Linking the colonial pasts of two George Towns

Through workshops involving walks, bicycle rides and interactions with locals, this project delves into the primal link of a heritage locality, going beyond the centuries’ old edifices and chronicling the stories of people and communities living there since hundreds of years. 

During the 5-day workshops held in Penang (March 1-5) and here in Chennai (March 31 to April 4), the group of experts discovered a fundamental similarity between the two George Town localities. 

“In Penang’s Georgetown, the heritage buildings are conserved but people’s histories are lost. In Chennai too, the tale is similar, with different communities of people having lived here from even before the British arrived but their stories have not been recorded. If you take these two historic quarters and remove the people out of the equation, they’re just showpieces – the stories of people add value to heritage. 

We need to start looking at people’s histories with buildings as settings – it will help us conserve and preserve our heritage better,” said conservation architect Virajitha Chimalapati, who began exploring the link between the two localities while working on the oral history in Penang’s George Town. 

This proved to be the starting point of the research where the team undertook walks and bicycle rides around the old George Town here, exploring history and heritage from people’s perspective. 

“The aim is to recognise Chennai’s George Town as an important component in heritage, because of the continuity of the people, who have been living there in the pre-colonial period. During the workshop, we examined the communities and people, and how they used the space, using a ‘sense of place’ – using everyday movement to understand historic spaces and documenting them. People staying in these localities are intangible component of heritage, which should be recognised. 

Once documented comprehensively, documenting the people’s way of life and their links to the past, we can get the local communities involved and look at living in a heritage locality as an opportunity to showcase their identity,” added Virajitha. 

Interestingly, George Town in Chennai existed since 1644 while the one in Penang came up much later – in 1786 yet enjoys the World Heritage Site tag. 

Ramanujar Moulana, founder of Cycling Yogis, who was a part of the workshop in the city, said, “We interacted with people and looked at places, even in the peripheral areas of George Town, noticing the changes over time. This workshop could be a starting point towards getting a similar recognition of a World Heritage Site to our city.”