Our city's origins must be chronicled and shared with our children, tomorrow's visionaries, to ensure they are able to see merit in conserving it for future generations
One page. One map. Both tucked into one chapter of our History textbook.
This was a recollection that dates back to when yours truly was probably in class 6 or 7. As students, this was the sum total of our understanding about how the island city of Bombay/Mumbai came to be. Of course, this was a different time, when a majority of schools followed the SSC curriculum, when satellite television hadn't invaded our homes, and when the frontiers of knowledge for impressionable kids like us, began and ended in a far smaller circumference. We hadn't even realised that the city, our Bombay (then), was a creation that had spanned centuries of trade, commerce, migrant communities and conquests. We were unaware of the wonderful chronology around its seven islands that been strung together by a collective of scholarly and visionary minds, and leaders who dared to believe that the land on which stood was meant to be the city of dreams, eons ago.
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It was well over a decade later – when we set foot and went on to spend good time inside the library at the Asiatic Society, Mumbai – that we were able to discover the entire timeline of the city's origins. It was a bittersweet moment. A feeling of having being robbed of such fascinating information at a younger age, about the very same city that we call home, and yet, we were grateful for having discovered the city.
As we pored over sepia-tinted pages of volumes penned by writers, researchers and commentators -from India and overseas - their invaluable accounts delighted us [and I am sure, it has for countless others] with eye-opening narratives of how this great city took shape. We could never look at Bombay in the same way again.
Cut to the present. At an interactive history session for city kids between 10 and 14 years, we were privy to a bunch of pretty interesting questions, put forth by these bright young sparks. "Who created Crawford Market?"; "Why is Fort called thus, though we can't spot any fortifications?"; "Who looks after our heritage monuments?"; "What is the difference between Gothic and Art Deco architecture? It made us smile. Here was generation next, curious as hell, and eager to know and dig deeper about the whys and hows of their city. Something significant was emerging from that session. We looked around. Stacks of books about the city's history and landmarks were being picked up by the dozen. In another corner, a pile of old titles that needed upkeep were being carefully glanced at, under the watchful eye of its caretaker. More questions followed. The 'wow' factor around Bombay and its history was well and truly alive in that intimate session where kids held centrestage.
It was a small step, but a crucial one. It drove home a simple point. Increased engagement with kids about their home city is the best way to increase awareness about its treasures, beyond textbooks and class projects. After all, it is these young minds who can take the message of something as important as heritage conservation forward, one baby step at a time. Such movements could certainly do with more foot soldiers.
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. Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com
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