In 1992, when Walkeshwar’s Banganga Tank was facing a threat of demolition, the Indian Heritage Society-Mumbai (IHS) started a live classical music festival there. Anita Garware, chairperson, IHS, shares that the 11th century structure is one of the five original tanks in the city. “Heritage is something we inherit; it’s our responsibility to carry it forward,” she reasons. Once the Banganga Festival kicked off, it shined the spotlight on the heritage structure. However, after a Bombay High Court order on noise pollution, the event had to be shifted to the steps of the Town Hall or the Asiatic Society of Mumbai, and was renamed the Mumbai Sanskriti festival in 2009.

Anita Garware