Mumbai’s character must be preserved
TIMES CHANGE, PEOPLE CHANGE TOO. SOME LOSE INTEREST IN THEIR BUSINESS, SOME BUSINESSES BECOME CASUALTIES OF MODERNISATION AND DEVELOPMENT. BUT THIS SHOULD NOT MITIGATE THE NEED TO MAKE EFFORTS TO PRESERVE THOSE THINGS THAT HAVE EMBELLISHED THE CITY’S CHARACTER, GIVEN IT PROFILE AND IDENTITY, AND PASS IT ON
to St Xavier’s, home to many memorable live concerts and more particularly, the annual Jazz Yatra, took the soul out of music in the city. And when Strand Book Stall shut down, it was a tragedy, no less, for book lovers.
Doubtless, people who’ve spent a few decades in this city will come up with their own examples scattered through the length and breadth of Mumbai.
However, the point about this nostalgia trip is not remorse or fault-finding. Times change, people change too. Some lose interest in their business, some businesses become casualties of modernisation and development.
But this should not mitigate the need to make efforts to preserve those things that have embellished the city’s character, given it profile and identity, and pass it on as legacy to future generations.
In this context, the suggestion last week from Rajiv Mishra, heads of BMC’S heritage panel and principal of JJ College of Architecture, that the Maharashtra government should buy out the building in which Rhythm House is located and gift it to Mumbai as a public space for performing arts is most heartening.
The closing of Rhythm House at Kala Ghoda in February 2016, which defined the city’s music habits for 68 years, was the end of an era for generations of music aficionados.
An idea from industrialist Anand Mahindra that crowd-funding could keep the iconic shop going in some way sparked hope, which has now been given a fillip by Mishra.
I don’t know how the two proposals can be married, but if there is so much goodwill for preserving Rhythm House, even if in another avatar, surely a way can be found.
Incidentally, the property now belongs to jeweller on-the-run Nirav Modi and has been attached by the Enforcement Directorate. In that sense, it’s up for grabs.
Would it not be mot juste if this property passes on from a fugitive to the people of Mumbai?