Mumbai: Over five decades after the Thackeray family lorded over the state from the famed 'Matoshri' in a shaded lane in Bandra east, the Shiv Sena's new Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will soon move to a new lair -- 'Varsha' -- the spacious official residence of the state Chief Minister in the picturesque Malabar Hill, dotted with VVIPs.
'Varsha' -- barely a km away from the Raj Bhavan and a stone's throw off the historic Jinnah House, built by the founder of Pakistan, Mohammed Ali Jinnah -- is surrounded by other posh bungalows, several skyscrapers.
Among those living in the vicinity are ministers, diplomats, leading industrialists, glamour personalities, scientists, top civil and government officials, scientists and the Syedna, who is the Dawoodi Bohra spiritual head.
The Shiv Sena founder, late Balsaheb Thackeray lived in 'Matoshri' for decades and it had become a virtual political hub -- he was feared and revered in equal measure -- though the party came to power for the first time only in 1995 in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
As the Thackeray Sr. loved to state often with a mischievous glint behind his dark-shaded eyes, he would function as the "remote-control" of the Sena Government -- and which he did with elan.
The then Sena Chief Ministers -- first Manohar Joshi, who later became Lok Sabha Speaker and then Narayan Rane, who later joined the Congress and later the BJP -- were regularly seen paying obeisance at 'Matoshri', "oft quivering when the Tiger growled at them gently".
Seven years after his passing away, something unimaginable happened on Thursday, when the first-ever Thackeray clan member Uddhav Thackeray became the CM as the Sena went into rapturous celebrations all over Maharashtra. Given state and security protocols, Thackeray would soon be required to shift from 'Matoshri' (Mother's Blessings) to 'Varsha' (Rain or Benevolence) for the next five years.
