View: India has a complicated relationship with its heritage its time we value it

For a country so obsessed about its past, India has a complicated relationship with its heritage, especially urban and building heritage. Barring a few cases - notably associated with past politicians - cultural memory is served poorly by our upkeep of historical sites associated with persons worth revering. Bismillah Khan's house in Varanasi was demolished in 2020 to make way for a commercial complex. A year before, RK Studios in Mumbai, set up by Raj Kapoor in 1950 and where so many iconic movies were shot, was also razed. Joining this 'graveyard of invisibles' now is cricket legend Vijaya Hazare's bungalow, Pushpakoot, in Vadodara, set to be demolished.

There is a need to genuinely sit down and think about how we collectively value, recognise and preserve buildings and structures that embody our culture. This requires moving beyond the restrictive view of what comprises 'historical', a need to recognise that history is a living concept. Much attention is being given to ancient, medieval and pre-Independence artefacts and structures. This is welcome. But India's greats from a more relatable past also need to be recalled and revered in palpable ways - homes turned into museums, areas turned into 'remembrance walks'. Many countries mark these sites with something as little as a plaque on the wall - 'Here lived...'. Even these serve as memory posts worth emulating.

To build the highest, biggest, brightest goes with every society's wish to leave its mark and flex its civilisational muscle in brick and mortar. But by maintaining and curating sites associated with our legends should be part of that same confidence in mythology-building. To know you stand before a structure once inhabited by a great, can be as inspiring as any grand temple.