We zip past Marine Drive, my father driving his trusty old scooter, me in the front, my mother riding pillion. We stop for ice cream at K. Rustom¡¯s, drink in a leisurely sunset at Marine Drive, capping the end of a slow, lovely weekend. It is the early ¡¯80s, and I am a child, carefree, cocooned by love and safety. The only time I get to retreat into the Bombay of my memories as an adult, is through Basu Chatterjee¡¯s films, watching Amol Palekar bumbling through life, taking hesitant steps in his romantic journey.
In an attempt to relive those days, albeit for an hour or two, I signed up for a heritage walk called ¡°Basu Da¡¯s Bombay¡±. The walk was conducted by Eshan Sharma, the founder of Karwaan Heritage, a student-led history initiative. The four-km walk traced locations where Chatterjee¡¯s films, like Manzil, Baaton Baaton Mein, and Chhoti Si Baat were shot, and included pit-stops at Horniman Circle, Flora Fountain, Marine Drive, and Jehangir Art Gallery. Each of these stops delved into Mumbai¡¯s architectural and social heritage, but for most attendees like me, it was a little portal into the past.
That is the opportunity that heritage walks can offer: The experience of personal and community histories for a brief period. They deepen our understanding of the present by awakening our awareness about the past, allowing us to look at our world through a different lens. They bring history alive, making it fun to learn. With a range of curated walks available for tourists and residents alike, there¡¯s something for everyone.
If you are wondering which walk is for you, here¡¯s a curation of some of the best heritage walks that Indian cities have to offer. Whether you¡¯re a film buff, an architecture aficionado, a sports fan or a foodie, we bet you can find one that appeals to you.
The history of the capital is inextricably linked with that of the Mughals, but there¡¯s more to it, as Rameen Khan shows us during the two-hour Sunday Khoj Heritage Exploration. Khan runs the massively popular Instagram page, City Tales, and some of his followers requested him to start this venture. He has not looked back since his first walk at Qutub Complex. Khan emphasises the story-telling aspect of the walks. ¡°Those are just stones. You have to give life to these stones,¡± he told me over a call. Across a series of 15 chronological walks with the running thread of Delhi¡¯s political history, he narrates the story of the city from pre-Islamic times (10th century) to 1857.?
The first walk in the series, which also happens to be Khan¡¯s personal favourite, is around Qutub Complex, where walkers get a glimpse of the history of the Slave Dynasty, the Khiljis and the Tomars. This is followed by walks in subsequent weeks to places like Siri Fort, Feroz Shah Kotla, Humayun¡¯s Tomb, the Red Fort and so on.? What sets Khan apart are the tangential narratives that flow through baithaks, such as the poets of Delhi, its Sufi underpinnings, and the power and glory of Mughal women. Walks are announced on his WhatsApp groups and on his Instagram page, every Monday.?
Find them at: @_citytales??
¡°I am trying to make you feel as a queer person like me, that you belong in history,¡± said Iqbal Ali, who identifies as non-binary. Ali started Delhi Queer Heritage Walks in 2015. The idea behind the walks is to counter the dominant narrative and show places occupied by queer people in history. Three of the four walks are conducted in Old Delhi, informed by Ali¡¯s upbringing there, and the fourth at Hauz Khas. Some of the stops in the walks are at an akhara, which doubles up as a gay cruising spot, and the shrine of Sufi saint Hazrat Sarmad Shaheed, who is said to have fallen in love with a Hindu boy. Sunehri Masjid, where the plaque does not credit ¡°khwajasaras¡± (trans people) for their role in building it, also finds a place on the walk. Additionally, their food walks include a queer person, who shows walkers?how they see the intersection of food and queerness.?
Open to both queer and straight people, private tours are on weekdays, while weekends are for bigger groups of up to 30. They plan to add three more walks to the roster in November, to mark Delhi¡¯s celebration of Pride Month.
