Horniman Circle

Everyday life of a 19th century neighbourhood in Mumbai

(2005 - 2007)

'Fort' in Mumbai has a special place in the way the city’s residents define their identity. I coordinated a team of researchers to explore the historical, architectural and institutional interconnections in the Horniman Circle area of Fort in Mumbai. The project sponsored by Ford Foundation and Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development looked at continuities and changes in one of the oldest neighbourhoods of the city, from the perspectives of urban development, heritage and ethnography. A publication entitled ‘Zero Point Bombay: In and around Horniman Circle’ was the outcome of the project.

A view of the Asiatic Society from the Horniman Circle Garden

Fresh water well just outside the Garden

"The Asiatic Society in the Town Hall building with the verdant Horniman Circle garden in front. All around the atmosphere throbs with activity. Office goers, traders, entrepreneurs and a veritable army of service-providers to keep them well-fed and industrious. With the Reserve Bank and the Stock Exchange right there, along with a host of banks, businesses and shops, it is patently a financial and commercial hub. Yet the place is busy without being mindless. It has an indescribable feel, a historical and cultural memory running through it. Horniman Circle, in the heart of Fort, holds within itself, the early history of Portuguese and British Bombay, going back to the mid 16th century. Something about its configuration allows you to savour the ambience, peel the layers and discover the stages and processes in the making of contemporary Mumbai. It invites you to stop by, admire its architecture, explore its nooks and lanes, rest in its leafy garden, listen to snatches of music wafting from St. Thomas Cathedral, browse in its old world libraries and reading rooms and quaint bookshops and partake of its gastronomic pluralism. Its charm and textured character imperceptibly slow you down, a feat of sorts in downtown Mumbai".

–Book Excerpt

The juxtapositioning of colonial and post colonial institutions, of commerce, art and literature, of ceaseless activity and eternal repose, is not a superficial geographical one. The live interconnections and ruptures render it a fascinating subject of exploration for the historian, sociologist and the intrepid amateur.