In continuation with the Heritage Week Celebrations, HECS organised Calligraphy Workshop, which saw the participation of 127 students from 33 schools of Delhi. Ms. Purnima Datt, Principal Director, Heritage Education and Communication Services welcomed students and teachers and gave them a brief introduction about INTACH. This was followed by the screening of the HECS film. A brief introduction about the event of the day was also given by the speaker elucidating on the history of the art of calligraphy along with its brief history.

This was followed by a session with Dr. Swapna Liddle, Convener, INTACH Delhi Chapter, whose research in 19th century Delhi took the students through few monuments of Delhi that display fine examples of Arabic and Persian calligraphy. She started with the iron pillar in the Qutub complex. She also explained how for the first time after the 11th Century A.D. the art of calligraphy was used for decorative purposes. These inscriptions were now not only used for religious writings, but also for poems and other verses.

She also told the children that most of the writings on the structures are in Persian and not in Urdu. While explaining the inscriptions on the Zafar Mahal in Meharauli, she told that most of the informative inscription was written in Persian script whereas the religious inscriptions are mostly found in Urdu.

According to her research, the calligraphy of the 99 names of Allah was the most popular embellishments found on the monuments. Another popular calligraphic inscription found on the monuments was the information of the repair work done by different rulers on different times.

In her concluding session Dr. Swapna Liddle encouraged the young minds to have an inquisitive approach towards the inscriptions on monuments if they wish to explore more about this aspect of heritage.

The resource person for this event was Mohammad Zubair, a professional calligraphist and artist who has diplomas in Urdu and Arabic calligraphy from Urdu academy, Delhi and in Graphic designing under National Council for Promotion of Urdu language, Ministry of HRD, Govt. of India. Of over a decade of working, Mohammad Zubair’s work has been displayed in various exhibitions. At present, he is the Head instructor at a Calligraphy Centre run by the National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language. Mohammad Zubair and his team of experts supervised the students for the workshop where the students got firsthand experience of learning Urdu Calligraphy.

Mohammad Zubair started his session by teaching the students how to hold the bamboo stick used as the pen for calligraphy. He told them that the art of calligraphy is known as kitabat in Urdu. Calligraphy is not only used for documentation it is also used for decorative purposes. He taught the students how to write Urdu letters- aa, alif and bey.

The students enjoyed the workshop and were practicing the Urdu and English alphabets on rough sheets of paper. They finally wrote their names on the fair sheets of paper, as taught by Mohammad Zubair and his team of six calligraphers. By the end of the workshop, Zubair and his team wrote each student’s name on the sheet of paper and gifted it to them.

Heritage and Education Communication Service (HECS), INTACH Delhi in collaboration with the INTACH Santiniketan Chapter organized a one-day teacher training workshop on 21st November 2016 for 22 teachers from 10 schools and 2 colleges at Patha Bhavana, Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan. The event followed with welcome address by Ms. Sushmita Guha Roy, Convenor, INTACH Santiniketan Chapter. Mr. Animesh Rai, Co-Convenor INTACH Santiniketan Chapter also shared a few words of encouragement with the participants. He also thanked the ex-convenor Mr. S. Adhikari for attending the workshop and blessing everyone to carry forward the legacy of Santiniketan’s founding principles of celebrating local heritage and sharing a common heritage and culture with one and all. Technical Sessions were conducted with the help of presentations on the Heritage of India and what makes it rich and unique followed by an explanation on the setting up of heritage clubs and innovative lesson plans in their teaching modules that give them a hands-on experience in heritage education. The teachers were divided into 4 groups and were given topics for presentation on natural heritage, built heritage, and living heritage of coastal town of Santiniketan. The workshop ended with the distribution of certificates and publications as part of resource material to the participating schools.

22 November 2016, Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh

The College Heritage Volunteer Workshop organised by the INTACH Gwalior Chapter in collaboration with the INTACH Heritage Education and Communication Service (HECS) was held at the Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management (IITTM) on 22 November 2016 in Gwalior. It was attended by 64 college students and 4 faculty members from the IITTM.

The programme began with an introductory address by Dr Kamakshi Maheshwari (Governing Council Member INTACH, Heritage Tourism Committee Member INTACH and Assistant Professor, Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management, Gwalior). She spoke about the ongoing heritage week, role of tourism and encouraged participants to imbibe a spirit of volunteerism in their work for heritage. It was followed by a welcome address by Mr Saurabh Dixit (Nodal officer, INTACH) stressing on the importance of heritage and its significance in India. In addition to, the necessity to pass on the tradition, knowledge and heritage forward. The key note address was delivered by Dr H. B. Maheshwari Jaisal (Convenor, INTACH Madhya Pradesh). He refferred to heritage as being both simple and complex at the same time, particularly, in terms of the numerous elements and dimensions it could capture.

The participants were shown the INTACH film and received a glimpse of the activities undertaken by the organisation. It was followed by a detailed session on heritage - explaining what it meant and an overview of its varied dimensions (natural, built, material and living).The interactions and Q-A, encouraged participants to think about heritage and explore rich heritage of their respective region. An interactive session on heritage volunteerism and ways to contribute was a highlight of the workshop. It encouraged participants to think of ways to protect their heritage and spread awareness across educational institutions.

The workshop concluded with a vote of thanks by Mr Vikas Singh (Co-Convenor, INTACH Gwalior chapter) and distribution of certificates.

Heritage and Education Communication Service (HECS), INTACH Delhi in collaboration with the INTACH Tamil Nadu State Chapter organized a two-day teacher training workshop from 10th – 11th November 2016 for 38 teachers from 21 schools at Prime College of Architecture & Planning, Kilvelur, Nagapattinam. Dr. S. Suresh, Convenor, INTACH Tamil Nadu State Chapter welcomed all the participants. The technical aspect of the workshop was conducted by Ms. Purnima Datt, Principal Director, HECS INTACH Delhi. Sessions were conducted with the help of presentations on the Heritage of India and what makes it rich and unique. The whole idea behind the workshop is to emphasis on unique ways of developing lesson plans for children so as to sensitise them towards their heritage. Emphasis was primarily laid on developing innovative lesson plans in their school curriculum to incorporate sensitivity towards one’s heritage in both teachers and students. Mr. A. Gavaskar, Assistant Professor, Department of English, Prime College also gave a talk on the importance of heritage education in today’s time and its relevance in school curriculum. The teachers were divided into 4 groups and were given topics for presentation on natural heritage, built heritage, and living heritage of coastal town of Nagapattinam. There was a cultural performance by the students of the host college. All the participant teachers came forward and brainstormed over issues to be picked up in the area of heritage in their respective schools. The workshop ended with the distribution of certificates and publications as part of resource material to the participating schools to help taking the heritage movement forward in their schools and local community.

The College Heritage Volunteer Workshop organised by the INTACH Sikkim Chapter in collaboration with the INTACH Heritage Education and Communication Service (HECS) was held at the Deorali Girls Senior Secondary School on 4 October 2016 in Gangtok. It was attended by 60 college students and eleven faculty members from six colleges. Including - Damber Singh College (affiliated to the Sikkim University); Harkamaya College of Education, Samdur; Sikkim Government College, Burtuk; Sikkim Government College, Tadong; Sikkim Government Law College, Gangtok and Vinayaka Mission’s Sikkim University, Tadong. In addition to this, there were two representatives from the Cultural Affairs and Heritage Department and a senior state government official who were a part of the programme.

The welcome and introductory address was delivered by the Convenor, INTACH Sikkim, Mr Dong. The programme was inaugurated by the chief guest, Mr G S Lama (recipient of the Padmashree award for literature) with Mr S.T. Gyatso as the chief patron. Presentations and talks on heritage - an overview, its conservation and management with reference to Sikkim was a highlight of the workshop.

Aspects of the cultural heritage inform of oral traditions and rituals of the Bhutia, Lepcha and Nepali community were described by the resource persons. The popular myths surrounding the origin of the Kanchenjunga and a sacred narrative associated with it were discussed. There was unanimity regarding the re-enforcement of community identity through such oral traditions and rituals. In addition to, the need to avoid cultural amnesia unleashed by increased globalisation and cosmopolitanism. The splendid natural heritage of Sikkim and the recent inscription of the Khangchendzonga National Park (KNP) as a UNESCO World Heritage site (on 17 July 2016) was described through a presentation. It was shared that KNP was the first mixed property with natural and cultural heritage attributes from the country which was indeed inspirational. The built heritage of the region was highlighted during a heritage site tour across the White Hall, the King’s Palace and the Mazong House. The students appreciated the components heritage outlined through the presentations and expressed enthusiasm to be a part of INTACH’s College Heritage Volunteer programme in Sikkim.

The College Heritage Volunteer programme is a pioneering INTACH HECS initiative undertaken with the support of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India since November 2012. It aims at sensitising the youth to protect their heritage and train them to lead a nation-wide movement for heritage conservation and preservation.

21 October 2016, Varanasi

The College Heritage Volunteer Workshop organised by the INTACH Varanasi Chapter in collaboration with the INTACH Heritage Education and Communication Service (HECS) was held at the Vasant Kanya Mahavidyalaya, Kamachha on 21 October 2016 in Varanasi. It was attended by 54 college students and 13 faculty members from five colleges. Including, Arya Mahila Mahavidyalaya P.G. College, Dhirendra Mahila P.G. College, Mahila Maha Vidyalaya, Benaras Hindu University, Vasanta College for Women and Vasant Kanya Mahavidyalaya.

The programme began with a kulgeet presented by college students and Dr Seema Verma (Vocal Music Department) from the Vasant Kanya Mahavidyalaya. It was followed by a floral tribute to Dr Annie Besant by Prof. Sushila Singh (Manager, Vasant Kanya Mahavidyalaya), Ms Purnima Datt (Principal Director, INTACH HECS Delhi), Mr Ashok Kapoor (Convenor, INTACH Varanasi), Ms Rachna Srivastava (Principal, Vasant Kanya Mahavidyalaya) and Dr Sudha Srivastava (Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Vasant Kanya Mahavidyalaya).

The welcome and introductory address was delivered by Prof. Sushila Singh (Manager, Vasant Kanya Mahavidyalaya). While the inaugural address was given by Dr Rachna Srivastava (Principal, Vasant Kanya Mahavidyala) and Mr Ashok Kapoor (Convenor, INTACH Varanasi). Presentations and talks on heritage - an overview, its conservation and management with reference to Varanasi was a highlight of the workshop.

The architectural heritage of Varanasi was outlined by Ms Mudita Agrawal (Architect and Heritage Conservationist). Including, the Ghats – river front palaces; temples; mosques and tombs; kunds and wells; private secular architecture; public secular architecture. She pointed at the unique co-existence of all types of heritage [(natural - Ganga; architectural - ghats; music - Ganga Arti; festivals and rituals (at the ghats); arts and crafts - wooden toys, stone carvings, metal and stone works; textiles and pink enamel)] within one city which made Varanasi - a unique and special heritage city.

The intangible cultural heritage of Varanasi was outlined by Ms Nishtha Gorke and and Ms Gunjan Joshi (Research Scholars). The role and character of Ganga was instrumental in defining and determining the heritage of Varanasi. Including, the Ganga rituals, festivals (krishna leela, kajri (ratjagga); crafts (wooden crafts; handlooms)), food (lassie - famous blue lassie shop); paan; laung lata; chaat; jalebi; thandai; sweets (mini gujia’s)), performing arts (kathak, dhrupad, thumri; birha; shehnai; sarangi).

The natural heritage of Varanasi – Ganga river was outlined by Prof. U K Choudhary (professor, Civil Engineering Department [Ganga river management], IIT-Benaras Hindu University). He shared about river management through nucleus solution and suggested reflection over the spiritual importance of river confluence in India.

A cultural programme with a musical performance by Dr Meenu Pathak (Associate Professor, Department of Instrumental Music) and Dr Swarvandana Sharma (Associate Professor, Department of Vocal Music) left the audience captivated and spellbound. The workshop concluded with a vote of thanks from the Convenor, INTACH Varanasi chapter and distribution of certificates.

Topic- an innovative program in Intangible cultural heritage

The INTACH Chapter Srikakulam conceived and presented on experimental grounds one innovative program. There is one ancient folk art form called Thoorpu bhagavatam (Bhamakalapam ) in North Andhra Distruicts of Srikakulam Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam. It is becoming extinct .In fact only two artists who became aged are performing them on the verge of its extinction. The INTACH Chapter documented this art form also along with other 11 forms in 2010. The Central INTACH had written to the dance department of central university Hyderabad to include these art forms in the curriculam of their dance courses. The Convener handed over the DVDS to central university authorities and pursued constantly for some time but in vain. Later Sent proposals to Central sangeeth Naatak academy for grant of funds to run academy under Guru sishya parampara under copy to INTACH but in vain. Another important point of research is that there is another dance form Kuchipudi which was similar to Thoorpu bhagavatham during 17 the century which was also a folk art form as that of Thoorpu bhagavatham. The situation was similar until 1959. . They conducted seminars and reformed, the scholars made extensive research in adding classical touch to reforms basing on the doctrine of Bharata founder of the classical dance in south. Experts in the field like Padmabhushan Vempati china sathyam Vedantham sathyanarayana developed various aspects in performance and now it has become the signature art of Andhra Pradesh getting international acclaim. Though similar in all aspects including the tradition of male dancing in the character Sathyabhama Thoorubhagotam stood where it was because lack of research as it still continues in the hands of illeterate performong artists. Now the Convener Mr Dharmarao with the help of one Institution of Music and Dance "Sampradayam "prepared one experiment to study the similarities and d ifference in both the forms. Eminent kuchipudi artist of internatioonal acclaim Dr Swathi Somanath played the role of Sthyabhama in kuchipudi tradition. Mrs Anjali as thoorpu sathyabhama. The Collector Dr P.Laksminarasimham showed interest in the experiment and sanctions were given sufficiently. As a result both the artforms were presented on the same stage .The Convener who is a cultural expert explained daruvu (Song ) after Daruvu the differences and similarities in both the forms and how Kuchipudi has been developed. At the end the convener appealed to the audience and the Collector to revive the old glory by providing some help to the art form. The Collector concluded that The proposals for research and restoration of the art form under Gurusishya parampara by giving training to 10 Sathyabhamas ,Mridangam players and other characters and requested the Convener to prepare proposals for submission.

