In focus: Mr. Debashish Nayak
The Indian Heritage mission is a direct result of the life’s work of Mr. Debashish Nayak, who is an architect with more than two decades of experience in managing urban conservation issues of historic cities in India and abroad.
His most recent accomplishment was as the founder and director of the Centre for Heritage Management of Ahmedabad University, Gujarat, from which he retired in April 2018 – only to scale up the scope for Indian heritage conservation by now working towards founding the Indian Heritage Mission, as an act of transferring his life’s work to the enterprising youth of this country.
Since 1996 Mr. Nayak has been working as advisor to the Heritage Programme of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation for the revitalisation of the ‘Historic Walled City’. He is also advisor to other City Municipalities such as Jaipur, Amritsar, Old Delhi, Lucknow, Pondicherry etc. He has been appointed as Advisor to the Indian Heritage Cities Network launched by UNESCO, India and as Gujarat State Project Co-ordinator for National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities, and member of the National Committee on Conservation Policy, Archaeological Survey of India.
Among the many awards and accolades he has received are the Ashoka Fellowship (1990 – 1993), Salzburg Fellow (1990), Ten Outstanding Young Indian Award (1994) and in 1995, Friends of the United Nations Citizen’s Award at New York. In 2006, AMA (Ahmedabad Management Association) awarded him with Anubhai Chimanlal–AMA Nagrikta Puraskar – citizenship award for his contribution in Ahmedabad. An unmistakably significant evidence of Mr. Nayak’s success in motivating communities, and advocating Heritage consciousness, is given by the fact that — Ahmedabad is now listed as a World Heritage City by UNESCO, primarily because of his untiring efforts and dedication.
The Writing of the Indian Heritage Mission Manifesto
This document is a result of the numerous conversations, discussions, contemplations, insights, and deliberations that I have had with Mr. Debashish Nayak, since late 2015.
I had been away from India for over a decade prior to 2015, and upon my return, although I appreciated the vast and widespread economic and infrastructural development that India had undergone in the period of my absence, I couldn’t help but feel a certain void of a cultural, philosophical, and discursive nature — in the general atmosphere. I was at once left thinking that all our industrial prowess must be a double edged sword that we are only beginning to feel the brunt of, as we entrench ourselves deeper into an imported consumerist lifestyle. Despite all the development and the economic prowess that the country now boasts, on its streets a certain philosophical and discursive void was blatantly evident. Materialist ends seemed to have taken precedence over humanistic ones. I was initially left feeling that our so called Indian way of life had transmuted into a collective race for material and power like never before.
Philosophical thought, and adherence to one’s roots, seemed to have diminished, if not entirely wiped away by swathes of modernisation and technological advancement. My romantic notion of a quintessential Indianness, was proving to be a total failure. Something in me deeply suffered, as I came across more and more common folk who had generically adapted to an exceedingly consumeristic way of life. One, that is perhaps further away from our heritage, than it perhaps was prior to the opening of markets in the 1990s.
Also worrying was the fact that the scale of patronage for the arts, culture, and heritage was barely visible in the public discourse.
In 2015, when I perchance met Mr. Nayak (via my old friend, and now an eminent art historian and Ajanta scholar par excellence – Dr. Rajesh. K. Singh), I was at once led to think that unbeknownst to Mr. Nayak himself, his many efforts perhaps surmount to a parallel, or underground Heritage movement. At once, I felt that this is something I could volunteer for, as an enthusiast of history and culture myself. One meeting with Mr. Nayak was enough to inspire in me a program of study on the matters of Heritage. Hence, my camaraderie with Mr. Nayak took hold.
Now, I submit myself as a volunteer and servant of this mission. It is for me the perfect chance to tick off from my bucket list the urge to serve my country to whatever frugal effect that I can afford — the writing of the Indian Heritage Mission Manifesto is my tuppence, further to which I must iterate that I see myself of no greater value to the mission than a humble scribe. Much of the discursive and ideological content herein, results from my interactions with Mr. Nayak.
This is a servitude that has revived in me an erstwhile fascination for our history; and I hope I am able to urge others too.
Should the above story appease in you an urge to learn about heritage, please download this proposed Manifesto, that can be best used as an orientation package for all heritage lovers:
PDF Download: INDIAN HERITAGE MISSION MANIFESTO
Critical Thinking for Heritage Lovers
Furthermore, here is an additional document that was used for a lecture on Arts Administration, at the Centre for Heritage Management, Ahmedabad University. Effective administration is perhaps the primary component in converting philosophical thought into tangible outcomes. this Presentation lays down the some basic rudiments of critical thinking for administrators and managers in the realms of heritage and culture:
