Friday, June 19, 2009, 6.30 pm

Prakriti Foundation & Madras Book Club present the launch of

Bombay Deco

by

Sharada Dwivedi and Rahul Mehrotra

At Taj Connemara
No.2, Binny Road, Chennai - 600 002

Mr. Rahul Mehrotra will give an illustrated talk on the occasion.

Sharada Dwivedi was educated at Queen Mary's School and Sydenham College of Commerce & Economics in Bombay, followed by a degree in Library Science from Bombay University and training in reference work in Paris. Her publications include Lives of the Indian Princes (1984), Reach for the Stars: The story of Blue Star Ltd (1993,2003), The Broken Flute (1994, a Children's novel), The Maharaja and the Princely States of India (1999), Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla, A celebration of Style (2000), The Automobiles of the Maharajas (2003) and Almond Eyes Lotus Feet (2005). She writes on a variety of subjects including art, architecture, heritage and traditions of cuisine. She is active with several conservation projects, has served on the Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee and is on the Executive Committee of the Urban Design Research Institute (UDRI).

Rahul Mehrotra studied at the School of Architecture, Ahmedabad and at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard where he received a Master of Architecture in Urban Design. Rahul Mehrotra Associates founded in August 1990, has designed and executed diverse projects ranging from Interiors, Architecture, Urban Design, Conservation and Planning. Mehrotra is actively involved with Architecture and Urban Conservation projects and served from 1992 to 1999 on the Advisory Committee to the Municipal Commissioner on Conservation in Mumbai. From 1996-2004 he was on the Board of Governors of the Metropolitan Regional Development Authority's Heritage Society and from 1994-2004 he was the Executive Director of the UDRI, Mumbai. He divides his time between his practice in Mumbai and Boston where he is a Professor at MIT.

Rahul Mehrotra has written extensively on Indian architecture and urban design and coauthored several books on Mumbai with Sharada Diwedi - Bombay, the Cities Within (1995,2001), Banganga, Sacred Tank (1996, 2006), Fort Walks (1999), Anchoring a City Line: the History of the Western Suburban Railways (2000), The Bombay High Court: 1878-2003 (2003), A City's Legacy: The Indian Navy's Heritage in Mumbai (2005) and A City Icon: Victoria Terminus (2006). They have also curated a collection of historic images of Indian Architecture and cities for the Basel Mission archives.