Mumbai and its (in) differences- By Ar. Twinkle Kataria

 

Mumbai and its (in) differences

“The 'd' of diversity”

Source: Wikimedia commons (Oct 2016)

        The city of Mumbai holds dreams of people from miles away. The idea of setting afoot in a new identity to the whim of Mumbai city tops the list. A city where identities are not only spoken of but engraved on monuments collectively recognized. The emblems thus independent of speech have impacted community lives since the inception of this city. The idea of delivering a message to another non-verbally is the magic of an emblem. The emblem tells you a story of victory or display signs of faith. In a city that bites more than it can chew, has accommodated many emblems, with those come many stories.

         The emblems thus become an important means of recognition within the community and representing it as a unit to another. Inscribed through generations, the emblem is of sentimental value and symbolic importance. While it may outweigh identification with multiplicity, in any street of Mumbai, a pedestrian may come across a vivid language of iconography that has now been a means to represent lifestyles and the faces living these lifestyles. The crescent of Haji Ali, swastika on society gates, a fabled bird called shahbaz outside agiarys, alphabetical engravings on havelis, ek oankar on gurudwaras defining some of our cultural emblems and their adaptations in the city. Like gods being printed on tiles then plastered on walls to avoid people from spitting on them. These cultural associations come with a high moral ground where one becomes socially aware of their actions when in a proximity of an emblem. Having said that, the crux of an emblem remains more or less the same visually and does not hold the visual liberty of a logo.

            These emblems then gather collective memories to represent a community or like-minded people. These objects are then looked at via a lens the community identifies. The mythological story of garuda(an eagle) carries ambrosial plant from heaven to earth. This symbol is then anthro-morphically exaggerated to have golden wings, round eyes and hawk like physical structures including knees. The eagle looking bird, shahbaz also plays an important role in Parsi Zoroastrian tradition. He is considered a symbol of messenger of the highest Gods and king of skies. Trying to unearth the idea an eagle holding sacred values has more to relate with than other birds has to do with its physical appearances and attributes. The eagle is known to convey the powers and messages of the spirit; it is man's connection to the divine because it flies higher than any other bird. Therefore, this formulates a brilliant example of cultural synecdoche in a city of cross-cultural lifestyles. This emblem then gets imbibed in art through stories, narratives, paintings, photographs, hieroglyphs to textile printing, ceramic inlays, jhumkas, embroidered blouses and other Indian adaptations of representation. This displays a constant need for belonging via identity in Mumbai city. The adaptions in identity then become hereditary and have their stories of urban decay. In the commercialization of hoardings, advertisements and signage, how often does one identify an emblem?

References

Italo Calvino. Invisible Cities. Italy: Giulio Einaudi, 1972. (Thin Cities 1, pg 20)

Ar. Twinkle Kataria

Assistant Professor.

Thakur School of Architecture and Planning, Mumbai