A two day Teacher Training Workshop that was held in Lalitpur, Uttar Pradesh saw a massive attendance of 72 teachers from 36 schools, both English and Hindi medium from various places in the district. The welcome address was given by Mr. Santosh Kumar Sharma, Convenor, INTACH Lalitpur Chapter. Other dignitaries from the chapter were also present, including the Co-Convenor, Mr Rajneesh Chaddha, Tourism expert Mr. Firoz Iqbal and resource persons Mr. Moraji Lal Jain, Mr. Brajesh Tiwari and Mr. Hari Narayan Choubey. Dr. Rupesh Kumar Sharma, District Magistrate (IAS), Lalitpur was invited as the Chief Guest for the event which was held at the Press Club of Lalitpur. He spoke encouraging words to the teachers and promised full support by the administration for all the educational institutions and the INTACH chapter at Lalitpur. The local resource people spoke about various issues that have been crippling Lalitpur in the area of heritage and necessary means to overcome the situation. A presentation on the natural heritage of Lalitpur was made by an associate of Mr V K Jain (I.F.S.). He described the varied natural resources of Lalitpur and shared striking photographs from each site.

Ms. Shivaa Rawat and Mr. Abhishek Das were the resource people from Delhi who briefed the participants on types of heritage, heritage education and key heritage areas. They discussed the core meaning of heritage and heritage education and demonstrated innovative teaching pedagogy. This included hands on practical knowledge and application of heritage education within a classroom setting; group activity with the participants on the basis of types of heritage and their corresponding lesson plans; and teaching aids to promote the given heritage education theme.

The second day started with a site visit to Deogarh, which is a world famous heritage site near Lalitpur, located on the banks of Betwa River. Numerous Jain temples, the famous Dashavatar Temple and caves with rock art are scattered around the exquisite heritage precinct. The teachers visited the group of Jain temples and Dashavatar Temple which was lead by Mr Moraji Lal Jain (Chairman of the Trust, Deogarh). After the site visit, the teachers gave their presentations on the heritage topics assigned to them. The workshop ended with the distribution of certificates and handed over the resource material

Topic- Activities from April 2015 to August 2016

Intach Chennai Chapter in association with the Alliance Francaise of Madras held a talk by Dr. R. Bhanumathi on “TRADITIONAL SHADOW PUPPETRY OF SOUTH INDIA” on 30th APRIL 2015. Dr. R. Bhanumathi, an environmental educationist with more than 30 years’ experience with lot of involvement in the art of puppetry, she has done her doctoral research on the ‘Status of Shadow puppetry and Puppeteers of South India”. She is presently the Managing Trustee, Pavai Center for Puppetry, a Chennai based charitable trust dedicated to the art of Puppetry. Her talk covered different facets of traditional shadow puppetry including geographical distributions, preparation of puppets, performances and status of puppeteers.

Intach Chennai Chapter in association with the Alliance Francaise held a talk by Dr. Rajini Sarma Balachandran on “THE KANCHEEPURAM SAREE” on 29th MAY 2015. Dr. Rajini Sarma Balachandran has a Ph.D. in Political science from New York University and also a trained Artist from New York Studio School, Parsons School of Design and Arts Student League of New York. Her talk covered Rediscovery of Tamil Tradition and Heritage with an aim to create a critical awareness of our rich heritage and at the same time to keep it alive in the midst of the changing global environment. In the course of the lecture, saris were exhibited, to show how innovations can be incorporated within traditional boundaries in keeping with the very nature of the Kanchipuram silk sari.

As a part of “Madras Week”, Intach Chennai Chapter organized a documentary screening of “India’s Disappearing Beaches – A WAKE UP CALL”, in association with PondyCan and the Alliance Francaise of Madras by Shekar Dattatri, held on 19th AUGUST 2015, followed by a panel discussion at Edourard Michelin Auditorium. The 15 minute documentary started off with the science behind beaches, took us through how nature creates and maintains sandy strips of land by the sea. Further, the film explained how erosion takes place; possible ways to prevent manmade erosion and restore lost beaches through the right measures. Finally the film concluded with solution to restore our beaches, by ‘Planning coastal development’ and ‘strictly regulating the number of ports and other hard coastal structures’.

As a part of MADRAS DAY CELEBRATION, a documentary film made by Intach Chennai Chapter “The Story of Madras….Chennai” was screened and an exhibition of sketches and photographs on the theme “SPIRIT OF CHENNAI” was held on 21st AUGUST 2015 by SATYABAMA UNIVERSITY. This was judged by SUJATHA SHANKAR (Convenor, INTACH Chennai Chapter) along with Ar. DEAN D’CRUZ (Partner and Principal Architect Mozaic Design, Goa).

Intach Chennai Chapter in association with Corporation of Chennai screened the film “THE STORY OF MADRAS…CHENNAI” THE FIRST CITY OF MODERN INDIA, with a recorded talk by city’s famed historian and chronicler Mr. S. MUTHIAH, on the sands of Marina Beach for the public, on 22nd AUGUST 2015. The film traces the city’s history, highlighting its built heritage, creates awareness, disseminates knowledge about our city and its local history in order to understand it in the context of the larger canvas of India. The response was so overwhelming that a second screening was organized immediately after the first screening.

On the same occasion, the Heritage Map of Chennai was brought out with support of TTK group of companies and was released by Prince of Arcot, Nawab Mohammed Abdul Ali, received by Rani Vedamuthu, Chairperson of school of Architecture and Planning. The Map was distributed free of cost to the public who had gathered to watch the film screening the same evening.

As a part of Heritage awareness programme an INTACH Heritage Photo contest was organized to discover the Hidden Heritage of the city among School and College students

A Shadow puppetry performance (Thol pavai koothu) “ARICHANDRANIN KATHAI” by D.Muthuchandran Rao & his troupe (a sixth generation puppeteer of traditional family of artistes) was held at SPACES, Besant Nagar on 29th AUGUST 2015. Muthuchandran Rao’s repertoire includes Ramayana, Kantha Puranam and stories such as Nallathangaal Kathai and Arichandranin Kathai.

Intach Chennai Chapter put up on various Bus Stops in the city, information panels on Heritage Structures in association with Chennai Corporation. This was conceptualized with an aim to spread awareness of our city’s rich heritage. Each panel contains an image with description of the structure. The image chosen is of a building in the vicinity of the respective bus stop with the INTACH logo. It makes an impact with high visibility, repeated viewing, memory recall and hence awareness and respect for Heritage.

The talk “Future of Ecological Areas of Chennai” by Dr. Jayshree Vencatesan on 11th September 2015 was organized by Intach Chennai Chapter jointly with Queen Mary’s College. Dr. Jayshree Vencatesan, Ph.D. in biodiversity and biotechnology has 23 years of professional experience. Her talk was about the well documented 400 – year old history of Chennai. Despite the onslaught of urbanization, Chennai continues to preserve its ecology in fragments. The talk took the audience through some of these fragments of the city ecology and discussed what lies ahead.

Intach Chennai Chapter organized a talk on “Restoration of Water bodies, Lakes & Wetlands” jointly with the Indian Institute of Architects, by Dr. Ritu Singh of Intach’s Natural Heritage Division, an Environment conservation professional with over 13 years of experience on October 24th, 2015 at Apparao Galleries. Her successes of revival of some of the water bodies were highlighted. Her insight raised the awareness of wetlands being destroyed at an alarming rate throughout the developed and developing worlds.

A talk by Prof. Itty Abraham on 6th November, 2015 at Alliance Francaise of Madras was held jointly by Intach Chennai Chapter and the Madras Book Club. Prof. Abraham, Author and Head of the Department of Southeast Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore (NUS), whose research interests include science and technology studies, postcolonial theory and international relations, spoke on “The Indian Heritage Center (IHC) in Singapore. Itty Abraham highlighted the varied contribution of Indians in the social and economic structure of the country, forming an indelible part of cultural fabric of Singapore.

Intach Chennai Chapter held on January 16th 2016 at Amethyst a book release of “IN ANDAL’S GARDEN”, a Marg publication. A part of the research of this book had been supported by Intach. The book was released by Mr.N.Murali, Co–Chairman of THE HINDU and President of the Music Academy and was received by Leela Samson, Dancer and Choreographer who has served as Director of Kalakshetra, Chairperson of Sangeet Natak Akademi and Central Board of Film Certfication. The Authors are Archana Venkatesan (Asst Professor of Comparative Literature and Religious Studies at the University of California) and Crispin Branfoot (Senior lecturer in South Asian Art and Archaeology at SOAS, London) with photographs by Clare Arni, photographer based in Bangalore. The book takes the viewer to Srivilliputhur and views the temple as a living, changing and dynamic space and the temple town as social fabric in celebration of life itself. The intertwining and coming together of the architectural, literary and theological is the soul of the book.

Shaha Parpia an Art and Architecture Historian based in Singapore spoke on the “Landscape and Politics of the Mughal Hunting Grounds” on February 27th 2016 at Amethyst. She has a Masters in the History of Islamic Art and Architecture from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London. She spoke about the Imperial Mughal Hunting Ground, the ‘Shikargah’ derived from ‘Shikar’ – the hunt ‘Gah’ – the place. Shaha took the audience through its typology and functions, its various aspects including the Shikargah and agricultural lands as symbiotic spaces, its association with extended garden, politics of the space, intimidation, show of power and hunt as pursuit of knowledge. Shaha highlighted the contextual history of shikargah with anecdotes and interesting details of the Mughal Empire.

CHAPTER CONVENORS MEETING:

A meeting of Convenors of all the Chapters of Tamil Nadu was held at Coimbatore on 23rd March, 2016, initiated by Mrs. Tara Murali and hosted by Shri. Shankar Vanavarayar. INTACH Chairman Major General L K Gupta, Gp Capt. Rahul Pathak (retd), Director Chapters Division, Convenors and/or Co-Convenors of Chennai, Coimbatore, Kodaikanal, Madurai, Nagercoil, Nilgiris, Salem and Thanjavur Chapters attended.

Intach Chennai Chapter in association with the Alliance Francaise of Madras screened a documentary film on “NEE ENGEY” (where are you) by R.V. Ramani on 24th March 2016. The film `Nee Engey’ is a travelogue through the regions of South India, unfolding the story of the traditional shadow puppeteers in many layers, touching upon the puppeteer’s lives, their performances and struggles. It’s an impressionistic ethnography reflecting on shadow puppet theatre, history, mythology, cinema and our lives.

Intach Chennai Chapter along with Madras High Court regularly conducts Heritage walks of the magnificent High Court Precinct. This was held on 19th April, 21st June, 12th July, 16th August, 1st November 2015 and 14th February 2016. A group of about 50 heritage enthusiasts walked through the grounds, corridors, several courts including chief justice’s court, library and museum. The walks were led by advocate N.L. Rajah, narrating stories and incidents of several important cases of the Madras High Court and INTACH highlighting the architectural glories of the structure.

Intach Chennai Chapter in association with Amethyst held a talk on “Carpet stories Demystifying Tribal Carpets” by Danny Mehra on 25th March 2016. Mr. Danny Mehra who is a Tribal rug collector has collection of rugs from various parts of the world. His talk was about his collection of rare tribal weavings and carpets that are woven by hand by weavers from their imagination with no set pattern. He explained what a Tribal carpet is, how they were made, some typical myths about carpets and their value.

Dr. Sugato Dutt, an officer of Indian Forest Service, who currently works in Sustainable Land use practices, spoke about the “RINGS OF GREEN – BUFFER ZONES AND BIOSPHERES IN TAMILNADU” on 21st APRIL 2016 at Alliance Francaise de Madras. His talk outlined the case in Biosphere Reserve Management in Tamil Nadu. He also discussed the implications for sustainable development in the larger matrix of social and economic changes in the state.

Intach Chennai Chapter in association with Amethyst held a talk “HISTORY AND ARCHITECTURE OF ARNI” by Ar. Mohan Hariharan on 20th MAY 2016. Ar. Mohan Hariharan who was born and brought up in Arni, has documented the stories, history and Architecture of Arni. His talk covered the history of Arni along with several other historical buildings and structures recording Arni’s importance – Hindu and Jain temples, the Arni Fort, the Jagir’s Palaces, Monuments, weaver’s settlements, British cemeteries and more.

Intach Chennai Chapter in association with Amethyst held a talk “VILLAGES OF MANSIONS: A STUDY OF THE CHETTINAD HOUSE FORM” by Ms. Visalakshi Ramaswamy, on 3rd JUNE 2016. She is the Founder of the M.Rm.Rm Cultural foundation and actively works towards documentation and revival of languishing crafts, textiles, architecture and culture. She is also the Author of The Kottan, The Palmyra Basket of Chettinad and co-author of The Chettiar Heritage and The Chettinad Cookbook. She is an Executive Committee member of the Crafts Council of India. Her talk focused on the Chettiar homes which are large fortress like mansions, their form and the various crafts that have been employed in their construction and embellishment.

Ms.Bindu Manchanda, Director (Projects), Head-Craft, Community and Heritage Division INTACH, New Delhi highlighted the Crafts Initiatives being undertaken by INTACH.

Intach Chennai Chapter in association with Amethyst held a talk “INDIAN HANDLOOMS AND HANDWOVEN TEXTILES” by Dr. Bessie Cecil on 23rd JULY 2016. She is an independent researcher working on Techniques of Traditional Indian Handloom Textiles. Her presentation focused on Handlooms, Handwoven Textiles and its various aspects such as historical, technical and socio-cultural significance.

On 5th August 2016 INTACH at MEASI Academy of Architecture held an Interactive forum for colleges on “Heritage based Sustainable Development” where faculty and college students participated from different colleges and experts from various backgrounds gave talks. An Exhibition of rare old maps of Madras was held at the venue.

Ms.Shivaa Raawat from Heritage Education and Communication Service (HECS), INTACH Delhi introduced INTACH’s initiatives. Ms. Kavitha, Additional commissioner (Tiruppani) from Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department explained Temple renovations, Tiruppani and Kumbhabhishekam. Prof. A.G. Krsihna Menon, Architect, Urban planner and Conservation Consultant discussed the Concept of Heritage cities and the viewpoints of various stakeholders. Mr. A.Arul from INTACH Pondicherry elaborated on the Successful case studies of Pondicherry.

