Soon, QR codes to tell untold stories and history of city street names
Thanks to Project Mumbai’s initiative called Naksha, launched this year, which is compiling a detailed history of the names printed on the blue signboards at every turn. Project Mumbai, a non-profit organisation, aims to identify challenges faced by the citizens and find realistic solutions for them
Mumbai: Every street, lane and bylane in the city reflects its unique character; some are steeped in history, some enriched with diversity and flair and the others, clamorous and colourful. With over 19,000 distinct roads in Mumbai bearing a unique name, have you ever wondered the story behind them? Now, a QR code will help you navigate this further.
Thanks to Project Mumbai’s initiative called Naksha, launched this year, which is compiling a detailed history of the names printed on the blue signboards at every turn. Project Mumbai, a non-profit organisation, aims to identify challenges faced by the citizens and find realistic solutions for them.
By August end, in collaboration with the BMC, they aim to have this slice of information readily available to the passersby through a QR code pasted on the signboards on at least 100 important roads such as Cotton Green, JJ road, Colaba Causeway etc.
These names will mirror a piece of history, recording the person’s contribution, the domineering presence of the landmark and how it was used and became known; telling a unique story of the city.
700 streets mapped already
With the help of volunteers, historians, and writers, they have mapped out the cultural history of at least 700 of the roads in Zone 1 of the city, covering wards A through E and areas at the Southern tip: Colaba, Fort, Marine Drive, Ballard Estate, Dongri, Grant Road, Tardeo, Malabar Hills, Byculla, Reay Road, and more. “There are many roads in Mumbai named after people who have contributed to the city, but most of us aren’t aware of who they are except for the few tourist-friendly roads in South Mumbai. So the idea behind Naksha was to create a sense of ownership of the city, at the same time, creating a cultural history of the roads and map them out,” said Shishir Joshi, CEO and founder of Project Mumbai.
“The BMC will be sending us the list of names of the roads in the remaining wards of the city, so we can assign them to volunteers to begin their mapping too,” said Joshi.
Street name linked to our identity
Val, project officer for the initiative said, “Each resident of a road has had their identity shaped around the road over a period of time, as they form a connection with its nooks and crannies and navigate around it.”
Val estimates a quarter of the roads documented till now are named after people, giving examples of JJ road, named after Jamshedji Tata and Capt Prakash Pethe Marg, renamed from Cuffe Parade road after the captain in the Indian army, part of the parachute regiment, who was martyred in 1971.
A significant portion is named after places, like Cotton Green, named after the textile and indigo trade that made the area “green,” ie, wealthy, and Colaba Causeway, for being an island linked to Bombay by a causeway back in 1938.
A portion of roads are also named after what they became known for in their everyday use. She gives the example of Bread Market Lane, in Crawford Market from Mint Road to Modi Street. It was named as it had a large number of bakeries that supplied bread to the ships in the Bombay Harbour. Much of the bread shops have now sold off to industrialists, she said.
Ironically, the roads named Pasta Lane 1 through 4 are named after the 20th-century philanthropist and businessman from Kutch, Sheth Goculdas Liladhar Pasta. “The Pasta lanes are a set of four lanes that span an area in front of Cusrow Baug and the Colaba Fire Station. The British gave them the name in recognition of the family’s support for various civic amenities in the city,” said Val.
Along with the histories behind the names, the project also includes various points of interest on the roads, whether that be the presence of the murals on Chapel Road, a museum, a statue or a famous bakery. It will also link to visuals and videos of the road and its history, including testimonies and historical records.
Calling for volunteers
To dig out these histories and details, Project Mumbai called for volunteers - including residents of the very roads themselves - to stitch together Naksha: for mapping out the details of the road, photographers for various landmarks and quirks, archives of documents, photos, stories of old-time residents and shops, and writers and researchers to compile the information. Interested volunteers can visit Project Mumbai’s website or write to naksha@projectmumbai.org.
Challenges of mapping suburbs
In order to ensure accuracy, Naksha also has a historian on board, who has access to a wealth of archives behind the history of Mumbai. Unearthing the histories behind road names might get harder as the project moves towards the suburbs, whose history is the least documented. Val acknowledged this, and said, “This is why we also plan to document the stories of the old timers on the road, to find out how they happened to settle there and set up shop there.” Along with the transplant to the past, the webpage linked will also contain civic information about the road: which ward it lies in, the fabric of the road (kaccha, bitumen or concrete), the presence of a police station, hospital, ward office, medical stores, bus station, flyover, etc.