Walk the historical paths

For the first time, heritage trails across the country are being revived as part of a singular event. Historian Sohail Hashmi says these educative tours done the right way will help us see our culture in a new light. By Kritika Dua

Walking, they say, is the best way to feel a city and get a sense of its being. It is the best multi-sensorial experience that is. Something that heritage experts around the world are trying to use to develop a sense of connectedness to our civilisational past and thread our legacy forward knowing where we come from. Globally, heritage walks are now part of a tourist experience and India, too, is waking up to them.

From textile trails in Ahmedabad to stories of the Partition in Amritsar and from exploring the making of Lutyens’ Delhi to tracing the history of theatres in Mumbai, a first-of-its-kind pan-India heritage-themed festival promises to offer diverse experiences to people this month.

The India Heritage Walk Festival began on Saturday with walks in the Ahmedabad, Delhi’s Mehrauli Archaeological Park and a nature walk in Hyderabad, its organisers said. The festival spans across 20 cities, including Agra, Bengaluru, Varanasi, Chennai, Kolkata, Srinagar and Itanagar.

“This is the first time we are holding a walk festival to celebrate the heritage of India. Besides walks, there will be baithaks for history enthusiasts and instameets for Instagram users,” said a representative of Sahapedia, an open online resource on the arts, cultures, and heritage of India, which is a co-organiser with YES Bank.

All the walks by Sahapedia are hosted by scholars and academicians who are particular and sensitively aware of the walks that they are taking and space they are introducing to people. Priya Poddar, who is the curator, said, “There is a personal relationship to all the walks we embark on. It prompts the participants towards conservation, mentally stimulating them for intangible and tangible heritage.”

She feels that the walks should be an all-inclusive event, especially for children and locals to understand their ancestors and the legacy they left behind. “We cannot make our culture an elitist concept. By this, we are not undermining our walk leaders who are well read but people should have the chance to voice their opinion and understand the forgotten ruins spread across our country.”

The idea behind these walks is to encourage people to get out and capture the rich heritage that is lying undiscovered in India. All of us are interested to go abroad to visit monuments but seldom care for our own. What we fail to realise is that the citizens need to be responsible enough to value and keep our own sites clean rather than using them as graffiti spaces and an undeclared neighbourhood dump site or a free-for-all assemblage.

“The textile trail walk will be held in Ahmedabad on February 10. In Delhi,  we got noted historian Sohail Hashmi to lead a walk in the Mehrauli Archaeological Park. This will be followed by an event in Nizamuddin Basti on Sufi culture too,” the representative added.

Hashmi revealed that he zeroed down on Mehrauli Archaeological Park as it is one of his preferred locations owing to the richness of architecture.

When he started undertaking heritage walks, there were around four people doing the same but over the years the number has seen a rapid increase with which emerged new aspects of walks such as cycle heritage tour, walks around craft, food, gardens, forests, birds et al. Along with development of interesting concepts, the number of people engaged in it are also rising. Said Hashmi, “I have seen progress in the form of heritage clubs in schools and colleges where youngsters are opening up to questions of conservation.”

In Vadodara, heritage aficionados can explore the Indo-Saracenic architecture at MSU, Baroda on February 17 and in Bikaner, a Holi walk would be held on February 25.

Mumbai residents can explore the bylanes of Bandra on February 4 with a walk leader while on February 11 they can trace the history of old single-screen theatres of the tinsel town through The Talkies Walk.

In Delhi, besides exploration of history of making of New Delhi on February 25, several other walks beckon visitors ranging from heritage of Hauz Khas to public art in Lodhi Colony area. In Srinagar, a walk will be held on February 26 around the Jhelum River and in Varanasi, a tour of the city is slated for February 24.

Hashmi began undertaking heritage walks around 15 years ago. He recalled, “I started the walks with school children who used to come to a creative activity centre that I looked after. And the initiation of the idea happened when I realised that the kids growing up in the city didn’t know anything about it. Thus, Discover Delhi walks happened and it has continued to grow since then. As a result of heritage walks, I realised that there are numerous people who are interested in heritage but are unsure if they can visit a structure and understand the intricacies of its history on their own. There is a little amount of diffidence. So, when they find out that someone is conducting a heritage walk, they are more than willing to take out time.” He has reached a certain stature, so he just has to announce a walk and the number of people he can accommodate in that space and the entries pour in.

He divulged details about the stories behind the lesser-known monuments that he explored in his journey. “The ruins behind Qutub are one of my favourites. They were built between the 13th and 18th century and some old buildings were modified in the 19th century. The rare finds are 13th century stepwells and 16th century mausoleums. Also, one can gaze at the buildings and look at the tomb evolving or the arch that is transiting from the corbel to a true arch.” On close observation, one can also notice the change in material and building techniques.

Hashmi shed light over how people, as well as the government, are neglecting the city’s architectural heritage. He said, “A lot of heritage walks can now be seen taking place in the city which is creating awareness but it’s not happening in the rest of the country. A large part of the Delhi population doesn’t pay heed to heritage. We have an imagined glorious past and are only interested in that and not towards the heritage that is next door to us.” He also talked about the lack of sanitation facilities in some of the monuments. Added he, “Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and some other cities have conserved their heritage to some extent but in most parts of the country there is total neglect. People don’t care and do not bother to find out if the money allocated for maintenance of our heritage sites is materialising or not. India hasn’t woken up to heritage.”

(With inputs from PTI)