We had decided on our first Diamond in the Dust-
Sheesh Mahal. Now, we had to start to freeze on certain plans on how we were to
raise awareness. After hours of brainstorming, we came up with a few ideas. One
of them was a Nukkad Natak, which was
basically a street play. This Nukkad
Natak would be performed in one of the school buildings in Farrukhnagar. To
identify the school and to meet with their principals, we decided to visit
Farrukhnagar once again.
The other idea was to have a heritage walk with a
few interested students from Shri Ram School – so 10 of us along with our
parents went down to Farrukhnagar on Friday August 16th 2013, to get
to know its monuments a little better. And did we luck out! (More about this
below….)
This time, we were also joined by a passionate
Heritage lover – Ramit Mitra of Delhi By Foot. On getting to Farrukhnagar, we
headed to the Baoli first, where Ramit Sir explained its socio-cultural
significance as well as spent time helping us understand its finer
architectural nuances.
Next, we identified two government schools and
spoke to the principals about our project and sought their help to propagate
the idea of local heritage conversation with their students through a Nukkad
Natak and a presentation. That was when we got to know about a passionate,
local gentleman, Mr. Raj Kanwar Gupta - who was at the forefront of all conservation efforts at
Farrukhnagar, so we decided to meet him. This is when we lucked out – because
he turned out to be a treasure trove of information!
Everyone called him “Masterji”, which translates to “Sir” or “Teacher”, as he was a
retired primary school teacher. He took a special interest in the monuments at
Farrukhnagar and even wrote letters to organizations like ASI and INTACH, to
save the dying heritage there. Mr. Gupta gave us the detailed history of the Sheesh
Mahal and Farrukhnagar in general and our entire meeting with him was very insightful . |
| Photo courtesy - Ramit Mitra of Delhi by Foot |
He explained the details of every part left of it
and we were literally transported when there actually used to be hearings in
these courts. After our long and detailed discussion about the courts and
trials, he took us to one side of the building where there were dark stairs
leading downwards. We could not see anything below. On using a torch, we saw
that there was a small pile of trash at the bottom of the staircase. Masterji told us that this used to be a
basement and it had its other opening on the other side of the court. Moving
very cautiously, we reached the bottom. The trash pile did not extend far
beyond the landing.
 |
| Photo courtesy - Ramit Mitra of Delhi by Foot |
But the whole tunnel was pitch black; for someone who is
scared of the dark, it could be a nightmare, but for us, it was fun! Using the
only torch we had and feeling like explorers in a mine, we made our way to the
opposite end and up the other set of stairs.
 |
| Photo courtesy - Ramit Mitra of Delhi by Foot |
Upstairs we were shown little
inserts in the ground that allowed air to go into the basement. Everything was
very scientifically and logically designed.
Masterji
took us up to the top of the court building. Up there, we saw a kitchen with a
very modern chimney. We were told that Sheesh Mahal had seen many forms post
India’s Independence. Apparently, until only a few years ago, a primary school
was run here (Intesrestingly, we met many middle aged locals that day at Sheesh
Mahal – who talked of being primary school children here with a lot of
nostalagia – one of them even pointed out to the various sections of the palace
they used for different types of games!). Before that, it served as a Chowki or police station for the Farrukhnagar
Police. And before that, it was just an abandoned building while no one, not
even a Monument Attendant, was there to take care of it.
 |
| Photo courtesy - Ramit Mitra of Delhi by Foot |
Masterji
insisted on taking us to another one of the landmarks of Farrukhnagar. It was
called the Ram-Sita Mandir. But it was no ordinary temple – this was a Hindu
temple and a Sikh Gurudwara housed in a masjid or mosque. (Note: A Mandir is a place for Hindu worship; a Masjid is a place for
Muslim worship and a Gurudwara is a place for Sikh worship). We found this
concept fascinating and unique to Farrukhnagar.
Before we knew it, our heritage walk had come to
an end and it was time to go. This time, we took an alternate route to leave. As
we got out of the old city, we noticed brightly coloured ramparts of the
crumbling outer perimeters of the old fort surrounding the city. We could not
help but get out of the car and take some more pictures to commit to memory,
since we realised with a sinking feeling that some more of this could be lost
to encroachment and urbanisation.
This time, we noticed walls that were older than
others and which had the same colour and intricacy as the walls of Sheesh
Mahal. It was very fascinating to see that the dilapidated building we saw
inside, once stretched over all this land.
Back at school, after a lot of rehearsals and
approvals, we had finally settled on a date for our Nukkad Natak at the
Government Girls School, Farrukhnagar- the 3rd of September. Also,
we have started an online petition with which we are going to use to convince
ASI/INTACH to adopt Sheesh Mahal. Please do sign it at-http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Protect_our_heritage_and_cultural_inheritance/?fJKjOdb.
An E-newsletter is going to be sent to all the
parents of our school, regarding our work on this project. Furthermore, we have
presented our work to grades 6-8 in the form of a presentation. We are also
making posters which will be put up at school for the steady promotion of our
project among all the students. If all goes well, we will have taken a few
steps towards creating some awareness within our school and the community in general!
