By Damini Singh
Heritage sites in any city are gateways to history. They provide incredible information and contribute to a city’s culture, historical significance and beauty. Whether these sites be in ruins or maintained to the tiniest detail from their days of glory, it’s incredulous and fascinating that these sites have survived the storms of time and barrages of nature. Built in the times of kings and princes, colonies and invaders, these monuments are architectural marvels—with each one being sublime examples of their school of architecture, and various styles that existed in those days, along with symbolising the religious, social and economic states of the times.
Losing sight of our varied heritage
Gadgets and modern technology have constantly been drawing people’s attention and interest away from historical marvels and onto glass screens. With an increasingly fast-paced life being a co-conspirator, people rarely find time to escape everyday routine and appreciate the heritage they are surrounded by. While it’s a shame that monuments go unappreciated, they are also in danger of getting ruined due to the environment pollution stressors and ignorance. Preservation is a need of the hour, and while government organisations remain in charge of the constant maintenance and repair work, it is an unachievable task without the support of the citizens.
Monuments and heritage sites do not just possess facts and statistics—there are hidden stories behind the stone walls; titbits that require digging and guided tours, with a storyteller to enthral the people and embed in their minds the true significance and mystery of monuments. To understand the significance of heritage sites require more than just a reading a Wikipedia article. It requires visiting the place and seeing with one’s own eyes.
Yes culture and the Yes Global Institute
Yes Global Institute, a division established under Yes Bank, is a “think-tank” that focuses on the cultural, social and economic growth and well-being of the country. The division describes itself as: “The Institute believes that India’s economic growth must adopt a low carbon pathway, leapfrogging to a scenario of unique and resource-innovative technology manufacturing, sustainable agriculture and services. We firmly believe that India’s glorious past and rich culture that is anchored in arts, crafts, frugal innovation and diversity must be leveraged to define the country’s growth trajectory along a knowledge-driven pathway.”
Yes culture, as the name suggests, is an initiative taken by Yes Global Institute that has the conservation and promotion of Indian culture as its central focus. They promote the development of Indian heritage by financing and advocating research, as well as organising awareness programs.
What is Sahapedia?
Sahapedia is an open source platform which provides resources on Indian arts, culture and heritage. A non-profit organisation, Sahapedia provides most of its resources curated in the form of videos, interviews, pictures, timelines, articles, guided heritage walks and even virtual heritage walks. It is essentially an online open encyclopaedia, where anyone can pool in with their knowledge and add to the ever-growing library. In addition to modules, there are also stand alone articles and image galleries, which allows users to build upon the existing resources and help to create a complete package.
Sahapedia also encourages knowledge sharing and building in the form of projects, libraries, workspaces and events, including talks, guided tours, performances and exhibitions. It is a wonderful platform for any history and heritage enthusiast, even for someone who simply has a curious mind.
Celebration of the Indian heritage
Yes Culture and Sahapedia have teamed up on an exciting venture that celebrates Indian heritage—Indian Heritage Walk Festival. It is a month long, multi-city event that aims to impart knowledge of the historical and cultural significance of monuments, gardens and other historical sites present in cities all over the country.
The inaugural edition of this festival now declared an annual event, kicked off in February 2018, covering a large number of antiquated cities including Agra, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bikaner, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Itanagar, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Patna, Pune and Varanasi. Featuring around 65 public events, the festival will include guided heritage walks, curated and themed by experts, baithaks (talks) and workshops. These events will focus on cultural aspects such as food, architecture, crafts, nature, art, and heritage that make up the Indian culture. The walks will be covering museums, monuments, markets, landscapes and historically significant cultural pockets of these cities. For the more adventurous participants, there will be treasure hunts, and for the fireflies attracted to city lights, there will be night walks. The organisers also plan on holding Insta-meets for the social media savvy photographers.
Rana Kapoor, MD & CEO, Yes Bank, and Chairman, Yes Global Institute, said, “India boasts of a rich heritage and cultural history, which resides in its diverse and profound architectural sites. Civil society participation with heritage through heritage walks is integral to the preservation and conservation of these sites. The model of heritage tourism works in tandem with the local community and has the potential to instill the value of self-pride to further the agenda of development.”
Preeti Sinha, Global Convenor, Yes Global Institute and Senior President, Yes Bank, said, “Through YES Culture’s heritage programmes, we are committed to developing socially inclusive heritage cities in India for 21st-century citizens. India Heritage Walk Festival is a concrete step towards achieving this goal as collective interventions will create opportunities for young people to engage with their cities and understand the latent potential for developing India’s creative and cultural industries.”
“Our walk leaders are dedicated researchers and enthusiasts who have made special efforts to bring heritage to their audiences in interesting and novel ways,” said Vaibhav Chauhan, Director, IHWF 2018.
This walk is a celebration of the Indian culture and since it is backed by a large corporation, this event will be held on a large scale, with a wide reach, thus, helping to impart this knowledge to a greater number of people. The organisers are predicting colossal and enthusiastic participation, making the event a roaring success.
Capturing history through own eyes
To understand more about this festival, let’s review a walk that was held in Hyderabad on February 3rd.
Hyderabad, a bustling city filled with people going back and forth between jobs and homes, was home to one of the five inaugural heritage walks under the IHWF 2018, giving the people an opportunity to escape the hustle and bustle of everyday life and a tryst with nature.
The walk was titled “Walking Amidst Nature in Hyderabad’s Gachibowli” was an exploration of an area of the city, popular as an IT hub and serving as the location of the University of Hyderabad. The participants were guided along a trail surrounding the University’s 2300 acre campus, home to over 734 flower plants, 10 species of mammals, 15 species of reptiles and 220 species of birds. Since Hyderabad lies along the banks of the river Musi, in the northern part of the Deccan plateau, hence its terrain and low lying hills provide the perfect habitat for flora and fauna to flourish—a key feature of the walk, which the participants thoroughly enjoyed.
There are more walks and events like this planned for the future in other cities as well. An excellent way to refresh history and culture in the minds of the common citizens, this festival has a promising future and may play a huge role in reintroducing the love for monuments in people, in the times to come.
Featured Image Credits: sandeepachetan.com on Visual Hunt / CC BY-NC-ND
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