Re-reading Cities and Communities

February 13, 2016 Hutheesingh Visual Art Centre Our flight landed and a pleasant breeze kissed our faces as we stepped out. It was a reminiscent of the purpose of our visit, to dig deeper beyond the surface, into the untold accounts that the city holds. The smooth taxi ride from the airport at 7.30am, the sparsely populated roads and the signature smell of the chai, fafda and dhoklas took us to the CEPT campus. Rushing in with added enthusiasm about the workshop at 9 am,

LITMUS, Banglore was our first stint at a literature festival. The workshop helped re-live the experience of the making of People called Mumbai. A narrative workshop was organised. The enthusiastic participants communicated with each other and then with the localities to create a miniature version of People Called Bangalore. They ventured upon a brand new path of knowing their city. A path where they would keenly observe their daily helpers, their work colleagues and themselv

Kala Ghoda Festival in Mumbai is regarded as the prime nucleus that displays the best of performing, literary and fine arts. The month of February 2015 witnessed an in-conversation between Nisha Nair-Gupta with People Called Mumbai and Kamu Iyer talking about his book Boom-bay. While Kamu Iyer’s autobiographic-historical book featured the changing urban-scapes, People Called Mumbai was seen as a lucid stroll of concise and precise words covering a wide spectrum of faces of th

People Called Mumbai – was a compilation of the chosen moments that gently swayed in the Mumbai’s air but had the strength to freeze the gazer in its time and place. The publication was a compilation of 55 narratives that mapped the city breaking the barriers of occupations, geography and income. It was about striking the right chord. It was about bringing out a quality of a cosmopolitan that would render the place humane. It was about discovering the identity of the unsung h

Nisha was the backbone, the guide, the friend and the boss. Sahil was the only guy amongst a strong team of 6 girls. He was the buddy who always helps and is as friendly as possible. Soumya was the silently cool one who designed the graphics. An office that had transformed itself into a research cell had been nothing short of awesome. Vanessa came with her brilliant stories, Zankar with his sensational style, Mariel with her calm and adorable personality and Krupa came with h