Why does heritage conservation even matter to anyone? A talk in the Indian Museum. A hot afternoon found me making my way there more because I am now a member of a Heritage Consevation Collective and I need to learn about different aspects and viewpoints of conservation, restoration and preservation.

The talk was by Aishwarya Tipnis and I had a  niggling suspicion that I would be drowning in abstruse technical chatter of bricks, mortar, plinth, construct and the like. A young girl with a disarming dimpled smile came on stage and said she would tell us a story about Old Delhi. It was an absorbing Qissaa, a story of a family residing in Shahjahanbad, their old crumbling Haveli in Purani Dilli with cracks, damp, general decay and ruin – a project she undertook to modernise the building to accommodate three brides of three sons. The two hours disappeared in the blink of an eyelash.

A long journey of this house, its origins, what it had, what could be done. The owners, the Baglas have a steel manufacturing business are affluent but careful about what they spend and had a taste which was to make the house modern and glitzy to keep up with.

Eight years and a struggle to keep the building ethos intact this girl was victorious. Not only did she manage to retain most of the original elements but also the Bagla family which was initially wary of her ideas and intent became vocal supporters of her work. She has become a part of their family which in itself speaks volumes about the person and the absolute appreciation of the work done by her.

Preservation was a legacy of the British, whereby they protected the ruins and kept them in a status quo condition. This work is being carried forward by The Archealogical Survey of India. The other restoration / conservation project in Delhi was by the Aga Khan Trust which was specifically for places of Islamic importance. This was the first “restoration” project so to speak and it was done with such aplomb and finesse that this “Haveli Project” and the moving force Ms Tipnis became the talking point of the media here and abroad. The likes of William Dalrymple have visited to see first hand what has now become a subject of what can be done for restoration of older properties.

The first road blocks in these projects are the various myths about conservation. It is about the Past. It is expensive. It is not about design but just mending and repairing what was there. The architect is the sole decision maker. With changing times we need to look ahead – conservation, sustainability, restoration are a waste of time and regressive and make no sense. There are no manuals, guidelines, archives, drawings, documents so how does one proceed.

Our story of the haveli in puraani Dilli busts all these myths. We went on a roller coaster ride for almost close to two hours with the trials and tribulations of the Bagla family and this young architect. The architect is more a judge than decision maker as she becomes the interface between the owners who want a certain output and what can be actually implemented. It was a journey of discovery, more as a sleuth as many twos were put together to date and deduce the ownership and lineage of the building.

There were maps  and maps and maps. Designs were made, floors uncovered to basically find out what needed to be done. These brick-mortar tiles unearthed many stories. This house was bought by the current occupants in 1908 before which no one knew the antecedents. It was very obviously Mughal with its scrolls and other elements. What corroborated the fact completely during the initial design stage was that there were two courtyards definitely. Probably zenana and mardaana, a custom which was definitely Muslim. Aishwarya had brought on board a young enthusiastic team to help her with drawings research and other allied work that needed to be done. In the course of their digging almost literally they came across a map which detailed the British entry into Delhi after the 1857 riots. It is well documented that they ravaged everything on the way. Interestingly our house was on the verisame path. That explained the fireplaces, pointed arches and the modular bricks introduced by the British, which must have been incorporated when the house was repaired. This among the tinier Nanakshahi bricks which the haveli was constructed from. It all fell into place. Walls, bricks, stones, relics do tell a story if anyone can piece it together. Its all there.

The original wall covering was lime and mortar though some areas were covered with cement. Design is in the detailing and Ms T had a whale of a time explaining why? Lime and mortar is not readily available and is expensive to make. Over the years it has been edged out by the cheaper and ostensibly more versatile cement. In her quest for the authentic she stuck to her guns and tried to improvise making the lime and mortar. Two concentric pits were constructed and a motor with two Idly mixers did the trick. The proportion was never correct. An essential ingredient was missing. A sweeper of the house sat on the periphery with his jhaadu mocking this onerous process. Mr Bagla was also not amused . After almost two months the sweeper laughingly commented that without the bel extract how could they ever get it right. Voila, the missing ingredient, which one grew up knowing but never connected. Trial and error and one invariably gets the correct solution. A Eureka moment for sure. Discovery!

The walls were covered with this mixture, the walls with ugly damp patches were stripped and covered too, much to the chagrin of Mr B. Aishwarya always had the ready answer, you are probably right but there is no harm trying. The damp coagulates as the plaster is dense non porous and does not breathe. It was magic. The damp not only disappeared but stayed away. Evidently this lime mortar combo also keeps the walls cool. They breathe. Good old fashioned wisdom. Practical nous, common sense. Sustainablity, preservation and iterationg faith in our older processes. Ultimately cheaper and Mr Bagla was overjoyed, he had saved a considerable sum of money.

Similar struggles with the furniture, lights, colouring. If heritage structures in Pondicherry are bright yellow, so should ours be. Heritage is after all heritage. But heritage is also about the people. A vast difference between the French and the Mughals who used a paler cream.

A smartly used “money as bargaining tool”. When they wanted some drastic not aligned changes, nothing can be touched within 300 m of an existing heritage structure, a section in the Delhi restoration law was used. Manipulation. Yes. Albeit effective. Furniture was being purchased afresh from villages in Rajasthan when similar stuff in their Godowns was rotting. In the initial stages Aishwarya hit a gold mine when she spoke of family pride, grandeur, ancestry. It kind of capped the deal then. The most important takeaway is that “we don’t value what we have”.

It is the Indian Jugaad, about jaan pehchaan, rishteydaari which works brilliantly. Indians invariably are separated not by the six degrees but one. They are bound to find someone who knows someone who has it cheaper, who knows the best source for stuff. So it is not Helifax steel from UK but made at a fraction of a cost in Mr B’s steel factory at a fraction of the cost. Steel is important for structures as lime does not corrode steel.

People feel that Conservation is complicated. The truth of the matter is that books cant teach everything. One learns and relearns, improvises as one goes on. There is NO right or wrong. There should be a cross fertilisation of ideas, a collaboration among clients, artisans, professionals.

In the end one must remember that this haveli was not an artefact but a home. One can mainstream conservation if it meets the requirements of modern living. This haveli has a very modern kitchen and elements of Vaastu. One cannot put a building above beliefs. It has to be relevant to users. Every artefact has a history, a language, many nuances, an intangible conservation. One has to decipher and understand the value to the family. It is not really science but a people to people relationship. The house has relevance through stories, memories and  the personality of the occupants. The bed in this case was important in that specific place as the Grandmother spent all her time there.

Every drop in the ocean counts. It is never material. It should be creative not restrictive. One must speak the right language to reactivate it!

 

Long live the past! The glorious heritage collectively.

 

https://epaper.telegraphindia.com/details/179968-16246493.html