Everyone knows that Shimla mall has a special landscape; it evokes, provokes and draws people from all over the county. In Shimla there is a wonderful sign which reads ‘Our built heritage is out identity’. But what identity does Shimla’s built heritage give? And how does it fit with wider national identity? I remember asking this one afternoon to a wonderful, wise, old resident of Shimla as we strolled along the Mall, after taking some cardamom tea in Honey Hut. He was very uncomfortable with the question and became unusually irritable: in nearly a year of acquaintance the only time I had seen this side of him before was when I talked of holding a football training session on a strip of grass near his house. I am still a bit puzzled today as to why he was so reticent to discuss this, but I also feel that there is something about the question that is unsettling. I will mull on this over some supper and perhaps post more on it soon.
Memories stay in minds and the build heritage gives us evidences of the past as it was. It reminds us of past and links us to the people event and the environment. This link has to be preserved so that we (present) can identify with the past.
ReplyDeleteIndia is stretched over the earth broad and wide. Each of its states and districts has its unique language, food, habits and architect which help the present lot to identify with their past and roots. The spirit of brotherhood and nationalism and build heritage helps us to be strung together.
Thanks for this Kamal, it seems to me that you make a good point about India at its best holding together diversity within unity and I suppose that you might say that certain histories are part of that. What really interests me though is your more personal point about how you feel a need to identify with the past and I was wondering what you feel this connection gives you?
ReplyDeleteDear Just Jonathan :), what I like about Shimla is the built heritage of the century past. Back then, people had a sense of history and an well-developed aesthetic. This gave our town a certain character.
ReplyDeleteToday, Shimla's built heritage is an embarrassment: piles of the most unattractive buildings that no one would miss were something to happen to (fortuitously) destroy them (But that's just wishful thinking on my part).
I fear that when people look back on the Shimla of the 21st century, they are going to say "how unimaginative, stupid and uncreative were the people who made Shimla"!
Ha, I like your idea, on the plus side many of these more modern, concrete, structures will probably fall down, or have to be pulled down in 20 years or so, sparing future inhabitants from realising the true narrowness of the present vision. The second time I ever went to Shimla (and the first time that I spent any time in the suburbs) I too was horrified by the lack of town planning and architectural aesthetic that you talk about; but the funny thing is that the more I stayed in these places the more I came to weave personal memories into the space that gave it a sense of homeliness, which to some extent overrode my initial reaction and made these places more pleasant to dwell than I imagined possible. Yet, of course it is always more pleasant to be strolling along the mall than creeping along the car filled narrow streets of the suburbs. There is no excuse for the lack of aesthetic that dominates much of the modern architecture in Shimla, it inhibits its growth as a tourist destination and must have some impact on resident's happiness, even if we develop coping mechanisms that negate the full horror of it (as I think I am suggesting). It is not that people can't do good architecture anymore because there are some wonderful examples of hand carved, beautiful temples in areas surrounding Shimla. I just wish that there was more will to take general living space more seriously today. Returning to your point about the historical architecture in Shimla it does have a sort of beauty about it and most of it seems more carefully considered, yet some suggest that it is not in harmony with the environment being a kind of European inscription on the land that does violence to Dev Bhoomi. Yet, for those who have made the mall their own it is perhaps more like a dearly loved adopted child. Bhasin summaries it well when he writes: ‘Today’s corridors may be built of row upon row of concrete blocks and one may howl and wail all the way from Tuttikandi to Sanjauli... Yet, the legacy of Shimla’s colonial architecture seems so much like that dearly loved adopted child, mine but not mine’
ReplyDeleteRoots is the answer. As the roots holds and nurishes the tree so does the build heritage - connecting and linking us up to the past.
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