Before Ikea made its way into Mumbai and its extended suburbs, the cane back Godrej CH-4 chair was a common presence across offices. Even today, the odd old-world office would still retain that long-surviving furniture. “They were weaved right here in Pirojshanagar,” Vrunda Pathare, head, Godrej Enterprises Archives points out. Even as she speaks over the phone, Pathare is in the middle of the ongoing exhibition, Pragati Kendra: 70 Years of Progress, that unravels the journey of the social initiative built around the township of Pirojshanagar.

Adult literacy classes at the centre, 1970. Pics Courtesy/GodreJ Enterprises Archives