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Lesser-known engineers, contractors who sculpted Bombay in colonial era
Updated On: 13 June, 2021 09:02 AM IST | Mumbai | Jane Borges
An Instagram project by architect-urban researcher Esa Shaikh s the lesser-known Indian engineers, contractors and labourers, who sculpted the city of Bombay and its architecture
Rao Bahadur Elappa Balaram, Rao Saheb Naagu Sayaji, Rao Saheb Seth Tejoo Kaya, Vitthal Sayanna and Vyanku Baalu Kalewar
Despite growing up in Mumbai Central, architect and urban researcher Esa Shaikh rarely ever walked through the lanes of Kamathipura, a stone’s throw away from his home. Its seedy reputation preceding it, Shaikh didn’t think the neighbourhood would have anything more to offer, beyond what had already been documented in literature about the city. He admits he was wrong.
In the monsoon of 2019, while running an errand for his mum, who had asked him to buy vegetables from a bhajiwala at the Kamathipura market, Shaikh, 29, got caught in a downpour. Scurrying for cover, he found himself near Shri Vitthal Rakhumai temple, in the 13th Kamathipura Lane, which had a striking Victorian influence. “Since I am an architect, my most natural instinct was to observe the details of the structure. Everything from the columns and the arches were beautifully done, and didn’t quite seem to be in sync with the other buildings in the lane,” he recalls. Soaking wet, Shaikh was spotted by the pujari, Mahesh Pandit, who saw him clicking pictures of the temple, and invited him to take shelter inside. “I told him that I am Muslim and didn’t want to upset anyone. He responded in good humour, ‘Even if aliens were to visit my temple, I wouldn’t stop them.’” Most wall tiles were from China and the floor was Minton. On enquiring, he learnt that the temple was built almost 150 years ago, by one Vyanku Baalu Kalewar, whose painted portrait hung on one of the walls inside. “Do you know he also built the BMC headquarters?”
Pandit told him.
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