THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Six-year-old Achuthanandan looks forward to the last Sunday of every month, so does 88-year old Dr Saradamoni. For the last years, the date has meant a refreshing morning walk to the places where stories wait to be unravelled. They are part of a growing population of denizens who have found joy in ‘Heritage Walk’, initiated by archaeologist Bina Thomas Tharakan. With the active support of two of the city’s favourite history buffs - Achuthsankar S Nair and Malayinkeezhu Gopalakrishnan, the interactive walking tour has evolved into the proportions of a movement that seeks to understand, preserve and disseminate the parallel history of Thiruvananthapuram. The morning stroll to University College last Sunday marked the second anniversary of the initiative.
Bina was introduced to the idea of city walks in Vadodara, where she spent her childhood. The hobby grew into a passion when she joined walkers in Pune after migrating to that city with her family. “We moved to Thiruvananthapuram only in 2010. I was in for a surprise when I realized that city walk is not a familiar concept here. Almost all major cities in the world and most Indian cities have it,” says Bina. She took her time to explore the city by herself and, in 2013, launched the heritage walk with Achuthsankar S Nair, Director, Centre for Bioinformatics, University of Kerala, and Malayinkeezhu Gopalakrishnan, historian and journalist. Consultant architect Sarath Sundar Rajeev, former director of the State Archaeology Department Dr Hemachandran and author Uma Maheswari also lend support to the team with expert inputs.
“The thrust is on understanding the local history, which is not available in text books. Peripheral history is absent of places and communities are absent in text books, which make heritage walks relevant,” says Bina. “Thiruvanathapuram had a highly evolved banking system, and an elaborate transport system. These are little explored facts that make up a parallel history of the place. That is why heritage walks were conducted to the Chalai market and University College,” she says.
The team went on its first outing to Pettah, which was the entry point to the city for traders who offloaded their goods at the Vallakkadavu harbour. “The Pettah church is the oldest in the city and the mosque is also among the oldest. The Anglo-Indian community, which had no entry into precincts of the city which was built around the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple, settled down in and around Pettah, explaining the historical significance of the seemingly uninteresting thoroughfare.
The group has also had special sessions for kids like the tour to the observatory at Vellayambalam. Once, they took a bus to Vizhinjam and walked to a few interesting spots, which is the farthest the group has ventured. A young walker, Adityan U, had also stirred up the interest of the media when he identified the long-forgotten tombstone of Annie Mascerene at the Pattoor cemetery. The walkers are now contemplating the launch of a discussion group so that the more serious explorers can exchange ideas.