HYDERABAD: Architect Kalpana Ramesh, draped in a midnight blue saree, sat beside her students on the podium next to the Bansilalpet stepwell, sketching, as the onlookers gazed upon their reflections in the peacock-blue water up from the balcony – a unique work of art in itself.
Popularly referred to as the ‘water hero’, Kalpana Ramesh was the mastermind behind the restoration of the Bansilalpet stepwell. She successfully transformed this heritage site, which was previously occupied by 2000 tonnes of garbage, into a fully-operational water harvesting tank. Recently, she was awarded the Central government’s ‘Swacch Sujal Shakti Samman 2023’ for her contribution towards water conservation.
In order to capture the ‘essence of Bansilalpet stepwell’, her organisation, The Rainwater Project collaborated with popular illustrator Sri Priyatham to hold a sketching workshop. The purpose of the workshop was to encourage participants to recognise and value the distinct characteristics and heritage of the stepwell, and to depict its essence through their own creative interpretations and sketches. The aim was to find a connection between history, art and heritage and facilitate enhancement of sketching abilities of novices and experts alike.
Sri Priyatham is a highly skilled art instructor and illustrator with over 13 years of experience in the entertainment and creative industry. His impressive client list includes big names such as Microsoft, Netflix, and Wacom, and his artwork has been showcased in both national and online publications. Additionally, he is actively involved in hosting art workshops and guiding students from different parts of the world.
He instructed students on frame composition, quick-line drawing, shading, perspective, style and offered comprehensive feedback to enhance their artwork. “It is not your quintessential sketching workshop. The session was quite insightful on many facets of the restoration project. Kalpana ma’am has inspired me with her tenacious approach to conserving the Bansilal stepwell, and with the magnitude of impact she has. Adding to that the sketching part itself was an amazing experience to learn outdoor sketching thanks to sir (Sri Priyatham). Finally, I am grateful for being able to get a glimpse of the journey and the beauty of the stepwell,” says Nishna Chadalavada, one of the students who attended the workshop.
“I feel such spaces are so surreal and special in many ways. The ambience, purity and serenity of water could inspire anyone and bring out the artist in them. I feel art and history are connected. They connect us to the past and future. Such workshops truly bring oneself to appreciate the rich history and the brilliance of traditional water systems that are so relevant even today,” said Ramesh about the workshop.
As the workshop tried to capture the essence of the stepwell and bring out the creative sides of individuals who participated in it, Ramesh talked about her own journey of restoring the stepwell, which she said was no less than “riding a chariot with five horses.”
Conserving water and heritage for communities
Earlier known as Naganah Kunta, the 17th century freshwater stepwell from Kakatiyan period, during the British period, became a part of a planned town built by British Resident T H Keyes and funded by Seth Bansilal. Until the 1980s, the step-well functioned as a source of water for people in the surrounding areas. However, after a point, it became a garbage pit which rose up to the height of the ground, hiding the heritage structure underneath it.
“Earlier, this being a common space, was used for illicit practices, drugs, drinking, besides there being tonnes of garbage. Now, despite some resistance from the people, we have been able to turn this place around and everybody sees the win in it,” said Ramesh.“It’s a cleaner and a better environment. Secondly, we have opened up a bucket which can hold 22 lakh litres of rainwater, which is a huge potential. In one year of rainfall, we have seen the borewell going from a few hundred feet to 30-40,000 feet. So it is quite contextually relevant as it reduces urban flooding, provides local water security and creates an interesting public space where there’s a dearth of public spaces. In a sense, it is all built for the communities,” she added.
A self-sustaining enterprise
Through her company The Rainwater Project, Ramesh has built a system that allows her to work for water conservation in a formalised manner while also ensuring that an economy is built around the structures they restore.
“Two years ago, I came up with this idea of a startup called the Rainwater Project. We were incubated by the IIIT-Hyderabad because we are an organisation that is involved in impacting the society. It allows us to create a Detailed Project Plan (DPR) and execute it. We have a consortium of conservation architects and urban planners. We have discussions with them, we take their opinions. All this would not have been possible if we were an NGO,” said Ramesh.
“So what we put down is not just an architectural restoration, but a micro-economy, a sense of respecting water,” she added. Gandipet Welfare Society (GWS), an NGO based in the city, maintains the stepwell. They collect all the waste from the place, take it to their solid waste management centre and recycle it.
“My aim is that it should never go back to being a garbage dumpyard. Today, the place generates an income that can support six-seven staff that work here,” said Ramesh. “We do something called ‘donor events’. We support Art and Craft. We give space to artists and performers that they can use.This does not only help run the place, it also creates, what we call, a corpus for us,” she said.
Applauding and appreciating the work done by the skilled architect, a local resident, Hajira Abeed reminisces her childhood days spent around the stepwell, “People would gather here to play and celebrate festivals. During Bathukamma, we would collect flowers and put them in water. During Sankranti, we would fly kites. In Ramzan, people would offer prayers on this ground. Evenings were spent relaxing, spending time, and watching movies on a big screen. The water in the well was fresh. I still remember getting fascinated by ladies tying ropes to buckets and pulling water out of the well. I am so glad that our heritage is back to us and now serves a tourists’ place. All the development that has taken place in and around the area really played a pivotal role in the lives of the community around here.”