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Rummaging through Mumbai streets on World Heritage Day

Mumbai, the city of dreams is a historian’s paradise as well so discovers Rohan Mungekar, our Photography student who narrates his experience of exploring the city heritage sites on World Heritage Day.

World Heritage Day is all about raising awareness of the importance of protecting and preserving various sites around the world that have achieved world heritage status. The event is marked globally, and each year there is a theme – this year it is sustainable tourism.

As I was on my Mission ‘World Heritage Day: Mumbai’, I started exploring the places in Mumbai that breathe the beauty of heritage. It was an interesting experience to explore the city on foot.

I began my jaunt with Mumbai’s historical station – CST. Built from the British times, this place still holds the charm. To see a constant motion of human sea, makes this station rightly earn the title of busiest station in India. In order to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria the station was built in 1887. The station building is designed in the High Victorian Gothic style of architecture and is treat to capture.

Fascinated by the facades of Elphinstone circle, this place was definitely next on my list. To witness the beauty and simplicity of the market life around the area, reassured the presence of the magic in the mundane. This being one of the venues for the prominent Kala Ghoda Arts Festival, makes it worth a visit. Despite of the fact that the circle hosts the top-notch French fashion houses of Hermes and Christian Louboutin, the garden at the centre is a humble reminder of nature’s gentle nudge amidst the concrete stories surrounding it.

I further continued my journey to Asiatic Society Library. Looks like time has stood still when you see such a magnificent structure. A space greeting you with the smell of books even after 213 years, is an enchanting spell in itself. Asiatic Society Library houses a collection of over a hundred thousand books out of which 15,000 are classified as rare and valuable. It also has priceless artefact and over 3,000 ancient manuscripts in Persian, Sanskrit and Prakrit, mostly on paper but some on palm leaf.

Time may have gone still with Asiatic Society Library but Rajabai Clock Tower still tik-tocks like page out of a fairytale. Located in the Fort campus of the University of Mumbai, Rajabai Clock Tower is a bedecked jewel that stands at a height of 280ft. The tower has one of the best stained glass windows in the city. No wonder, they say ‘time will only help you see better.’

My next visit was the David Sassoon Library, which looks like a story in itself. Located at the center of the bustling Kala Ghoda junction is this quaint library where Dr B R Ambedkar wrote the final draft of the Indian Constitution. About 150 years have gone by yet avid readers still line up to peer into its 70,000 odd books that are neatly stacked in wooden shelves that almost touch the roof. Its structural beauty makes it absolutely inviting.

I also visited the Global Vipassana Pagoda, an angelic structure constructed as a dedication to Buddha, his teachings and the monks who practice the Vipassana (meditation). The shape of the pagoda draws its inspiration from Shwedagon Pagoda in Myanmar which is claimed to be the oldest pagoda in the world. Also, what’s quite a marvel is that the centre of the Global Vipassana Pagoda contains the world’s largest stone dome built without any supporting pillars

I had an amazing time strolling through the streets of Mumbai and getting to know about the heritage sites of Mumbai. Thank you TSCMC for this amazing assignment where I got to know about the importance of World Heritage Day.