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Welcome to Mumbai, a city for walkers

The rise in heritage walks in the past year is proof that it’s possible to move around freely in the city as a tourist. We also take a look at some of the people who have toiled hard to make Mumbai a heritage city

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With a history that is over 300 years old, Mumbai has grown from a cluster of seven islands to one of the largest metropolises in the world. Today, in the midst of reclaiming of land, the burning of garbage, the crowded trains and the influx of people coming in and moving out of the city, Mumbai has – despite the rise in the number of skyscrapers – still managed to retain its heritage.

The opportunities available

According to the BMC, the biggest challenge they face is protecting and preserving the city’s heritage without coming in the way of development. As the city hasn’t been segregated into heritage zones and non-heritage zones, this challenge becomes greater. “The heritage conservation drive in Mumbai can provide an opportunity not only to restore the original beauty of heritage structures, but also to spruce up and beautify the surrounding areas,” the article read.

What Mumbaikars are doing

Today, a number of individuals have recognised the value of Mumbai’s history and have started selling the city as a walking city. However, for most Mumbaikars – and this writer is as guilty of this as many – the city’s tourism comprised the The Gateway of India, Elephanta Caves, Dhobi Ghat and Colaba Causeway and maybe a trip towards Worli and Bandra to see the forts.
I was, however, in for a shock when I went on a heritage walk around Gamdevi near Girgaon. That tour conducted by Khaki Tours, an initiative by Bharat Gothoskar, showed me places including the hall where the Indian National Congress was born, the ‘other Gateway of India’, the Theosophical Society, Mumbai’s narrowest road and the Raut Bungalow, which was built in 1889. To tell the truth, we were shown around 30 spots in a one-and-a-half kilometre radius.
Ghothoskar isn’t the only person obsessed with the city’s heritage. Rajendra Aklekar, a former journalist with dna, has been obsessed with the city’s railway route and his book Halt Station India, which focuses on Mumbai’s rail service, gives the reader trivia related to the first tram route in the city, as well as stations that existed in the 19th century such as the Bori Bunder station that no longer exists.

Making Mumbai a walking city

Marketing professional Meghna Girohtra, the founder of Instagram page Mumbai Instagrammers, also believes that the city provides plenty of walking opportunities. “There are several citizens who do their research and conduct walks in Fort, Gamdevi, Bhuleshwar, Parel, Byculla and even Vasai. It’s true that traffic can be chaotic, but heritage walks across the city is proof that Mumbai can be walker-friendly if it has to be. Residents too need to be smart and walk in the bylanes that don’t have traffic, but can potentially share some fantastic city history,” she said.
Moolchand Dedhia of PhotoKonnect, a photography group that conducts walks across the city, added that Mumbai has potential to be walker-friendly. “In areas such as Crawford Market, which has so much, heritage, walking becomes difficult because of illegal hawkers and motorists who double park. If these cases are curbed, then I don’t see a problem why we can’t have more such walks,” he said.
 

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