Old Dhaka Heritage Walks – discovering a secret Dhaka

Old Dhaka Heritage Walks – discovering a secret Dhaka
Faizul Khan Tanim takes a stroll down memory lanes where myths unfold and stories of conservation are told

The significance of Puran Dhaka (Old Dhaka) heritage walks lies greatly in the storytelling and therefore, appreciation will start once you see the historical structures through the eyes of a passionate, a patriot and you will love it once you feel that you are rediscovering history.

Ace architect Taimur Islam and his fascinating wife Homaira Zaman and Shamira Islam are the heart and soul of Urban Study Group (USG). USG is a voluntary organization, campaigning for the conservation of the heritage of Bangladesh, and at present their work is mostly focused on Puran Dhaka.

USG’s heritage walks in and around the different mohallas (suburbs) of old Dhaka are about discovering the fascinating history behind what is now known as the city of personal biographies and organic phenomenon – the hustle and bustle, the people and their activities, of smiling conversations, all the different types of religion which once lived in utmost harmony, the laid-back psyche and the amazing dialect which has intense warmth – and these all helped make this area what it is today.

And river Buriganga rightfully at the heart of the revolutionary Puran Dhaka which announced its bold existence of free flow and the ability to carry abundance of green, was once the epitome of Puran Dhaka’s philharmonic-orchestral living. While hiking the mohallas of Shutrapur and Farashganj (Farashganj meaning French market), the neoclassical style structures, French Rococo architecture, be it the heritage buildings and mosques as old as 400 years like Bibi ka Rauza (a splendid mosque, unique because it is named after a lady which is uncommon and extraordinary), Boro Bari and of course, the Ruplal House, a 19th century mansion and during 1888 the dance hall of this majestic house was used to host a ball in honour of Lord Dufferin, the viceroy of India, during his visit to Dhaka – these historical edifices has left its mark of Mughal and colonial era mystical structures on the landscape of Puran Dhaka. These marks narrate stories of profound enigma, magic, aristocracy, rich culture (...and however you want to visualize) that was shared with vibrancy of vocal power and honestly, Taimur does a terrific job.

And maybe because of that, I was humming David Bowie’s song Through These Architect’s Eyes - All the majesty of a city landscape, All the soaring days of our lives, All the concrete dreams in my minds eye, All the joy I see through these architects eyes and felt a sense of pleasant satisfaction.
Although these walks, starting in front of Shutrapur police station, are of three to four hours duration and can be wearying so carry as much liquid, preferably oral saline solution, but with the guidance of Taimur Islam and his comrades of USG Volunteers from the encompassing colleges and universities, this experience is much more than just heritage walks. If one wants to strike a deal between dreams and reality, they can.

The architect duo Taimur and his wife Homaira started these tours in 2008, under the impression and hoping that they would eventually find philanthropists willing to fund and civil society members to help the restoration process of the most precious buildings that Puran Dhaka has to offer.

Islam said USG campaigning for the conservation of the architectural and urban heritage of Puran Dhaka primarily started as Save Shakhari Bazaar in 2004, but later switched to Save Puran Dhaka.

This noble mission was to develop as a social movement that would not only protect the rich architectural heritage of Dhaka city, rather it will initiate a sustainable urban development process which will be centred around the cultural and natural heritage of Bengal.

According to Islam, the tours quickly became quite popular among Dhaka’s expatriate community, and they attracted a sizeable following with people coming out for multiple tours or even repeating the same tours over and over again.

And as a result, Homaira and Taimur expanded their tours to include other walking destinations in Puran Dhaka like the historically significant Boro and Choto Katras, Armanitiola, some of Old Dhaka’s ancient mosques, the Armenian Church, the neighbourhoods surrounding Lalbagh Fort, Narinda, Lalmohan Shaha street , Bonogram road and places which are otherwise excluded in the popular city guide tours, giving the phrase ‘a secret Dhaka’ it’s majestic authenticity.

