Know about the mill lands of Central Mumbai through an interactive exhibition

This week if you walk into Columbia Global Centers Mumbai space youll spot videos on iPads and TV screens that showcase artistes performing the Marathi folk dance Naman and singing Shahiri Powadas These vie for your attention with a website VR headsets and 360degree videos with soundtrack et al which urge you to explore a cluster of erstwhile mill lands of central Mumbai known as Girangaon not be confused with GirgaonThe exhibition documents the history and culture of Mumbais mill lands and their gentrification over the last seven years Pic courtesySwapnil Bhole PukarPast forwardTitled Archiving Mill Lands The Mythologies of Mumbai the interactive exhibition has been designed by Delhibased HELM studios It is based on a sevenyearlong documentation project by the research collective PUKAR supported by Dr Ravina Aggarwal anthropologist and programme officer at Ford The idea to archive Girangaon for posterity before it disappears from the citys fabricA gala in Chinchpokli used as an akhadaWhen all the 54 cotton mills located in Girangaon were churning out beautiful textiles in the 19th century generations of mill workers contributed to the citys economic social and cultural prosperity They mainly lived in chawls built around a central courtyard It served as an open space for sports family celebrations and community festivals building a unique shared lifestyle and communityspecific identity within the residents With the onslaught of gentrification this started getting transformed and hence the need to archive says Dr Anita PatilDeshmukh principal investigator at PUKARJayashree Varape runs a khanawal in BycullaShe led the team Ajit Abhimeshi Triveni Mane Kiran Sawant Shrutika Shitole and Tejal Shitole to document Tardeo Byculla Mazagaon Reay Road Lalbaug Parel Naigaon Sewri Worli and Prabhadevi using righttoresearch methodology based on the principle of experiential learning since the team members are residents of these neighbourhoodsThey conducted interviews with mill workers their children and grandchildren local artistes women running khanawals lunch home or a stall smallscale entrepreneurs activists politicians and union leaders and produced 250 video interviews five case studies and close to 20000 images which will comprise six photoexhibits at the venue They even roped in 120 local artistes to engage in the documentary production of eight folk art forms including Lezim Lavani Powada Bhajan Dashavatar Naman Bharud and Balya All of them narrate stories of the workers lifestyles and their social and political upheavalsThe team also framed ageold institutions like galas or single rooms in chawls that would house anywhere between 20 and 100 people mostly single men They worked in three shifts in the mills so at a time only six to eight people would sleep in the room says Deshmukh In a video interview former mill worker Balasaheb Mohite shares If one of those Galekars was to get married everyone would collect currency notes and make a garland out of them Their feeling was that of immense happiness that one from them was actually entering marital bliss and that he did not follow the wrong path in lifeThe futureDeshmukh says that despite the SC verdict of distributing 200 of 600 acres of mill lands to mill workers for lowcost housing the implementation has left them with less than 88 acres A majority of mill workers have either returned to their villages or work in jobs like security Their children have lowpaying jobs in malls that have replaced the mills Some prefer to continue living here but the fancy towers are unaffordable Many have been dispossessed of their area and have had to move further away from the cityTill November 25 10 am to 630 pmAt Maker Chambers VI Jamnalal Bajaj Road Nariman Point