‘Read books on indigenous tribes of Mumbai to know the city better,’ says Hallu Hallu co-founder Aslam Saiyad

"I am not a great reader, but I do take a lot of references from books and places I visit. These observations inspire me to find books, which can be more information about the culture, language and food of the communities residing in that specific location," says Aslam Saiyad aka ‘Bombay ka shana', a photographer, documentary filmmaker and co-founder of the ‘Hallu Hallu' heritage walks in Mumbai.

While he may not consider himself a voracious reader, Saiyad's book collection at his private workspace does not fail to captivate visitors. Known for his exciting walks around the lesser explored parts of Mumbai such as Dahisar river, Uttan, Gorai, Marol, interiors of Bandra, Sion and Mahim, one would rightly expect a mighty collection of books on the city's landscapes, environment and communities on Saiyad's shelf.

As titles such as ‘The History of Kolis', ‘People called Kala Ghoda', ‘Walking through soul city', ‘The Trees of Mumbai' and ‘Revisioning Mumbai' placed in all its glory on a wooden table entice a reading enthusiast, Saiyad elucidates on how his academic and work interests have further expanded the scope of his reading subjects.

Visiting places and going back to find literature

"When I was in college, I was mostly interested in languages and history. My reading process has evolved as I became a photographer and started exploring places, communities," he says.

As a researcher focusing on the anthropological and environmental history of Mumbai, Saiyad is a regular visitor of forests surrounding the metropolitan region. Such visits--as a photographer attempting to trace history and document the present in his own ways--have introduced him to the many communities who are rarely mentioned in popular discussions about the Maximum city.

"In 2011, I started exploring places around Mumbai, first being the Dahisar River and it was a revelation to me that there's a river in Dahisar. This prompted me to go back and read more about Mumbai's rivers. I went back and found the books on rivers, Warli and I also visit Pandharpur to know more about Bhakthi movement in Maharashtra," says Saiyad.

While on-field observations and experiences contribute to a major part of Saiyad's knowledge about the city's landscapes, native tribes such as the Warli, Katkari, Kokna, and Mahadeo Koli, books by regional writers, state gazettes, journals and maps have also encouraged him to know more.

As native residents are also those who primarily work towards preserving the natural resources and environment, conversations with them also led him to read environment science books to understand more about mangroves, waste management systems and the environmental cost of human activities. This in turn added to his list of references for Mumbai river project, Saiyad's independent venture to document the rivers that run across the city.

"Not only I read books, but I also do a lot of courses, which open a Pandora box of book recommendations for me. Everything is connected to humans and sociology and these are the subjects I often read," he says adding that his recent diploma in Archaeology has now opened up new avenues for him in terms of reading.

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Read these books to know more about Mumbai

"Usually people read the history of Bombay from the British period, however there is a lot to know about the city before the colonial period too. One should understand the city from the time, when it was not even known ‘Bombay'," says Saiyad stressing on the information that the areas currently known as the suburbs of the city existed as separate cities and urbanized areas before Bombay came into existence.

He recommends two classic books to understand the evolution of Bombay as a city - ‘Mahikavatichi Bakhar' by V.K Rajwade and ‘Mumbaiche Varnan' by G.N Maadgavkar. The first one, he says, presents one of the oldest chronicles of Mumbai, through the history of King Bhimdev who arrived in Bombay with migrant families who settled in areas like Dadar, Worli and Mahim. The documentation helps one trace the community and cultural history of these areas from the 11^th Century.

‘Mumbaiche Varnan' takes us a little further in the history by talking about the colonization of the island and the resulting urbanization in and around it with an increased movement of people from Surat and other parts of Maharashtra. "The book, written in 1825 is crucial to understand the transition of the city while it is at the cusp of two eras; one is the urbanised and the other non-urbanised centres," says Saiyad.

In addition to historical books, he also recommends ‘Hydraulic City' by Nikhil Anand, which explores the infrastructure of the pipeline system and politics of water supply across various areas of Mumbai. J.H Taleyarkhan's ‘Escape from the City', 1954, records the history of native inhabitants of unexplored areas like Uttan, Dongri, Kandivali, Borivali and Eksar among others. ‘The trees of Mumbai' by Bombay Natural History Society is another book that Saiyad recommends for those who wish to understand the city's ecology.

‘A city that doesn't read much'

As someone who has over the years closely watched the city's some of the interior areas and lesser discovered peculiarities, Saiyad notes that the city is experiencing a dearth of good book stores and reading spaces.

From the shrinking space of roadside booksellers covering the pathway opposite to Churchgate's Flora Fountain stretch to small vanishing newspaper kattas and chowks hosting senior citizens for lively socio-political discussions, the reading culture of Mumbai is greatly on the decline.

The access to online books and virtual reading mediums has further added to the fading interest in reading via traditional print medium, says Saiyad. "If you want to dedicate your time to a physical book, one must go to public libraries like Asiatic, which has thousands of books on diverse topics. The books I do not get in regular or small bookstores, such as on subjects like anthropology, languages, ethnography, environment, I get it there," he adds.

Moreover, he believes Mumbai as a commercial hub has never been known for its reading culture in a way that cities like Delhi or Kolkata does. "If you go to any book shop, you don't see a rich collection here. It's a commercial city, where majority of people are embroiled in earning money. So, unfortunately, people do not really like investing their time in reading."

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