Navin Ramani lived for 21 years in an Art Deco building
in Bombay ( today called
Mumbai
) prior to departing for USA in 1981, where he graduated with an MBA
and subsequently began his career in New York. This building,
called Court View, is prominently featured in the book and
was formerly owned by his grandparents.
It was not until Navin moved on work from New York to
Miami in 1989 that he began to appreciate the Art Deco architectural
style found in old Miami Beach which allowed him to rediscover the
rich architectural legacy in the city of his youth, Mumbai.
In one of his book reviews it is aptly quoted “Life is
about memory. The memory of everything that takes us back to
places that elicit emotions “. This book, a labour of love
project, gave him the opportunity to reconnect with his roots, the
many years of his youth spent in his Deco rich neighbourhood and to
share that joy with the West. It explores the abundance of Bombay’s
Art Deco architectural style, often quoted in parallel to the
Tropical Deco architecture found in Miami Beach, where the author
lived for 16 years prior to immigrating to Vancouver, Canada in
2008.
It was the many years spent in Miami, where Navin led
architectural walking tours of the Art Deco district as a volunteer
for The Miami Design Preservation League, served as a member of the
Board and Co Chaired the Art Deco Weekend Festival in 2005; that
motivated him to embark on this seminal work – a visual illustration
of Mumbai’s Art Deco architectural style.
The book bridges a cultural barrier by revealing the
common architectural bond shared in the building of these two
sub-tropical cities – one in the East and one in the West.
Most of the photographs have been taken by the author
on his family visits over the years to Mumbai. Images
contributed by others are credited in the book.
The book is Navin’s only published work. If there
is another, he says, it will be a collaboration on a philanthropic
subject with the same city – his other passion.
Mumbai
) prior to departing for USA in 1981, where he graduated with an MBA
and subsequently began his career in New York. This building,
called Court View, is prominently featured in the book and
was formerly owned by his grandparents. 
