Alice in a new city museum

While browsing through architect and urban chronicler Robert Stephensrsquo seminal and pathbreaking book Bombay Imagined this columnist found herself frequently tumbling into a fantastical rabbit hole itrsquos the kind of imaginary utopian streetscape that only trueblue and often madcap Bombaywallahs hazard to visualise every now and then when the opportunity or in this case a book arises for a teleported distractionI 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 whatif and the almostthere ideas left us feeling wistful on most occasions I repeatedly went down that road as I pored over the epic visually appealing research projectCall 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 Museumrsquos director and managing trustee The event was held to also usher in the 150th year of the museumrsquos openingAt the session the book was released by Aaditya Thackeray the state tourism minister who is also Mumbairsquos guardian minister This was held in the presence of the cityrsquos 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 cityrsquos bureaucracy It made folks like us smile this tiny community of observers who have been keenly tracking the cityrsquos cultural highs and lows for decades I was tempted to have another rabbit hole moment Well almost Yoursquoll see why I stopped short of going thereThe mind raced back to an entrant in Stephensrsquo 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 ZHArsquos words and as reproduced in the book explains the idea as ldquoThe formal response is soft ductile less rigid than its historic counterpartrdquo 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 cityrsquos 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 lsquoimaginedrsquo space and hence made it to Stephenrsquos curated compilation of worldclass ideas that were never adopted by the cityAnd so the sceptic in me did not permit the smile to expand to a grin amidst the applause And itrsquos not just this one plan Having read and reported about countless such instances of nearlythere and almostbeen projects in the city I found myself in nomanrsquos land with this important announcement Honestly Irsquod 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 Wersquoll be keeping a close watch on how that transpiresThat 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 cityrsquos origins are recorded So when compared to both these Asian cities the number of museums we have is a shameIrrespective 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 Asiarsquos 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 multilayered histories and multicultural 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 homeOne 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 letrsquos hope that our powers identify and commission many more such projects with serious commitmentAfter all a museum is a critical balanced institution that showcases our histories and our stories And heaven knows this city has so many to narratemiddayrsquos Features Editor Fiona Fernandez relishes the cityrsquos sights sounds smells and stoneswherever the ink and the inclination takes her She tweets bombayanaSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycom