The identity of a place or people is determined by its cultural and social vitality, and by the awareness and appreciation of its past traditions, according to Gurmeet S. Rai, a conservation architect and the director of Cultural Resource Conservation Initiative (CRCI). Rai was here to present a slide show of cultural sites in Punjab that she and her team have identified and documented, under the aegis of SPICMACAY.

The special project, undertaken by CRCI and supported by UNESCO and UNDP, involves work related to preservation and promotion of heritage, with Rai as the guiding force.

In an informal chat after the show, Rai shared her passion for the project and the task she has taken upon herself that she says is not just about the "material" but also social as well as symbolic. "The monuments can address the discontinuities introduced by time and history by filling up social vacuums, heal wounds and evoke a sense of community linked to common spaces," she says. The restoration of these historic sites is a social process, which is concerned simultaneously with the recovery of the physical material structure and with the preservation and conservation of the social and cultural values of life that generate the sense of community and lie embedded in the monument and in the collective.

She illustrates that with her experiences that she had when she toured all over Punjab as part of the project along with her team. She speaks of the temples built by Sikh rulers, mosques being maintained by Nihangs and dargahs being looked after by Christians. All these examples are the reaffirmation of our secular culture traditions and ethos, she point out.

But should the preservation be at the cost of development' It is one oft-repeated question that she has to face most of the time. She retorts with example of European countries that are "developed in the sense of
the term it is meant to be".

"But the problem with our country is that we are neither providing for the heritage nor are we developing," she says.

The mention of callousness and the carelessness with which the powers-that-be treat the subject and go on destroying our heritage makes her shudder. "The community involvement is essential to draw them out
 through their participation in the restoration process and involve them in discovering its importance in the past so as to assert its role in their past and future an finally to make it available to them so it becomes relevant to their lives," she says.

"Buildings speak to you," she smiles, adding, "The problem is we do not have the sensibilities to listen."
Copyright  2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.