From nature to history: Mumbai experts share their vision of themes for new museums in the city

Representation pic/iStock

The Museum of the self

How would it be if I treated myself and my world as a museum? How would it be if I looked at grandma's old account books as precious material for future scholars who would like to know what half a kilo of urad dal cost? How would it be if I took my mother's diaries as a link in the chain of women's words, to be handed over to her granddaughter so that they could know each other? How would it be if we named each person in a picture so that memory, that unreliable trickster, would not have to be relied upon? How would it be if we kept diaries and noted down stray thoughts? How would it be if we respected ourselves and made our own museums? How would it be if we kept the letters we received and kept copies of the letters we sent? How would it be if we could see the museum as a faded old colonial artefact that demands hierarchies and categorisation (‘Museum piece'? ‘Should be in a museum') and rewrote the museum to mean this piece of stone we chose together on a beach, that handkerchief you monogrammed for me, that bookmark I made for you from an invitation card? How would it be if we all took our lives more seriously - and thus extended this respect to others, thus making the museum enterprise a harbinger of human rights?

Jerry Pinto, author, poet, translator

Ancient Wisdom and Modern Cities: A Journey Through Time

My dream has always been for our country to have a dedicated museum for its ancient Indus Valley/Harappan Civilisation, as countries with ancient history like Egypt have built. If the museum was to be in Mumbai, I would then build a connection between ancient wisdom and modern cities, a journey through time. The exploration begins with an exquisite replica of Mohenjo-Daro's Great Bath, revealing how ancient engineers designed sophisticated water systems, orderly streets, resulting in thriving communities - principles that remain relevant today. In the "Convergence Gallery", Harappan urban plans are juxtaposed with present-day maps of Mumbai. The exhibition draws compelling parallels in spatial organisation - gridded streets, market nodes, and water management systems demonstrating how ancient principles of urban design persist across time. The final section looks forward, envisioning a future Mumbai shaped by both inherited wisdom and emerging ideas. It presents architecture not merely as form, but as continuity - where every built layer responds to a historical one beneath it. Walking out of the museum, Mumbai's chaos appears less chaotic - more like a city still being crafted by its past.

Brinda Somaya, founder and principal architect-Somaya Sampat, urban conservationist

Museum of Mumbai

My first choice would be ‘Mumbai'; it should be a contemporary museum. The experience should be immersive and digitalised to appeal to the younger generation. Fun topics of discussion should be around communities, food, Bollywood, sports, the skyline, maritime history among others.

Brinda Miller, honorary chairperson, Kala Ghoda Association, honorary festival director, Kala Ghoda Arts Festival, artist

Mumbai Time Machine

This would be a walk-through museum, with visitors entering through a portal that opens into diorama after diorama, revealing the biosphere of a diverse wonderland that existed before the advent of Homo sapiens.

As visitors move forward down millennia the city keeps shape shifting into multiple versions of scapes crafted by generations of humans.

Somewhere in the middle, we pass through dioramas revealing the impact of the decline of both biodiversity and climatic meltdowns. Humans become decreasingly visible in the now dystopian cityscapes through which we pass. As we move on, varied life forms begin to reclaim spaces now empty of humans... and as we exit, we discover that we have walked through a circular, diverse wonderland.

We exit the museum diorama through the same diorama where our journey began.

Bittu Sahgal, environmentalist, founder-Sanctuary Nature Foundation