INTACH Chennai Chapter along with Indian Institute of Architects, Chennai Centre and CONFLUENCE TEN conducted a talk by Prof. A.G.Krishna Menon, an Architect, Urban planner, Conservation Consultant on the concept of “20th Century Heritage” at the Freemasons hall on August 5th 2016.

On August 6th 2016, INTACH Chennai Chapter organised Role Play contest with skits in teams from schools on the Icons of Chennai in English/Tamil at AMM Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Kotturpuram, and Chennai. Judges were Mrs. Gayathri Krishna, Mr. G.Ramabadran and Mrs. Vallabha Srinivasan.

The schools with HERITAGE CLUBS made a presentation on the Heritage activities conducted in the past year and the agenda planned for the forthcoming period. At the end of the event, prizes were distributed for the “Hidden Heritage Photo Contest” conducted by INTACH Chennai chapter and judged by Mr.Jayanand Govindaraj, Mr.Ramesh Raja and Dr.Chidambaram, the senior members of Madras Photographic Society.

On 10th August 2016, Young INTACH Chennai Chapter in association with Inner Wheel for Students conducted the INTACH HERITAGE QUIZ on National, State and Local Heritage based questions for Students from classes from 7 to 10 in teams of two each on team at Alumni club of Madras. After the written round the 5 best teams were selected for finals and were declared winners out of 200 students from 25 schools in Chennai.

A Heritage Walk at the Madras High Court Campus was conducted by INTACH Chennai Chapter on the 14th August, 2016. Mr. N. L. Rajah and Mrs. Sujatha Shankar led the walk that comprised of a tour through the grounds and the buildings. The interesting stories by Mr. N.L. Rajah on various personalities and incidents associated with the building and the Architectural aspects explained by Mrs. Sujatha Shankar highlighted the magnificence of the Heritage Precinct. The participants of this walk included a large group of students from MEASI Academy of Architecture and M.N.M. Jain College of Architecture. The walk commenced at Old Light House in the campus walking through the Bar Council and Court Rooms.

On 21st August 2016 INTACH Chennai Chapter along with Kreeda organised “Open House- Games in Temples from Chennai” with a display and play sessions at AMETHYST, Royapettah from 10 a.m to 6 p.m followed by a Talk on Traditional games from Chennai was given by Vinita Sidhartha of Kreeda.

On 24th August 2016, INTACH Chennai Chapter along with ABS (Association of British Scholars) and British Council conducted a talk by Dr. Crispin Branfoot, an expert in South Asian Art and Archaeology on “British Architectural Photographers and The Heritage of Madras Presidency 1855-1905”. Crispin Branfoot is Senior Lecturer in South Asian Art and Archaeology at SOAS the school of Oriental and African studies in London. He studies Ancient History and Archaeology at Manchester and worked in The British Museum. The talk was about the insights on the British colonial desire for accurate information and documentation of South India’s historic monuments in exploring “Photography and the Architectural Heritage of Madras Presidency, from the mid 1800s to the early 1900s”.

These photographs, now in collections in both London and Chennai are critical not just for their aesthetic qualities but more importantly for their documentary value, recording the monumental heritage of Madras Presidency before the transformation of the urban environment over the past century occurred and is continuing to change.

On 27th August 2016, INTACH Chennai Chapter along with Kreeda conducted a HERITAGE WALK by Pradeep Chakravarthy at Marundeeswarar Temple, Thiruvanmiyur to understand how religion and politics mingled for mutual benefit in the 6th to 9th centuries. After the walk, games were played on game boards carved on the floor of this temple.

On 28th August 2016, INTACH Chennai Chapter conducted a HERITAGE WALK by Pradeep Chakravarthy on Stones that speak- A tour of the Sculptures in the Government Museum. The 45 minutes’ walk focused on select Stone Sculptures from Tamilnadu and appropriate Bharathiyar songs were sung by the children of the Madras Youth Choir. On the same day, the documentary film “THE STORY OF MADRAS... Chennai- First City of Modern India” made by INTACH narrated by Mr.S. Muthiah, Chronicler of Madras and released earlier by the Prince of Arcot was screened at TAG Centre as part of The South India Heritage Programme. Sujatha Shankar, Convenor, Intach Chennai Chapter briefed the audience on how the film was made

The DVD of the documentary film "THE STORY OF MADRAS…Chennai – First City of Modern India" made by INTACH with narration by Mr.S.Muthiah, Chronicler of Madras had been collected by many schools. They were requested to organize screenings during August 2016 for their students in their respective schools and invite students of neighbouring schools.

Topic- Kosbad workshop on Heritage Awareness

The workshop was conducted on October 5, 2016. Here are some of the pictures giving you the glimpse of the workshop.

Report 2016

April 12th, 2016 - Heritage Club Meet with Intach convenor salongwith the Young Intach team and members of the Tamil Heritage Trust. Eighteen teachers representing Heritage clubs of nine schools met at St.Michaels Academy, Adyar.

Other attendees: Tamil Heritage Trust- Mr. Swaminathan, Ms. VallabhaSrinivasan, Mr. Bhadri Seshadri, and Mr.Gopu were special invitees for the occasion. From INTACH Chennai- Ms.Sujatha Shankar (Convenor), Ms.SushilaNatraj from Intach Chennai, Ms Malavika and Ms. Sowmiya of Young Intach Chennai. Mr. Gopu spoke on the work done by Tamil Heritage Trust. He also touched on the essence of “seeing and learning” at heritage sites where students make detailed notes of their observations and look into their texts where ever necessary instead of a routine excursion after which there is not much concrete learning. Heritage topics to be dealt with at different phases of the coming academic year moderated by Malavika

July 2016–An essay competition on 'Icons of Chennai' conducted for school children. An overwhelming response of 250 essay entries from 30 schools were received in English and Tamil. The winners of the contest are listed below.

Tamil Essay: 1. R.RathiDevayani , SBOA & Junior College, 2. SurabhiGopal ,SishyaAdyar, 3. S.Sanjay , Alpha Senior Secondary School. English Essay:1. NihalaNaiyyira Sir Mutha School , 2. K. VishwaSree , ChinmayaVidyalaya , Virugambakkam. 3. Akilesh .S , Good Earth School

August 2016- Role Play Contest on Icons of Chennai (English and Tamil) was conducted on August 6, 2016 at AMM Matriculation H.S. School, Kotturpuram. Ms. Gayathree Krishna, Mr. G. Ramabhadran of the Madras Players Theatre Group and Ms. VallabhaSrinivasanwho is an active member of theTamil Heritage Trust also music and culture enthusiast were the judges.

Winners: 1. KC High, Kotturpuram.2. AMM Matriculation H.S. School, Kotturpuram.3. SBOA School Junior College, Annanagar West.4. SankaraVidyashramam H.S. School, Tiruvanmiyur. Special Mention prize was given to - SBIOA Model Matric.H.S.School

Presentation and Discussion with Heritage Club Teachers. After the Role Play competition, teachers from eight schools participated in a presentation cum discussion of Heritage activities for the academic year 2016-2017.

August 10th – 2016 -The Chennai round of the Intach National Heritage Quiz : 2016 was conducted by Young Intach at the Anna University Alumni Club, Boat Club Road. About 180 students from over thirty schools participated. There was a written round and an oral round. The top five teams of the written round were selected to participate in the oral round. The winners of the oral round were.1st Prize – ChinmayaVidyalaya , Anna Nagar., 2nd Prize – SBOA School & Junior College, 3rd Prize – Sri Sankara Senior Secondary School, Adyar

Belagavi 26th September: The Heritage Education and Communication Service in association with the newly formed INTACH Belagavi Chapter conducted a Teacher Training Workshop at the Bharatesh Education Trust. The workshop was attended by 38 teachers from 21 schools across the city.

Mr. Vinod Doddanwar, Co - Convener, INTACH Belagavi Chapter, expressed his thoughts on the need of the Chapter in Belagum for a very long time and thus lauded the step, in his view the chapter which only opened at the beginning of the month had taken a great leap by organising the workshop, as according him education is really crucial.

Dr. Smita Surebankar, Principal R.P.D. College of Arts and Commerce. An authority on history and archaeology, having worked in various capacities as a pioneer archaeologist in many projects. She spoke of the local heritage of Belgaum. She drew attention towards the numerous monuments of the city and its glorious ancient history under the regional dynasties of the Satvahanas, Kadambas and Chalukyas. She threw light on the history of region and the religious developments associated with it through all periods of history. She elaborated on the different kinds of heritage associated with the city, whether natural or intangible. She spoke of the need to preserve and protect it and stressed that teacher as educators have a very important role to play.

Through the workshop the role of INTACH was highlighted as India’s premier organisation for heritage preservation. Ms. Purnima Datt Principal Director, Heritage Education and Communication Service (HECS), through her session sought to acquaint teachers with the importance of heritage education in schools and the ways and means to incorporate the element of heritage in the everyday school curriculum. She stressed on the role of teachers in making heritage awareness a reality among young minds. The workshop also provided the participating schools with resource materials to create heritage clubs in schools.

Held on 6th and 7th September 2016, hosted by Presidency School, Bangalore North, the heritage workshop was attended by 33 teachers from 16 schools. Principal of the host school, Mrs. Pushpy Dutt welcomed all the resource people and the participating teachers. She told the teachers that this workshop will help teachers set up heritage clubs in schools and inculcate the value for heritage in them and students. Ms. Purnima Datt told the teachers about INTACH and about the importance of heritage and setting up of clubs in schools. The teachers were shown INTACH film. Mrs. Meera Iyer, co- convener, Bangalore Chapter showed an informative presentation titled- Bengaluru, the story of our city. She spoke about the legends behind the origin of its name and history of the founding of the city by Kempagowda in 1537 which was once a trading town. She also spoke about city in connection with Shivaji and Wodeyars and rulers including Hyder Ali and Tipu sultan who built the forts in Bangalore because of its pleasant weather and landscape. A map of 1911 showed that British added many buildings such as St. Marks church, Trinity church, St. Francis cathedral, Cubbon park, high court etc. Ms. Purnima Datt asked the teachers to name that one place and item they cherish and teachers gave interesting answers such as Jewish synagogue in Cochin, bottle made up of animal horns used to consume poison, golden temple, a Buddhist monastery in Bangalore, meenakari earrings of grandmother with names of grandparents engraved on it, vessels made of coconut shells, finger ring gifted by mother with grandfathers picture, Krishna Kaveri delta, record of genealogy, labrada, Bengali recipe prepared during Laxmi puja by grandmother, temple where linga flower, a poisonous flower is offered, megalithic site in Bangalore, Begur temple, St. Marks church, Karla caves, Vivekananda rock in Kanya Kumari, pearl necklace handed over to daughters in the family etc. Mrs. Datt showed an interactive presentation named- our heritage focusing on geography and different types of heritage in India and another presentation on Heritage Education and also discussed the challenges faced by teachers and innovative lesson plans etc. Participants were taken for a heritage walk in Fort Devanahalli led by Mrs. Meera and Mr. Gurudatt, Volunteer at INTACH. The fort with French influence had interesting features such as pulley support for drawbridge, bastions with thick walls, canon supports on brick walls. It is more famous as the birth place of Tipu Sultan and as a place where Tipu was reunited with two of his elder sons who were kept hostages with British for 2 years in Madras after Tipu’s defeat. The walk concluded in Venugopala Swamy temple, a 400 year old temple built during Vijayanagara Empire. Mrs. Purnima discussed the process to start and run a heritage club in the school and various club activities. Mrs. Pushpy said teachers are guides and facilitators for students and motivated the teachers to participate in competitions and activities and asked the teachers to create interest in students by creating a free zone for them. Teachers presented their presentation on Cubbon Park, Musical heritage, Silk and conservation of lakes. The workshop was concluded with felicitation ceremony wherein teachers were handed over the participations certificates and resource material.

The College Heritage Volunteer Forum held on 1 September 2016 at the New Science P.G. College, Warangal was organised by the INTACH Warangal Chapter in collaboration with the INTACH Heritage Education and Communication Service (HECS) New Delhi. It was attended by 116 students from eight colleges and five faculty members. Including - Kakaithy Mahila degree college; Maharshi P.G. degree college; Master ji Degree and P.G. college; New Science P.G. degree college; R. Srikanth degree college; Sairam degree college; Vaagdevi degree college and Vishwas degree college. In addition to this, four representatives from the Walk for Water also attended the programme.

The welcome address was delivered by the Prof. M Panduranga Rao (Convenor, INTACH Warangal). It was followed by an introductory address by Ms Anuradha Reddy (Co-Convenor INTACH Telangana, Convenor INTACH Hyderabad and member governing council INTACH Delhi).The programme was inaugurated by the Chief Guest, Mr Sarfaraz Ahmad (Municipal Commissioner, I.A.S.). He referred to Warangal as a historic city and encouraged participants to recognise their city’s heritage. The representatives from New Science P.G. College, Hanamkonda, Prof. Krishna Reddy (Principal) and Dr K Amarjyothi (Vice Principal) were among the other key guests attending the forum. Their interest and involvement in the College Volunteer programme was appreciated by INTACH.

Presentations and talks on heritage - an overview, its conservation and management was a highlight of the forum. Prof. M. Panduranga Rao (Convenor, INTACH Warangal) outlined the Rennovation and restoration of the Thousand pillar temple through a presentation as well as, organised a site visit to the historic temple site. Dr D Vidyanath (Historian, Chaitanya College) presented the built heritage through the exquisite temples in the region. Mr J Shreedhar Rao (Director, New Science P.G. College and Heritage Education Convenor, INTACH Warangal) captured the Heritage in Warangal and encouraged the students to recognise it. Mr Paramesh Sade (Walk for Water) stressed on water and its judicious utilisation through short films. The INTACH HECS representatives described the College Heritage Volunteer programme and encouraged the students to become a part of it. Following the first College Heritage Volunteer Training Workshop held in Warangal (22 December 2015), the interactive forum aimed at providing a platform to discuss and exchange knowledge on heritage, as well as, raise general awareness on the heritage issues of the region.

