Meet Abha Narain Lambah, The Lady On A Mission To Preserve Our Past

In the 2009 Bollywood film Love Aaj Kal, Meera Pandit, played by Deepika Padukone, often finds herself at a loss explaining the nature of her job to others. When this London-based conservation architect decides to move to India, where her services would be more useful, her beloved Jaiwardhan Singh, played by Saif Ali Khan, finds the idea repugnant. Unsure of their future together, the modern-day couple decides to part ways.

At the centre of all the twists and turns that culminate in a happy ending, however, is Pandit's work, because of which she comes to help India preserve its rich heritage.

That was cine world for you. Meet Abha Narain Lambah, who has tirelessly done in real life what Padukone showed glimpses of on silver screen. Now head of Abha Narain Lambah Associates, she had started her journey as a conservation architect 20 years ago, and it was no smooth ride. Young and ambitious, Lambah had landed in Mumbai after graduating in architecture from the School of Architecture & Planning in 1993. But conservation was not even a recognised field back then. So, she started her own company in 1998.

As I tell her about Love Aaj Kal and that many like me got to know about such a career as hers only after watching the movie, Lambah chuckles, and says: “Every job needs glorification.”

Lambah's Mumbai-based company has worked on a range of projects across India, along with other conservation architects, archaeologists, museum designers and historians. Among the many feathers in her cap are helping conserve 15th-century Buddhist temples in Ladakh and Hampi; preparing masterplans for ancient Buddhist sites in Bodh Gaya and Ajanta Caves, Shimla's Viceregal Lodge, Raj Bhavans in Nainital and Kolkata; and giving old palaces in Gwalior, Hyderabad, Indore and Patiala a facelift.

During our telephonic interaction, while I try to frame the right questions for this lady of many traits – a conservation artist, an author, a lecturer and an advisor to several prestigious forums – her daughter calls on another phone to check if her mother would be home in time for dinner. Lambah answers in the affirmative and we begin our conversation again. She has many insights to share.

Strange though it may sound coming from someone working to preserve the city's heritage, Lambah tells me she is all for taller buildings to house the rising population of Mumbai as long as they are not in the designated heritage precincts.

Do you think there is a scope for such structures alongside old colonial buildings in a space-strapped coastal city, I ask, keeping in mind Lambah's role in restoration of many iconic Mumbai buildings.

“There is a scope for doing both simultaneously; high-rises are the need of the hour to deal with the present, but we must be able to preserve our heritage as well. Most public offices in Mumbai are actually colonial structures. While constructing new high-rises on the one side, we could save the beautiful old buildings on the other. Unlike some other cities, colonial-era buildings in Mumbai do not stand as pieces of past glory alone; they also are offices from where the day-to-day government machinery functions.”

Lambah's work in Mumbai covers a range of colonial buildings. She was involved in restoration work for the Municipal Corporation headquarters, judicial buildings of Mumbai, Asiatic Library & Town Hall, Bandra Railway Station, Royal Opera House, University of Mumbai, J J School of Art, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mani Bhawan Gandhi Sangrahalaya and Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, among other places. She recently won many accolades for her ongoing work on restoring the Jyotiba Phule Market, popularly known as the Crawford Market, a hub of fruit and food products. This is the market a common man turns to in Mumbai for cost-effective food items.

I am left wondering if the common man on the roads of Mumbai even understands the importance of her work for the city. Lambah's reply is quite heartening. “Once I was travelling in an autorickshaw. When the driver got to know that I was responsible for restoration of the Bandra Railway Station, he was overwhelmed; he went on and on showering praises for the kind of work I was doing. Contrary to general perception, the common man is the most supportive of preservation. They are the people who have grown up seeing these buildings; they share a bond with these buildings; they want them intact; they want them standing.”

I ask her if she gets the necessary support from the government, especially as “preserving the past heritage” and “bringing back past glory” are some of the recurring themes in political discourse these days.

“When it comes to spending on conservation projects, the government coffers seem to run dry, even as whopping amounts are spent on other urban infrastructure projects. For instance, the project in Delhi's Gole Market is yet to kick-start; files are biting the dust in various government offices and funds are far from being released,” she says.

Now that she mentions Delhi, the city where Lambah spent her student life with her parents, I'm reminded of the government's plan to trim the Lutyens' Bungalow Zone (LBZ), from 28.73 sq km to 23.60 sq km. Known for its low-rise colonial bungalows surrounded by lush greens, the LBZ, with its distinct architectural character, is home to the country's rich and powerful. Some of the Central Delhi areas like JorBagh, Golf Links, Sunder Nagar, Bengali Market, Ashoka Road, Mandir Marg, Panchsheel Marg, Sardar Patel Marg and Chanakyapuri are said to lose the LBZ tag when the government finalises the trimming plan, paving the way for taller buildings.

Lambah isn't quite impressed with the idea. “Most areas in Delhi – in the east, west, north or south – have either lost their green covers or are on their way to losing them, thanks to increased construction activities. The LBZ, with its extensive green cover, has been one area balancing things out. Such a decision would not only mean fiddling with the original character of the zone but will also have a far-reaching impact. The whole city may soon turn into a concrete jungle.”

Her projects in the national capital include restoration work for Nehru Memorial Library & Museum, Swatantrata Sangram Sangrahalaya, Teen Murti House, Red Fort Museum, and Bikaner House.

The mention of Bikaner House takes me a few years back, when as a young professional in the capital I occasionally visited the place in search of authentic light-on-pocket Rajasthani food. One had to make one's way through several parked Rajasthan Transport buses that partly covered the façade of the building. True, the structure was grand, but something in the overall ambience gave you a dull feeling. But that was years ago. Today, the place is well lit up and exudes royalty, and we know we have Lambah to thank for her awe-inspiring work on the building.

“For a place that had turned into a bus stop, right in the middle of central Delhi, the Bikaner House project needed more than just the building revival,” she recalls. “The credit goes to the Chief Minister (referring to Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje) whose vision this was and was very supportive of our efforts.”

Apart from the Mumbai Metro project, Lambah's firm is also working on the Jaipur Metro project, and when the network becomes operational, one would have a lot of royal and local flavour oozing out of the mass transport system.

I have a lot more to ask. But I hear in the background that her colleague has approached her for a second time to confirm about her trip the next day. It's 8 pm and Lambah, of course, is working overtime. She has an early morning flight to catch, I gather from her conversation with her colleague.

I thank her for her time and wish her a happy journey ahead.

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Abha Narain Lambah is a recipient of the Sanskriti Award, the Eisenhower Fellowship, the Charles Wallace Fellowship, and 8 Unesco Asia-Pacific Heritage Conservation awards, among many others. She has co-authored and co-edited a range of books, including Architecture of the Indian Sultanates, Custodians of India's Heritage: 150 years of the Archaeological Survey of India, Shekhawati: Havelis of the Merchant Princes, Conservation After Legislation: Issues for Mumbai. In 2005, India Today named her among the 30 most powerful women in the country.