A scan of our skylines

An exhibition and a new book show two sides of Mumbai’s evolution, both just as exciting

All this month, Mumbai history buffs have been trudging to the Fort office of the Khaki Heritage Foundation to pay their respects at a small but vital show. #Lostbombay celebrates the life and work of Sharada Dwivedi, the pioneering historian and author who would have turned 80 this month.

Dwivedi passed away in 2012. Her legacy lives on in more than a dozen books she wrote or co-authored about Mumbai.

When they were published in the 2000s, books like Fort Walks and Bombay – The Cities Within were, finally, a way to piece together the history of the city we love. Why did the Fort area look so distinctively grand? Was the Gateway of India built before or after the Taj Mahal hotel right across? Is the GPO Building Indian or European in design? And how can we hold on to this history as the city changes before our eyes?

Heritage tours, like the ones organised by Khaki Labs, draw on Dwivedi’s books to answer some of these questions. But how might we make sense of a more recent Mumbai?

Skyscrapers, chrome-plated, glass-fronted, sleek, have shot up amid slums, chawls, mill lands and gaothans in the last two decades. And since 2017, Sanjog Mhatre has been assiduously documenting them all, earning fans on Instagram (@Toweringgoals). More than 120 of those pictures make it to Towering Mumbai, a photobook focused on the skyline.

The new constructions reflect the same fervour as the buildings from Dwiwedi’s books – a new city, constructed, bit by bit, in the midst of an older thriving one. But Mhatre’s Mumbai is different from Dwivedi’s. If old Bombay echoed London of the time, Mumbai seems clearly inspired by the skylines of Hong Kong, Shanghai and Dubai. Consider both eras if you want to understand Mumbai.

NEXT LEVEL

#Lostbombay runs until the end of the month. Visit Khakitours.com for details.

Towering Mumbai is available on Amazon and Flipkart.

For more stories by Rachel Lopez scan the QR code