Kolkata’s potter neighbourhoods are being reimagined, thanks to inspiring plans by students. We wonder if their Dharavi counterparts can also dare to dream

Inside the workshop of a potter in Kumartuli. PIC/FIONA FERNANDEZ

Kumbharwada and Kumartuli. Two potter colonies. Two spaces bearing a near-similar socio-cultural and economic fabric. Two neighbourhoods connected with festivals. Two areas in dire need of resuscitation. While on a recent visit to Kolkata, these similarities weren’t lost on me as I studied the detailed panels of the Sovabazar Urban Conservation Exhibition organised by the Calcutta Heritage Collective (CHC), in collaboration with School of Architecture, CEPT University, Ahmedabad, at the Kolkata Centre for Creativity. The one-day event had the who’s-who of the city’s heritage and cultural community, from conservation architects to developers and citizen champions, all invested in the possible reimaginations conceived by students of North Kolkata’s culturally rich neighbourhood, which is home to Kumartuli’s sculptural traditions, colonial mansions and ancient canals. For the uninitiated, it’s where the revered Durga and Kali Puja idols, among other deities, are sculpted. These designs made me spiral into a series of “what-ifs” about the fate of the fragile Kumbharwada.

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