HERITAGE

Walking into the Madras Literary Society (MLS) is like stepping into another era. The towering, multi-storey bookshelves hold more than 80,000 volumes, some of which are rare and priceless. Among the library’s many treasures is the 296-year-old edition of Isaac Newton’s Naturalis Principia Mathematica. The architecture of the building, with its double-layered windows, high ceilings with exposed rafters, and lime-plastered walls, offers more than mere aesthetic appeal. These features ensure natural ventilation, retain acoustics unique to the space, and keep the library cool even in Chennai’s scorching summers. Antique furniture adds an extra flourish to the space. The library thrives…

The Annual Madras Day festivities have begun with a collection of heritage walks, heritage talks, contests, and various other community-organised events in the city.  While the entire month of August is usually set aside to organise events to commemorate the historical founding of the city on August 22, 1639, most of the events occur over the actual week in the run-up to Madras Day. Started by a group of community journalists and historians in 2004 – notable among them Vincent D’Souza, Sashi Nair and S. Muthiah – the celebration of Madras Day aims to bring people and communities together to…

Government-owned built heritage in Chennai seems to have never had it so good. All over the city, many Indo-Saracenic structures are getting much-needed restoration and if not that, at least a facelift. In the last decade or so, there has certainly been a change in attitude as far as the authorities are concerned over the built heritage of the colonial kind. And this is to be welcomed. It is certainly not the happy ending as far as the battle to preserve heritage is concerned but it is undoubtedly progress. The question remains, will this influence private players and more importantly…

The proposed letter from the building committee of the High Court of Madras to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), asking the latter to consider shifting Hynmers’ Obelisk from its present location, has brought into sharp focus the role of the ASI when it comes to protecting monuments that are under its control. Will it stand up to its mandate or simply give in is the question. We sincerely hope it will be the former option. Little protection for monuments As per the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act of 1958, it is forbidden to take up any…

Nothing fills me with greater sadness than to present you with this visual record of how a heritage street has declined to ruin. My oldest is a 1919 photograph of St Thomas’ Street in Fort St George – you see a long line of buildings on the left, each fronted by a verandah, thereby indicating that the street retained its residential character of buildings even then. True they were all offices, but the structures remained. St Thomas Street, photographed in 1919, courtesy Sarmaya India. My Old is a sketch of the same street from 1945, done by Ismena Warren for…

The redevelopment of historic neighbourhoods, more often than not, are perceived as a threat to culture. This notion is not unfounded, as conservation is a complicated process involving lived experiences and infrastructure that, to many, is home; built through decades of a community’s history and its people. Is it, then, possible to evolve a community through development while preserving its culture entirely? Mumbai's Bhendi Bazaar is an interesting case to study in this regard. Old Bhendi Bazaar. Photo: SBUT Present day Bhendi Bazaar. Photo: SBUT Efforts to rehabilitate South Mumbai’s 150-year-old Bhendi Bazaar is home to more than 20,000 people and 3200…

Bengaluru is increasingly becoming a city with more roads and flyovers, and with less spaces for public interaction or informal encounters. As in other Indian cities, here too, administrators imagine a city that meets global standards of urban form and infrastructure. Whereas, at the neighbourhood level, people continue to nurture and sustain spaces like ashwath kattes (peepul tree shrines), informally generating community spaces. And these spaces - which assimilate the rural within the urban - survive even as government agencies have been rampantly usurping public spaces for various projects. There are two competing processes in city-making – one, from above,…

For anyone harbouring the cliched idea that all Muslim families make Biryani on festive occasions, the Bohras of Chennai challenge this notion with their famous festival staple, the dal chawal palida. “It is unique to the Bohra community, wherein the dal is layered between rice. Although this is primarily a vegetarian dish, people also add meat to it,” explains Tasneem Akbari-Kutubuddin, a Chennai-based journalist and editor. This is one of the many unique things about the culture and practices of the 10000-strong Bohra community who have made Chennai their home.  For the past three years, Tasneem has been documenting the history…

About a month ago, on 12th June 2021, the square bastion tower on the periphery of Belapur Fort premises, in Navi Mumbai, collapsed. It had been raining heavily in Navi Mumbai and it seems that this, together with the strong winds, caused a large part of the tower, to crash in a heap of rubble. The bastion tower is located opposite the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) headquarters, and is the only piece of the 'fort', visible to external passers-by. "Videos were doing the rounds in social media, and this is what brought our attention to heritage that is situated…

The population of Jews in India is on the decline but the iconic physical structures they have built in Bombay will preserve the community’s memory for a long time. “Bombay holds a very special place in the hearts of all Jewish people in India,” said writer Sifra Lentin, in a recent event  titled ‘Uncovering Urban Legacies: The Jewish Diaspora in Bombay’.  A proud member of the community herself, Lentin gave the audience a rich introduction to Bombay’s Jewish heritage, the community’s social and religious life, and their contributions to trade, education, architecture, cinema and literature. The event was moderated by…