Avid Learning, in collaboration with the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), Mumbai, and Kala Ghoda Association, presents ‘Uncovering Urban Legacies: Icons of Mumbai – Wells, Dabbawalas, and Irani Cafes,’ an engaging panel discussion that brings together voices that have not only studied these icons, but have been instrumental in documenting their stories for future generations with Founder and President, Kamlabai Educational and Charitable Trust, Mumbai Dr Pawan Agrawal, Journalist, Author, and Editor, Waternamah Bachi Karkaria, and Historian and Founder, Bombaywalla Dr Simin Patel. The conversation will be moderated by Co-founder, No Footprints Harshvardhan Tanwar.
Dr. Pawan Agrawal's name has been associated with the Dabbawalas of Mumbai for a while. He has been working tirelessly to increase the profile of this integral Mumbai network ever since he began to work on his Doctoral thesis "A Study of Logistics and Supply Chain Management of Dabbawalas in Mumbai". He has given several talks on the Dabbawalas and their system around India, as well as in various countries in Asia and Africa, and beyond the Pacific in the United States and the United Kingdom. Dr. Agrawal has received several awards for his work as a teacher, including the 'Utkrusht Shikshak Sanman' from the Mumbai National Congress in 2010 and the Rajiv Gandhi Puraskar in 2007. Along with his regular work, Dr. Agrawal also runs the Mumbai Dabbawala Education Centre under the Kamlabai Educational & Charitable Trust to further the education of Dabbawalas as well as underprivileged children. Now he is also working on a new thesis "Emergence and Importance of Newspaper Distribution Business in Mumbai.
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Bachi Karkaria is a game changer in India’s journalism, having created path-breaking brands for the Times of India Group and writing extensively on urbanisation and public health. Her pioneering stories on HIV-AIDS helped change policy, and put her on the advisory board of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. She is also a popular satirical columnist, best-selling author, litfest curator and media trainer in India and abroad. She was the first Indian board member of Paris-based World Editors Forum, a Jefferson Fellow from Hawaii’s East West Center, and recipient of, among other recognitions, the Mary Morgan Hewitt and Ladli Awards, both for Lifetime Achievement. Karkaria’s books include: Dare To Dream, the runaway bestseller biography of M.S. Oberoi; critically acclaimed In Hot Blood: The Nanavati Case That Shook India; Capture The Dream: The Many Lives of Captain CP Krishnan Nair; Waternamah: 300 Years of Mumbai’s Bhikha Behram Well (Editor); Mills, Molls And Moola; Behind The Times; Mumbai Masti; The Cake That Walked; and collections of her columns, Erratica and Giving Gyan.
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Dr Simin Patel, also known as Miss Bombaywalla, is the founder director of Bombaywalla Historical Works, an organisation that showcases Bombay’s built environment and social history. Her book on the Irani Restaurants of Bombay, for which she received a New India Foundation Fellowship, is due for publication in early 2026. Simin completed her DPhil in Modern South Asian History from the University of Oxford in 2015. She was a Clarendon Scholar at Balliol College.
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Harshvardhan Tanwar is a co-founder at No Footprints, a creative travel boutique, with a single focus: Lets bring to the fore the lost and lesser known community based stories. Having worked as a creative copywriter for 4 years in reputed agencies like Dentsu and Leo Burnett, he knew the power of storytelling was mellifluous in medium. He pioneered a tour called Mumbai by Dawn, that showcased a lesser known side of Mumbai. This experience focuses on people's stories, community tales, migration history, food , trade and commerce, legends and myths - all this starting at 5 am. Contrary to popular belief, this tour was a runaway success and we had mentions in all international publications for the same. Rest as they say is history, today No Footprints boasts of a portfolio of over 31 experiences in Mumbai and Delhi. Over the years, No Footprints have created some breakthrough experiences in inbound tourism: Queer Day Out, Delhi Refugee Food tour (A tour based on the international refugee communities in Delhi), Basti Sisterhood (A woman only tour in Nizammudin), Strange Stories of the Sea (The relations of Mumbai and the sea), among others. No Footprints has won the Gold in the Outlook Responsible Tourism award for the most responsible tour operator and won the best Global tour operator in the WTM Awards, London - the highest honour in tourism. Conde Nast Traveller voted Harshvardhan in a list of 14 travellers redefining the way people travel.
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Wells of Bombay - A Forgotten Story
Water is an indispensable part of human existence and has always had a deep connection with human settlements across the globe. The journey of Mumbai’s land started from the seven islands and the connected waterbodies and marshy lands, which were later reclaimed and connected to form the current city. With geographical expansion, the process of making potable water for the city involved multiple events and processes. The making of wells, tanks, and fountains along horse-drawn and tram routes by multiple communities, mostly the Gujarati and Parsi, formed a major part of the water supply system of the city, then. One of the oldest of these wells is the 300-year-old Bhikha Behram Well near Churchgate, situated inside a Zoroastrian temple. Another such well lies in the base of the 150-year-old Hornimon Circle Garden in Fort and is the foundation of the pyau near which gate continues to quench the thirst of the people passing by. Hundreds of such watering holes transformed into fountains and pyaus continue to be part of the city’s hydraulic heritage, undergoing restoration and making a comeback in the day-to-day lives of the people.
Single-Screen Theatres of Mumbai
The majority of old theatres in Mumbai are single-screen theatres, and their stories have been a significant part of the city’s history and culture. According to an article in Hindustan Times in 2021, the city continues to be home to 65 single-screen theatres in addition to the growing multiplexes. The Capitol Cinema, situated right opposite the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus station, is the oldest single-screen theatre of Mumbai. The list of these theatres includes the iconic Art Deco building of the EROS Cinemas at the junction of Churgate Station, the New Excelsor, now taken over by the Mukta Cinema, the New Empire, which is now shut down, the Chitra and Plaza cinema on eastern and western ends of Dadar, the Deepak Cinema stranded in the middle of new glass building of Prabhadevi and Worli, the Liberty Cinema in backlanes of Metro, the world famous Maratha Mandir for screening of the DDLJ film and many more.
Most of these single-screen theatres of the city continue to stand as a testament to the times in their original forms, some with closed doors, while some are in dilapidated conditions waiting for their new journeys, some have undergone a revamp and are welcoming the audiences with a multiplex feel, while they continue to be part of the celebration of watching movies in an iconic theatre.
Dabbawalas - The Oldest Food Delivery Business of Mumbai
The story of Dabbawalas started somewhere during the British Raj around the 19th century.
A banker, Mahadeo Havaji Bachche, sensed a business opportunity in the idea of delivering home-cooked food to the city’s working population, and he started the first dabbawala service with 100 workers in 1890. The business has scaled to an incredible level over the past 135 years as it delivers more than 50 million dabbas a day. The Mumbai dabbawalas can be spotted easily in a white kurta and a Gandhi topi(cap) with their delivery dabbas at the platforms of various Mumbai stations and on cycles/bikes on the roads of the city. They have their way of managing deliveries with 99.99% precision without the use of GPS, which has led to the Harvard Business School granting them a Six Sigma status. In today’s world of instant food delivery Apps, they continue to grow and deliver home-cooked meals for the working class of Mumbai.
