Heritage on our minds

A few weeks had passed since Lady Flora had seen her friend and walking companion Pheroze She was worried and had decided to head towards his pedestal to check on him The moonlit night gave her enough direction to spot his silhouette from a fair distanceldquoAh There you are For heavenrsquos sake why havenrsquot you been showing up for our walksrdquo Lady Florarsquos voice was noticeably shrill as she called out to her friend who was stepping out from his former office ldquoBusy busy times Lady Flora My sincerest apologiesrdquo he tried to explain his absence But Lady Flora was having none of his lame excuses ldquoBut Pheroze you shouldrsquove at least sent word via Percy our heritage community pigeon messenger there is a reason why hersquos on your payroll So tell me what the reason was for this disappearancerdquo Sir PM settled himself in a corner near this former office caught his breath and decided to come cleanldquoWell you see there were several reasons mdash work and leisurehelliperr I meant research So as you may or may not have heard the BMC recently released their budget for the city and as ALWAYS he loved to emphasise that word I was called upon to see off the papers After all these decades my bosses still feel reassured when I sign off things The research the studying of current needs especially in light of the pandemic and its impact on our city mdash all of it had to be studied closely and taken into considerationrdquo he elaboratedldquoYou have been busy I believe you I am glad to report that as a citizen of this great city I was happy to see a higher allocation for health care Better late than neverhellipit had to take a pandemic to shake things up clearlyrdquo the last line was a sarcastically delivered jab and audible enough for her friend to hear it ldquoBut apart from that Pheroze why didnrsquot you push a bit for our upkeep you know more funds for our ilk Look around apart from South Bombay the rest of the city and the rsquoburbs sure need help Friends and informers ndash unlike that goodfornothing Percy ndash have been sharing news of all kinds of shocking developments From neglect of important milestones to tearing down of key Art Deco buildings Guidelines and fund allocation should have been spelt out to keep them safe I mean if you say every paper was passed by you surely this could have been slipped inrdquo she arguedldquoI tried LadyhellipI really did But there were so many even more critical areas that needed extra funding so finally when we did the maths heritage didnrsquot get what it deservesrdquo Sir PM explainedThatrsquos when it struck him to share about the lsquoleisurersquo part of his absence to take off some steam from her relentless interrogationldquoLady I was also away on a study trip I wanted to see the temples of Belur Halebidu and Somanathapura that were built by the Hoysala dynasty in Karnataka Did you know that they will be Indiarsquos official nomination this year for UNESCO World Heritage Site status After hearing so much about its architecture and craftsmanship I wanted to visit these sites that date back to AD 1213 centuries In any case a trip with the missus was overdue She too is a lover of history and so I killed two birds with one stonehelliprdquo Sir PM was sure this would extricate him from the inquisitionldquoAre you calling Ms Mehta a birdrdquo Lady Flora teased ldquoNo not at all But you know what I mean Trust me those temples were splendid What stunning artistry and detailing I heard that even a former Prime Minister had put his weight behind these sites to ensure that they were Indiarsquos official nominationrdquo Sir PM continued ldquoWell at least some politicians are looking at heritage with the right intent and the big picture More importantly tell me how the upkeep was from a visitorrsquos eyerdquo Lady Flora enquired ldquoI was surprised to see that it was spotlessly clean wellmaintained and there was fantastic management with tourist inflow The best part ndash thanks to controlled commercial interests there were smaller crowds no crass or bigbudget fivestars and not even glitzy souvenir shops that are always around most of Indiarsquos tourist attractionsrdquo he sharedldquoHow wonderful Now why donrsquot you share this data from your lsquostudy visitrsquo with your former bosses and babus if they are open to some constructive feedback and be inspired from these sites to help rescue our UNESCO World Heritage Site ndash the Elephanta Caves It needs to be in better shape considering its historic significance I overheard some terribly upsetting accounts from touristsrdquo Lady Flora had a knack for dropping a sharp yet pertinent line when Sir PM was least expecting it And she was always right Her heart was in the right place after all and it always beat for her favourite citymiddayrsquos Features Editor Fiona Fernandez relishes the cityrsquos sights sounds smells and stoneswherever the ink and the inclination takes her She tweets 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