Treasures at the terminus
You cross the main gates, with the lion and tiger guarding them on the either side. Circling around a garden you reach the porch that will take you to the main entrance. The large wooden double doors are open and you are about to cross the threshold to witness the residues of the imperial Brandness of this High Gothic structure, with memories and histories embedded over the last 13 years. This not your regular day at the city's busiest terminus - the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), where you are here to just pass through Fighting against the rhythm of the city that blurs the Terminus to make it a mere iconic façade and a backdrop at a busy crossroads today is a day to pause, gaze, and admire the various details memories and stories that the stone and wood here have to tell us.
This book Treasures at the Terminus is the pause
Songs of soil
India is fortunate to have a rich and complex civilisation that dates to five to ten thousand years and beyond. The rich geographical diversity of Indian sub-continent attracted migrants as well as invaders from many nations and civilisations. It has given the country a vast legacy of Intangible Cultural Heritage in the form of plethora of handicraft and folk-art, diverse and different in each of its states.
Architecture, being the art or practice of designing and constructing buildings, has close relationship with handicraft and folk-arts. It is evident right from the handwork on Taj Mahal to the terracotta temples of West Bengal or Dravidian temple sculptures or palaces and forts in Rajasthan.
The best part of Indian handicraft and folk-art is, these still have aesthetic appeal and design value in the context of modern and contemporary architectural work.
Heritage Maps
The Mumbai Metropolitan Region - Heritage Conservation Society was established on 14th November, 1996 by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) to focus attention on various environmental and heritage concerns in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). The Society is registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 and under the Mumbai Public Trust Act, 1950. The jurisdiction lies within the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. Mumbai Public Trust Act, 1950. The urisdiction of this Society lies within the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.
The objectives of the Society are: Promoting preservation, conservation, protection, development and improvement of natural, built and related cultural heritage within MMR; Developing heritage conservation - related data based for MMR; Training, education and awareness in heritage conservation; Providing financial assistance to conservation; Promoting networking of various agencies in MMR including local historical society; and Acting as advisors. Consultants, appraisers and assessors with respect to all aspects of heritage conservation.
The Society is an autonomous body. Its affairs are managed by a Board of Governors, which is headed by the metropolitan commissioner, MMRDA. It consists of representatives of eminent institutions like: INTACH, Asiatic Society, Concerned Government Departments, Local Authorities, NGOs and individual experts in the heritage conservation field.
Paani Party
The young urban generation today, see water (paani in hindi) as a part of their daily routine. It is often taken for granted, since it is available to many round the clock, at the turn of a tap or in bottled form.
On the other hand, water is a scarce commodity for a large number of urban dwellers. This story creates an opportunity for the reader to delve deeper into what water can mean for us and how closely we are associated with it as inhabitants of this planet.
A significant part of the population of Mumbai lives in informal settlements with marginal access to clean drinking water. Let us value water as a resource and celebrate every drop that we receive.