Find them at: @puranidilliwalaiqbal
The signs are everywhere. I am not talking about the garden variety supernatural ones, but the ones we see on sign boards. Tanya George, who has a master¡¯s degree in?typeface design, shows people these through her type walks in Mumbai. The walks are structured around the history of design, fonts, and trading, all viewed through a typographic lens. She guides walks in Charni Road, which covers the history of printing and printers; Ballard Estate, which goes over trading history; and Kala Ghoda and the history of design. Meanwhile, the ¡°Bazaar Walk¡± revolves around the location and space of the bazaar, and ¡°Cathedral Walk¡± at St. Thomas¡¯ Cathedral looks at the text on the memorials. Walks are announced?on her Instagram page and are conducted on weekends, with around fifteen participants. She also does?private walks.?
Find them at: @tanyatypes; https://tanyatypes.in?
The Bombay Natural History Society conducts walks on 33 acres of forest, as well as at other locations within and outside Mumbai, to give a chance to people to explore Maharashtra¡¯s natural heritage. These walks are a celebration of different?faces of nature, of the flora and fauna of the seasons. Walkers can enjoy the splendour of butterflies during their ¡°Breakfast with Butterflies¡± walk or the glory of flighted creatures in their ¡°Brunch with Birds¡± walk. Additionally, the BNHS organises festivals like the wildflower Karvi which blooms every seven years. The society also visits schools and office?campuses on invitation to carry out walks there.?
Find them at: https://www.bnhs.org/; https://www.bnhs.org/content-details/mumbai-cec
Architect Aafreen Fathima Kabir is a Chennaite and often finds herself saying, ¡°Yes, I am a Madrasi¡±. Kabir explores the history of Madras during her walks such as ¡°Royals and Residences¡± in Chennai¡¯s Royapettah area or ¡°Along the Beach That Was ¨C Rajaji Salai¡±. Two distinct strands inform her walks ¡ª the vivid stories told to her by her grandfather and father, and the prejudice that she has encountered for being from Royapuram, an area in north Chennai. These prejudices date back to the British occupation, when the northern part of the city was labelled the ¡°black town¡± and stereotypes such as violence and illiteracy were associated with it.?
Realising that there were many things even long-time residents did not know about the history of their city, Kabir curated 20 walks which she conducts independently, once a month. She also collaborates with organisations and communities like Goethe Institut, the interdisciplinary collective Nam Veedu, Nam Ooru, Nam Kadhai, as well as Madras Photo Bloggers and Chennai Photo Walk. She accepts around 20-25 registrations, and information about the walks is available on her Instagram page.?
Find them at: @ninetyeight.madras; ninetyeight.madras@gmail.com?
Indian history extends far beyond the Mughals, as journalist Yunus Lasania points out in the bio of his popular Instagram page, which states, ¡°Not hungover on Mughal history¡±. Lasania found the impetus to conduct heritage walks in Hyderabad with his love for the city. He began researching and writing about the city, and by 2017, he had found another expression ¡ª walks. The weekend walks are announced in the middle of the week on the Insta stories of his pages. Some of these include the Qutub Shahi Tombs, Old City Charminar walk, Golconda Fort, Secunderabad and the British Residency. Lasania not only talks about the history of Hyderabad during these walks but also places them in the larger context of Indian history. Each walk, conducted in groups of 40, lasts around 2-2.5 hours.
Find them at: @thehyderabadhistoryproject; @thathyderabadiboy
Tom Holland and Zendaya, on their short visit to Mumbai earlier this year, ensured that they got to look around the city. Who did they trust to be their guides? No Footprints. ¡°We call them experiences because they go beyond the realm of just being walks,¡± said Harshvardhan Tanwar, co-founder of the tour company, which operates in Mumbai and Delhi. They have a range of experiences to suit different tastes, such as ¡°Mumbai by Dawn¡±, which begins at 5 am, to ¡°A Queer Day Out¡±. In Delhi, their ¡°International Refugee Food Tour¡± offers participants a glimpse into how refugee communities preserve their identity through food. A popular one in the capital is ¡°The Great Indian Wedding Tour¡±, a brainchild of co-founder Eesha Singh. Group sizes vary depending on the tour.?
Find them at: https://www.nfpexplore.com/mumbai/; https://www.nfpexplore.com/delhi/?
An old favourite, INTACH¡¯s walks are always reliable. Established in 1984, the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage has chapters in cities across India. Some of these chapters organise many events, among which are heritage walks. For instance, the Bengaluru chapter has the ¡°Parichay¡± walk series. The Pune and Mumbai chapters are also active and list a series of walks on their website and on Instagram.