The Filmit workshop at Chandigarh was held at Saupin’s School on 31st August 2016 from 9:30 am to 1:30pm. The welcome address was given by a student of the host school where she introduced all the guests, resource people and welcomed all the schools. Ms. Purnima Datt began the 1st session by asking the students to think of various ideas that come to their mind by closing their eyes and thinking about their grandparents. They came up with responses like the sizzling sounds from the kitchen when their grandmother was cooking, their grandparents scolding them, teaching them how to read an Atlas, etc. She then discussed the current year’s themes. Ms. Purnima also discussed the pointers for making a good film before handing over to the technical resource team of Ankit and Shreya. Mr. Ankit asked the students if they like watching films and why do they like watching films. He also asked them if they had ever worked with a camera before. He showed his power point presentation on three parts of making a film and on the different camera techniques involved in making a film. He pointed out the important factors of camera handling and different shots and angles through another presentation. The students were given a snack break of 15 minutes after the completion of the session.

The next session was started by showing a short film on ‘edible cutlery that was made by Tuning Folks Films. They were also asked what they liked in particular about the film. Some kids liked the shots and angles, the interviews and the concept behind the making of the film (the impact of the film).

The students were then given an exercise wherein they had to shoot a 1 to 2 minutes film which had at least 6-8 shots without any editing. He told them it is important to make the film making an enjoyable experience and said that the first stage is preparation. He spent the next 45 minutes in explaining how to work on the windows movie maker. He already had a clip of an interview of a boatmen through which he explained to the students the technicalities involved in working with windows movie maker. The workshop ended with the distribution of the previous year’s DVD to the schools and a vote of thanks by Saupin’s School.

The INTACH India Heritage Quiz was conducted on the 29th August 2016 at India International Centre, New Delhi. It was done in collaboration with the venue hosts at IIC. Around 130 schools had participated in the quiz from Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Gaziabad, Meerut and NCR. The quiz began with a general introduction to Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) and its contribution and support towards protection of India’s diverse heritage by Ms. Purnima Datt, Principal Director, Heritage Education and Communication Service at INTACH. A movie was shown on the workings of the HECS Division called the Helping Hands. The movie was appreciated by one and all. The esteemed guests for the occasion were Air Marshal (Retd.) Mr. Naresh Verma, Director, India International Centre, Delhi; Maj.Gen. (Retd) L.K. Gupta, Chairman, Indian Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage; Dr (Mrs.) C.T. Misra, Member Secretary, Indian Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage. The event also had a book release in its itinerary. The Quiz masters for the quiz were Mr. Kunal Savarkar and Ms. Seema Chari of XpressMinds Edutainment. They also released their book, ‘IndiQa: INTACH India Heritage Quiz Book’ in collaboration with Collins India. The book has hundreds of interesting questions and answers, each with extra trivia and information to fascinate, entertain and expand the general knowledge of young and old alike. The book was released in presence of the guests of honour and the sales team at Collins India. Air Marshal (Retd.) Mr. Naresh Verma, Director, India International Centre, Delhi shared his impression about the book and quoted Mark Twain’s famous quote on India’s greatness in contributing towards the world civilization. He added that he is so happy to be surrounded by the young minds that care for their heritage and this is such a noble way to inculcate values and sensitivity towards one’s local heritage. Such quizzes are an excellent way to understand something more about our country’s heritage. He ended his speech by saying that we all should protect heritage. Dr. (Mrs.) C.T. Misra, Member Secretary, Indian Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage shared her sentiments about heritage. She said that Indian civilization is one of the oldest civilizations in the world. We have contributed so much to heritage. It is time we all must take our individual responsibilities about protection and preservation of our heritage. Spreading awareness about heritage is crucial to its conservation. She congratulated the students for making to the quiz and encouraged them to utilize the opportunity to the fullest. Maj.Gen. (Retd) L.K. Gupta, Chairman, Indian Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage congratulated Ms. Purnima Datt for continuing such noble work for years together and help youth taking centre stage in conservation of India’s heritage.

Out of 130 schools, the winners of the Delhi INTACH Heritage Quiz were announced too.

Delhi:
Shreshth Sharma and Mridul Maitree of Mira Model School from Delhi and

Ghaziabad and Noida:
Nandini Goel and Sagnik Sarkar of Bal Bharti Public School, Brij Vihar, Ghaziabad were the winners of NCR round ie Ghaziabad and Noida.

6 schools then went on to the INTACH Collins Quiz of the National Capital Region. The schools were:

1) Bal Bharti Public School, Brij Vihar, Gaziabad
2) St. Marks Sr. Sec. School, Meera Bagh, Delhi
3) Mira Model School, Delhi
4) New Era Public School, Mayapuri, Delhi
5) Spring Dales School, Pusa Road, Delhi
6) Amity International School, Sector-43, Gurgaon

It was followed by an audience round, wherein the audience was given a INTACH-HECS publication Capital Story and a chocolate as a prize for answering questions thrown to the audience. It was enjoyed by students and teachers alike. The final was contested amongst all the 6 teams. Quiz master Kunal Savarkar asked nail biting questions to each one of the teams. After a neck to neck race, Kartikay Tyagi and Ishan Chourasia from the New Era Public School, Mayapuri, Delhi emerged as winner. The first runners-up were Ritvik Singh Sabharwal and Araba Kongbam of Springdales School Pusa Road, Delhi.

The winners were felicitated with prizes and INTACH publications.

The College Heritage Volunteer Workshop organised by INTACH East Godavari chapter in collaboration with INTACH Heritage Education and Communication Service (HECS) New Delhi was held on 19 August 2016 at the P.R. Government (Autonomous) College, Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh. It was attended by 24 faculty members from nine colleges. Including, ASD GDC (W) College; DLR Degree College; Govt. College (A) Rjx; Ideal College; MVNJS & RVR College; PR Govt. (A) College; SKBR College, VSM College and Women’s Degree College.

The programme was inaugurated by the Chief Guest, Municipal Commissioner, Mr Aleem Basha. He spoke about the heritage of the city and its recent declaration as a ‘smart city’. He extended his office support for INTACH’s heritage activities and appreciated the efforts of the chapter in creating awareness about the city’s incredible heritage. The Principal, P.R. Govt. (A) College, Dr Chappidi Krishna appreciated the efforts of INTACH in heritage conservation and highlighted the contribution of INTACH East Godavari chapter while addressing the participants during the inauguration.

The workshop sessions offered the participants an overview of heritage and its varied dimensions. It helped them explore the rich heritage of Kakinada and think of ways to protect it. Ms Purnima Datt (INTACH HECS) offered an overview of heritage and highlighted the activities undertaken by INTACH and HECS. A presentation on the Built Heritage of East Godavari district was shared by Mr Vedula V.L.N. Murthy (Co-Convenor, INTACH East Godavari). While the INTACH Andhra Pradesh and East Godavari Chapter activity overview was shared by Ms Lakkaraju Sesha Kumari (Convenor, INTACH East Godavari). Dr Ravishankar Thupalli (Workshop Resource Person) spoke about Natural Heritage and encouraged the identification, protection and preservation of natural sites in the region. The highlight for the workshop was undoubtedly, the group activity and presentations by participants outlining their heritage resources, as well as, ways they could contribute in college with the involvement of students.

It is hoped the college faculty members attending the workshop will now take on a leading role in training colleagues and college students to promote heritage within their respective educational institutions, their city and region.

The College Heritage Volunteer programme is a pioneering HECS initiative undertaken with the support and endorsement of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India since November 2012. It aims at sensitising the youth to protect their heritage and train them to lead a nation-wide movement for heritage conservation and preservation.

Heritage Education and Communication Service organised a Filmit workshop on 19th August 2016 at Sri Sankara Vidyashramam Mat. Hr. Sec. School, Thiruvanmiyur, Chennai. It was attended by 21 teachers and 71 students from 10 schools. This year two more schools joined the project, namely Good Earth School and Maharishi Vidya Mandir Sr. Sec. School. Dr. S. Suresh, Convenor, INTACH Tamil Nadu State Chapter explained the Filmit project to the participating schools in brief. The HECS movie, Helping Hands was shown to the audience. The themes of the Filmit Year 6 which is in its phase 1 was discussed in detail. The students were also encouraged to utilise the opportunity to come out of their classrooms and explore the heritage all around them. After an interesting brainstorming session the students came up with different ideas for their movies. Some of them shared that they would make movie on their grandmother’s secret recipe, three generations of family in Police service, traditional games played in village, school gardener who has worked so hard over the years in maintaining the natural landscape of the school, and traditional medicinal practices in family among many others. After which the technical session was conducted by Ms. Shreya Kakria and Ms. Pulkita Parsai from Tuning Forks Films. Ms. Pulkita emphasised on the fact that while making a movie it is important what to keep in the movie and what not. There are many ways to interpret a film. Choose your theme wisely. Try to send out a positive message through your film. Audience should be left spell bound that it had an interesting end to it. Coming to the technical part of the film making process, Ms. Shreya Kakria discussed the three stage of film making. She pointed out the important factors of camera handling and different shots and angles. Next, she went through the stages of making a film. Primarily, they are, preparation and research, shooting and editing. The story needs to have a beginning, middle and an end. In relation to this, she explained about different shots and angles. The shots were – wide shot, mid shot, close up and over the shoulder shot (ots). The angles are mainly high and low. If we break them down further they would be eye angle, low angle, top angle, front angle and side angle. After explaining the nuances of shots and angles, both technical experts gave a short movie exercise to the students wherein they were asked to make a short movie within the school premises. Many students after the exercise gave their movies to the resource people for review. The students were then told to notice the number of shots and the different camera angles they had actually taken in consideration while making their short movies. Later Ms. Shreya Kakria discussed the different elements of the film. She emphasised on the importance of good editing which lies in three steps, namely: long visuals, paper edits and finally editing. A demonstration of stages of making a film was made with the help of software called Windows Moviemaker. Here the clips of your footage are put on a timeline. In next stage, you put the text, information, music and images. In the third stage you add effects to your audio and visuals and finally you export. An important point to keep in mind is to always keep a back-up of the movie in one’s E drive in case of emergency. After this a movie ‘Boatman’ was shown and the steps of editing were demonstrated. The workshop ended with distribution of DVDs of Filmit best films of 2015-16 to the participant schools.

PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE WORKSHOP

The Filmit workshop was held at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s Public School, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad on 17th August 2016. The workshop was attended by 15 teachers and 95 students from 10 schools. This year the latest entrants to join us in this multi-cultural project are Hyderabad Public School, Epistome School, Geetanjali Devashraya and Nasr Girls School. The workshop was inaugurated by INTACH Telangana Chapter, Ms. Anuradha Reddy. She interacted with the students and discussed the local heritage of the city and how students can benefit from this exposure to myriad faces of heritage surrounding them through their lens. The workshop began with Saraswati Vandana by the students of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan under the keen guidance of their music teacher followed by a lamp lighting ceremony. The school vice-principal thanked the INTACH Chapter and resource people from the Heritage Education and Communication Service for organising such a workshop in their school and encouraged the children and their teachers to utilise the opportunity to the fullest. The audience was shown the HECS film called the Helping Hands to give a glimpse of the workings of the HECS division.The content of this year’s themes was discussed in the first half of the workshop with a help of a PowerPoint presentation wherein various themes were discussed in details under key areas of tangible and intangible heritage with emphasis on documenting the lesser known people and places associated with heritage. After which the technical session was conducted by Ms. Shreya Kakria and Ms. Pulkita Parsai from Tuning Forks Films.

After an interesting brainstorming session the students came up with different ideas for their movies. Some of them shared that they would make movie on grandmother’s recipe, three generations of family in Police service, traditional games played in village, school gardener, and traditional medicinal practices in family among many others.

Ms. Pulkita emphasised on the fact that while making a movie it is important what to keep in the movie and what not. There are many ways to interpret a film. Choose your theme wisely. Try to send out a positive message through your film. Audience should be left spell bound that it had an interesting end to it. Coming to the technical part of the film making process, Ms. Shreya Kakria discussed the three stage of film making. She pointed out the important factors of camera handling and different shots and angles. Next, she went through the stages of making a film. Primarily, they are, preparation and research, shooting and editing. The story needs to have a beginning, middle and an end. In relation to this, she explained about different shots and angles. The shots were – wide shot, mid shot, close up and over the shoulder shot (ots). The angles are mainly high and low. If we break them down further they would be eye angle, low angle, top angle, front angle and side angle. After explaining the nuances of shots and angles, both technical experts gave a short movie exercise to the students wherein they were asked to make a short movie within the school premises. Many students after the exercise gave their movies to the resource people for review. The students were then told to notice the number of shots and the different camera angles they had actually taken in consideration while making their short movies. Later Ms. Shreya Kakria discussed the different elements of the film. She emphasised on the importance of good editing which lies in three steps, namely: long visuals, paper edits and finally editing. A demonstration of stages of making a film was made with the help of software called Windows Moviemaker. Here the clips of your footage are put on a timeline. In next stage, you put the text, information, music and images. In the third stage you add effects to your audio and visuals and finally you export. An important point to keep in mind is to always keep a back-up of the movie in one’s E drive in case of emergency. After this a movie ‘Boatman’ was shown and the steps of editing were demonstrated. The workshop ended with distribution of DVDs of Filmit best films of 2015-16 to the schools by Ms. Anuradha Reddy, Convenor INTACH Telangana Chapter and the Vice-Principal of the school.

PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE WORKSHOP

The Phase 6 Year 1 of the Film It Project for the city of Mumbai kick started with the film making Workshop, focusing on the theoretical and the technical aspect of film making.

The introduction to the project was given by Ms. Gargi Mashruwala, she works very closely with the Bhau Daji Lad Museum, which was also the venue for the workshop.

She discussed on the importance on conserving heritage, especially in a city like Mumbai, where the issue of heritage conservation gets sidelined due to the concerns of urbanisation.

This was followed by a session with Ms. Purnima Datt, Principal Director, Heritage Education and Communication Service, INTACH. She explained to the students the themes for this year’s film it and elaborated by the means of a presentation. She explained to the students the broad ideas that they could explore, children were encouraged to think out of the box and explore in depth the themes given to them to come up unique and interesting films that give out meaningful message too.

