Acquainting oneself with the rich legacy of the city they live in, unraveling the hidden facets and discussing interesting details as they take a guided tour of the city- heritage walks are keeping the history enthusiasts in the city on their toes. Testimony to that are the recent Old Coimbatore Heritage Walk and the Perur Payanam, as a part of the annual celebrations of the city that had students and history enthusiasts in full attendance.
Entrepreneur Shankar Vanavarayar, one of the organizers of the heritage walk, had told us, “Coimbatore is laced with both ancient and modern architecture. One of the ideal steps to preserve the heritage and let the generation next know about it is by imparting knowledge on the subject and documenting all the buildings in the city.”
Historian CR Elangovan, who is quite kicked about these heritage walks, enthuses that they are an ideal way to impart lessons on the legacy of a place. “This is, in fact, the best way to educate the current and future generations about the legacy of a city. Teachers do talk about the history in a classroom setting, but there is nothing like going to the venue and seeing it yourself. Live tour leaves a lasting impact. Coimbatore doesn’t have a very rich history to boast about and most of the heritage buildings here are only 200 years old. These walks help people take a trip down memory lane.”
RJ Krishna, though seconds Elangovan that heritage walks do their bit, he maintains that there are other modes of passing on the knowledge. “Heritage walks do help unravel great facts, but it shouldn’t be restricted to history students and closed groups. For instance, when the Semmozhi Maanadu happened in Coimbatore, almost every wall in the city on the road that led to the Maanadu venue had writings about the richness of Tamil language. This was an easy way to reach out to the masses in Coimbatore and the purpose of the event was served well. Something on those lines with writings or illustrations that depict the history of Coimbatore on the walls before and during the heritage walks and weeks would be another way to reach everyone. This way, we can reach out to a larger group.”
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Coimbatore / by P Sangeetha, TNN / May 05th, 2014