Indomitable art historian

The original launch day of Tasneem Zakaria Mehta’s labour of love, a hefty tome titled Mumbai: A City Through Objects—101 stories from the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, turned into a huge disappointment for the managing trustee (Tasneem) of this jewel of a museum.

- SHOBHAA DE

Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan had died the previous day, and the government of India declared a day of mourning and cancelled official functions as a mark of respect to the president of the UAE and the ruler of Abu Dhabi.

I was scheduled to attend my friend’s function, at which the book was to be released by Maharashtra’s cabinet minister of tourism and environment, Aaditya Thackeray. I felt disheartened by the unavoidable postponement of an event that means so much to so many (the new date didn’t work for me). The last time I had met the luminously beautiful Tasneem at her artfilled home in central Mumbai, we talked about the enormous stress that goes into editing and proof-checking such an ambitious book. But then, the Tasneem I’ve known over the past 40 years is no quitter.