Around 11 schools are part of this project for the city of Mumbai, out of which two are Marathi medium schools, the students of Bal Mohan School, a Marathi medium school, shared their experience of working on the disposal of Ganesha idols during the Ganesh Chaturthi, the biggest festival of Maharashtra. They shared that last year itself they had helped in the disposal of 300 idols.

The students of Bombay Scottish School shared how they have entered the Guinness Book of World Records for recycling plastic bottles, while the students of the Lilavati Podar High School shared how they have taken up the cause of recycling of tetra packs.

The students shared their ideas on the kind of films that they would like to take up this year. While some wanted to make a movie on waste management in their locality, some others spoke on making a movie on the tradition of women singing bhajans on the side of the roads early in the morning, roadside pedicure walas, vadapao wala, the astrologer with the parrot (popat), on the life and experiences of the BEST bus drivers and conductors among many others topics.

The students responded really well to the theme of traditional games and mentioned quite a few, such as Atya – Patya, Chipdi, lagoriya, Sattoriya – a game played by the use of marbles and shells.

This was followed by a session with Mr. Vinod Sridhar a film maker from Bombay. He started his session with the words Lights, Camera, Action... in order to engage the children. He made his session very interesting by starting with an icebreaker game; in which he asked the students to freeze in their favourite camera pose. He then briefed the students on the technical aspects of Film making. He explained to them that while making a film one should be aware of the three stages that a film passes through namely pre – production, story boarding and post – production.

He explained to the students the importance of story boarding and the use of sound as they are crucial for any meaningful film. He acquainted the students with the various shots that can be used in shooting a film. He discussed in detail the point of view shot.

Held at Sharada Mandir School, the workshop saw active participation by 99 students and 16 teachers from 14 schools. The workshop started with a welcome address by activity in-charge of the host school which was followed by the introduction about INTACH by Ms. Purnima Datt, Principal Director, HECS INTACH, Delhi. She conducted an interactive session wherein she asked the students to mention the sound and objects which they associate with their grandparents. Interesting answers given by the students included Morse code used by army men, sound of dripping rain in grandmother’s house, peacock, utensils, rocking chair etc. Ms Datt als0 discussed about the themes of the project given to schools this year. Students gave interesting ideas and suggestions such as Balcao or sit outs of Goan homes, different colours of the homes, storage area on the roof, unique window made of shells, games such as goddo, logorio, football, hopscotch, shell games, hospital such as Hospicio in Madgaon, Ribander Hospital, Asilo Hospital in Mapusa, etc, a home for aged etc. This interactive session was followed by a session on technical details of film making conducted by Mr. Vinod Sreedhar, a Filmmaker based in Mumbai. He did an exercise with students wherein he asked the students to stand and freeze in their favourite camera pose. He did the story board and then discussed about shots, angles and other technical aspects of camera etc. He also explained editing using Movie Maker. A movie made by the students of Kings School was shown. The film was about two friends who were trying to find their friend. The workshop concluded with the distribution of DVD’s of overall best films made by schools last year.

[5 August 2016, MEASI Academy of Architecture, Chennai (Tamil Nadu)]

The College Heritage Volunteer Forum held on 5 August 2016 at the MEASI Academy of Architecture in Chennai was organized by the INTACH Chennai Chapter in collaboration with the INTACH Heritage Education and Communication Service (HECS) Delhi. It was attended by 123 undergraduate college students and 23 faculty members from 10 colleges. Including - Crescent School of Architecture; Dr MGR Educational and Research Institute; Ethiraj College of Women; Hindustan University; MEASI Academy of Architecture; Meenakshi College of Engineering; Marg Institute of Design and Architecture (MIDAS); Mohammed Sathak School of Architecture (MSAJAA); Sathyabama University; School of Architecture and Planning; SRM University and St. Peter’s School of Architecture.

The programme began with a welcome address delivered by the INTACH Chennai Convenor, Ms Sujatha Shankar and an introductory presentation made by the INTACH HECS representative, Ms Shivaa Rawat. Presentations and talks by distinguished experts in the field of heritage conservation and management were made in the next segment. Ms Kavitha (Additional Commissioner, Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department) spoke about the ‘Conservation and restoration of historic temples in Tamil Nadu’. Prof. A. G. K. Menon (Convenor, INTACH Delhi) described the ‘Nomination process for listing of Delhi as a UNESCO World Heritage City and promoting heritage based urban development’. Mr Arul (Senior Architect, INTACH Pondicherry) highlighted ‘Heritage Restoration case studies’ - through a film on the adaptive re-use and successful restoration of heritage structures in Pondicherry and a presentation on the restoration of the Bharathiar museum.

This was followed by an interactive session addressing heritage issues which was facilitated by well-known heritage practitioners, Mr Durganand Balsavar (Principal Architect - artes - human settlements development collaboration) and Mr Sriram Ganapathy (Founder - KSM Architecture and Founder Trustee of Chennai Architecture Foundation [CAF]). The concerns highlighted included a holistic approach towards heritage preservation and its save guard; embracing continuity, change and evolution. There was unanimity on inculcating a sense of custodianship and pride for one’s heritage. It did indeed strengthen the programme premise for 'volunteerism', 'community involvement' and 'citizen driven initiatives' to preserve heritage.

In the final segment, a presentation on the listing of the historic Saidapet area was made by students of Dr MGR Engineering College. It was followed by a prize distribution of the hidden heritage photography contest winners and the programme concluded with a vote of thanks.

Photographs:

(Attended by 19 teachers, 79 students from 10 schools)

The Filmit workshop was held at Maharani Gayatri Devi School on the 4th August 2016 in Jaipur. The workshop oversaw participation from 19 teachers and 79 students from 10 schools. Ms. Purnima Datt, Principal Director, Heritage Education and Communication Service conducted the session on content of the themes for the current phase with a PowerPoint presentation. The interactive session focussed on the exploration of hidden heritage of their city and the unique things the students wanted to showcase in their films. After an interesting brainstorming session the students came up with different ideas for their movies. The technical aspect of the workshop was handled by the technical experts Mr. Ankit Pogula and Ms. Shreya Kakria of Tuning Fork Films. Mr. Ankit upon his interaction with the students emphasised on the fact that making films is not just for entertainment but with a sense of responsibility. Various stages of the film making process were discussed wherein the three stage of film making (storyline, shooting and editing) along with camera handling and different shots and angles were emphasised upon. Mr. Ankit did a short movie exercise where he showed a short film on ‘edible cutlery’. He then explained the students how to hold a camera by giving a demonstration with different types of cameras. A demonstration of stages of making a film was made with the help of software called Windows Moviemaker. The workshop ended with distribution of DVDs of Filmit best films of 2015-16 to the schools by Ms. Dharmendar Kanwar, Convenor INTACH Jaipur Chapter and the Principal of the school.

Around 88 students and 18 teachers participated in the Filmit workshop held on the 3rd August 2016 at the Shreyas Foundation, Ahmedabad. Mr. Abhay Mangal, Convenor, Ahmedabad, welcomed the students and interacted with them about the importance of learning about heritage. He asked them to rethink about how old a phenomenon should be to be called a heritage. This was followed by few words of encouragement by the Co-convener, Mr. Paavan Bakheri.

The workshop started with a brief discussion on the themes of Filmit 2016 by Ms. Purnima Dutt, Principal Director, HECS, INTACH. The students came up with unique ideas which included; making a paper with recycled cloth, Gujrati Jhula and Dabbawalas of Ahmedabad. They were also intrigued by the professions like; road drain cleaner, cobbler, local medicine seller and games like; Nagolcho, Lakhoti and Gulli Danda. She also asked the students to share sounds and objects that they associate with their grandparents. The children came up with innovative answers like; Binoculars, Masala Daani, Spectacles, etc. This session was followed by a movie called “Herbal Aaji.

In the technical part of the film making workshop, Ankit Pogula from the Tuning Fork Films discussed the stages of film making. He also explained them about different shots and angles. He taught the students how to hold a camera by giving a demonstration with different types of cameras. After explaining the nuances of shots and angles, Mr. Ankit did a short movie exercise where he showed a short film on ‘edible cutlery’. The film had great impact on the young minds. He also demonstrated the stages of making a film with the help of software called Windows Moviemaker. In the third stage you add effects to your audio and visuals and finally you export.

In the end, one and a half minute long movie made by the students of Mahatma Gandhi International School as a part of the workshop exercise was shown to the audience. They were applauded as they successfully used different shots to bring out the problem of plastic and its disposal.

The Filmit Kolkata Workshop was conducted on 26th July 2016 at Shri Shikshayatan School. It was attended by 12 schools. Mr. G.M. Kapur, Convenor, Kolkata Regional Chapter welcomed the schools. He thanked everyone for attending the workshop and wished them luck for their upcoming short films. Mr. Ankit Pogula and Ms. Shreya Kakria from Tuning Folk Films were the technical resource people for the workshop. They were introduced by Mr. Abhishek Das, Programme Coordinator, HECS, INTACH. He gave a presentation on the current year’s themes and discussed with the audience about the different types of topics they can select. He spoke to the students about the different types of heritage of Kolkata and how they could use it in their films. After this the HECS film was showed.

The next session was started by Mr. Ankit Pogula and Ms. Shreya Kakria. Mr. Ankit asked the students if they had ever worked with a camera before. He then inquired if they had ever made a film and if yes, then what kind of software they had used. Most students replied in affirmative and were familiar with windows movie maker software. After this, he showed his power point presentation on different camera techniques and how to make a film. Mr. Ankit pointed out the important factors of camera handling and different shots and angles. Next, he went through the stages of making a film. Primarily, they are, preparation and research, shooting and editing. He emphasized on showing more and talking less as a film is not like an article. The story needs to have a beginning, middle and an end. The visuals need to have different shots to cover all aspects. Mr. Ankit did a short movie exercise where he showed a short film on ‘edible cutlery’. He asked the students to notice the number of shots and the different camera angles. The students had a break after this session.

After the break, they were given time to shoot a 1 to 2 minutes film where they had to shoot a film which had at least 6-8 shots without any editing. After they shot and assembled back, Mr. Ankit asked the students to share their experience of shooting the films. He told them it is important to make the film making an enjoyable experience and said that the first stage is preparation. He spent the next 45 minutes in explaining how to work on the windows movie maker. The workshop ended with a vote of thanks by Mr. Abhishek Das. He thanked Mr. Ankit and Ms. Shreya for the exciting workshop where the students picked a lot of knowledge that would help them make their films. He also thanked Shri Shikshyatan for hosting the workshop and helping in making it a success.

The workshop was conducted on 22nd July, 2016 at INTACH attended by 30 schools, both govt. and private. Ms. Purnima Datt, Principal Director (HECS) welcomed the schools and the HECS film was showed to them. Mr. Ankit Pogula and Ms. Shreya Kakria from Tuning Folk Films were the technical resource people for the workshop introduced by Ms. Bashobi Banerjee. After this, Ms. Datt gave a presentation on this year’s themes and discussed with the audience about the different types of topics they can select. ‘Chor Minar’, which was selected as one of the best films from the previous year was screened. The first session was started by Mr. Ankit Pogula and Ms. Shreya Kakria. He showed his power point presentation on films, different camera techniques and how to make a film. The students also talked about the reason they wanted to make films is to learn about direction, to share their point of view and to express themselves as the camera is a very powerful tool and has the potential to have a very big impact on people’s lives if used in the right way. Mr. Ankit spoke about how something can leave an impact. He then went on to show a film on ‘chuski’, which is an ice lolly made from crushed ice having different flavours. Students shared that they liked the way the interview was conducted without actual questions being asked and how it made the person share more. He went through the stages of making a film. Primarily, they are, preparation and research, shooting and editing. He emphasized on showing more and talking less as a film is not like an article. The story needs to have a beginning, middle and an end. It needs to have various characters, voiceovers, etc. The visuals need to have different shots to cover all aspects. In relation to this, he explained about different shots and angles. The shots were – wide shot, mid shot, close up and over the shoulder shot (ots). The angles are mainly high and low. There is also a concept called looking space which means the camera should be placed where one is able to see what the subject is facing. After explaining the nuances of shots and angles, Mr. Ankit did a short movie exercise where he showed a short film on ‘edible cutlery’. He asked the students to notice the number of shots and the different camera angles. He spoke about the different elements of the film. They were, opening shot, interview, text and information, interactions with the staff, public conversations and the making of the cutlery. He then explained the students how to hold a camera by giving a demonstration with the different types of cameras. After the tea break, they were given time to shoot a 1 to 2 minutes film where they had to shoot a film which had at least 6-8 shots without any editing. After they assembled back, Mr. Ankit asked the students to share their experience of shooting the films. He told them it is important to make the film making an enjoyable experience and said first stage is preparation, so plan well in advance. He also explained how to work on movie maker. He said after you finish shooting, make a log sheet of all your shots and write details of each shot. Then start editing on window movie maker, simple software to edit films. Focus more on content and editing. Animation and visual effects are the last things you should do. He explained about how to add music and increase and decrease music volume and play. In case of an interview, dialogue should be higher than background music. Few of the films shot by the students were shown, based on themes such as awareness about cleanliness, INTACH and its building etc. Mr. Ankit gave constructive criticism on shaking of camera, surrounding noise, angle of the shots, preparation and finalizing on what to do, visualizing etc. The workshop ended with a vote of thanks by Ms. Shivaa Rawat, Consultant, HECS INTACH.

Under the initiative of United States-India Educational Foundation’s USIEF ‘Sustainable Development and Social Change in India’ programme, a delegation of 16 teachers from various educational institutions from the United States of America (the USA) paid a visit to the INTACH headquarters at New Delhi on 11th July 2016. Ms. Purnima Datt, Principal Director, Heritage Education and Communication Service, INTACH interacted with them in a brief session. The participant teachers were shown the INTACH and the HECS movie in order to give them a brief glimpse of the workings of the INTACH’s various departments in the field of heritage. After which Ms. Purnima Datt explained the various types of heritage of India with the help of a Powerpoint presentation. She explained to the teachers about the diverse culture and rich heritage of India and what makes it unique in its terms of customs, traditions, festivals and communities. After a small interaction, the teachers were taken on a visit to the conservation lab in Material Heritage Division wherein they were demonstrated the varied conservation techniques applied by the conservators to restore objects, paintings, textiles of heritage value. The session was an extremely enriching experience for the participant teachers.

