Diamonds in the Dust... How we came to be...

As summer vacations were fast approaching, two girls were really looking forward to their time away from school. One was me, Maanya Saran, a thirteen year old, eight-grader and the other was Mansi Jain, a sixteen year old, eleventh grader. Both of us went to the same school, had similar interests and also had pretty much the same plan for the summer. Yet, we did not know each other well or the fact that both of us were headed for Europe two weeks apart on different cruises and the impact this summer vacation would have on both of us...

Visiting the old cities there, we both realized how much we, Indians, were missing out on in terms of our historical heritage. All of us know the big names of historical Indian architecture- The Taj Mahal, Qutub Minar, Red Fort, India Gate, Gateway of India, Sanchi Stupa, etc. but no one has ever heard of the smaller names such as- Sheesh Mahal, Ghaus Ali Khan’s Baoli etc. Had you? For, we surely hadn’t (more about this later).

All over Europe, monuments – castles and palaces, cathedrals, even old official and residential buildings are carefully preserved and regarded as pieces of culture no one wants to lose. But looking at our own country, even monuments with maximum historical importance are rarely treated with the respect and reverence they deserve. The lesser known places are rapidly falling to pieces – often regarded and used as dumps!

The shocking thing is that if the government was not preserving the few monuments that they can, every single monument would either be destroyed or in the process. And even as you read this, so many monuments are absolutely unprotected and so many are disappearing by the day. We just don’t know about it.

Recently, some media organisations like The Times of India and The Hindustan Times have taken up the cause of the preservation of lesser known monuments and have highlighted just how alarming the situation has become. To know more, please follow these links:

• Forgotten Glories (Hindustan Times) 
• CM brings life to lesser known monuments of Delhi (Hindustan Times)
• Monuments INTACH Delhi Chapter (Times of India) 
• Our lesser known treasures (Hindustan Times)

Mansi, on her trip, also realized the importance given by Europeans to their culture as well as the increase in tourist influx due to the upkeep of the monuments.

For me, the eye-opener was that for a culture that goes back several millennia, we have so little to show for it in terms of monuments, other than the already protected and fairly well known places. And this is so much in contrast to Europe – especially Italy which had well preserved monuments from every era in every city that we visited.

We both felt the need to do something about this and we decided to team up to find lesser known monuments of India and help spread some awareness about them as well as assist in getting these places the attention they deserve. Thus was born – Diamonds in the Dust – Rediscovering India’s Heritage…One Monument at a Time.

 

Our Vision:

A story long forgotten,

A legend untold…

A building now just lies there,

While no one cares for the secrets it may hold.

“A waste of space” someone may say,

And break it down for lowly pay.

Or leave it there to let it grow to be,

A garbage dump no one wants to see!

But once it was a building alive,

A piece of history, a worthy archive.

And we are here to make it stay,

To ensure that it is not pushed away.

To make the jewel that it deserves to be,

To make it a place for the world to see.

-- Maanya Saran
August 18, 2013