Heritage off the map
The first time I saw Sreedhar, he made a peculiar gesture – of sniffing at me. When I asked him the reason, he said he was making sure that I was not wearing any ‘scent’, in his parlance. It was ‘khatarnak’ (dangerous) was his view. As a city-dweller, I couldn’t quite fathom why a scent […]
The Bundela Baolis of Datia
Medieval baolis – or stepwells – are so much a part of daily life in Datia that most people don’t think of them as heritage sites. For people like Bhanu, who lives on the outskirts of the town, the day begins each morning with him pumping water from his 17th century well to nurture his […]