A city is defined …
Sometimes by the history sometimes
by its food, culture, people, lifestyle, language ,heritage and many more
things . on a broader picture all these things are inter related to each other.
Culture binds the people , people follow a lifestyle this lifestyle consist of
the food they eat the dances they dance, the clothes they wear and it all comes
by heritage.
And what does heritage comprises
of ??
The heritage which is
overshadowed by the assumption that heritage values only constitutes to Art ,
Culture ,Festivals.. But when we talk about a city a heritage can also be a
visual or physical matter with which the residents have been connecting themselves
by touch, view, sound over a notable period of time.
If by these definitions we try to
define Dehradun we will start with the Clock Tower , F.R.I Building , I.M.A to
Paltan Bazaar and Rajpur road. All these places can be termed as heritage of
Dehradun because they are like a part of life for many residents of this
foothills town. There may be people who will not easily agree to this idea, but
on a deeper thought these things may seem to be correct to them. All these
places have been present before many of us were born and still standing there
to claim their heritage value to the onlooker. If u now agree that the Paltan
Bazaar or even a small restaurant like Lakshmi Restaurant(Paltan Bazar) carry an
invaluable place in Doon and can be regarded as heritage of this town you are
one step close to get more amazed.
Amazing it is that a human who
was created as a reflection of God himself has a very materialistic approach in
terms of recognising things. We tend to value thing that exist and boldly
speaks of their existence. What about the things that were once a living
resources of Doon which have now vanished and still vanishing at the suburbs
and we hardly care.
Since the British time when the
canals of Doon valley were laid they have always been an integral part of the
city and its ecology. Now most of these canals lay underground in the name of development
or widening of roads. And some existing canals are still being reconstructed as
underground channels of water. And we don’t care..
Many of you will say that its ok
that canals are now hidden under the earth and we don’t see them anymore because
it was the need of time and development has to take place.
For the better understanding of
these people I will let them know that being an Architect and also a keen
student of Urban regeneration tells me that there is no way that we cannot
develop a town and at the same time conserving the heritage value of that town.
There are ways to do it and if we are not doing the right thing. It only means
that either we don’t want to do it the right way or we don’t bother to pay any
heed to the right way of doing things. ((((
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDcFGAstTDo&feature=youtu.be ))
