Volume 1 Issue 3 June, 2012

preservation of man-groves and the tree-lined pathways in the colonies. This was followed by a touching speech by Mr. Shyamsunder Gawde (President, Godrej & Boyce Shramik Sangh), a resident of the colony since birth. Mr. Gawde shared fond memories of his childhood, life in t h e c o l o n y a n d Udayachal School. He expressed his gratitude for the Godrej family which made possible an all round growth not only of workers but also their families. The ceremony was con-cluded with the inspira-tional words of Mr. Jamshyd Godrej who whole heartedly appre-ciated the efforts of Godrej Archives and coaxed all to do their part in supporting the Archives.

Pirojshanagar: Innovating Technology, Enriching Lives

Editor’s Note: In the third issue of The Ar-chives Times, we bring to you t h e j o u r n e y b e h i n d “Pirojshanagar: Then and Now”, an on-going exhibition celebrating 60 years of the Godrej Garden Industrial Township. The township, home to more than 15 manu-facturing plants and 4000 tenements is a unique case in Mumbai’s Industrial Heritage.

Beginning with a brief report on the evocative inauguration ceremony, the issue captures the riveting ride through re-search and design. To help prospective visitors navigate through the exhibition, it also includes a brief history of the township and a list of star exhibits.

The exhibition has had the happy consequence of sev-eral additions to the collec-tion. We thus end the news-letter with a preview of one such collection—photographs taken by Mr. Maneck Engineer in mid-1960s.

- Sanghamitra Sen

To quote him, “The idea of sharing memories is good to stay in touch with our roots & under-standing not only the history of the company but also the city & country. It is good that the Godrej Archives has been able to do this through the exhibition… It is necessary to promote people coming here & have permanent exhibitions.” The exhibition was in-augurated hereafter followed by a guided tour. The programme ended on a high note with visitors sharing stories and memories.

- Urmi Paralikar

To commemorate the diamond jubilee (1951-2011) of Pirojshanagar – the township of the Godrej Group, Godrej Ar-chives has organized a month-long exhibition at the historic Pragati Kendra in Vikhroli East (Mumbai). The exhibition showcasing the history of the township, was inau-gurated by Mr. Jamshyd Godrej on 26th May 2012 marking the birth anniver-sary of former Chairman and Managing Director, Mr. Pirojsha Godrej (1882—1972).

The programme got off to a splendid start with Executive Vice President, Mr. Maneck Engineer sharing his memories of Vikhroli. His first-hand experiences during quar-rying of land, the con-struction of various Plants and buildings won hearts of the audience. He praised Godrej’s commit-ment to environment, the

Mr. J N Godrej inaugurating the exhibition

Tour in progress

Vikhroli Phatak, 1960s

Tour in progress

Date: 26th May to 26th June, 2012 Venue: Pragati Kendra, Vikhroli East, Mumbai; Timings: 830am to 6pm Sundays Closed

The Archives Times June, 2012

L o c a l h i s t o r i e s o r micro-histories not only invoke nostalgia but also provide a wealth of knowledge that can be used to break the insular attitude of the young and help them understand who they are and how they are part of something much larger than themselves. The on-going exhibition was thus curated to sensitize newer em-ployees and residents towards the fascinating history of the township, from its humble origins to its metamorphosis into the Godrej Garden Industrial Town-ship. Somewhere along the way, it tugged at the hearts of those who had a long association with Pirojshanagar.

The force that steered the Archive into act ion was Execu t i ve VP (Bus iness Excellence), Mr. B K Rajkumar, who at another Archives event derived that Pirojshanagar was in fact on the verge of complet ing 60 years of existence. More than half a century ago, when the first factory shed began operations, Pirojshanagar (re-christened in 1972 to posthumously honour its founder Pirojsha B Godrej) was a vast expanse of barren land, home to the East-Indian and Agri community that had settled since the medieval times in the neighbouring Vikhroli village. A flurry of construction activity in the subsequent years led to the establishment of more plants; spacious, airy housing for work-men; a school; a hospital and a welfare center – Pragati Kendra- which through its multifarious activit ies worked towards uplifting workmen.

With this background, the Archives team plunged into the

daunting task of appropriately representing the diverse aspects of life at Pirojshanagar. This required us to sift through the entire collection which has grown over the years because of the valuable contributions made by employees. Several photographs and documents comprising the Centenary Collection, brought together painstakingly by former employee Pesi D Muncherji in 1997 was our first port of call. To study the growth of the

township, building by building, we then turned to files transferred by another Godrej veteran, Mr. Maneck Engineer of Construction Division.

While the history of the land and its built-up heritage emerged beautifully through these documents, a need was felt to capture the human voice. That’s when Mr. C h h i c h h i a o f H o u s i n g Department came to our rescue. His inventory of tenants helped us identify the first few residents of the township, although locating them proved difficult due to migration and death. But all was not lost, for the Housing Department files c o n t a i n e d c r u c i a l documentation such as ‘Family Declaration Forms’ bearing the names of residents’ children and extended families who lived with them (two brothers working in the company lived in the same house usually). A

quick search on the internal telephone directory revealed that several of the young children named in the forms as dependants were now second generation employees. We then went about the task of conducting recorded and informal interactions with them to flesh out the story of the residents’ social life in the township.

While part of the team was busy tracing the story of Pirojshanagar, another team comprising Sushma Baikar (also a second-generation resident of the colony) and Jyoti Rokade set out on long excursions to Vikhroli village to dig out the history of the locality before the coming of Godrej. In their hunt they were ably guided by Avelino D’Souza and Crisilda Pereira of Godrej Precision Systems. The i r f ind ings led an unexpected charm to the narrative that was slowly taking shape.

