Mumbai Meri Jaan…

 

Here’s a quiz for you:

a)    • In which hotel did American author, Mark Twain stay when he arrived in Bombay?

b)    • Which Mumbai school has a natural history museum section?

c)     • Do you know who was the architect of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus?

d)    • What is the old name of Horniman circle?

If you are curious to find out the answers, pick up Fiona Fernandez’s H For Heritage Mumbai. It brings to life the people, roads and landmarks of Mumbai that have shaped the Maximum City, as we know it today.

There have been several books that have tried to capture the essence of the capital city of Maharashtra; what makes it tick; what makes its people so resilient. Fernandez tries to go beyond the clichés and describes vividly the pockets comprising different worlds that co-exist in one bustling metropolis -- from Mahim to Bandra and from Colaba and Khotachiwadi to Mahalaxmi and Borivali and Worli in between.

H for Heritage Mumbai is packed with cool facts and eye-catching illustrations and Fernandez, a journalist, digs deep to unravel a world which tells us that all the communities who made the city their home, contributed to it in ways, big and small.

They built ponds, planted trees, identified birds, set up schools, colleges, markets, monuments and places of worship. Fernandez love for Mumbai is infectious and pleasurable and readers of all ages are bound to feel that emotion.

Excerpt


S for Sion: Entry point to Bombay

On a conical hill in Sion on Salsette Island is a seventeenth-century fort built by the British forces since the area stood at an important connecting point between Salsette and Bombay. The fort acted as a vantage point in case enemies decided to attack the Bombay islands.

Name: H for Heritage Mumbai

Author: Fiona Fernandez

Publisher: HarperCollinsChildren’sBooks

Pages: 103

Price: Rs 499

(This book review was first published by Amritabharati)

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