Why this Cama Building bagged a UNESCO heritage award

Cama Building in Murzban Colony Gilder Lane which was awarded the UNESCOAsia Pacific Heritage Award of Merit last week PicsPradeep DhivarFirdosh Cooper and Russi Kutar recall the time their residence was sought out as the locale for the filming of Such a Long Journey based on Rohinton Mistryrsquos novel by the same name It is a tale from the late 1990s that continues to be recounted at Cama Building mdash how the lane was cordoned off at both ends how tenants on all three floors welcomed actors Roshan Seth and Soni Razdan into their homes Kutar holds dear an autographed photo of Seth and fondly remembers Sooni Taraporevala who wrote the filmrsquos screenplay Cooper admits one grouse that Nitin Desai the art director made Cama Building look grimmer than it is ldquoThey wanted to show Bombay as it was then and so the buildings look a little wonky in that filmrdquo he says shyly confessing that he had vied for a part in the movieThe Palkhiwalla family and their pet dog Alice in their second floor flat which was restored while they continued to reside in itIt was one of the highlights of Cooperrsquos 57yearold life spent at Cama since his childhood Now he says there is one more He is the proud resident of the groundplustwofloor structure which received the 2016 UNESCO Asia Pacific Heritage Award of Merit last week for repair and restoration carried out by conservation architect Vikas Dilawari and his team It is the first of 24 buildings that form the centuryold Murzban Colony as the award statement puts it ldquoto be rescued from a state of serious deteriorationrdquo and ldquohighlights a private commitment to supporting the viability of Mumbairsquos distinctive but vulnerable Zoroastrian communityrdquoThe flatrsquos teak beams have been refurbished and strengthened during restorationEngineering marvelOn Wednesday morning we meet Dilawari at the leafy Gilder Lane in Mumbai Central where stand the 24 edifices that make up Murzban Colony The first in the row is Cama Building built diagonally to the street to accommodate it into a triangular patch of land Outside the building Dilawari shows us a marble bust of architect and engineer Khan Bahadur Muncherji Cowasji Murzban 18391917An architectural layout of Murzban Colonyrsquos 24 buildings On the tip to the left is Cama Building Right next to it in a plot not owned by the Garib Zarthoshtina Rehethan Fund once stood a bungalow similar to the rest A decade ago a highrise sprouted in the place of the bungalow Now from the second floor of Cama Building all that one can see is the highrisersquos carparkMurzban an engineer with the Public Works Department founded the Garib Zarthoshtina Rehethan Fund or the Poor Zoroastrians Building Fund in 1890 The trustrsquos colonies in Gilder Lane and Agripada are named after Murzban who made sure that poor and disadvantaged Parsis including widows found living quarters across the city Dr Nawaz Mody an associate of the trust says that Cama Buildingrsquos residents even today pay as less as R45 with the most expensive flats fetching R932 A plaque on the ground floor ensconced by almirahs and bedding reads that Cama Building was built in 1898 to the tune of Rs 50000Before restoration a block attached to Cama Building out of which a garage functioned in the structurersquos dilapidated conditions PICVIKASacircAcircAcircu00c2u0080AcircAcircu00c2u0088DILAWARIldquoMurzban Colony is a role model for new townships meeting the needs and not the greed of peoplerdquo says Dilawari who has won 12 UNESCO AsiaPacific awards for his conservation work till date Cama Building marks a hattrick for the trust whose homes in Wadia Street and Lal Chimney Complex have earlier been recognised by the UNESCO for restoration work funded by them and carried out by Dilawari ldquoThere was a consideration to accommodate the lower income groups closer to the city centre and provide them with essential amenities such as a school and a dispensaryrdquo he continuesLooking out of the window and joining in on conversations in the courtyard Russi Kutar has been a ground floor resident of Cama Building for the last 35 years His wife on the other hand has been living here since her childhoodEach building in the colony is named after a philanthropic Parsi family mdash Allbless Bode Saravsar and so on Cama Building is christened after the extended family that also gave the city the hospital near Azad Maidan ldquoThere is a tendency in the public to think that charity housing can be left to rotrdquo says Muncherji NM Cama president and secretary of the trust He continues ldquoWe were appalled by the condition in which people lived till a few years ago We want residents to take pride in their surroundings even if itrsquos charity housing There is timber in these houses keeping in mind the tides and breeze of Mumbai the likes of which we will never see againrdquoLed by caretaker Ramzan Shaikh we climb up to the second floor the doorways are guarded by little rangoli designs mdash called lsquochalkrsquo by the residents mdash depicting fish an auspicious symbol among the Parsis Standing outside resident Paricha Sidhwarsquos home we understand why Dilawari says that Cama Building is an oasis The frenzied traffic of nearby Maratha Mandir is blissfully missing and all you hear are the sounds of children at the trustrsquos girlsrsquo school chirping sparrows and the suspicious growls of Sidhwarsquos pet dogWe catch a view of a whitewashed well at one end of the courtyard It is surrounded by a grove of trees and a deck of lanterns placed by the residents ldquoWater is sacred to us so we light these lamps Now water is not easily available in this well because of the highrises around us but in the monsoon it fills uprdquo says Cooperrsquos wife Dhan The well was built in 1900 two years after the building for Rs 400Restore or redevelopldquoI wasnrsquot called to restore Cama Building from the point of view of conservation it was just that it needed urgent attention The roof was leaking the wooden beams were rotting and the building needed structural reinforcementrdquo says Dilawari who was assisted by his staff Altaf Muwal and contractor Cyrus Unwala on this project New teakwood beams similar to the existing ones have now been fitted The old ones have withstood Mumbairsquos balmy weather for more than a century More practical measures such as awnings and translucent windowpanes to allow more natural light have been added seamlessly to the old structure ldquoThe existing lifestyle of the residents is a living tradition which is to be retained It may be through the use of verandahs to look onto the street watching children in the compound sitting back and enjoying a cup of tea with the Sunday issue of the community newspaper JameJamshed or buying groceries from vendors pushing their carts along the shaded Gilder Lanerdquo says Dilawari as a little debate ensues between him and Cooper over which breeze mdash westerly or northeasterly mdash comes wafting into the wideverandahsWhile Cama Building looks like a chawl Murzban was foresighted in making sure that the experience wouldnrsquot be a stressful one Each house therefore comes with its own attached toilet and a separate water line Right opposite Cama Building however what would have been once a gentle view of roofs with Mangalore tiles and canopies is now the direct offence of a highrisersquos car park that came up a decade ago That plot didnrsquot belong to the trust and formerly housed a tiledroof building similar to the rest in the colonyldquoBy recognising Cama Building internationally the UNESCO is trying to promote a philosophy that redevelopment of buildings like these into highrises is not the only solutionrdquo says Dilwari The cost of restoring Cama is Rs 607 per sq ft It may seem steep but it is more efficient than overhauling the buildingHowever Dilawari says that the greatest challenge to the project which began in 2010 came in the form of the very people it was meant for Residents were not shifted to transit homes and work on interiors followed only in flats where they were permitted ldquoWe understood the residentsrsquo anxiety mdash if they were temporarily shifted somewhere would they come back to this flat They have heard similar instances happening around in Mumbairdquo says CamaCooper however warns himself and his neighbours of growing too used to the trustrsquos support He says concerned ldquoEven if itrsquos hammering a nail we want the trust to do itrdquo With a UNESCO tag the residents some living here for generations will take ownership of safeguarding their building more dearly But like the bank clerk Gustad Noble in Such a Long Journey Cama Buildingrsquos tryst with survival in maximum city seems far from over