It features starfish, sea horses, tetras and sharks, to name but a few species, and yet Mumbai seems blind to the marvels housed at the Taraporewala Aquarium, on Marine Drive.
It features starfish, sea horses, tetras and sharks, to name but a few species, and yet Mumbai seems blind to the marvels housed at the Taraporewala Aquarium, on Marine Drive.
Many Mumbaikars harbour memories of visiting the aquarium with their parents or grandparents when they were kids, or even on a school trip. But like Byculla Zoo, and the Prince of Wales Museum, the aquarium seems to have slipped from the urban public's conscience.
"People from Delhi, Chennai and Punjab come to visit, but Mumbaikars don't value it. In fact, there are many schools from all over India that still bring their students to see this aquarium," says Shrikrishna Gaikwad, curator of the Taraporewala Aquarium.
Gaikwad pegs the Mumbaikar's apathy to the rise in mall- and nightclub-culture pervading the city. "Today, youngsters don't mind shelling out thousands of rupees a day at malls or discos," says Gaikwad, noting that the aquarium's visitor numbers have slid over the years.
About 700 to 800 people visit the aquarium on weekdays and approximately 1,000 on weekends. During the summer holidays, on average 1,200 people visit the aquarium daily.
Rama R, a housewife from Girgaon is still a frequent visitor to the aquarium: "Whenever we have relatives visiting from outside Mumbai, Taraporewala Aquarium is one of the places I take them. I recently visited with my sister and niece, who are from Hyderabad."
Mumbaikars often complain about the "decrepit" look the aquarium wears and the "slapdash" maintenance, but non-Mumbaikars seem unperturbed. "I have been to the aquarium before and I like it. We have heard about this being an important landmark in the city, so we wanted to visit it. This time I have brought my wife along, to have a look, and she is happy with the fish on display," says Pankaj Sharma, a businessman from Udaipur.
The zoo is set to undergo a massive refurbishment to bring it into the 21st Century, and the museum has been restored to close to its former glory, and Gaikwad realises that, at the aquarium, changes need to be made too.
"There needs to be some modifications done so that we can attract more people," he says. "Schools need to be encouraged to come here like they used to in years gone by. But we don't have any say in the future of the aquarium. The government will have the final say whether the aquarium will stay, or something else will come up in its place." Gaikwad says that he would personally like to see an aquarium similar to those in Hong Kong and Singapore.
But, of course, that will be decided by the government.
m_brinda@dnaindia.net
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