Returning to the city of Mumbai, the city I called home before moving to Singapore, this work investigated how certain key events from an era had shaped the historicity and current state of a city more than others. I was interested in the parallel rise of the underworld and Hindutva movement, and the growing religious divide between Hindus and Muslims in Mumbai during the 70’s and 80’s. The climax of these phenomena resulted in twin incidences that occurred 22 years ago and changed the socio-political landscape of Mumbai forever – A communal riot influenced by Hindutva movement, in Dec 1992 and Jan 1993, followed by a series of bomb blasts in March 1993, a retaliation to the riots by Muslim leaders of the underworld. Their echoes can still be heard in the city and in the recent hanging of Yakub Memon, who was the key accused in the 1993 bomb blasts which polarized the nation. This work is an attempt to trace these incidences through archives and popular culture by exploring drawing, images, writing, material and a movie screening.