Attended By 32 Teachers and 99 Students from 31 Schools

On 20th July 2016, INTACH’s Heritage Education and Communication Services (HECS), New Delhi organized a workshop for developing of film content for the FilmIt project which is in its Phase 6, Year 1. Thirty-one public and government schools of Delhi participated in the workshop. Ms. Purnima Datt, Principal Director, Heritage Education and Communication Service (HECS) emphasized upon the aim of the project which is to make young minds sensitive towards their heritage, which not only exists at the level of the community but also at their personal level. The stress is to touch upon unique kinds of heritage and explore more of the similar kind. This was followed by a PowerPoint presentation on the unique themes in heritage that could be explored by the children for this year. The resource person for the content workshop was Mr. Feisal Alkazi, a noted theatre personality. Through a brainstorming session, Mr. Alkazi stressed on the fact that while making films they should not be repetitive and they should use think creatively before starting their film, as a film is a visual medium and therefore it should be able to grab the viewer’s attention as a strong storyboard is very important for making a good film. The programme ended with the Chairman of INTACH Maj. Gen L.K. Gupta, addressing the children encouraging them in this unique endeavor of theirs. The schools were also distributed the DVDs of best films of year 2015-16.

Inspired by the ongoing 'Swacch Bharat Campaign' of the Government of India, Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) launched the 'Swacch /Clean Monument Campaign' for school children (from classes six to nine) across the country.

The campaign comprised of a clean-up drive of a monument or area and a poster-making competition. Around 60 INTACH chapters and its network of schools were a part of the nation-wide campaign. Including, INTACH East Godavari, Kadapa, Machilipatnam, Bijapur, Dharwad, Trivandrum, Coimbatore, Madurai, Bhubaneshwar, Mayurbhanj, Udaipur, Gwalior, Jabalpur, Shivpuri, Assam (Golaghat and Guwahati), Yamunanagar, Kangra, Patiala, Dehradun, Rohilkhand, Lucknow, Allahabad, Kashmir (Srinagar), Jammu, Wai – Panchgani, Santiniketan, Srikakulam, Warangal, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Pune, Jaipur, Mizoram, Ambala, Meerut, Brajbhoomi, Kodaikanal, Cuttack, Goa, Jamnagar, Mehsana, Chandrapur, Barmer, Solapur, Mumbai, Pali, Jharkhand (Jamshedpur), Khandwa, Mandi, Rajpipla and Kanpur, Darjeeling, Raipur and Delhi. 32 regional and 10 national winners [(including, 6 winners from the poster making competition) and 4 national monument monitors winners)] were selected.

Celebrating the remarkable efforts of the students, the 10 national winners had an opportunity to visit Delhi from 6 to 8 July 2016. During the three-day visit, the national winners visited various sites and organizations working in heritage and environment conservation as well as, engaged with leading experts associated with the field. Including, Development Alternatives (DA); Chintan; The Energy Resource Institute (TERI) Gram Retreat, Sanskriti Kendra Anandgram and INTACH.

The programme concluded with a felicitation and award ceremony for the national winners with the Chief Guests, Dr Bindeshwar Pathak (Founder, Sulabh Sanitation and Social Reform Movement) and Ms Shefali Shah (Joint Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Government of India) at INTACH New Delhi on 8 July 2016. During the function, Dr Pathak requested the students to embrace a national vision of ‘Swacchta’ or ‘Cleanliness’ and Ms Shah spoke about the need to create more awareness, while acknowledging the efforts of the students.

The ceremony concluded with a catchy song about the Sulabh Shauchalaya movement (toilet technology and sanitation) – its impact on the community, bio-gas generation, water recycling, and its contribution to the Swacch Bharat Movement vision (as embodied by two national icons, i.e. - Mahatma Gandhi and current Prime Minister, Narendra Modi). The song did indeed capture the attention of the students and encouraged them to take on a more leading role in the Swacch/Clean Monument Campaign!

Voices of the winners:

Aanya Mehta: The campaign resonates with the slogan - ‘Vidhya ka aadhar, Swacch ho sansar’ (in hindi)! Translation: ‘The objective of education is to make our environment cleaner!’…..

Vishalakshi Sulagadale: During my research, I discovered that Rippon Hall was built by a king named ‘Rippon’ and it was a tennis court! This fascinated me ….. I hope to continue with my efforts and believe that youth can bring about significant change ….

Vernica Jain: Monuments define our past ….. and it is our responsibility to preserve them ……

A two day teacher training workshop was organized at Dhar on the 1st and 2nd of July 2016 to create awareness about heritage. Twenty Seven teachers from sixteen schools participated in it. INTACH Dhar Chapter Convenor, Dr. Deependra Sharma inaugurated the session and spoke to the teachers telling them how INTACH was set up in the year 1984 to protect and preserve the heritage of India. He urged the teachers to take charge and imbibe a sense of belonging in the students. The Chief Guest, Mr. Brajesh Chandra Pandey, Educational Commisioner, Dist. Dhar spoke about India’s centuries old heritage. He shared his experiences of how he came across people who were unaware about the country’s rich heritage. He asked the teachers to teach students about India’s culture and heritage and not just what is in the curriculum. Mr. Pinakin Barot, the Co-Convenor of INTACH Dhar Chapter gave a lecture on Dhar’s local heritage. He spoke about the numerous baolis (step wells), the Dhar Fort, Nityanand Ashram, chhattris, Dhareshwar temple, Saraswati temple and the lakes of Dhar. He also mentioned that he has been in continuous dialogue with the students of various schools in Dhar through the medium of seminars and talks.

There was a heritage walk scheduled after this to the Dhar Fort which was opposite the venue. The Dhar fort was built by the Parmar rulers in the 10th century and later revamped in the 13th century by Md. Bin Tughluq. Afterwards there was a jail and central school that was functional till after India’s independence. Today, there is an archaeological museum which used to be the jail. The places of interest were Kharbuja Mahal, which is an architectural wonder and a square shaped baoli three stories deep. Today, the fort is lying in neglect even though it is under the purview of the state archaeology department, Madhya Pradesh.

The heritage walk was followed by a sumptuous lunch which served the local cuisine. The second session of the day started with Ms. Purnima Datt showing a presentation on India’s different types of heritage in detail which lasted for almost two hours. Natural, Built, Material and Living Heritage were discussed in detail. The first day ended after this session and tea and snacks being served.

The second day started with a presentation on Heritage Education which was discussed in detail by Ms. Datt. She discussed various methods of heritage education and also did a role play game of a 400 year old ink pot and a modern day ball point pen. Two teachers volunteered to be the inkpot and the pen.

A game named ‘Romantic Pairs’ was also played wherein teachers were handed flash cards and they had to find their respective partners given in the cards. This served as an ice breaker and the first three pairs were given prizes. After breakfast, the teachers were divided into four groups and given a group activity. The four topics, Natural, Built, Living and Material Heritage were showcased by them and each group pointed out the specific heritage of their place and explained why and how they needed to be preserved. The workshop ended with the distribution of certificates and resource material to the schools. The vote of thanks was given by Mr. Parag Bhonsle who played a major role in organizing the workshop.

Heritage and Education Communication Service (HECS), INTACH Delhi in collaboration with the INTACH Guwahati Chapter organized a two-day teacher training workshop from 24th – 25th June 2016 for 27 teachers from 15 schools at Sahayata Sabha Bhawan, Sonapur Hr. Sec. School, Sonapur, Assam. The teachers were mainly from government-run schools and were first-time observers of such a workshop in heritage education. Mr. Jayanta Sharma, Convenor INTACH Guwahati Chapter welcomed all the participants. The technical aspect of the workshop was conducted by Ms. Purnima Datt, Principal Director, HECS INTACH Delhi. Sessions were conducted with the help of presentations on the Heritage of India and what makes it rich and unique. Just to make the point appear more practical, the teachers were asked to do a role play in which two teachers were asked to enact a plastic pen and an old inkpot. The whole idea behind the demonstration was to emphasis on unique ways of developing lesson plans for children so as to sensitise them towards their heritage. As the workshop was mainly oriented towards developing the heritage modules in education system within school curriculum of government-run schools, emphasis was laid on developing innovative lesson plans to incorporate sensitivity towards one’s heritage in both teachers and students. The second resource person was Mr. Jayanta Sharma, Convenor, INTACH Guwahati, Assam Chapter, wherein his session focussed on the concern over the lack of proper exposure to Assamese history in school curriculum. Lastly, the teachers were divided into 4 groups and were given topics for presentation on natural heritage, built heritage, and living heritage of Sonapur. All the participant teachers came forward and brainstormed over issues to be picked up in the area of heritage in their respective schools. They were also encouraged to form heritage clubs in their schools with the training they have got in developing innovative teaching modules in heritage education in the teacher training workshop. The workshop ended with the distribution of certificates and publications as part of resource material to the participating schools to help taking the heritage movement forward in their schools and local community.

Heritage and Education Communication Service (HECS), INTACH Delhi in collaboration with the INTACH Shimla Chapter organized a two-day teacher training workshop from 16th -17th June 2016 for 12 teachers from 6 schools, along with their student participants at Auckland House School, Shimla.

Ms. Maalvika Pathania, Convener INTACH Himachal Pradesh Chapter introduced the workshop and its aims by giving the participants an introduction to INTACH and HECS (Heritage Education and Communication Service) bringing forth the work that is being done by the organization. She emphasized on the importance of knowing our heritage and preserving it, in her view it’s important that the children are taught the value of ownership and encouraged to develop a passion for heritage. She spoke about her own experiences in the field of heritage conservation recounting the accolades and the ordeals that she faced in her mission to protect what she calls was her “own”.

This was followed by a an interactive session conducted by Ms. Purnima Datt, Principal Director, HECS, INTACH Delhi, she asked the participants about their favorite heritage spaces in Shimla, the answers were interesting and varied, while some participants mentioned the royal aura and richness of the Institute of Advanced Studies, others spoke of the Christ Church as a beautiful and a calm place. The participants mentioned the Ridge, the Chipkul village, the last village on the border of the state, Mohan Heritage Park, Jakhu temple as prominent heritage spaces of Shimla.

After this the INTACH film was shown in order to acquaint the participants in a more comprehensive and elaborate way about INTACH and its role as India’s premier heritage preservation organization.

This was followed by a presentation by Ms. Datt. She gave a presentation elaborating on the rich and the unique heritage of our country; she covered the four major aspects of heritage, at the same time interspersing her session with anecdotes in order to make it interesting for the participants. This session was further enriched by the inputs of the Convener INTACH Shimla Chapter Mr. Raaja Bhasin, who explained the participants the architectural features that can be seen in the built heritage of the city, along with this he added a few points on the natural landscape of the city.

After the lunch, a game was played, followed by the HECS Film, which showcased the work done by the Heritage Education and Communication Services Division of INTACH. This was followed by a presentation by Ms. Datt on Heritage Education; this addressed the ways and means of inculcating heritage awareness in our school curriculum and activities.

On the second day, the participants went for a heritage cum nature walk that was led by the Convener INTACH Shimla Chapter Mr. Raaja Bhasin. His insights into the history of the city were very interesting and enlightening..

This was followed by informative presentations of the participants on the four different aspects of Shimla’s heritage. The Chief Guest for the day Ms. Anuradha Thakur, Secretary (Social Justice & Empowerment, Language Art & Culture, Irrigation and Public Health) also released two pamphlets that has been published by the efforts of the INTACH Shimla chapter. It gives information regarding the heritage of the city and the projects that are being undertaken by the chapter. She spoke to the students on the importance of being aware of their surroundings and recognizing their heritage.

The Principal of the venue school.Ms. Sunita John also thanked INTACH for conducting the workshop and elucidating on the importance of heritage and its conservation. The programme ended with the distribution of certificates and resource material to the participants.

Topic- Dandiya performance by INTACH members

On 31st June, Young INTACH members performed kolatam Dandiya at Zilla Parishad High School Vadlamannadu. Our INTACH member Oleti Uma Saraswati who is a teacher in Vadlamannadu High School was looking after this programme. Dr. Udattu Srinivasa Rao convener Machilipatnam chapter, E.C member Udayagiri Anjaneyulu and Oleti Uma Saraswati attended the event.

Topic- Heritage walk

Mandi Chapter of INTACH conducted heritage walk for students of DAV Centenary Public School, Mandi on 18th June 2016 to Ard Narishwar and Triloki Nath Temples. Students were briefed about the history and architecture of the temples.

Topic- Music Fest "Selathil Thiruvaiyaru 2016"

About 300 students participated in various competitions that held for a full week with Classical Concerts in the evening by performance artists. The Competitions were both Vocal and instrumental. INTACH was one of the sponsors for conducting competitions, felicitations and public relations. In continuance to that with the assistance of the Saba we would conduct music classes in Government schools and colleges this year. Next year would be a bigger event to show cast the traditional classical cultural importance of Salem with the participation of Periyar University. Mr. Sharavanan, Co-Convenor Salem Chapter said they would try to integrate traditional folk lore also.

A two-day teachers training workshop was held from 21st -22nd April 2016 at Little Flower House School, Nagwa, Varanasi in collaboration with INTACH Varanasi Chapter for 47 teachers from 20 schools. A presentation on types of heritage was given by Ms. Purnima Datt, HECS INTACH to broaden the understanding of the teachers about the different types of heritage. Two sessions on local heritage of Varanasi was given by Ms. Mudita Agarwal and Dr. Vidula Jayaswal emphasising on the architecture and heritage conservation in Varanasi along with a presentations on the earliest settlements in Varanasi and the holy city of Kashi. Heritage walk was conducted at the Karmedhshwar Temple belonging to 12th century. It is an 800-year-old temple and perhaps the last generation of temple architecture in the Nagara style. It is claimed to be one of the oldest living temple in India. The participants were introduced to the ways in which they could conduct heritage activities in their respective heritage clubs including activities like role-play, visual aids and group activities. The workshop was concluded with distribution of certificates and HECS publications, passports, and badges for Heritage clubs in respective schools.

