visit the area. One day, he noticed this small temple, and decided to totally spruce it up,” says Vilas, who resides in Gamdevi.Following its renovation, the Goregaonkars observed Ram Navami at the temple, and his family still carries on with the tradition, says Vilas. “We have a pujari who performs the daily arti and puja, and Ram Navami is celebrated with great fanfare, including the ‘solah-sringar’, the jhula function and singing of bhajans,” says Vilas. The temple’s maintenance is overseen by a trust, which includes some members of Vilas’s family, while a manager employed by the Goregaonkars looks after day-to-day affairs.“Most of the tabelas around here have disappeared, so, in a way, this is the only open space around,” says Sanjay Singh, a tabela owner, whose forefathers came to Mumbai in 1947.Ram Mandir Road is by no means the first suburban station to be named after a temple, or a place of worship on the western line. The Mahalakshmi station is named after an eponymous temple located nearby, Churchgate gets its name from St Thomas Church that was located nearby, and the city itself is, of course, named after the goddess Mumbadevi.“It’s good that the station was named after the temple. This is a great way to recognise an ancient structure that has been part of our culture and lives for long,” says Niranjan Pal, the head the Veer Sena, which was among those who lobbied hard for the name.On Thursday, the day of the inauguration of Ram Mandir, a total of 628 people used the station, and tickets amounting to Rs 13,036 were sold. Ticket sales in the first half of Friday were nearly thrice that of Thrusday, and 1829 tickets were sold between 6 am and 2 pm. The figure until 8 pm in the evening was 3019.