Kaiwan
Mehta takes the reader for a walk through the streets and
past the buildings of the ‘native town’ of colonial Bombay,
reading their histories and excavating their memories, while
continuing to negotiate their present context. This historic
neighbourhood of Mumbai, fondly referred to as Bhuleshwar,
has remained a residential and religious hub as before,
while thriving as the city’s essential commercial
marketplace today. It retains a complex history of migration
and community, which is evident in the architectural form,
motifs and designs of the area. The buildings are literally
registers of history; they are maps of a time gone by, and
yet they continue to find themselves relevant and alive in
the contemporary context. Alice in Bhuleshwar is also a
story of the people who have lived in these buildings:
unsung icons like Premiji and Saroj Pathak, famed artistes
like Jayashankar ‘Sundari’, and others who have inhabited
these buildings which breathe in the salty air of Mumbai and
speak to those who care to listen.
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