Once a low lying swamp submerged by every high tide, Byculla was transformed by ambitious reclamation into a rich suburb in the early 19th century, attracting the most affluent of Bombay’s citizens and its most sophisticated public infrastructure – including its very first museum! In the latter 1800’s, the building of mills and chawls shifted the character and fortunes of Byculla. With the Bombay Plague outbreak of the 1890s, one tumultuous Byculla century gave way to another.
To walk through Byculla today is to experience many places, many landscapes, at once. To end, we find our way to the Dr Bhau Daji Lad Mumbai City Museum, formerly the V&A, Bombay, for a highlights tour of the Museum's building, its collection of historic maps, models and craft objects, and a special temporary exhibition of contemporary art.
Alisha Sadikot uses walking tours as a tool to instigate closer looking and creative, critical public engagement with Mumbai's urban histories, art and museum collections. She believes Mumbai is so much more interesting outside of cars and off the main roads - would you agree?
Where it is
Address : Byculla East, Byculla East, Byculla, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
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