Turning back the clock: New exhibition explores Vikhroli’s 1950s community initiative

Alooben Mowdawalla, the first welfare officer counselling a worker and his family about family planning, 1972

Before Ikea made its way into Mumbai and its extended suburbs, the cane back Godrej CH-4 chair was a common presence across offices. Even today, the odd old-world office would still retain that long-surviving furniture. "They were weaved right here in Pirojshanagar," Vrunda Pathare, head, Godrej Enterprises Archives points out. Even as she speaks over the phone, Pathare is in the middle of the ongoing exhibition, Pragati Kendra: 70 Years of Progress, that unravels the journey of the social initiative built around the township of Pirojshanagar.

Adult literacy classes at the centre, 1970. Pics Courtesy/GodreJ Enterprises Archives

Back in 1950, Vikhroli was a far-flung neighbourhood - more suitable for industry than residences. Envisioned by the late Pirojsha Godrej, the township project was overlooked closely by his son Naval and daughter-in-law Soonuben Godrej. Before Vikhroli though, industries would often be set up in Lalbaug. "It was when Pirojsha Godrej visited his foreman who had fallen ill that he realised the living conditions of the workers. The township was an effort to change this," Pathare reveals.

Established on the Independence Day of 1955, Pragati Kendra was to be central to the holistic welfare of this community. Among the first graduates from the new industrial welfare stream at Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Alooben Mowdawalla would join the initiative as the first welfare officer, and visit workers' homes, learning about their requirements.

(From left to right) US Senator Charles H Percy, Lillian Carter, Jamshyd Godrej (behind), Sohrab Godrej, and James Carter (Lilian Carter's grandson) during their visit to then Bombay in 1977

The Kendra soon became a space where families would come together to celebrate festivals from Navratri to Diwali. There were medical camps focused on health, particularly for women, and family planning. This not only helped the industrial township, but the many neighbouring residencies and hamlets around it. There were courses on adult literacy as well as a school. This would evolve into the Udayachal School that is a celebrated educational institution in Vikhroli. Cooverbai Vakil, an educator from Santiniketan would step in to teach women skills of Batik printing and dyeing. Former US President Jimmy Carter's mother, Lilian Carter, would spend two years in the late 1960s as a volunteer at the township.

Vrunda Pathare

"It was a centre for ideas, progress, and nation building. Remember, this was the first decade of India's Independence. The initiative and the township overall, reflects the vision that independent India had for its citizens," Pathare observes.

It is also the work of pioneering women, the archivist says. The exhibition itself is the result of the Archives' current scholar-in-residence, Harini Alladi. "Her doctoral study is about the welfare of women, and an aspect deals with Pragati Kendra, and the vision of a post-colonial India," shares Pathare.

The exhibition tells the story through objects, visuals, and sound - archival photographs, documents, and rare oral histories. This includes the story of Lataben Panchal, one of the earliest recruits describing her journey among others.

Till: October 4; 9 am to 5 pm (except October 2)
At: Godrej & Boyce, Pirojshanagar, Vikhroli East.