Kala Times

A newcomer to Mumbai may be puzzled if taken to Kala Ghoda.
There is not a horse in sight there, black or white. No board announces the name of the place. It just seems to be another thoroughfare with an unprepossessing car park surrounded by a few buildings. Yet, everyone will happily guide you to Kala Ghoda — it is arguably the most famous destination in the city.
To get the mystery of the name out of the way— there used to be a handsome equestrian statue of King Edward VII which was removed in 1965 as the anticolonial mood ran high. No horse has replaced it since, but the name remains.
It is a small precinct, ordinary at first glance with nothing special that marks it out. But, Mumbai’s citizens hold it very dear to their heart. Indeed, it is the very soul of the city.
Which is why, when Sripad Naik, minister of state for culture and tourism, declared that Kala Ghoda would be converted into the Indian version of New York’s iconic Times Square, there was outrage. Outrage that someone, with little or no sense of Kala Ghoda or Mumbai, wanted to fix something that is not particularly broken, and also at the deeprooted urge among politicians to convert Mumbai into ersatz versions of Shanghai or New York.
But it is his vision of the refurbished Kala Ghoda — a massive, back-lit flag, large electronic billboards where corporates can advertise, and “Indian cartoon characters” walking around shaking hands with children — that most people have found particularly bizarre. Keeping aside the sheer cruelty of making someone wear a heavy, sweaty and stinky costume in Mumbai’s sultry weather, Naik’s hare-brained plans need to be thrown out into the Arabian Sea on several other counts.
Kala Ghoda is known as the city’s art district. It has a unique character that has developed over decades, dating back to the middle of the 19th century. Several layers have been added since then, producing an amalgam of buildings and architectural styles not to be seen anywhere else in the city, or even the country. On one side of Kala Ghoda stands the majestic Elphinstone College (alumni include Dr BR Ambedkar, Jamshetji Tata and many more), built in 1856, a Grade I heritage structure built in the Romanesque style. Next to it is the smaller but no less striking David Sassoon Library, a fine Gothic building and a bit further down is Esplanade Mansion, more famous as Watson's Hotel, India's oldest surviving cast iron building. This is where the Lumiere Brothers showed their new invention, the moving picture, to a select group of Europeans. Mark Twain stayed here and looked out at the city about which he wrote humorously in his book “Following the Equator”.
Right across these classical masterpieces is the Jehangir Art Gallery, built in 1952 by Sir Cowasji Jehangir to offer a highly subsidized venue for artists to showcase their work. India’s leading artists have since held exhibitions here and many may have even repaired to the 50-year-old café Samovar on the premises for a plateful of samosas and a hot cup of tea.
Behind the gallery is the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, better known as the Prince of Wales Museum, with its sprawling gardens and the Indo-Saracenic styled building. Both the gallery and museum are daily visited by large numbers of school children from all over the city to expose them to art, history and culture. Kala Ghoda also includes Rampart Row, a tree-lined street full of low-rise buildings which ends at the famed Naval Dockyard.
Naik has set aside Rs 5 crore as the initial government contribution. He plans huge, glitzy neon and LED hoardings (called ‘Jumbotrons’) that will cover up all these beautiful structures and instead beam us messages of the latest smartphone launches and cola drinks. The buildings will be completely hidden by the billboards. Instead of looking at relics going back to the Indus Valley Civilization, children will be encouraged to pose for pictures with fake cartoon characters. No doubt chain stores will sprint up to sell cheap baubles and toys. Corporates will be asked to join hands in PPP (public-private partnership) ventures, a sure way to hand over public property at cheap rates to the private sector. No wonder everyone, especially the artist community, is livid.
Over the past 15 years or so, Kala Ghoda has been the venue of a very successful street festival that attracts tens of thousands of visitors for the unique fare of music, dance, cinema, literature, art and hand crafted items that are sold by NGOs from across India. The festival is put together by citizen groups with little or no help from the authorities — celebs, literary mavens and upcoming artists all participate with gusto, without charging a rupee. Isn’t that a much more egalitarian and democratic model of utilizing public spaces? Mr Naik needs to also study a bit more about Times Square. He may be impressed by it but many New Yorkers have come to hate it. They find it too squeaky clean and Disneyfied. In any case, why are we so intent on grafting American ideas on Indian soil in a way that will look phony? Much better would be to utilize the Rs 5 crore that Naik has set aside to improve facilities in Kala Ghoda (toilets, public furniture, even footpaths) and give some of what’s left to the festival. Mumbai will thank him for it.
Bhatia is a Mumbai-based writer