Miniature Art of Another Kind

This replica of the Gateway of India, a remnant of an era when Mumbai city was merely a cluster of islands, stands forgotten in the parking area of a building in Gamdevi, near Grant Road Station. The replica, built using the same stone used in the actual structure, is about four feet in height and sports a few paan stains along with a multitude of cracks. It was made by Harishchandra Desai, the contractor of the monument, as a scale model. Desai, an alumnus of JJ School of Arts, also worked on the GPO and the Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya. Desai’s family lives on the third floor of the building and has built a fence around the replica, much like the security ring installed around the original monument after the 26/11 terror attacks

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