A one-day teachers training workshop was conducted on 19th April 2016 at INTACH, Delhi. Ms. Purnima Datt, Principal Director, Heritage Education and Communication Service, INTACH Delhi gave a welcome address to all the participating teachers. The focus of the workshop was mainly on the understanding of art and material heritage of Delhi and the ways in which one can restore, conserve the art objects from damage and deterioration. Dr. Swapna Liddle, Co-Convenor INTACH DELHI Chapter spoke on Delhi’s heritage particularly on the Qutub Complex: the roots of a composite culture. Dr. Liddle pointed out the architecture during the Mughal rule reflected the composite culture of the times as the stone carvers and craftsmen were all Indians. The Muslim conquerors were aware of the existence of Hindu elements and incorporated the same. Use of the Kalash, Amalaka and Stupika could also be found in the architecture of the times. She concluded that we as historians should not categorise the architecture on the basis of British periodization as it was composite having both the Islamic and Hindu elements. Dr. Narayani Gupta, eminent historian and Former Director, INTACH-IDC, INTACH spoke on the understanding of heritage issues of Delhi. She emphasised on the fact that heritage is not just beautiful architecture but in its intangible aspects too. But what all we see is the documentation of the imperial capital, its civic buildings which nevertheless have left an impact and so much to ponder. Ms Gupta also suggested the teachers to ask their students to document the 200 years of Delhi’s heritage which should touch upon the tangible as well as intangible heritage. Padma Rohilla, coordinator of Delhi Centre, Material Heritage Division, INTACH, talked about the importance of material heritage conservation. She talked about the various methods that are used to conserve different types of material heritage and went into details by explaining how frescos paintings are different from tempura and oil paintings and what are the methods used to conserve them. She interacted with the teachers while sharing the major reasons that lead to the decay of a heritage piece and suggested the precautions that one can take to avoid damage to everyday heritage pieces. There was activity session on Material Heritage conducted by Senior Conservator, Ms. Bulbul Choudhary Assistant Conservator, Ms. Garima Singh, Mr. Rahul and Rajeev, Conservators, Ms. Merrin Anil, Conservator and supported by Fayaz Hussain, framer and carpenter. The session mainly focused on how to mount and hinge a painting. Ms. Merrin said teachers interacted and cleared doubts about how to display a painting? How to remove waviness from a painting? How to do patch mending? Etc. The workshop concluded with felicitation ceremony headed by Maj. Gen. (Retd) L.K. Gupta, Chairman INTACH, giving away certificates and resource material to the participants.

The Heritage Education and Communication Service (HECS) of INTACH in collaboration with the Helen Hamlyn Trust UK, pioneers the Filmit programme, which seeks to impart to the idea of heritage education dynamism in the form of short films which are conceptualized and shot by children. The Filmit Film Festival on 12th April 2016, marks the culmination of Phase V year 2 (2015-16) of the FILMIT project in Jaipur at Maharaja Sawai Man Singh Vidyalaya, Jaipur. Students from 9 schools attended the festival. The event started with an introduction by Ms. Purnima Datt, Principal Director HECS INTACH, who talked about the film it project and asked the students to share their experiences during the project and encouraging the students to keep up the good work. The event was also graced by the presence of Ms. Dharmender Kanwar, Convener INTACH Jaipur chapter, who commended the efforts of the children. The Chief Guest for the event was Thakur Ranbir Sinh, who is a very well-known historian and playwright, he shared his experiences with the children and greatly appreciated their effort. The event also showcased the best films made by the students of Jaipur and the students shared their experience of working on the project. The festival ended with the distribution of awards to the schools.

Held in Bhavan’s Vidyalaya, the Filmit festival was attended by 52 students and 10 teachers from 6 active schools of Chandigarh. Ms. Purnima Datt, Principal Director, HECS INTACH, Delhi welcomed all the participants, spoke about the films made students of Chandigarh and talked in brief about the project and about INTACH. Mr. V.K Kapur, Convener, Chandigarh INTACH Chapter welcomed the chief guest, Ms. Smita Mishra, IAS officer and Chairperson of Literary Society of Chandigarh, who then lit the lamp officially inaugurating the festival. Film on HECS was showed to the participants. Students then spoke about their experience on film making in their own way including speech, narrating poem, showcasing films capturing special moments and experiences.

Sehar Malik, Strawberry Fields School narrated a poem

Have you ever tried ‘filmit’
It’s really fun and exciting
It makes you feel like an actor
Or may be a film director

They all thanked INTACH for the opportunity. They were showed Best films from Chandigarh schools. The chief guest, Ms. Smita Mishra, shared her views and said that all the films were fresh, creative and has fresh take and these films make wonderful memories and experience. She also appreciated INTACH for the wonderful initiative and said mandate created by INTACH is what is needed now. Ms. Aditi Kohli from Saupins School said that this 3 years journey is been wonderful, club member bonded together and worked very hard. She thanked INTACH, students and teachers of her school. Ms. Deepika Gandhi, Co- Convener, Chandigarh INTACH Chapter urged the students to make films on built and natural heritage of Chandigarh, which is a garden city and has different setting. She said heritage is everywhere such as in a potter, quilt, blanket and mat maker, barber under a mango tree etc, so we can all be sensitive and promote them, as they are also important part of our heritage. Overall best films were shown. Festival concluded with felicitation ceremony headed by Principal of the host school, Ms. Vineeta Arora, Ms Datt and Ms Gandhi.

A teacher Training Workshop was held in Jammu on 30th and 31st March, 2016 at Govt. Higher Secondary School, Jammu. 51 participants from 25 institutions participated. Mr. S.M. Sahni, Convenor, INTACH Jammu Chapter welcomed everyone and the Chief Guest, Mr. Hemant Sharma, IAS, Secretary to Government, Department of Culture, Jammu and Kashmir State. He also introduced Mr. C.M Seth, retired IFS officer. Mr. Seth gave the introductory speech and spoke about the need to protect the environment. Ms. Purnima Datt, Principal Director, HECS spoke next and thanked the convenor of INTACH Jammu chapter for the excellent work being done by his chapter. She spoke about the setting up of INTACH in 1984 and what it stands for. She spoke briefly about setting up heritage clubs in school and how the learning of heritage has reduced over the years due to the fast paced life and tight schedules. Mr. Hemant Sharma, Chief Guest for the event spoke next and welcomed everyone and told the teachers that they have a very big role to play in the shaping of the future of the children and that they need a spirited approach in doing so. A dissertation made on “Care for Art” by a student of Jammu University was presented to Ms. Purnima Datt. A short tea break followed after all the introductions.

In the second session, Ms. Purnima Datt spoke to the participants of the workshop and asked them about their personal heritage that they had inherited. Then she gave her presentation on the types of Heritage of India and explained the different types of heritage – natural, built, living and material.

After lunch, a game called romantic pairs was played by the teachers. A presentation on heritage education was followed by this. In the last session of the day, the teachers were divided into groups for their next day’s activity.

The second day of the workshop started with a visit to Bahu Fort in Jammu, followed by a visit to the Environment Park where the concluding session of the workshop was held. A talk by Mr. Altaf Hussain was given to the participants before Ms. Purnima Datt explained the formation of heritage clubs to he teachers and explained the handbook Hands on Heritage to them. Mr. O.P. Vidyarthi (IFS), Director, Environment, Jammu and Kashmir Government was the Guest of Honour on the concluding day. The 4 groups of teachers did their group activity in front of the guests and showcased the heritage of Jammu in a very inspiring way. The workshop ended with the distribution of certificates and resource material. Mr. Sahni gave the vote of thanks.

Delhi 29th February, 7th and 28th March

The Heritage Education and Communication Service INTACH is organising a series of lectures for the students of Kamala Nehru College, the first in the series of talks was by Dr. Swapna Liddle, who spoke on syncretic architectural heritage of India especially during the medieval period. Along with this a heritage walk was also conducted to the Lodi gardens. The second session comprised of an introduction about heritage and its various aspects by Ms. Purnima Datt, Principal Director (HECS), followed by a talk by Mr. K.K. Gupta, Senior Consultant with INTACH’S Material Heritage Division, the speaker made the students aware of the potential damage that can happen to our heritage if we don’t take proper care of it and also stressed on the fact that why is it important to conserve our heritage. The last talk of the series was by Dr. Narayani Gupta, who spoke to the students about the Delhi’s heritage and gave them a moving detail of how the landscape of the city has changed over the period of time. In this session the students were also asked about their own personal heritage and their responses were very varied and interesting.

Heritage and Education Communication Service (HECS), INTACH Delhi in collaboration with the INTACH Ambala Chapter organized a two-day teacher training workshop from 21st -22nd March 2016 for 48 teachers from 24 schools at Army Public School, Ambala. Brig. G.S. Lamba, Convenor INTACH Ambala Cantt. Chapter welcomed all the participants. In his welcome address, Col. R.D. Singh, Co-convenor, INTACH Ambala Cantt. Chapter gave a brief introduction on the history of Ambala and its rich heritage sites. Ms. Purnima Datt, Principal Director, HECS, INTACH Delhi gave presentations on the Heritage of India and what makes it rich and unique, and on HECS, its objectives and Heritage Education programmes. Emphasis was primarily on how to make heritage education appealing to the students not just the tangible heritage but intangible as well, which doesn’t get its due credit. She stressed on utilizing the resources provided to the teachers during the workshop to the maximum as they are very much responsible in shaping the child’s imagination and sensitivity towards her/his heritage and culture as majority of the waking hours they spend with the teacher. She encouraged the teachers to form heritage clubs in their respective schools with the training they have got in developing innovative teaching modules in heritage education as it will help the students in learning about their past and rich heritage through heritage club activities. The workshop concluded with felicitations and distribution of certificates and resource materials.

Heritage Education and Communication Service (HECS), INTACH Delhi organised a one-day college volunteer training workshop in collaboration with the INTACH Chandigarh chapter on the 15th of March 2016 for around 70 students from three different colleges of the city of Chandigarh. The main aim of the Workshop was to engage students in the heritage of their city as well as their country and to make them more responsible towards heritage. The session began by an introductory lecture on Heritage of India and what makes it rich and unique by Ms. Purnima Datt, Principal Director, HECS, INTACH Delhi. The students were also educated about the objectives of HECS and its activities. She encouraged the students to be aware of their heritage and take steps in protecting and marinating it.

This was followed by a talk on Built Heritage of the city of Chandigarh by Prof Deepika Gandhi. She’s a noted lecturer in Chandigarh College of Architecture and also closely working with the INTACH Chandigarh Chapter. She talked to the students about the history of the city and how it was made by discussing in detail about the architecture of every notable building in the city and the science behind the structural details.

This lecture was followed by a small break and a talk by Ms. Neenu Vij, an eminent artist who educated the students about what is cultural heritage. She talked about how the city of chandigarh is different from other cities because of its culture and how the living heritage of a particular place can differentiate it from other cultures.

The students were also taken for a heritage walk around the famous Capitol Complex area and educated about the intricate and scientific detailing of the architecture designed by Le Corbusier. The last session was on Natural Heritage by Mr. Rajnish Wattas, ex-principal of the Chandigarh College of Architecture, who explained the detailing of planning the greenery and open space of the city which is an integral part of Chandigarh. To give the students a breather there was an interactive quiz and a small presentation by Ms. Purnima Datt about the spirit of volunteerism and what they can do to promote their heritage. The workshop was finally concluded with the distribution of certificates for the participating students and INTACH publications for the speakers and the colleges.

The Heritage Education and Communication Division, INTACH conducted a one day teacher training workshop in Gurgaon, Haryana. The workshop was aimed at engaging the teachers in an innovative approach towards heritage. It sought to sensitize them by creating awareness among them by providing a comprehensive outlook towards heritage and the ways and means that can be used by them to engage their students towards the same. It also focused on elucidating the role of INTACH as India’s premier organisation towards heritage conservation and education. The workshop saw the participation of around 14 schools and 28 teachers from different parts of the city. The inaugural session started with an introduction by Mr. Atul Dev, Convenor INTACH Gurgaon chapter, who acquainted the participants about the workshop as well as about the work of INTACH, he also welcomed the resource persons. The event also saw the presence of two members from the INTACH Gurgaon chapter Ms. Namrata Mishra and Ms. Anjali. This was followed by a session by Ms. Purnima Datt, Principal Director, Heritage Education and Communication Service (HECS), who acquainted the participants with INTACH. She then outlined for the teachers the definition of heritage and what it embodies by defining and explaining to them different components of the term heritage. She also briefed the teachers on the ways, means and the crucial need for adopting heritage education as part of our school curriculum. The workshop also saw the presentation by teachers, that showcased the innovative lesson plans by them.

Heritage and Education Communication Service (HECS), INTACH Delhi in collaboration with the INTACH Bhagalpur Chapter organized a one-day teacher training workshop on 23rd February 2016 for 37 teachers from 22 schools at St. Paul’s School, Karngarh, Bhagalpur. Ms. Dr. K.D. Prabhat, Convenor INTACH Bhagalpur Chapter welcomed all the participants. The technical aspect of the workshop was conducted by Ms. Teresa Walter and Ms. Bashobi Banerjee, from HECS team, INTACH Delhi. Sessions were conducted with the help of presentations on the Heritage of India and what makes it rich and unique, and on HECS, its objectives and Heritage Education programmes. Teachers were encouraged to form heritage clubs in their respective schools with the training they have got in developing innovative teaching modules in heritage education as it will help the students in learning about their past and rich heritage through heritage club activities. The field trip was organized at Karngarh in Bhagalpur. The workshop ended with the distribution of certificates and resource material to the participating schools. Dr. K.D. Prabhat and Dr. Wibhu Kumar, Additional Co-Convenor, INTACH Bhagalpur Chapter thanked everyone for attending the workshop and wished them good luck for the formation of their heritage clubs.

The conclusion of Filmit project 2015-16 in Goa was with a film festival held in Sharada Mandir School on 11th February 2016 which was attended by 79 students and 13 teachers from 12 schools. The festival started with an introduction about Filmit project by Ms. Purnima Datt, Principal Director, Heritage Education and Communication Service, INTACH, Delhi. Mrs. Sharmila Umesh, Principal, Sharada Mandir School welcomed everyone to her school. Ms. Fatima Gracias Convener, Goa INTACH Chapter spoke about various projects and works of Goa Chapter. Students shared their experiences on film making in different ways through speech, poems etc. Noah Pinheiro from Don Bosco High School, Panjim shared…

‘Filming is an art of expressing yourself and your creativity. Being in Filmit is truly a once in a lifetime opportunity and experience. As every time you start to make a new film you learn and experience something new’.

