Blending the new with the old is need of hour

SathyaPrakashVaranashi, convenor of INTACH, Bangalore chapter
Do we belong to Bangalore? If we do, we need to belong to its climate as much as to its culture. We need to believe in its history as much as in its present modernity. Unfortunately, as we probe, one starts to worry. Maybe, we do not wish to belong to the past of Bangalore.
The shocking news of demolishing Balabrooie Guest House comes as a case in point.We appear to believe that a heritage building with more than 150 years of history can be replaced by a modern clubhouse. We no longer belong to the era of Mark Cubbon, Rabindranath Tagore, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sir M Visvesvaraya and other eminent people who stayed there, so we believe, we lose nothing by erasing this building from public memory. Despite having politicians and bureaucrats, who have visited foreign countries and seen tourist attractions which represent their local heritage, it is sad to see how we treat our history. It goes undebated that modernity is an imperative, but should we have modern buildings built upon the graves of historic structures?
We hesitate to enforce strict regulations to save our heritage; we value only the land, reducing the century-old building worthless in our depreciation calculations. We spend no money for periodic maintenance of historic public buildings, but provide in crores to replace it with a new building. We let Bangalore grow with more projects everywhere, hoping that residents can cope with congested roads, constrained water supply and restricted power supply. Either there is no expertise in Bangalore or the decision-takers are looking elsewhere. Heritage, hence Balabrooie, comes last in the priority list of the government.
At this critical juncture, we still can thank the government for revealing its intention of demolishing Balabrooie, since public love for heritage is getting a demonstration because of that. If one learns any lesson here and upscale willpower, in future we may see a transparent government blending the new with the past. Not just we may, we should.