Root Recall: My Heritage, my Culture, my Roots, my Responsibility
The saying “Old is Gold” is rightly put when relating it to years of strong friendship, proudly appreciating an old surviving bike that has stop manufacturing, old photographs, songs from yesteryears, books, journals, memorabilia or anything old where people relate and take value from it. Old remains a memory, reminiscing yore days, unbridled and unrestrained, allowing time to take its natural course. Today, as people go about with daily mundane activities, they seem to have little or no time, busy as one can ever be nestling quietly in small office cubicles working for hours staring at the monitors or stores vying every minute to make targeted profits, people commuting from one destination to another thinking, planning, moving around with endless mental list of things that are required to be taken care of.
Among these chaotic loops, here in Mumbai’s financial and business capital, there exists a beautiful blend of archaeological & historical, sites and structures scattered far and near. Forts, Archaeological sites, caves dating back to 3rd century B.C, Mumbai city which has been under different rulers at different eras, can today be seen as characterised with a unique juxtaposition of high modern skyscrapers and old structures. Today in south Mumbai, the old structures built during the colonial rule in India (with essence from the gothic or Victorian era) can be commonly seen as commercial establishments, offices, libraries and banks, just like the ones in Europe. It has been rightly quoted by Jan Morries, “Bombay is one of the most characteristically Victorian cities in the world”.
Every person takes pride in things that are valuable and have importance. And when it’s about taking pride in something that has historical importance, the responses are strong and filled with joyful elation. However, the response levels are not the same when the horrid veracity of some of the structures belonging to the 3rd to 5th century, and some built in the early 15th century by the Portuguese emerge. These sites based in Mumbai (Earlier known as Bombay) are mostly in ruins, some standing, decaying, feeble due to tree branches and roots growing in and out of their hoary makeups, stained, subjected by human intervention or the case of corrosion by corrosive gases emitted from factories and automobiles. We all are aware of the conditions of these structures, and what needs to be done to tackle the problem. Despite being aware, the condition hasn’t changed, in fact its mostly ignored and unattended. There has been insufficient respect towards our monuments/buildings, especially those that are not protected and under conservation.
Some actions in the past have been positive as well. Ancient Monuments and Archaeological site remains Act 1958 was passed and enacted to protect and preserve monuments which has been in existence for not less than 100 years, and since then many archaeological sites and monuments have been strictly protected and preserved, and as many as 32 sites in India has been declared as world heritage sites by UNESCO. Under the state of Maharashtra alone we have 5 sites, namely Ajanta and Ellora caves, Elephanta caves, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus and the western ghats. Parent organisations such as ASI and INTACH have been headstrong in identifying sites and structures, which need protection. But the issue is that these organizations don’t cover or are unable to cover most of the sites around the country. So what about them?
Common instances like scribbling on the walls, cases of run down buildings to widen roads or construction of new buildings, ignorantly delude the significance of heritage. Talking about Mumbai town, thankfully some of the buildings have been maintained well and used as offices or other purposes and this gives them possible chance of maintenance whenever required. But, what about those old buildings which needs our care, for instance, St George Baptist Church, Remains of Fort George, Mahim fort and many other similar forts, which are in deplorable condition. Most are weak and shaky, but can still survive. Without these old structures, we have neither history nor heritage, unless we have them standing and surviving. Less or no attention means vulnerable to more damage and in 10 years time, such places will only remain a memory or in school text books.
We all need to have a simple reminder, including the governments (they are the one with money)… Life is not always about creating new, but also keeping the old healthy and fit. These building if fixed and resurrected to their original glory can not only attract tourists and boost the economy, but also make us unique in the world, in our own sense. These are the only surviving history we have, which would link us to our roots and cultural identity, and we need to protect them before the history becomes a fable.