Everyone enjoyed watching the overall best films of 2015-16 and best Goa films. Mr. Sanjeev V. Sardesai was the chief guest for the festival. Sanjeev V. Sardesai is a botanist by education, graphic designer by profession and a historian by passion. He is an amateur writer and writes on historically related topics. Currently he is compiling a book on the heritage & history of Goa – UNLOCKING GOA, History, and Heritage & Culture, covering a period 10,000 BC till date. He was impressed by the film made by students and gave pointers to improve film making such as be careful of spellings, avoid factual errors while talking about history, write names in capitals, film should have introduction, middle and the message at the end, commentary should be clear etc. He also appreciated the research of the film named Braganza House. Teachers and students were awarded with prizes and certificates for their efforts and contributions.

Filmit Film festival 2015-16 in Ahmedabad was held in Shreyas Foundation, Satellite Campus on 9th February 2016 attended by 81 students and 14 teachers of 6 schools. It started with an introduction on the project by Ms. Purnima Datt, Principal Director, Heritage Education and Communication Service, INTACH, Delhi. Students spoke about their experience in working on the films in their own creative way. Himanshu Sharma from Global Indian International School recited a poem which goes like this.

Like a window wide open exposing. How to hold a camera and be filming, Wide angle to choose and take a shot of course, Editing the scenes that are caught Wow! It really swept me off my feet

Best films of Ahmedabad and overall best films were shown. The occasion was graced with the presence of the Chief Guest, Mr. Abhishek Jain, a Gujarati Film Filmmaker and Ms. Avni Varia, who conducts Heritage Film festival for India which has been held for 4 years and works on crafts of Gujarat as well. Abhishek Jain is known for his Gujarati films Kevi Rite Jaish and Bey Yaar and assisted well known filmmakers like Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Subhash Ghai on films like Saawariya and Yuvvraaj respectively. Mr. Jain said nowadays using the camera for heritage is very unique as the idea expressed in the films intent to teach about caring for heritage. So that students with time can pass this nurturing feeling to the next generation. He also thanked INTACH for coming with this project. Ms. Avni feels that films are a medium of learning and sharing and also spoke about the Heritage Film Festival where she would be glad to take these films made by the students and also wants to involve Government schools. Mr. Pavan Bakeri, Co- Convener of Ahmedabad INTACH Chapter spoke about the importance of mother tongue and subtitling the films in regional language for coverage. Ms. Neerupama Maru, Advisor to Shreyas Foundation said films are a key to empower students and was appreciating the efforts put in by students. Film Festival concluded with distribution of prizes and certificates to teachers and students for their active contribution.

The Heritage Education and Communication Service (HECS) of INTACH in collaboration with the Helen Hamlyn Trust UK , pioneers the Filmit programme, which seeks to impart to the idea of heritage education a dynamism in the form of short films which are conceptualized and shot by children. This program is now conducted in around nine cities.

The Filmit Film Festival on 10th February 2016, marks the culmination of Phase V year 2 (2015-16) of the FILMIT project in Mumbai at Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai. 83 students and 15 teachers from 9 schools attended the festival. The event started with an introduction by Ms. Purnima Datt, Principal Director HECS INTACH, who talked about the film it project and asked the students to share their experiences during the project and encouraging the students to keep up the good work. The event was also graced by the presence of Ms. Tasneem Mehta, Vice chairman of INTACH. She spoke about the success of the project in Mumbai for the past four years and thanked HECS for its efforts. The Chief Guest for the event was Ms. Nafisa Ali, who is known for extraordinary work as an actress and a social worker.

This was followed by the screening of the best films from the different schools of Mumbai and other cities too, also the students shared their experiences of working on the project and what they learnt in this process of film making.

The Chief Guest Ms. Nafisa Ali, now a noted social activist and a well known actress, known for her riveting performances Nafisa has worked consistently with NGOs at the national level reaching out to the masses and making a significant difference in the lives of the marginalized and underprivileged. She was highly impressed with the films; a couple of films like the Kaali Peelis, Sion Fort, Herbal Aaji, and the heritage pan shop really astonished her as these were the work of the children. On a lighter side she asked the students just to make films of pan and not actually consume it as it can be hazardous to the body. She also interacted with the students on the technicalities of film making like editing etc.

In her view film making is an amazing medium, which allows for an interactive relationship between the teacher and the student and gives us opportunity for the teachers also to learn a lot from the students.

She also has a discussion with teachers, about the uses of “chilli powder”, and how it helps to cure burns, and recounted her own experience of getting burnt during an election campaign. The idea that she put across in this interaction with the students is beautifully captured in her own lines when she said “take life as it comes and capture all these moments in a film.” She also underlined the fact that film making also creates an environment where values are nurtured and thus students need to learn and take forward these values.

The students of Bombay Scottish School recounted, how filmit project has shaped their understanding about the process of film making and now they being part of it has understood the nuances and technicalities of the process. They expressed their heartfelt gratitude towards their teachers for guiding them through the project as well as INTACH for providing the students with a platform like the Filmit project. – Students of Bombay Scottish school, Mahim.

The Heritage Education and Communication Service (HECS) of INTACH organized the Filmit Film Festival on 4th February 2016 to mark the end of Phase V year 2 (2015-16) of the FILMIT project in Kolkata at Modern High School for Girls, Kolkata. 73 Students and 17 teachers from 11 schools attended the festival. Mr. Ishwar Chakraborty, a well-known documentary film maker. He spoke to the children that the earnestness in their efforts reflected in the movies. He advised the students to search for unique ideas with a sensitive mind. Storyline and visualization plays a key role in making films. An audio-visual in many ways sums up a whole movie. Though there are many mediums of expressions like painting, writing, performing arts, storytelling but the medium of making movies covers all the aspects and reaches out to wider audience. He concluded with saying that approach film making as an art. Followed by which, Ms. Purnima Datt, Principal Director HECS INTACH, asked the students about their experiences during the project and encouraged the students to keep up the good work. This was followed by presentations made by student representatives about their Filmit experience. Students from Modern High Schhol for girls narrated the story of city of Kolkata using visuals in the backdrop. The school principal also brainstormed with the students and told them 3 takes on film making namely, 1) working together as a team; 2) learning about a new medium; 3) discovering and learning much about their local heritage. It was followed by the screening of the movies shot by the students. The guests motivated the students to continue making more and more interesting films. The programme ended with the certificate distribution and announcement of prize winning films which were selected from each participating school. Some of the excerpts of the students experience of their film making process are as follows:

After school, the film club Is like a knowledge hub. Of thoughts and ideas With friends, my dears All who are present here. Two minutes of joy, two minutes of life The characters always come alive The audience is always rejoiced Listening to our sweet voice We promise we will never Part from this meeting.

- Deblina Chattopadhyay , Xth, Loreto Day School, Sealdah

The Heritage Education and Communication Service (HECS) of INTACH organized the Filmit Film Festival on 16th February 2016 to mark the end of Phase V year 2 (2015-16) of the FILMIT project in Hyderabad at Jubilee Hills Public School for 74 Students and 11 teachers from 10 schools. The introductory address was given by Ms. Anuradha Reddy, Convenor INTACH Hyderabad Chapter and Co-Convenor INTACH Telangana Chapter. Ms. Purnima Datt, Principal Director HECS INTACH, asked the students about their experiences during the project and encouraged the students to keep up the good work. This was followed by presentations made by student representatives about their Filmit experience. The Chief Guest for the occasion was Mr. Pranav Pingle Reddy, documentary film maker based in Hyderabad. He talked about art of making films, importance of making films from the heart and the themes audience identify with. This was followed by presentations made by student representatives about their Filmit experience. Later overall best films were showcased. In the end Mr. Pranav Pingle encouraged the students by saying that film making is a team work and roles must be properly defined for each person. Also audience must be able to identify with the theme chosen and the message conveyed. Sometimes the audience must be surprised with the story unfolding. Each screen is divided into 3 parts. Therefore each scene by itself must visually tell the story. He appreciated the efforts put by the students and told them to focus on sound quality and camera handling. He also told the students to maximize the use voiceover and subtitling as it would help audience understanding your movie. Vote of thanks was given by the teachers of the Jubilee Hills Public School to INTACH for being a part of the FilmIt project. The programme ended with the certificate distribution and announcement of prize winning films which were selected from each participating school. Some of the excerpts of the students’ experience of their film making process are as follows:

Knowing our culture through FilmIt has been an amazing and a learning experience at the same time. It has helped us change the way we used to look at our city’s culture, the way we feel, think and the way we do things. The movies are a result of this exploring the unknown. Thank you INTACH for making us a part of this wonderful project.

- Student from Filmit Hyderabad School

Students from Gitanjali Devashala composed a Rap song on their experience of being the part of FilmIt. Some of the lines from the song are mentioned here:

INTACH Club it’s all about guts in us The fun we had while clicking pics The journeys we had while travelling in the bus It’s all about the fun we had within us.

- Vaishnavi and Gowri, Gitanjali Devshala

The Heritage Education and Communication Service (HECS) of INTACH organized the Filmit Film Festival on 17th February 2016 to mark the end of Phase V year 2 (2015-16) of the FILMIT project in at Sri Sankara Vidyashramam Mat. Hr. Sec. School, Chennai. 67 Students and 10 teachers from 7 schools attended the festival. The chief guest was Sundar Ganesan, who is a Post Graduate in History from the University of Madras and also has a degree in Library and Information Science. Currently he is researching on the text book culture in the colonial Tamilnadu. He has been with the Roja Muthiah Research Library since 1994 since its inception. He is a consultant to a number of archives, libraries and institutions in South Asia like the Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya, Nepal, Tamilnadu State Archives, Chennai, Satyajit Ray Foundation, Kolkata among many others. He talked about power of visual media. He asked children difference between cinema and a documentary film. Some of the children replied that after being part of the Filmit project, they understand that cinema is entertainment, fiction while documentary is actual information, narrates a story and thus educational. He appreciated the efforts put in by the children and said that these films had excellent topics, and had an impact on the audience. He also shared the way photographs says so much without speaking. He gave an example of a photograph of an industrialist sitting on a fancy chair in a boat during the Chennai floods. He ended his words of encouragement by saying that films should have a purpose to it. It should be creative.

He liked one movie “Parotta” for its sheer creativity. He said India is vast and diverse, so there are no dearth of topics and themes to choose from. He also suggested that students must make movies on tolerance. Also he requested INTACH to carry forward this project into rural schools so that the students studying in the villages also get a fair exposure to such mediums of expression and share their heritage with everyone. Followed by which, Ms. Purnima Datt, Principal Director HECS INTACH, asked the students about their experiences during the project and encouraged the students to keep up the good work. This was followed by presentations made by student representatives about their Filmit experience. The programme ended with the certificate distribution and announcement of prize winning films which were selected from each participating school. Some of the excerpts of the students’ experience of their film making process are as follows:

An excerpt from a poem recited by a student from Vidya Mandir on the changes the city has undergone since its naming from Madras to Chennai: “There was once a glorious city Named Madras, it was pretty But then it became Chennai And that’s not all that changed, oh my! Marina beach was a quiet abode The road beside it,a quiet road But now, turn up there on a Sunday Noise and traffic through every way! However much our city has changed There is something that remained The spirit, culture and tradition To conserve it, shall be our mission.”

On 2ND February 2016, Heritage Education and Communication Service, INTACH had organized the Delhi Filmit Film Festival in collaboration with IIC, held at India International Centre, Delhi. 33 teachers with 148 students from 27 schools participated in the event. The Chief Guest for the event was Padmashree Prof. Pushpesh Pant along with Guests of Honor Dr. Shobita Punja, Former Director, HECS-INTACH and Former CEO, National Culture Fund; Ms. Rashmi Pradhan, Deputy Director General (Programme), D.D. Bharti and Air Marshal (Retd.) Mr. Naresh Verma, Director, India International Centre. A welcome address was given by Ms. Purnima Datt, Principal Director HECS. Followed by which the event unfolded with the students’ presentations that included skit, Bharatnatyam dance, song, poem and a capella performance that reflected their experiences of the filmit project. After which the overall best films were screened. The Chief Guest and the Guests of Honor shared their thoughts and encouraged the students to keep up the good work. Prof. Pant congratulated the schools on coming up with such wonderful movies that it took him back to his childhood. Ms. Rashmi Pradhan appreciated the work put up by the students and teachers alike. She said that 21ST century has given you so much to express yourself through your movies. Dr. Shobita Punja mentioned that she thoroughly enjoyed the screening of the movies. The session was concluded by Air Marshal (Retd.) Mr. Naresh Verma, Director, India International Centre loved the movie ‘Kalai wala: a living heritage’ made by Nigam Pratibha Vidyalaya Chaukhandi. Event concluded with awarding of certificates and prize distribution of set of publications on built and natural heritage along with Film It badges.

Topic- Mask making (paper Mache) and Pottery Workshop

The workshop was conducted on 16- 17 January 2016 at XLRI Campus, Jamshedpur. Serailkela Chhau Mask is the unique craft tradition preserved by few masters. Workshop had Mr. Sushanto Mahapatra and Mr. Sumit Mahapatra who kept alive traditions of Chhau mask making in Seraikela. They demonstrated the art infront of young urban craft persons and new age entrepreneurs. Step by step process of mask making was demonstrated.

Topic- Talk by Ms. Anuradha Reddy

As a part of the lecture series by eminent researchers, Silver Oaks Research Centre invited Ms. Reddy for a talk. During the session which was attended by 45 teachers she discussed the various ways in which research is done in order to understand our heritage. In a very easy and seam-less manner she bridged the connections across nations and across centuries. Her revelations of her recent Iran trip and the deep lying connections between the heritage of Iran and Hyderabad, very well put the jigsaw together. Her knowledge, retention and appropriate examples to explain ideas mesmerized the audience. During the entire duration of her talk the audience were spell bound and were asking for more even.