They feature tours of Shakhari Bazar and the Shutrapur/Farashganj areas as well which has plenty of Zamindar mansions,Vested Property (properties belonging to Hindu Owner who have migrated to India) , debutter property (property of God) and heritage houses like the Reboti Mohon Das Residence (currently belongs to Fire service and Civil Defense Department) from the early 20th century and then Jatindra Kumar Saha Residence (currently a residence hall of Kabi Nazrul Islam College ).

On a tour last week, Islam took us through homes and their courtyards to experience the architectural patterns of brick and lime-masonry structures, featuring lean walkways bridging different wings of a mansion overlooking magnificent uthans (courtyards) which has ornamental plants, water wells, bath areas, then patterned railings of staircases elevating and horizontal ventilation panels on the room walls, conquering massive architectural and design feat – it is a breathtaking composition of warmth and intriguing patterns. One will often meet the families residing there who hang their colourful saree, lungi and gamchhas on clotheslines while children play on the roofs, flying their flamboyant kites of freedom. Very interestingly, taking us inside a temple for water break, we realized that all the different religious institutions for prayers, be it a mosque, a temple, or a church, they are all unique in their own ways but shares the most common feature – they harvest peace and the idea of tranquil comes from there.

The Puran Dhaka residents’ love their A’s and B’s of football. Almost all the houses, markets, residential dorms mostly and even the street walls bear motivations of football, spray painted and graffiti of their favourites – Argentina, Brazil, Messi and Kaka.

USG is currently doing fantastic work on rendering and images created from detailed 3D restoration (digital) of the heritage edifices and neighbourhoods which would look in its original state if the government take necessary steps to conserve the historical and architectural significance of the Puran Dhaka suburbs. And they are rightfully doing so under the broad initiative ‘Save Puran Dhaka’ - An Architectural Vision for the Urban Regeneration of Puran Dhaka through Mohalla (neighbourhoods) Revitalisation. Some of their Before-After shots explains why the living standard, touristy and historical significance of that area will increase considerably.

Islam pointed out that most of our heritage sites are not mentioned on the country/city maps and with resource constraints like scarcity of conservancy experts from both the government and private levels, it has become increasingly difficult while listing buildings of historical and heritage significance.

USG has so far identified more than 2500 buildings of architectural and historical significance while Government’s Nagar Unnayan Committee prepared a list of 93 heritage sites to be transformed in to protected buildings along with the buildings in four areas of both Puran and new Dhaka.

Islam said, “While the laws of conservation to ensure protection of the heritage properties, especially where penalties for misconducts are mentioned, need to be updated. We have inherited the same law as other South Asian countries enacted by the British in 1904 – ancient monuments protection law – which was revised during Pakistani period, as The Antiquity law 1968,this went through very minor modification on 1976. This law lacks clarity, which makes it difficult to take steps during conservation of heritage property”.

“If we start practising the transfer of development rights (TDR) to preserve old buildings, which is practised in Mumbai and Hong Kong, this concept will greatly help us. TDR is a process that enables a historic property owner to transfer its unused development capacity to another property owner who then is allowed to add “bonus” height to its property in another area. For example, an owner of a designated historic property in Puran Dhaka owning a two-storey heritage building ‘A’ wants to demolish that and revive a land to use its maximum intensity, for example build a 9-storey super market. But to save and in exchange for preserving this historic property, the TDRs allow the owner to permanently sell its unused development rights to another company in a less densely populated zone Dhanmondi or Uttara. The zoning administrator calculates the unused capacity as the difference between the existing square footage in the historic building against the potential square footage that would be available to the building in a full build-out scenario. With this, the historical property will not have a single dent, whereas, the property owner can sell able/transferable right to an affluent organization/owner in another zone who could otherwise not build two extra storeys. In this way, both the heritage property and the affluent organization proprietors are gaining monetary benefits”, he suggested.

*This article was first published in The Independent's Weekend Magazine Friday October 19 2012 - http://www.theindependentdigital.com/index.php?opt=view&page=31&date=2012-10-19