Although many discoveries made during research could not be included in the exhibition for lack of space, some were incorporated in the year-long activities that were planned by Godrej Archives to honour the Diamond Jubilee of Pirojshanagar. ‘Quiztory’ – a local history quiz and ‘Treasure Trove’ – a treasure hunt based on timeless iconic spots in the township, were a fun way of engaging employees by edu-cating them. The celebrations have now culminated in the form of an exhibition that seeks to draw attention to the indus-trial past of the area through a r c h i v a l m a t e r i a l . - Sanghamitra Sen

Behind the Scenes: Research

The Archives Times June, 2012

Godrej Archives approached Thought Blurb, a Mumbai based advertising agency, in late April, 2012, leaving them with mere three weeks to transform our research into a visually appeal-ing journey through time. Team Thought Blurb on their journey... “Godrej presented Thought Blurb with the opportunity to set up an exhibition commemorat-ing the completion of 60 years at their industrial garden town-ship in Vikhroli. Once Godrej shared all necessary archival material of Pirojshanagar, the rest was up to us. The concept we settled on, after much brainstorming and coffee, was ‘Pirojshanagar: Then &

Now’. We felt that this concept gave us enough leverage to revisit the past while simulta-neously exploring the evolution of Pirojshanagar over the years.

Also, the concept by itself evokes imagery in the mind’s eye making it ideal for an exhi-bition. The biggest challenge we faced was representing the

archival material in a visually captivating way while retaining its authenticity. This was remedied by using frames set against a crisp white background. Along-side each image of old Pirojshanagar was placed its cor-responding present avatar. We also created a unique 3-D walk-through so that Godrej employees at branches all over the country could take a virtual tour of the exhibition and in essence, attend and experience it. The exhibition did more than just give us something to challenge our creativity; it immersed us in a timeless legacy by giving us the opportunity to bring it to life.“

A view of the exhibition

Behind the Scenes: Concept and Design

The land was bought by Pirojsha Godrej at an auction held in 1943.Thereafter it was transferred in the name of the company and work began on Plant 1 in late 1940s. Once, it became operational (1951) manufacturing Ballot Boxes, Construction Division started work on workers’ quarters begin-ning with 24 cottage-type row houses called Baithi Chawls. Mid-1950s saw the development of multi-storeyed buildings to cater to growing demands and soon enough the Stationside colony started taking shape. Creekside Colony and Hillside Colony were then developed simultaneously. For the welfare of workers and to make the environs habitable Pra-gati Kendra (1955) and a Garden Committee were set up. IMTEX Exhibitions hosted by Godrej at Pirojshanagar between 1972-1989 gave a further boost to the construction of manufac-turing plants, particularly

those to the east of the railway tracks. While at the exhibition look out for the following exhibits that are rep-resentative of this history. Star exhibits: 1. Letter from G. G. Pradhan to Pirojsha B Godrej describing the land near Vikhroli Station, 1940

2. Letter from Pirojsha Godrej to Central Bank of India giving de-tails of Plant 1, July 1951 3. List of Plants, products manufactured therein and Plant Managers, 1961 4. Ballot Box, 1950s Proposed Plan of Baithi Chawl, 1953 5.Oral History Interview extracts 6.1st issue of ‘Uday’, Magazine of Udayachal High School, 1965 7. List of seedlings to be procured to beautify the township, 1955 8. Minutes of Garden Committee Meeting, 1955 9. The Godrej Story, 1966 (1st Corporate Film) 10. Hero and Sati Stones, 14th – 15th Century

Navigating through the Exhibition

The Archives Times June, 2012

We’d love to engage in a dialogue. Contact: Godrej Archives, Plant 19A, Pirojshanagar, L B S Marg, Vikhroli West, Mumbai-400079; Tel: 022-67964124/2014/1054; Website: www.archives.godrej.com; Email: archives@godrej.com; Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Godrej-Archives

Thank you Contributors : For Material: · Mr. Ashok Chhichhia, P&A

(Housing)

· Mr. Maneck Engineer, Godrej Construction

· Mr. D D Amrute, P&A (Canteen)

· Mr. Pesi Muncherji, Former employee

· Mr. Khurshed Thanewalla, Former Plant Manager

A few hours before the exhibi-tion was to be inaugurated, Mr. Maneck Engineer revealed a bunch of neatly captioned pho-tographs taken by him since he joined the company in 1964. The photographs taken at vari-ous construction sites in the township are priceless as picto-r i a l d o c u m e n t a t i o n o f Pirojshanagar.

Mr. Engineer has time and again made invaluable contributions to our collection and we are once again grateful to him for sharing archival material of such importance.

Although these could not be included in the exhibition, the photographs will one day find their way into future exhibitions curated by Godrej. We repro-duce some of them here to arouse curiosity and invite read-ers to browse through them at the Archives office.

A Pictorial Documentation of Pirojshanagar

View of Hillside Colony from Ghatkopar Hills.

“Plant IX & III”

“Hillside E-Type Quarters”

“IMTEX 1982”

· Ms. Alooben Mowdawalla, Former Welfare Officer

· Mr. Ramesh Bhandarkar, Godrej Construction

· Mr. Anthony Pinheiro, For-mer Employee

· Mrs. Sharadaben Panchal, Daughter of former em-ployee

· Mr. Avelino D’Souza and Ms. Crisilda Pereira, Godrej Precision Systems

For information: · Mr. Manish Vyas, Former

employee

· Gocrej Construction (Garden Dept.)

· Ms. Pradnya, Godrej Elec-tricals and Electronics

(Telephone Dept.)

· Ms. Chhaya Nakhe, Godrej Interio

“Station Road X-Type Quarters un-der Construction, 1967”