The Storey Of The Best Neighbourhood Of Mumbai, Khotachiwadi.

In the minds of famous designer James Ferreira, the Khotachiwadi festival of the summer of 2004 is still fresh. For many years he wouldn’t work with Stefano Pilati’s Yves Saint Laurent. He recalls that there is a lot of food, more than anything else. And there are many who fill their faces gladly with food. It was the first time that such a festival was held and Ferreira was responsible, predictably.

He said as he shows his staff how to repair the skirt. “We had so much fun,” he said. “The generous volunteer donations from the Godrey and Bharat Petroleum family enabled us to raise almost Rs 3 lakhs.”

As you may expect, for all the right reasons the event was a smashing success. It was covered by leading international news organisations, such as the BBC and CNN. Why should the world not sit up and see if a small city in Girgaon went out of the concrete jungle of Mumbai and embraced its identity with pleasure?

“The event was the first time that cultural conservation was taken into consideration on this side of Mumbai because it finally discovered a vocabulary that was important enough to embrace and celebrate what they knew was gold.”

The Memory Maps

The house of James Ferreira, 210, is threefold older than the surrounding coconut trees. A few rows away is the ancestral home of André Baptista, a little over 130 years old. Baptista is a Professor of Archeological History and a Consultant in the Kama Rahia Vidyanidhi Institute of Architecture and Environment Studies, recalling the following: “On the 6th of August 1881 my great grandfather brought my home”

According to Baptista, the history of a place such as Khotachiwadi is only valid if it is shaped as the history of a family. “When you want to go back to sustaining a sense of family and belonging, you end up going beyond historical conservation,” he says.

In this respect, Baptista worked tirelessly to record the history of the estate on which his ancient home is proud. He realised only recently that the plot of land was a palm grove in 1891 before the great grandpop of Baptista built a building.

Written By Mahak Jain | Subscribe To Our Telegram Channel To Get Latest Updates And Don’t Forget To Follow Our Social Media Handles Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Twitter. To Get the Latest Updates From Arco Unico