Opinion Biographer of Bombay

Sharada Dwivedi,who passed away early this month,was to Bombay what Abul Fazl was to Akbar,its greatest biographer and loyal friend. And while we recognise today that Akbar may not have been remembered as the great emperor he was without the lifelong commitment of Abul Fazl to recording his deeds,Bombay’s story too would have remained unwritten had it not been for the seminal works produced by Sharada Dwivedi.

She was the city’s most beloved historian,a virtual encyclopedia of Bombay. Students,journalists,researchers,activists,architects and just about anybody who wanted to know anything about the city would call her or email her and Sharada generously shared her time and knowledge. She was an unstinting supporter of conservation and was a tireless crusader to save the heritage of the city she loved,raising awareness about its historic structures and actively participating in citizens issues. As a governing council member of the Urban Design Research Institute and a founder member of the Kala Ghoda Association,she worked passionately towards saving the city’s historic precincts.

I first came in touch with Sharada through her book on princely India that I bought when I was fourteen. Her insight into India’s world of royalty and palaces intrigued my teenage curiosity and I was propelled towards architectural conservation and romanticised restoring the royal palaces mentioned in her book. A decade later,when I moved to Mumbai,my first introduction to the city was through her book Bombay: The Cities Within. So when I met her for the first time at the Bombay Gymkhana,I was surprised to find this intellectual Goliath in the petite frame of a diminutive grey-haired lady. But her fragile frame belied her strength. Serving on the city’s Heritage Committee,she would bravely take on builders and political pressure to stand up for the cause of saving the city’s heritage. There was not a single historic fountain,pyau or crawl she did not know intimately and she had a photographic memory about dates and buildings. Every restoration project in the city owes a debt to Sharada who would invariably be the source of archival research and information on the building’s original architect,design and history.

Sharada stood firm on her love for her city and its plurality. Born in a Maharashtrian family (her father was a senior ICS officer and cabinet secretary),she believed in her city’s multicultural ethos and refused to ever call it anything but Bombay. To her,the city was always Urbs Prima Indis,the first city of India and she was pained by those who sought to reduce it to a regional chessboard for narrow political gains. Through her many books co-authored with Rahul Mehrotra,she celebrated the city,its history,its architecture,its pluralism,its people and its unique spirit and through her role as an activist,she was committed to saving its vulnerable heritage. She raised funds for the restoration of Elphinstone College and Horniman Circle,lobbied to save the Opera House and the Watson’s Hotel and gave her unflinching support to saving the city’s historic precincts from rampant redevelopment.

Sharada was also a warm,loving and loyal friend with a ready wit and a great sense of humour. The last time I spoke with her,she was elated by the news that the Victorian and Art Deco ensemble of Bombay had been included in the UNESCO’s list of tentative sites for nomination as World Heritage Sites. We had worked together for a year preparing the tentative document,poring over archival images,writing the text and rallying with citizens groups to save this urban ensemble in South Mumbai. She was down with a sore throat and cold but did not let that diminish her excitement. “Come over next week and we will plan out the next steps for the preparation of the Nomination Dossier. We have a lot of work to do if we plan on sending it for nomination next year!” she said. I did visit her house on the assigned day,but she had passed away… too soon… and without saying goodbye.

The writer is a Mumbai-based conservation architect