Fiona Fernandez: Left by the wayside

Pic for representation

The subject line in the mail didn't help, as we ended up nearly skipping its contents on a Sunday afternoon. Then again, you can't blame Bombayphiles like yours truly since it included phrases like 'Delhi I Love You'. Our curiosity, however, was sufficiently piqued when we came across the words, 'Walk Festival'. And, were we impressed as we read on.

The mail was an announcement of the third edition of a walk festival to be held in Delhi from November 2-12. The 11-day festival would include 170 walks led by 70 organisations and individuals; there were special walks for the differently abled, and a blindfolded walk that would be led by a visually challenged guide. In fact, one walk would be dedicated to the thrill of being a woman loafer in the city.

The eclectic line-up of experts to lead walks caught the eye as well -William Dalrymple, Sadia Dehlvi, Sohail Hashmi, MK Raina, Aruna Roy, Sonam Kalra and Riyaaz Amlani - as well as groups like INTACH, Salaam Balak Trust, Indian Paranormal Society and Conservation Education Centre. In fact, a competition was held in August to enthuse Dilliwallahs to share their stories of their city where the winners' ideas wowed us. Sample these: the science fiction tour, journey of the nautch in India and exploring urban villages of South Delhi. These winners would be invited to lead their curated walks in the city for the first time.

The festival that called itself the first and the largest of its kind in India, also had an engaging set of routes charted out, that covered lesser seen sides of the city across food, literature, the arts and heritage. The more we read, the more our mood got sullen - of lost opportunities and the lack of any such movement in Bombay. And meanwhile, these folks were already celebrating the third edition of a smart idea, equipped with solid backing and an executable template. Just as we gave up all hope of anything worthwhile in it for us [read: Bombay], the gods seemed to have smiled. The festival director announced that the organisers [May their tribe flourish] were keen to take the idea to other metros, including ours, in 2018.

Way behind, way ahead
Delhi marches forward, pushing for its culture and heritage to be placed on the right platforms with sustainable action plans. Bombay, sadly, seems to have lost the plot. Forget about anything remotely close to a plan to highlight our urban heritage [aided, of course, by zero backing from the state], our pavements are non-existent and ill-conceived civic projects seem to be top priority. Meanwhile, others like Ahmedabad have raced forward as a UNESCO World Heritage City. Movements in other metros like Chennai and Kolkata seem to be making all the right noises for their respective cities.

That innocuous Sunday mail about a festival in another city helped us contextualise priorities of different cities and reopen the endless 'us versus them' [in this case Delhi] debate. Whether or not this walk festival does arrive in city in 2018, it's unfortunate that such an idea had never germinated in Bombay in the first place. And for those keeping score, this time, let's face it; the result was a no-brainer. We lost, hands down. And have a long, long way to go to give our city its due on the Indian map. The world will have to wait even longer.

mid-day's Features Editor Fiona Fernandez relishes the city's sights, sounds, smells and stones...wherever the ink and the inclination takes her. She tweets @bombayana. Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com