While it is one thing to learn about history from the books, it’s quite another to imbibe by roaming around grand old structures and breathing in the era gone by. Sahapedia is back with it’s popular heritage walks for the World Heritage Week and will be conducting walks across 16 cities in the country.
Generally most of the meat is taken by built heritage but Sahapedia has a wholesome approach. “The walk focuses on the tangible as well as the intangible heritage of the country. It is not only important to raise awareness about the heritage buildings but also about the intangible cultural practices and art forms, for example doing walks with local artisans is a part of this walk. These walks are also creating livelihood for these artisans,” says Vaibhav Chauhan, Secretary, Sahapedia.
Sahapedia will curate and organise 29 heritage walks across 16 cities in collaboration with over 10 partners from various parts of the country. Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Gwalior, Kochi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Vadodara are some of the cities being covered.
Other cities where heritage walks are to be conducted include Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Shillong, Allahabad, Orchha, Patna, Goa and Bijapur. Since the inception of the India Heritage Walks programme in November 2016, Sahapedia has reached out to over 44 cities across the country, forming a network of more than a hundred qualified walk leaders, and explored diverse themes. Nearly 600 walks have been conducted so far.
The non-profit organisation has also collaborated with MNCs and raises money through CSR. “We give free walks and there are associated costs that need to be taken care of. Raising capital for culture is really difficult today,” he says.
The organisation is also facing other challenges as it expands to smaller cities. “It is difficult to locate local people who want to be involved in this project initially because you don’t have that kind of a network. You could end up with a lot of misinformation and maintaining quality requires a lot of work. We have been working a lot on keeping the authenticity of the information and,” he says.
Integrating government schemes like development of smart cities has also been a challenge for the organisation. Nevertheless, these walks and their participants are as enthused as ever to revive the lost tales.The walks will take place till November 25.
In a nutshell
World Heritage Week, as declared by UNESCO, is celebrated around the world from November 19-25 with the objective to increase awareness about the preservation of invaluable heritage. As a part of it, heritage walks across 16 cities of the country will enlist participation of a wide spectrum of enthusiasts for exploring and preserving cultural heritage.