As Taraporevala Aquarium is set for demolition, Mumbaikars share fond memories

When news of the demolition of the Taraporevala Aquarium made the rounds last week the tremors were felt all over the city and beyondLike in the heart of Thane resident Vanita Visvanath for whom the aquarium was part of a regular oneday picnic with her familyldquoOf laterdquo she says ldquoWhen I wanted to start visiting places around Mumbai again I realised that itrsquos been closed since the pandemic Then I heard that itrsquos going to be demolished and I was very upset hurt evenrdquoThis picture which was first published in 1956 shows the newlyconstructed Taraporevala Aquarium which was opened to the public in the year 1951 PicArt Deco Mumbai ArchivesOne of Mumbairsquos heritage landmarks and the countryrsquos oldest aquarium the foundation stone for the Taraporevala Aquarium was laid in May 1947 by Balasaheb Gangadhar Kher the first chief minister of the Bombay state which at the time comprised Maharashtra and GujaratldquoIt opened in 1951 and was a oneofakind building at the timerdquo says Atul Kumar the founder of Art Deco Mumbai ldquoIt was named after K Taraporevala whose uncle DB Taraporevala founded the famous bookstore DB Taraporevala and Sons Taraporevala was a philanthropist and contributed R2 lakh in 1945 towards the construction of the aquariumrdquoThe construction was planned several decades earlier in 1912 when WS Millard the then Honorary Secretary of the Natural History Society presented a proposal before the Government of Bombay In 1926 in fact the University of Bombay appointed a committee to decide whether constructing a ldquomarine biological stationrdquo was possible Funds were sought and several decades later the aquarium was finally built at a cost of approximately R7 lakh The exotic marine species were mostly imported from places like the Philippines Java Sumatra Singapore and MalaysiaAtul Kumar and Bhavana Arvind ApteldquoIt is hoped that the institution will be the first step towards the starting of a great Marine Biological Stationrdquo a 1947 edition of The Bombay Chronicle reads A report in the same publication after the opening of the aquarium calls it ldquoa symbolical tribute to Bombay the fishing village of oldrdquoThe city at that time was undergoing a wave of development that had begun in the 1920s with the reclamation of land ldquoThe first set of 35 buildings on Marine Drive were completed in the 1940s The aquarium was a part of that timeline and was in many ways an acknowledgement of Bombayrsquos proximity to the seardquo Kumar explains ldquoI think it was befitting that the aquarium was built on the Marine DriveCharni Road stretchrdquoMore than 70 years later however the aquarium is just a shell of what it once was In 2015 it was reopened to the public after a twoyear renovation which added a 12footlong glass tunnel for visitors to experience the beauty of the imported species and local marine life up close However the pandemic struck and it was shut down again never to reopenThe marine life has all been shipped away to different locations according to a representative of the aquarium and now find themselves in different aquarium waters in Pune Chandrapur and AhmedabadldquoRather than repairing the building it is better to build a new one with updated facilitiesrdquo the representative tells midday ldquoRepairs only last for two years at the maximum We need new filtration and water circulation systemsrdquoThe Coastal Road work in the area also poses a threat to the foundations which is one of the reasons why the Department of Fisheries has decided to demolish the existing structureBibhas Amonkar a naturalist and environmental consultant feels that the aquariumrsquos infrastructure wasnrsquot able to simulate the environment of its marine speciesldquoI used to visit the place quite regularly with my friend Dr Boman Framji Chhapgar and we used to sit and chat about marine liferdquo Dr Chhapgar was a marine biologist who served as the curator of the aquarium from 1959 to 1965Amonkar cites an example The green turtles that used to be on display grow to about a metre in the sea In the aquarium there were three to four of them in a tank that was too small for them eventually some of them had to be released into the sealdquoAny enclosure for animals fish or birds has to be designed keeping in mind their particular environments The architect canrsquot just design a structure the water chemistry of the microecosystem needs to be perfect for the fish to surviverdquoFor Mumbaikars the aquarium was a source of joy and awe Vile Parle resident Bhavana Apte 81 recalls coming to Mumbairsquos shores from Gwalior in 1964 and being absolutely blown away ldquoI remember when I saw the aquarium for the first time Coming from a small village the concept of an aquarium was so new to usrdquo she recalls