Colours of Mumbai: Are the city's iconic shades fading into concrete monotony?

Kolkata High Court, David Sassoon Library, Kala Ghoda, Horniman Circle, Fort, The Homestead, August Kranti Maidan, Hindu Colony, Dadar, The Bandra-Worli Sea Link. Pics/Fiona Fernandez

Recently, while on a visit to Kolkata, this columnist ended up scouring the city. In the process of the extensive travel across the large metro, I spotted endless views where brick red facade buildings were in full view, in all its corners. It made me arrive at the conclusion that it might perhaps be the representative colour of the city's streets-cape. While some of these were landmarks, standing tall, and in great condition, others were crumbling edifices, crying out to be rescued from further neglect. They were hard to miss, irrespective of their condition. Later, on further exploration, I noticed that canary and ochre yellow painted facades could possibly come second.

There were also sharp references of emerald and pickle green splashed across many buildings. And yes, several key official buildings were washed in white, elevating the street-scape with its colonial grandeur. All in all, it made for a colourful, viewing showcase.

That got me thinking: What are the obvious shades that seamlessly represent Mumbai? If you walk past the gullies of Fort, and adjacent areas like Dr DN Road at one end, and Kala Ghoda and the other end, it's a mix of different shades of yellow and earthy tones, as well as hues of grey. These pay homage to its colonial origins, where architects used locally available stone and construction material from neighbouring states. Churchgate and Marine Drive is a hat tip to warm, tropical shades that became the highlight of the Art Deco movement in old Bombay.

Buildings in SoBo that extend all the way to Breach Candy, Pedder Road, and Walkeshwar also offer striking exhibitions in white and off-white, especially these days where AQI and dust levels have become unwanted bedfellows for the average Mumbaikar. As we move away from the older parts of the city, and heads towards the inner city, views of abandoned textile mills and chimneys offer a contrast, giving a more stark colour and character - rust, copper-brown and faded facades lie sandwiched in between swanky glass-swathed spires and uber-luxe residential townships. Some of our other favourite colours that are quintessentially Mumbai, include the many shades of blue and grey that blitz past us while crossing the Sea Link and the Coastal Road. From electric blue to smoky grey, it's a canvas that showcases dreamy brushstrokes of the city. It's the same ‘wow' that overtakes the senses while watching the midnight blue waters caress the boundary walls of Apollo Bunder.

The Art Deco clusters of Matunga, Dadar, Bandra, Sion and Chembur that have survived the onslaught of redevelopment and other modern-day threats, offer visual respite with their warm tones and well-maintained facades. But these are too fleeting, sadly. Speed into the extended suburbs, and the picture-postcard views are infrequent; we are forced to endure predictable skylines of pencil-pointy-high towers, and designs that confuse between abstract and modern-age. Monotones take over with little thought to a great city's legacy and cosmopolitanism. It gets worse as we move away from the core around which it came to being.

This hurried ‘shade card' trail that we embarked upon might not be an accurate barometer of the city's colours but it sure tells a tale - where large swathes of its street-scape are slowly emerging as clones of the other, and where gentrification threatens to whitewash our once-diverse canvas of colour and character.

mid-day's Features Editor Fiona Fernandez relishes the city's sights, sounds, smells and stones...wherever the ink and the inclination takes her. She tweets @bombayana
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The views expressed in this column are the individual's and don't represent those of the paper.