India Heritage Walk Festival (IHWF) is back with its second edition in 2019, starting on February 2. It is a month-long celebration of India’s tangible and intangible cultural heritage. Headed by Sahapedia in partnership with UNESCO, the event celebrates the act of walking while learning about Indian heritage and culture. One of its kind, the walks focuses on absorbing the rich cultural heritage of India.
The festival will step into its second year of operation in Ahmedabad city, a UNESCO World heritage site. With treasures of history, multiple faiths and more, this is the apt beginning to the second year of the revisiting cultural legacy. Other cultural heritage walks will also commence in cities such as
Chennai, Delhi, Udaipur, Puducherry and Pune.
The IHWF 2019 has about 110 events planned all across India. The calendar is marked with guided walks, discussions, workshops and insta-meets. The festival celebrates the diversity of India, such as nature, art, culture, heritage, food, heritage, architecture, and more in over 35 cities. The first edition of India Heritage walk Festival had been commended with the PATA Gold Award in 2018, from the Macao Government Tourism Office.
The Joint Efforts behind the success of IHWF
In addition of UNESCO, the festival has support from Sahapedia, NDMC and Odigos. ‘Sahapedia’ is an open online resource on the arts, cultures and histories of India (broadly, South Asia). The platform has a rich collection to read articles, watch videos, listen to interviews, and browse image galleries while also exploring historic sites and natural spaces through virtual walks, timelines and interactive maps. NMDC, the Government of India Company, mineral producer and explorer. In addition, the festival is associated with Odigos, an online platform that connects tourists to certified guides in India.
In a recent press meeting, Vaibhav Chauhan, founding member and secretary of Sahapedia stated that with the India Heritage Walk Festival, they seek to open up the access to local history and culture to all. Though one might be living in a neighborhood for years, there is a big chance that an important landmark is not known, missed and forgotten. The walks organized during the festival offers the opportunity to discover the hidden gems linked to the history.
Plans for IHWF 2019
IHWF in association with Sahapedia and UNESCO aims to make heritage and culture spaces interesting and inclusive. The walks will cover historic monuments, markets, museums, interesting natural landscapes, rich cuisine, to women-oriented narratives and more. Each programme is curated thematically to encourage and increase different forms of engagement, making heritage spaces accessible to various audience groups.
Apart from history lovers and culture enthusiasts, the festival also put efforts towards groups for whom programs to learn about heritage spaces are not easily available. The second edition of IHWF will include children, the differently-abled, and people economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
Specially-crafted walks have been arranged for festival. The visually-impaired students can enjoy heritage walks around Bhubaneswar’s Mukteswara Temple and Mumbai’s ancient Gilbert Hill. Also, a walk through Kolkata Nehru Children’s Museum is available for underprivileged children.
Heritage Walks
Among the numerous heritage walks, Delhi has a new attraction. The heritage walk plans to introduce culture and heritage lovers to Sanjhi- a paper-cutting art by stencil which has origins in Vrindavan. While in Mumbai, explore the by lanes of Bandra. The authentic taste of age-old delights await on Banarasi food trail in the holy city of Varanasi. Get mesmerized in the colors, designs and glamour while learning about textile trail through the block printing neighborhoods of Jaipur. Visit the forgotten chapters of the bygone can visit the Western Gate of Itafort in Itanagar. The ‘City of Gardens Bangalore compels to put on shoes for a stroll through the various green parks and also heritage trails.
Highlights of IHWF 2019
- Thematic discussions are the highlight of the India Heritage Walk Festival apart from the actual walks. The joint talks of academics, design professionals and heritage experts will focus to explore the connection between heritage and education. Also, discussions to explore the possibility of an educational framework on pursuing and managing diverse heritage resources.
- Baithak, seated discussion among groups will have a special place among festivities. Tony Joseph, author of Early Indians: The Story of Our Ancestors and Where We Came From, will speak about story of our ancestry in a baithak to be hosted in Delhi.
- Likewise, there will be a baithak with Prof Supriya Chaudhuri. This will discuss about the ‘grey town’ spaces between the older native quarter of North Calcutta, and the newer European quarter in the south of the city. This part of the town has been inhabited by communities from all over the world.
Debashree Chakraborty
A travel writer by profession and self-professed addict to literature and travelling. Go through her penned down travel experiences on indianholiday.com
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Hi Priya
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The primary objective of the Special Walks is to provide access to historical sites for persons with disabilities or any other form of social or economic disadvantage, so they are not excluded from India’s heritage. This has been our focus through the year, beyond the IHWF. Even I have attented IHWF and it was an awesome experience and new learning about the same.