Bengaluru is a city with an interesting past; in fact, if the age of the sheet rock at Lalbagh is taken into account, Bengaluru goes way back to pre-history! The city has such a fascinating heritage, it's no wonder that the people who live in and visit this city want to know more about its history.

I find that the best way to know about our heritage is to walk around an area. The good news is that there are now at least three organisations that conduct heritage walks regularly. It's not just buildings and architecture that are shown and explained; trade and commerce, even such things as the history of the water supply in the city, have been the focus of some walks.

Heritage walk being conducted in Lalbagh (Pic: Deepa Mohan)

Having been on several of these walks, I realized that the way a walk is conducted can add immensely to both the enjoyment and the learning of the participants. It might seem simple enough to an onlooker, as if the organiser has identified various interesting buildings and homes , just strung them together and made a walk out of it. The reality is that far more goes into designing a walk.

It's true that a listing of various interesting features, scenes and buildings will have to be made at the initial stage; but after that, a lot of factors influence what remains on the walk itinerary as well as what has to be left out. Such factors include:

1. Accessibility. If a particular temple or shop or house is not open to visitors or not open on the day of the walk, it might just have to be viewed from outside; or even dropped from the itinerary altogether.
2. When a sight lies outside a certain time-and-distance period. If it is going to take walkers more than 15 minutes of steady walking to reach a place, then it is probably not a good idea to include it in the heritage walk. Or, at the very least, some more sites nearby must be included to make it a more inclusive experience.
3. General interest. If a particular kind of architectural detail, for example, a "monkey top" or an octagonal skylight, is all that there is to command interest, the general group of walkers may not find it interesting enough.

Kripa Rajangam and Pankaj Modi conducting the Malleswaram Heritage Walk (Pic: Deepa Mohan)

Organizers must also ensure that the whole trip does not take more than three hours at the most. This should include at least two well-designated breaks when the walkers can rest. At these ‘break-points’, it would be better if refreshments are organised. For example, on the British Bangalore walk by Bangalore Walks, juice and biscuits were provided when the party halted in front of Mayo Hall; on the Shivaji Nagar walk, we stopped at a little tea shop to have samosas and tea; on the Avenue Road walk, it was a break at the Meenakshi Amman temple, where puliyogare and mosaranna (the prasadam of the temple) were served. On the Bangalore Fort walk, juice, fruit and the signature biscuits of the area were served at Tipu's Palace and, on the Malleswaram walk, refreshing lemon juice was served at the heritage hotel, Villa Pottipatti.

What's being served during the break would also depend on the weather. Hot chai and filter kaapi are welcome, but in the hotter months, a cooling drink would be better.

Apart from the break, it would be good if the participants could also sample some of the food of the area in which they walk; we loved the excellent filter kaapi in one of the small darshinis when we walked in the K R Market area, just as we relished the sugar cane juice in the Fort area!

Deepa Mohan is a freelance writer who fell in love with Bangalore when first she moved from Chennai, and has been both enthused and worried over the rapidly changing city. She is also a Bangalore metroblogger.

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