Mumbai's Dark Horse

It may be most famous for the eponymous arts festival held here, but Mumbai’s Kala Ghoda area is also an architectural heaven. The impressive façades of the buildings here tell their own fascinating stories.

- Kalpana Sunder

Mumbai’s Kala Ghoda area, shaped like a crescent, just north of Colaba stretching from Wellington Fountain to Mumbai University and flanked by the Oval Maidan, is like an open-air museum. Its name, meaning Black Horse, can be traced back to a bronze equestrian statue that existed here during colonial times. It’s part of the Fort district where long ago, in the 18th century, the British had built a defensive fort and walls. Till the late 1980s, the area was mostly known for its libraries and colleges. In recent years, this area has become a cultural hotspot, courtesy of the famous annual art gala, the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival. Like Soho or Chelsea, the area has also transformed into a design and fashion district lately, with restoration of heritage buildings and opening of art galleries, boutiques, restaurants and cafés.

I decide to do a self-guided walk around the area, after a local friend says that for an architecture buff like me, Kala Ghoda is heaven—with architectural styles from Indo-Saracenic to Art Deco, Victorian and Gothic. I start my walk near the Jehangir Art Gallery, founded in 1952 with four exhibition halls displaying contemporary art. I have a coffee at Samovar Café inside the gallery with its old-world vibe. Street artists sell their colourful art on the pavement just outside the gallery at attractive prices. Rampart Row, located opposite Jehangir Art Gallery, is a restored heritage building that opened in 2005. It houses a variety of specialty stores, restaurants and cafés, from well-known restaurant Copper Chimney to gelato shops.