Built to last

Sir PM was sure Lady Flora wouldnrsquot show up given the incessant downpour plus the fact that she was probably in the middle of maintenance work since the pedestal was veiled under a giant cover He had a few errands to run via the Cathedral and out of habit he had a dekko inside To his disbelief his friend was seated on the last pew looking a bit dishevelledldquoMy goodness How did you pull this offrdquo he exclaimed partly happy to see her and partly concerned over her appearance Lady Flora chuckled ldquoSimple I waited for sunset after the workers around me left the site By nightfall it was clear and I managed to do a Houdini It was so cool to outsmart everyone Irsquove done this a million times in the past over all my restoration projects the good the bad and the uglyrdquoSir PM was a tad worried about her look ldquoMy lady and what about this slightly off appearance Yoursquore not being harassed or vandalised I hope Just say the word and Irsquoll speak to my friends who are friends with the civic godsrdquo She was grateful that her friend always watched out for her ldquoNot to worry Pheroze Itrsquos work in progress I am guessing this is the monsoonal nipandtuck job similar to what half of the cityrsquos swish aunties do when ageing takes overhellip Whatrsquos that calledhellip Ah yes Botox Nobody is blessed like Dorian Gray Anyway enough about me I braved the rain to listen to your stories from that grand event you attended at the museum Tell me allrdquoHer friend was amazed at Lady Florarsquos ability to keep abreast of the cityrsquos happenings rain or shine ldquoIt was quite the evening The main takeaway I believe is that now we can look forward to building a onepoint resource which will store information on our built heritage from across the city and its suburbs All these bigticket names concerned with the cityrsquos welfare attended some even shared their views and gave suggestions for this project Everyone seemed keen to give it their best shot to contribute towards this projectrdquoLady Flora interrupted ldquoAnd who may I ask was this lsquoeveryonersquo that you are referring to Was it just the everreliable heritage community who we keep discussing during our walksrdquo Sir PM replied ldquoIt looked like an impressive list of names both private platforms trusts and individuals as well as civic bodies and related organisations If this clicks it will be a great gift to and for our city meant to be showcased to the rest of India and the world I am not aware of any other Indian city at least which has embarked on such a Herculean exerciserdquoLady Flora had a few doubts twirling in her head ldquoI hate to sound like a wet blanket but I hope all the enthusiasm from some of these contributors doesnrsquot lose steam in a few monthsrsquo time where only the original custodians are left to hustle and haggle for collaborators to show more intent Secondly I like the idea that it will be spread to other parts of the city and not just SoBo Our streetscapes especially in the suburbs have been redrawn beyond recognition mainly due to redevelopment and mindless tearing down of heritage buildings Itrsquos frightening This stems from the fact that awareness is almost zero among its residents I did read in that midday coverage by our columnist that the pilot project will include 100 key buildings and that it will begin with A Ward I really hope they donrsquot forget the farflung parts of the city Those wards pose the biggest challenges as far as recovering data and getting residents involved in this critical exerciserdquoLady Flora rattled off a list of recentlylost buildings that Percy the pigeon had updated her on while on his aerial trails across the suburbs ldquoHe reported some pretty disappointing stuff Already the island city has lost countless heritage buildings and original street design during the laying out of some of its infrastructure projects and while it was well reported by the press with the suburbs I feel the radar tends to go cold I hope this archive can step in and document such threatened suburban sites and buildings and put the spotlight on their historicityrdquo Sir PM was quietly impressed with his friendrsquos moonlighting efforts to document the city and being able to put that lazy pigeon to good useldquoIrsquom kicking myself for not paying close attention when the slide showed up about the 100 buildingsrdquo Sir PM grimaced ldquoWhy Pherozerdquo Lady Flora wondered ldquoI wanted to know if we were on that listrdquo he replied instantly ldquoPheroze it would be best to leave that to the experts Meanwhile we should focus on sending them a list of suburban sites in danger That I feel would be our best contribution towards this projectrdquomiddayrsquos Features Editor Fiona Fernandez relishes the cityrsquos sights sounds smells and stoneswherever the ink and the inclination takes herShe tweets bombayana Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycom