03
Jun 2025
2:45 PM to 4:15 PM
Drama Workshop
Mayoor Private School, 42th St, Al Wathba South, Abu Dhabi- UAE
National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), Mumbai, Kala Ghoda Association, and Avid
Learning present Uncovering Urban Legacies: Icons of Bombay – Fountains,
BEST Buses, Street Food.
What do an ornate heritage fountain, a red
double-decker bus, and a spicy vada pav have in common? These urban symbols are
bound together by their deep-rooted presence in the everyday life of Bombay.
Whether pouring quiet beauty into the city’s traffic-filled junctions, zipping
across neighbourhoods through the city’s endless monsoon, or serving
lip-smacking flavours on street corners, they carry a sensory and emotional
thread in the story of the city.
After traversing Bombay’s diasporic
communities and historic precincts, we return with the next iteration of our Uncovering
Urban Legacies series. In the third episode of this edition, we turn our
gaze to three more enduring and evocative emblems of the city. The 19th-century
fountains were not merely ornamental, but civic and philanthropic landmarks,
once again flowing with life. The
BEST buses, which first took to the streets with horse-drawn trams in 1874,
have evolved into a modern, electric fleet, yet remain an accessible,
egalitarian lifeline. Street food, meanwhile, remains the great leveller of the
city’s culinary imagination, feeding everyone from college students to office-goers with affordable fare, and offering a
bite-sized reflection of the city's spirit.
Join us for an evening of stories and chronicles as we decode how these everyday icons continue to reflect the beauty, utility, and taste of a city forever in motion.
Vikas Dilawari is a practicing conservation architect with more than 3 decades of experience exclusively in the conservation field, ranging from urban to architecture. He has done his double Masters in Conservation from School of Planning and Architecture (New Delhi) and from the University of York (Distinction). He was the Head of Department of Conservation Department at Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute of Architecture (KRVIA) Mumbai from its inception in 2007 till Aug 2014. His practice has successfully executed several conservation projects ranging from prime landmarks to unloved buildings of Mumbai. He was instrumental with INTACH Mumbai chapter to list the CMST (or erstwhile VT) station as a World Heritage Site in 2004. Several of his projects have received national and international recognition. A total of 19 of his projects have won UNESCO ASIA PACIFIC Awards for Cultural Preservation in SE Asia.
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Hussain Indorewala is active in various social movements in Mumbai for housing rights, labour rights, sustainable mobility, environmental justice and participatory planning. He is a founder member of the Collective for Spatial Alternatives (CSA), an action research collective. He is also the co-convenor of the citizen's group Aamchi Mumbai Aamchi BEST, a citizen's forum for public transport, that has been advocating for reliable and affordable public transport in Mumbai
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Kunal Vijayakar is an Actor, Broadcaster, YouTuber & Food-Writer. His YouTube channel, "Khaane Mein Kya Hai," has demonstrated an awe-inspiring journey of growth and is a trailblazer in its niche, with a current subscriber count of nearly 6 lakh subscribers and over 8 million hours of watch time. Kunal has also been a food columnist and writer with The Times of India, Bombay Times, DNA, Asian Age, Mahanagar, The Week Magazine and The Hindustan Times. After 11 years in advertising as creative director, Kunal turned to entertainment and acting full time, and has acted in several plays, films and television series. Notably partnered with Cyrus Broacha to create India’s only and longest running current affairs and news satire show in English. Called “The Week That Wasn’t” –on CNN News18. The show ran for 17 years. His other television show “The Foodie – with Kunal Vijayakar” ran uninterrupted on “Times Now” for nine years completing close to 500 episodes. Today, he is the co-founder of a Mumbai -based digital broadcasting and production company that specializes in food and entertainment content. Shaped by the chaos and the charm, the cutting chai and the crowded trains. He’s grown up with the sea breeze in his hair, vada pav in hand, and a no-nonsense attitude in his stride. Born and brought up in Mumbai, he’s a true-blooded Mumbaikar.
