Tasneem zakaria mehta biography of martin

Tasneem Zakaria Mehta has battled several odds to bring alive a once derelict bastion of culture.

Right at the centre of the busy Byculla district stands one of the city’s great treasures — Mumbai’s first museum, a Palladian building with Victorian pillars, established in 1872.

Conceived by its first curator George Birdwood in the 19th century, Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum (previously known as the Victoria and Albert Museum) highlights the city’s cultural heritage and history through a rare collection of fine and decorative arts.

For nearly seven decades though, the building and its many objects — clay models, dioramas, maps, lithographs, photographs, rare books — lay in a derelict state.

One would reckon BDL’s revival since its comprehensive restoration, which began in February 2003 would be its honorary director and managing trustee Tasneem Zakaria Mehta’s greatest achievement.

But Zakaria Mehta, also vice-chairperson of the Indian Na