Owen Ferreira Junior (aka OJ), a long time resident of Khotachi Wadi now living in Australia along with others has started a new blog on the Wadi and invites fellow Khotwachiwadians from all over the world to comment and share their stories. Do visit his blog often as he plans to update it frequently with personal stories on this unique neighbourhood and the people that inhabit it: http://rootsofkw.wordpress.com.

Khotachiwadi is a well-known heritage site in Mumbai. It frequently features in the news and countless students and tourists have walked its streets and admired its heritage structures. The first image that comes to mind when we think of Khotachiwadi is that of the Konkan-Portuguese style bungalow, with a large veranda and wooden ornamentation.

However, Khotachiwadi is not only about its bungalows and its East Indian residents. What makes Khotachiwadi what it is, is also the diversity of its habitats and cultures, and the fact that they have been coexisting peacefully for so long.

This week students from the Habitat School of the Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS) in Deonar studied the chawls of Khotachiwadi and interviewed residents. Their observations and photos will all be uploaded on this website in the coming days.

Many have argued that the chawls have no future in the ‘world-class’ city that Mumbai aspires to be. Whether this is true or not, they certainly have a ‘present’: through the practices, voices and imagination of the people who inhabit them. This studio, organized by URBZ’s Matias Echanove and Rahul Srivastava investigated residents of the chawls related to the neighbourhood and its heritage status, in the context of the larger discourse on Mumbai’s urban futures.

The studio was conducted from Studio X Mumbai and James Ferreira’s house in Khotachiwadi. It involved lots of walking and talking in the neighbourhood. Students were encouraged to slow down and spend time there, something which always transports us into an old Bombay that hopefully still has a bright future.

Please visit the new pages dedicated to the chawls of Khotachiwadi.

Dismayed by the news that the city may be about to loose yet another heritage property, some 300 people gathered in Khotachiwadi on November 28 to try to stop the demolition of one of the neighborhood’s beautiful heritage cottages and sign a petition calling for the preservation of Khotachiwadi – one of the most charming neighborhoods of Mumbai, with its small pedestrian streets, its typical Portuguese bungalows, and its untouched communal and village-like atmosphere in the heart of South Bombay.

A few days ago, residents of Khotachiwadi learned that No. 35, a 150-year-old Portuguese-style bungalow acquired four years ago by Deekay builders, was about to be taken down to be replaced by a 18-story concrete tower building.

The movement that was started by the Khotachiwadi Welfare and Heritage Trust seems to be gathering steam.

On 29th of November, a meeting was held in Khotachiwadi, during which BJP Member of Legislative Assembly Mangal Lodha, Shiv Sena local municipal cooperator Mrinal Gobatkar and 150 residents of the neighborhood decided that all the 26 remaining buildings are now protected and that nobody would be allowed to destroy heritage buildings. However, some of the most dilapidated chawls, which are on the verge of falling down, can be re-developed, as long as all the norms and regulations are respected.

During the last session of the legislative assembly, the case of Khotachiwadi, which was declared a grade III heritage precinct in 1995, was brought up and a case was made for the protection of all heritage buildings.

Therefore, the demolition of No. 35 is illegal and a probe will look into the construction of No. 29B as well, where a seven-story building being constructed may violate construction rules and regulations.

Yesterday, Mr. Lodha and members of the Khotachiwadi Welfare and Heritage Trust delivered a letter to the municipal commissioner calling for a heritage law to be enacted.

On Saturday December 4, 30 NGOs will meet to discuss the way forward to preserve Khotachiwadi.

Click to enlarge the page.