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Meera Godbole-Krishnamurthy writes a fortnightly column on art in The Perfect Voice newspaper. She was previously Editor-in-Chief at Saffronart. She is an architect and artist by training, and has published two novels: Gardens of Love and Balancing Act, a novel about Louis Kahn’s Salk Institute and motherhood. Born in Mumbai in 1968, she has lived in the Philippines, France, and the United States. She studied art and architecture at Oberlin College and Columbia University, and received a Master of Architecture from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. She has studied writing in workshops at Stanford University, the Iowa Summer Writing Festival, UC San Diego and the La Jolla Writers Conference. She was an Adjunct at the NewSchool of Architecture and Design in San Diego. Since moving to Mumbai in 2007, she has conducted writing workshops at colleges and architecture schools, and been an editor on subjects including art, governance, and history. She is currently working on her next novel.
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The Bygone Era of Living Fountains in Mumbai
Water charity has been an integral part of the social and cultural traditions of the Indian subcontinent. During the colonial rule, around the 18th and 19th centuries, several wealthy businessmen funded a range of public infrastructures and amenities, including the drinking water fountains, which are popularly known as the ‘Pyau’ or ‘ Pyaav’ among the locals. These fountains were laid out to quench the thirst of a wide population travelling across the bustling Tram routes stretching from the Fort to the Dadar area for business and trade activities. However, today, most of these fountains are either non-functional or have running water for a limited time. Several individuals, such as Mr. Rahul Chemburkar, are working on the conservation of these ancient fountains, and Dr. Varsha Shirgaokar has researched and documented these structures. Some of the well-known fountains across the city include the Flora Fountain at the Hutatma Chowk, Ruttonsee Mujee Jetha Fountain at Ballard Estate, Bomanjee Hormarjee Wadia Clock Tower with Pyaav and Mancooverbai Ardon Pyaav, outside Horniman Circle Garden in Fort.
The Iconic Red Buses of Mumbai
Every person who has lived in Mumbai or visited the city has a fond memory of seeing or riding in the iconic red buses on the city’s roads. The story of these buses dates back to the establishment of the Bombay Tramway Company in 1873. The horse-drawn trams were the first models of buses in the city. The Bombay Electric Supply and Tramways(BEST), established by the city municipality in 1905, took over the old Bombay Tramway Company. This is the period when the single-compartment electric trams came to the city, followed by the introduction of double-decker trams in 1920. The buses evolved in multiple forms from the Motor bus, buses with postboxes for passengers to drop in letters, the trolley bus powered with electric wires running overhead, the evergreen and most famous, the double-decker buses, to the modern-day electric air-conditioned buses. This interesting history of the BEST buses has been immortalised at the BEST Museum in Sion, dedicated to tracing the evolving transport system of the city.
Mumbai Street Food and Khau Gallis
Mumbai is renowned as one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world. It has been a home to a range of diverse communities. The Portuguese introduced and popularised the art of making bread in Bombay. The pao has been a significant part of the street foods of Bombay since then. It is found in a majority of combinations, ranging from traditional vada plus pao combo, the pav-bhaji, a range of dishes in the popular Irani cafes of Bombay, like the keema pav or a different form of the bun maska with chai. The Bombay sandwich is another popular item with a different style of bread and a range of chutney and vegetable fillings on the streets of the city. The chaats are a special combination offering a variety of tastes like spicy, tangy, sweet, and salty in a bite in the forms of bhelpuri,sevpuri, and panipuri. The lanes offering diverse food options in Mumbai are termed as Khau Gallis. Some of the most famous khau gallis are near Crawford Market, Zaveri Bazaar, Mangaldas Market Khaugali, near the Mumba Devi temple, Mohammad Ali Road for a range of non-vegetarian options, Ghatkopar Khaugali and Mahavir Nagar Kandivalli. With modern tastes and trends, the street food of Mumbai continues to integrate the diverse food preferences and remains the go-to choice of the Mumbaikars.
