Looks like Bandra will face some stiff competition from the quiet neighbourhood of south Mumbai. Ballard Estate, the early 20th century Edwardian business district, whose heart stops beating on weekends and the place transforms into a ghost town, will come to life as an alternative hangout space from January 23 with a vibrant weekend calendar buzzing with music concerts, art shows, heritage walks, flea markets and gastronomical fare.
Picture yourself on a stroll through the shaded avenues and century-old sandstone citadels. Stop by for a bite at one of the canopied kiosks dotting the thoroughfare, take your spot before a stage at the junction across the war memorial for a free live performance, take your children wall climbing in the kids zone and cosy into a bean bag to watch a film in an open arena under starry skies.
An initiative of the Mumbai Port Trust, this 10,000sqm patch of serious office land will, for the first time, convert itself into a three-year-long street party called the Ballard Estate Festival that will pop up every Saturday and disappear by Monday. The festival will be on hold in the monsoon months from June to October. The Ballard Estate will have five zones earmarked for a distinct experience-a gourmet court, a live entertainment arena, a retail point, a kids zone and a space for theatre and after-parties.
Waiting to roll since the Mumbai Port Trust started internal discussions, made a presentation to civic officials and cleared the bureaucratic hurdles, the business district is ready to unlock its wide open spaces on weekends and holidays for an entry ticket of Rs 150. "We are not looking at this as a revenue earner but to offer people a free and open space for leisure and entertainment," said Yashodan Wanage, deputy chairman of the Mumbai Port Trust, who is also looking at this as a way of changing "what becomes an unsafe neighbourhood with anti-social elements after dark".
The weekend gala opens with a Sherin Varghese performance on January 23, followed by a formal inauguration the next day by Nitin Gadkari and Hema Malini and a performance by the Indian pop band Sanam.
"Resting on manpower of more than 150 to erect, pull down and clean up the Ballard Estate, 20 makeshift toilets, more than 70 security personnel and quaint little red postboxes for feedback, we will make sure that it becomes a thing of public value and not public nuisance," assured Shubhra Bharadwaj, founder and creative director, Ferriswheel Entertainment that has bagged the rights of organizing the fete and the force behind several national events in sports and culture.
Once a sea-flooded foreshore and now a neatly laid 22 acres on reclaimed ground that houses offices of the Customs, business units, shipping companies and foreign consuls, the Ballard Estate is one of the Mumbai Port Trust's most-valuable holdings. It was also the first consciously planned commercial precinct in the city, designed by George Wittett, between 1908 and 1914 in the European renaissance spirit. Characterised by neoclassical designs, stucco mouldings, windows going down the full length of buildings, cornice bands, and the uniformity of it all, Wittett also introduced a new expression in architecture for the city with the Ballard Estate-the Indo Saracenic style that marked a shift from the usual Gothic structures that otherwise defines the city.
As Mumbai joins the league of cities around the world where business districts are converted into a multi-use arts space on weekends, it's time to step out of the malls, look up from your screens and lounge all day in what is Mumbai's most sought-after luxury-free and open space.
Sourced From:- The Times Of India Jan 14, 2016, 12.58 AM IST
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