Majhi Matharpacady

Vijayendra Sekhon and Maia Manielli spearheaded the Majha Mazagaon project, which brings alive stories of one of Mumbai’s oldest gaothans—Matharpacady. Pic/Sameer Markande

The reel mingled the past with the present as the residents of Matharpacady, a quaint village deep inside Mazgaon, saw the bygone days of their hometown come alive.

The Virtual Reality-driven immersive experience was just one of the many features of the Maza Mazagaon project which is holding on to life stories that are fast dying out. The year-long labour of love also includes photographs, documentaries, and interactive fiction computer game and a radio set in the middle of the locality, where you can turn the dials to listen to different stories from the neighbourhood.

The project was developed by Anant National University (ANU), Ahmedabad in collaboration with Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Mumbai. "It is a remarkable example of cosmopolitan living," says professor Vijayendra Sekhon, Head of Department of Interactive Design at the ANU. "You have Jews, Chinese, Muslims, Hindus, Parsis and Kolis all living in the same space for generations. It is one of the very few urban villages in Mumbai, now facing pressure from gentrification."

The proposed cluster redevelopment of Mazgaon faces severe opposition from the Advanced Locality Management (ALM) at Matharpacady that doesn't want the centuries-old gaothan to be affected. Notices have already been issued to some residents to vacate their houses - testaments to erstwhile Parsi and Christian architecture - and while some have accepted, others continue to resist.

"Everybody wants an upgrade in infrastructure but there has to be a way to do so without ripping apart the fabric of the locality," says Sekhon. "Me and my students from the Interactive Design department started in January 2023 by just talking to the people and getting to know their stories. Simultaneously, we mapped the area through photographs. Somewhere along the way, we began throwing ideas around and came up with the project in its current format."

Sekhon was aided in the initiative by Aditi Vashisht, Assistant Faculty of Space Design at the ANU and Maia Manielli, an Italian interactive designer. "First of all, my specialty has nothing to do with outer space [as in extra-terrestrial]," Vashisht laughs as soon as she comes on the line. This is testament to the novelty of the project - using fields that not many have heard of as platforms to showcase history.

When we began speaking to the people of Matharpacady, we realised that many of them were interested in conserving their village in its current form," she says, "We started thinking [about] what we could do for them, and the project was born. The next question was, how to showcase these stories to a larger or wider audience," she adds.

Manielli, who had co-taught a course with Sekhon, readily came on board. "It has been interesting learning," she says, "because where I come from, historical heritage has financial value, what we sell to the tourists. I understand that it is a complex issue in India, but it still concerns me how little attention is paid to it." She also couldn't help notice how so many communities had lived together for generations.

"I discovered the bakeries and fell in love with them. These have catered to Matharpacady and nearby areas for decades together, cooking rotis, pav, pita bread and cookies by the lot every day," she tells us.

After months of ideation, planning and execution, Maza Mazagaon was ready to be seen. The consensus was to showcase it in the locality first.

"And yet," says Sekhon, "we have barely scratched the surface."