Today is the death centenary of Jamsetji Tata — the man who gave India steel, hydro-electric power, the Indian Institute of Science and the Taj Mahal Hotel.

But some of his dreams never came to pass. In an excerpt from his forthcoming biography of Jamsetji Tata, For the love of India (Penguin), R M Lala reveals his vision of Venice in the heart of Juhu.

"Jamshetji Tata loved his city and had boundless faith in its growth. He was perhaps the first to envision Bombay as a great city of the future not unlike the great cities of the West he had visited."

But what is unpublished, unknown and fascinating is a record of Jamsetji's forays into land and reclamation schemes, by Jamshedji E Saklatvala, land and estate agent of Mr Tata from 1899 to 1904.

He had a scheme for a small Venice at Juhu, then a virgin area with mud flats washed by tides. Jamshedji Saklatvala writes: "This was an interesting and very clever idea of utilising to the greatest extent the advantages of nature and the physical features of the land.

"The area comprised in this scheme was close upon 1,200 acres, enclosed between the mainland bounded by the Bombay Gorebunder road on the East, by the Island of Juhu-Thra on the West, Andheri-Versova Road on the North, and by the villages of Santa Cruz and Bandra on the South.

"It was to be served by two large and wide openings at both ends northward and south, thus letting in the sea at high tides and flooding the area above described to a height of about 3 feet.

"This advantage Mr Tata wanted to utilise for building, by reclaiming only 1-acre plots — about 500 in number, having no roads but trenches or canals dug deep all round each of the reclaimed 1-acre plots and establishing communication by boats.

"The villages and bungalows that would have been built would have had access by boat through wide canals. This reclamation work would have been very easy of accomplishment as the canals that would have been dug would have furnished ample material for each square acre plot that would have been formed."