 |
| First Impressions of the students after the visit to Elephanta Caves |
 |
| Highlights of Elephanta captured by Devika Mayekar |
With every heritage course lecture come a bunch of mind boggling facts, truths and some hilarious myths into light. Mr. Vikas Dilawari the keynote speaker and a Heritage Conservation Architect (a.k.a Guardians of Monumental sources of history) talked to us about the need to conserve our heritages and the modes of achieving this objective. His lecture hinted us about the innocence of a Gothic structure being affected by tall intimidating sky scrappers, displaced by them to be precise. Conservation of a monument lies in retaining its authenticity. A monument is historic only when it stands as a reflection of the times it belongs to, without that and with white washing and distemper it is just another building. Some would say it is the corpse of a monument. We sensed his disappointment about the Government and public apathy, towards the safeguarding of our monuments and preserving their sanctity.
Walking through the lanes that spill over each other, narrowly demarcating one area from another - one lands up in the nerve centre of south Mumbai, Bhuleshwar. The width of the road is just about enough to support a two-way pedestrian traffic. And amidst the cramped co-existence of old buildings and zillion shops, spring up much to your wonderment, temples of varied sizes and lords.
This visit was all about ‘Walk the Talk’ in the lane of Khotachiwadi by Mr Rahul Chemburkar - an architect by profession and our resource person for the visit. Upon entering the heritage village through its narrow lanes flanked by typical Portuguese house style facades and charming brightly coloured houses, it was hard to believe that we were still in Mumbai! Architecture was the highlight of this trip and rightly so, we found it difficult to take our eyes off the beautiful old wood bungalows with large verandas. Since the term ‘heritage’ is not restricted only to its tangible aspects, we visited some residents – Mr. Wilfred Felizardos and Mrs. Sylvester, the original inhabitants, to gain some insights into the history of that place, their culture and traditions.
We walked in the narrow lanes observing our surroundings, eating wafers of the famous 60-year-old Wafer House, taking pictures and thinking how ideal this location is for a game of chor- police or treasure hunt.
what we live with today and what we pass on to future generations. Our cultural and natural heritage are both irreplaceable sources of life and inspiration. Whatever may be their forms, they are the surviving remains of human endeavour, achievement and failure. They have potential to evoke remembrance or understanding of a past cultural context. All cultural materials including cultural landscapes that survived from the past are potentially 'cultural resources' i.e. they have some value or use in the present or future. "Every tablet, every little scarab, is a portion of life solidified; so much will, so much labour, so much living reality..."
The Portuguese, who had established a base in the area in 1534 after defeating Bahadur Shah of Gujarat, built several sea forts along the western Indian coastline. Castella de Aguada (popularly known as Bandra Fort) was one such strategically located fort, overlooking the Mahim Bay to the south, the Arabian Sea to the west, the islands of Worli to the south and the town of Mahim to the south west. The fort also guarded the northern sea route into Mumbai Harbour..jpg&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*)
