Interactive space at Cross Maidan aims to transport you to France this winter

Since JRD Tatas mother was French a part of the visionary Indian industrialists childhood was spent in Paris Now it so happened that the familys neighbour in their holiday home was a celebrity aviator who the young Tata looked at with awe That man noticed the childs enthusiasm for planes and so one day he gifted the 14yearold a treat and told his pilot to take Tata out for a spin One can only imagine the wideeyed wonder with which the boy must have viewed the world from above remember this was only 1918 But presumably it had a lasting impression since Tata later became the first Indian to be issued a pilots licence before he founded Tata Airlines which was rechristened as Air India and despite its challenges remains the countrys national carrierAmritha Ballal the founding partner of Space Matters tells us this story sitting on a bench at Cross Maidan In front of us labourers work at breakneck speed under the overhead sun They are completing a structure called Bonjour India Experience BIE which Ballals firm has designed for Bonjour India a platform for IndoFrench collaboration The idea behind BIE is to bring out those exchanges between the two countries that lie buried in their parallel histories And the interactive space at the Churchgate garden will thus employ LED displays installations and virtual reality shows to showcase the relevant associations like that of TatasBonjour India Experience being assembled in Mumbai on Wednesday top a photo of a VR show from the Delhi leg of the exhibition Picsshadab khan and hemant chawlaBallal gives us an idea of what to expect when she says In the first of the three pavilions we have recreated a slightly surrealistic streetscape of Paris So the literature section comprises a bookstore where weve put publications that may be in English and Bengali but were written originally in French such as Asterix and The Three Musketeers She continues Then there is this thing called a flip book where you have an actual graphic novel placed in front of you but when you flip it there is stuff about the novel projected on a screen with the projected animation changing at every turnPierre Laburthe and Amritha BallanShe proceeds to give us a tour of the unfinished space where Pierre Laburthe from the French Embassy joins us But it stretches our imagination to picture what the completed interiors will look like once the labourers are done with their work Laburthe makes it easier when he explains what each of the three pavilions is meant for He says The first one is meant to showcase our shared culture and philosophies The second is about innovation for example about aerospace and how a French firm helped with the Kochi Metro And the last one is about how we can work and study together how you know we can learn French here and Hindi in FranceBallal helps further when she shows us photographs on her phone from the Delhi leg of BIE which is where the travelling exhibition was last assembled The images give the impression of a fullblown immersive experience that promises to take the Mumbai audience on a French sojourn Ballal also says that the curtains will be raised today for a select audience with a screening of 10 films and Karan Johar as the chief guest But truth be told well have to wait till the space is opened to the public tomorrow before we can truly see the bigger picture though it does look promising indeed if our visit acts like a trailerOn December 15 to 26 1030 am to 830 pm At Cross Maidan ChurchgateCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news current affairs from Mumbai local news crime news and breaking headlines hereDownload the new midday Android and iOS apps to get updates on all the latest and trending stories on the go