At a time when junk foods and pop culture have become order of the day, children as young as 3-4 years took an innovative approach here to reprise various facets of traditional India -- from age-old dance forms to handicrafts to the cottage industries.
Helped by their parents and teachers, students from pre- nursery to senior secondary classes at TSMS Noida (The Shriram Millennium School) were seen telling about contribution made by small scale industries to the national economy, as also about importance of solar energy and virtues of organic food.
The Mad About Heritage Dwitiya Fair this weekend opened with classical songs and dances by the children, while SpicMacay organised a special performance by renowned Rajasthani Folk singer Ustad Rehmat Khan Langa.
School Principal Uttara Singh said, "Through this event, it is our endeavour to inculcate in our children a sense of pride in our heritage, bring them closer to their roots and help them appreciate the past which is their inheritance, the present which nourishes them and the future that is theirs to create."
While the tiny tots walked the ramp celebrating various festivals, senior students' fashion parade displayed costumes worn in India since medieval times to the present.
Other stalls demonstrated myriad classical dance forms, crafts, art and sculpture from different regions and eras, story-telling traditions handed down over generations, learning of past centuries for architecture and town planning, the amazing journey of spices - all indigenous to India.
Attended by over 2000 visitors, the Fair also displayed performances like Kalbelia, Ghoomar, Kachchighodi, Garba and Odissi by parents, children and folk artists.
The Fair also hosted traditional games like patangbaazi, pithoo and stapoo, while people were also seen enjoying Kathputli show, Bioscope and traditional jhoolas.
At one of the stalls, children were seen collecting e-waste and demonstrating and explaining the necessity of recycling and extolling the virtues of organic food.
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The 'baithak' on the first floor is the most decorative chamber of the haveli, he said, describing the problems faced in restoring the original plan and delicate architectural details.
He said the work started with the removal of all the overground electric lines in Gali Guliyan and laying of a sewer line.
"I also got the shop shutters painted uniformly besides convincing neighbours to allow us to clean the rooftops of the buildings piled with waste," Goel said.
Expressing concern over the vanishing grandeur of havelis of Shahjahanabad ('old Delhi') he said there were around "500 such structures of which most have crumbled" leaving only about "50 havelis".
"One reason for this decline and collapse of havelis is that most of them are occupied by tenants who pay low rents, so neither the owners nor their tenants pay any attention to repair work, let alone restoring originality of these mansions," he said.
Goel said that with the cooperation of locals he was trying to save these elegant architectural structures, and alleged "there was no support from the government".
"The government should at least help in restoring facade of these havelis as nobody is there to care for them," he added.
The North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) under which large parts of the Old Delhi fall, however has made provisions of tax benefits for incentivising preservation of old buildings, however its efficacy is yet to be tested.
