Alice in a new city museum

Aaditya Thackeray. File pic

While browsing through architect and urban chronicler Robert Stephens' seminal and path-breaking book, Bombay Imagined, this columnist found herself frequently tumbling into a fantastical rabbit hole; it's the kind of imaginary, utopian streetscape that only true-blue and (often madcap) Bombaywallahs hazard to visualise every now and then when the opportunity (or in this case, a book) arises for a teleported distraction.

I found myself in that zone particularly towards the last segment of the book, where plans of unimaginable waterfronts, futuristic underway passes and dock redevelopment plans were laid out in visual detail for the reader. The what-if and the almost-there ideas left us feeling wistful on most occasions. I repeatedly went down that road as I pored over the epic, visually appealing research project.

Call it serendipitous but it was a few days after I got my hands on this book that I attended the launch of Mumbai - A City Through Objects: 101 Stories edited by Tasneem Zakaria Mehta, Dr Bhau Daji Lad Mumbai City Museum's director and managing trustee. The event was held to also usher in the 150th year of the museum's opening.

At the session, the book was released by Aaditya Thackeray, the state tourism minister who is also Mumbai's guardian minister. This was held in the presence of the city's top bureaucrats, cultural ambassadors, urban planners and architects, and it was in their midst that he excitedly shared news about plans to expand the idea of the city museum with the opening of another building. The collective applause that followed was quite something. Later, the idea was reiterated and supported by biggies from the city's bureaucracy. It made folks like us smile; this tiny community of observers who have been keenly tracking the city's cultural highs and lows for decades. I was tempted to have another rabbit hole moment. Well, almost. You'll see why I stopped short of going there.

The mind raced back to an entrant in Stephens' book that caught my eye in a flash. It was a 2014 plan by Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) and Sameep Pandora and Associates for the North Wing extension of the City Museum within the same space, near Rani Baug. That plan in ZHA's words, and as reproduced in the book explains the idea as, "The formal response is soft, ductile, less rigid than its historic counterpart." The radical design selected from an original list of 104 entries, would have breathed fresh air by offering a gamut of possibilities and introductions to enhance the experience and clout of the city's oldest museum. We had closely tracked that design competition back then. The plan was never allowed to take flight due to a host of unfortunate developments; the idea remained in the ‘imagined' space, and hence made it to Stephen's curated compilation of world-class ideas that were never adopted by the city.

And so, the sceptic in me did not permit the smile to expand to a grin amidst the applause. And it's not just this one plan. Having read and reported about countless such instances of nearly-there and almost-been projects in the city, I found myself in no-man's land with this important announcement. Honestly, I'd be the happiest if proven wrong. The month of June was revealed at the forum when all heads would get together to set the ball rolling. We'll be keeping a close watch on how that transpires.

That the city needs more museums is like saying that we need more local trains, or better roads. Mumbai cannot even compare with London, or even its Asian counterparts like Singapore and Dubai. Ours is a richer, more illustrious and older historic timeline, if the city's origins are recorded. So, when compared to both these Asian cities, the number of museums we have is a shame.

Irrespective of how, when and in what capacity this new extension of the city museum takes shape and form, we would surely like to see more than just this one project being given the push and support. Asia's richest municipal corporation can and must look at various alternative avenues to garner funding, so we can become a true force to reckon with; a city that can boast of more museums, especially in specialised areas that will do justice to its multi-layered histories and multi-cultural identities. At the top of our list, we so deservedly need a space to salute our textile traditions and mill histories, our rich maritime and shipbuilding legacy needs to be documented, as well as our diverse communities who came here from all corners of India and the world to set up shop and home.

One hopes that the June meeting leads to its logical conclusion in good time, in the form of another city museum, and not become another pipedream as long as the Tulsi Pipeline. And yes, let's hope that our powers identify and commission many more such projects with serious commitment.

After all, a museum is a critical, balanced institution that showcases our histories and our stories. And heaven knows this city has so many to narrate.

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
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