[Lifestyle] Is the profile of Delhi’s heritage walks changing?

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Delhi is home to heritage sites such as Humayun’s Tomb, the alleys of Shahjahanabad, Qutub Minar and numerous other monuments, some preserved and some in ruins. And it’s not unusual to hear of heritage walks organised by historians and culture enthusiasts. But this industry is witnessing a diversification in the walk leader community. While curated walks are no longer exclusive to historians, influencers, too, are turning into amateur walk leaders. Social media is seeing a trend in the “romanticising” of the city, its past, its culture, and its aesthetics, much of which is replete with misinformation and false narratives. Presenting a glorified facet of history, it deviates from reality itself.“I started City Tales as an Instagram page to document my explorations in 2019 and began leading walks in 2022,” says Rameen Khan, 36, who approaches heritage walks through history-based storytelling. An MBA by qualification, Rameen has been leading heritage walks in Mehrauli Archaeological Park, Purana Qila and Safdarjung’s Tomb. “I have no academic background in history and I make sure to tell this to people,” says Rameen. He’s critical of walk leaders who use an intellectual aura to build credibility. This practice of presenting incorrect facts is harming the industry, he adds. For instance, the false narratives surrounding Malcha Mahal that the monument is haunted, takes away from its Tughlak-era history of being a hunting lodge, and the explorations into the mysterious royal family that lived there in the ruins, until recently.Author Rana Safvi, who has led numerous walks in Delhi, says, “There are two kinds of walks taking place today. The first led by people who have a background in history and are well-read, and the other curated by leaders who are unaware of actual history and provide half-baked information gathered from the internet but say it with so much authority that it seems true.”Shah Umair, a numismatist, po[CENSORED]rly known as Sikkawala, started leading heritage walks to places like Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah and Purani Dilli post the pandemic. Shah, who owns a creative agency in Gurgaon and pursues walk-leading as a passion, says, “The people coming in are not well-read and just gather information from Wikipedia, which is making the industry suffer… People have come for my walks, recorded my script, and then conducted their own walks with the plagiarised content.” Recognising a need for a local from Delhi-6, Anas Khan started leading heritage walks in 2021, using stories to talk about the city’s culture and history. An anthropologist, Anas began Unzip Delhi, a platform to hold walks in Old Delhi, including places such as Ghalib Ki Haveli, Zafar Mahal and the northern Ridge. Anas asserts that newcomers should be offered support and resources to prevent the dissemination of misinformation and allow for a healthy growth of the heritage walks community. He adds, “Storytelling is justified once the storyteller tells the audience that their content may not be factually correct and it is a folk tale.” The absence of a disclaimer would mean distorting history, reiterates Anas.

https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/art-and-culture/is-the-profile-of-delhis-heritage-walks-changing-9361628/