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Before each monsoon, the civic body conducts an audit of the city’s roads, drains, nullahs and other infrastructure to mitigate water-logging and flooding on Mumbai’s streets. Above our line of sight, another kind of audit also takes place.

Starting mid-May, conservation architect Vikas Dilawari has been hopping across the rooftops of south Mumbai’s heritage structures, checking cracks in parapets, weeding out roots of peepul trees shooting out of crevices, having portions of sloping roofs re-tiled, and cleaning drains of leaves, foliage and even the occasional cricket ball. By the middle of June, Dilwari had conducted a monsoon audit of at least seven such buildings, including two schools, a private residence in Colaba and a commercial building in Nagindas Master road in Kala Ghoda.

“It takes the first few showers to really know how the repairs hold up,” Dilawari said.

“It may seem like a small thing, but it’s very important. Even a few dried leaves or cricket balls or bottles cause a clog because of which the water may find another way of entering the structure and leaving it damaged,” he added.

Two successive lockdowns, two cyclones and gale-force winds in August 2020 left the city — and its heritage structures — worse for the wear. The 114-year-old Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Parsee Charitable Institution (BJPCI) opposite Charni road railway station bore the brunt of the gale: at least 150 Mangalore tiles from the roof were torn out, and window panes were left broken. The kharwas, a community of tar and tile layers who visit each year from Diu, could not be given a contract that year on account of restrictions induced by the pandemic. It was only in March 2021 that scaffolding went up on the building, made in distinct gothic revival architecture, and its damages were repaired. The roofs were re-tiled with the right kind of Mangalore tiles. For added protection, Dilawari, who was called in as a consultant for this repair and restoration work, also had nets placed below the roof to ensure that no one would get hurt. Strips of aluminium were placed on the tiles in some parts of the roof, as well.

“We undertook phased-wise conservation work on the building between 2009 and 2015. But breakages happen through the year. We must have spent a fortune just on roof repairs, but there’s no question of changing from Mangalore tiles to any other kind of roofing. We have to maintain it as it is. It’s important to repair the building in a way that keeps its essence, and that’s what heritage conservation is about,” said Pavana Anchees, school principal.

Dilawari, who became a consultant for the school in the 1990s — he also led the large-scale restoration project there between 2009 and 2015 — was able to conduct a pre-monsoon check this year. The architect is among a handful of urban conservationists in the city, and some of his work on heritage structures has won him — and the projects — global recognition. Among his most well-known projects are the Grade 1 Flora Fountain, Esplanade House, Christ Church, the Bhau Daji Lad Museum and Pune’s Aga Khan Palace.

From Byculla to Colaba, Dilawari was involved in comprehensive roof restoration of several private, institutional and public buildings. He ensures the monsoon effectiveness of these restoration works even after their completion.

As a vat of tar bubbles on its rooftop, two workers from the kharwa community strip and fold coarse calico cloth sitting in a vestibule that opens to the roof on both ends. The men find a corner of the parapet, apply the hot tar, put a strip of cloth over the patch (they refer to this cloth as ‘dongri’), and reapply the tar. When it dries, leakage from this part of the waist-high parapet is effectively dealt with.

Three kilometres away, across the Chhattrapati Shivaji Terminus station is the Bharda New High School and Junior College. Older than the CST and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) office, which came up in 1887 and 1893, respectively, the building was once home to an affluent Indian merchant’s family.

“We have been doing regular monsoon audits every year since the past six or seven years. This building is older than even CST or the BMC building, and requires regular maintenance. But rain specific audits are vital. We have to stall water seepage into the walls, which would otherwise weaken them, and cause larger damage to the structure,” said Dr Shehernaz Nalwalla, trustee.

A few years ago, the building was refurbished internally, including on its sloping tiled roof and its timber. As and when the repairs were done, old Burma teak was used to replace the rotted wooden members. Teak wood drip moulds were put outside the windows to prevent the rain from damaging the frames, and glass skylights were inserted in some parts of the tiled roof to allow the sunlight to stream into the science laboratory below. This time around, Dilawari’s work was minimal.

“We removed the vegetation growth all around the building, sealed the cracks after removing the roots, redid the leaking gutters with new tar felt, and unclogged the drains. The broken tiles were replaced too,” he said.

It sounds easily done, but there are several challenges.

Dilawari lists them out: Accessibility. There are some parts of the roof that you simply can’t reach easily. To check the drains or leakage areas in some places, you need scaffolding, he said. Urgency of repair also poses a challenge. “When we do the survey after a shower, it is risky for the kharwas and for us because it’s slippery, but at the same time quite urgent, too,” he said. Third, funds. “Wooden repairs of the boarding or structural members are expensive,” Dilawari added.

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