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G.T.S. Standard Bench Mark, 1907 -
a surveying reference point from the Great Trigonometrical Survey
October School is an international programme hosted by the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK), bringing together participants from across disciplines to study how cities, histories, and public spaces shape cultural life. As part of my MFA programme at Shiv Nadar University, I participated in the 2020 edition, which emphasised site-based inquiry, critical observation, and spatial thinking. The programme examines how places are read, interpreted, and brought into contemporary meaning through both historical and present-day lenses.
My project for the 2020 edition explored Zero Mile Mark in Nagpur, a monument widely believed to represent the geographical centre of India. While this belief circulates strongly through public memory, there is no scientific or official documentation confirming it. The monument itself makes no such claim. This disconnect between popular belief and historical record became the foundation of my inquiry.
Colonial Infrastructure and Knowledge Systems
To situate the monument within a larger context, I drew from the work of anthropologist Bernard Cohn, who analysed how the British administration produced knowledge about the subcontinent. Cohn described several “modalities” - surveying, mapping, documenting, classifying - through which territory and population were organised. These modalities were not mere technical tools; they shaped how land and distance were conceptualised.
Seen through this lens, Zero Mile Mark is not just a local landmark but part of the extensive infrastructural network of the Great Trigonometrical Survey (GTS), a project that mapped and measured much of the Indian subcontinent. The site combines technical accuracy, symbolic representation, and cultural reinterpretation.
A System of Objects at the Site
The Zero Mile complex contains three key sculptural and infrastructural elements. Taken together, they form a layered system of meaning - technical, historical, and imaginative.
1. G.T.S. Standard Bench Mark (1907) :
This small stone block marks a precise survey reference point established during the Great Trigonometrical Survey. It represents the technical origin of the site - a datum point used to record elevation and distance. As an object, it is understated, almost hidden, yet it carries the weight of a continental-scale mapping project. It is the most historically grounded element at the site, anchoring it within the larger framework of colonial cartographic infrastructure.
2. Sandstone Pillar (Column) :
The sandstone pillar is the most visible feature of the complex. Its vertical form translates the otherwise invisible surveying grid into an architectural marker. Inscriptions on the pillar reference distances to major cities, reinforcing the idea of a central point from which routes extend outward. The pillar operates at the intersection of utility and symbolism, becoming a public-facing statement of measurement, direction, and orientation.
3. Horse Sculptures (Later Additions) :
The four horses surrounding the pillar are not part of the original GTS installation. They are later additions, introduced at an unknown date to aestheticise and monumentalize the site. Their presence significantly shaped public imagination.
Local narratives describe the horses as half-emerging from the ground, symbolising a point of origin - a place from which journeys, routes, and mapping begin. Though not historically accurate, this story offers insight into how monuments accumulate popular meaning over time. People interpret the sculptural arrangement as a metaphor for emergence, movement, and centrality.
This is a strong example of how public memory evolves, attaching cultural narratives to infrastructural objects long after their original function has faded.
Urban Redevelopment and Contemporary Interpretation
The Zero Mile site is currently part of a large redevelopment plan, which proposes integrating a museum–metro station at the location. Presented as a heritage initiative, this redevelopment reframes the site within contemporary urban design, mobility, and cultural storytelling.
This transition raises important questions within urban-planning and public-space practice:
How do cities reinterpret historical infrastructure?
What narratives are selected, amplified, or erased?
How does a technical survey point evolve into a heritage landmark?
How do mobility networks and cultural identity converge at such sites?
In this light, Zero Mile becomes more than a historical artefact - it becomes a node where infrastructure, memory, mobility, and narrative intersect.
Public Memory and Evolving Meaning
The combination of the benchmark, the column, and the horses reflects how public spaces accumulate layers of meaning across time. A technical survey marker becomes a cultural symbol; a utilitarian pillar becomes a heritage object; sculptural additions generate stories of origin and centrality. This evolution is neither random nor passive - it is shaped by public imagination, city-making processes, and the ongoing reinterpretation of urban landmarks.
Engaging with Zero Mile Mark allowed me to explore how history, infrastructure, and imagination co-exist within a single urban site. This project aligns with my broader interest in public environments, particularly how people engage with objects, monuments, and everyday spaces that carry layered histories. Zero Mile exemplifies how cities inherit infrastructure and then reinterpret it - producing new meanings that reflect contemporary urban aspirations.
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