Capturing life, then and now

The walk titled Walking a Munn Map was held at Purani Haveli on Saturday followed by a photo exhibition. The walk was done in the Darushifa area in the old city of Hyderabad. “We covered two historic sites and the Azakhana-e-Zehra, crossing the old Munshi Naan shop. The walk ended at the Purani Haveli Darwaza, as we walked a trail on a Munn map, the first municipal survey maps of the city,” shares Sirisha Indukuri who led the walk.  

The adage that change is the only constant in life is exemplified by the once bustling Aina Khana adorned with innumerable mirrors that turned a century later into a hub of little shops. This unique metamorphosis of Hyderabad has been captured in Mapping Dewan Deodi, an exhibition of old maps and photographs of Dewan Deodi in Purani Haveli by Sirisha Indukuri and Kishor Krishnamoorthi, and is part of the ongoing Krishnakriti festival.

Before and AFTER: The gate from Chatta Bazar was used as the public entrance and (now) withstanding the weather of time.

The duo has been working relentlessly, making a recce of every nook and corner of the city, before zeroing on to the place around Dewan Deodi, an ancestral palace from the times of Salar Jung-III.

Elaborating on the months’ long work and how satisfying the end result is, Sirisha says, “I was working with Munn maps initially but the concept fell into place after Kishor Krishnamoorthi got involved. We sat together thinking at first how we could bring both the time-frames together, creating a time warp and which place to start with. After many walks around the city we saw Dewan Deodi and that the place was completely changed. From a palace and its garden it changed to a commercial and residential hub. We instantly knew what we wanted.”

Wasn’t retracing a place which has changed so completely a difficult task? Pat comes Kishor’s reply, “Recreating and bringing back to life that era was no doubt difficult. Only the mosques from the Nizami era 19-20th century were not razed down. All the other structures faced the brunt of modernity and development. So we placed the Munn maps on our Google maps to figure out the location. The exhibition is of the erstwhile photos versus the current state of affairs. Amongst the many interesting changes, there was the gate of the Chatta Bazar which was used as the public entrance to the Deodi. Though it withstood the brunt of time, the vicinity has changed completely.”

The purpose of this time travelling exhibition was to raise awareness about the city’s heritage amongst youth and to fill in the void of lack of knowledge about one’s surroundings.

Revolving around the same concept, Shikha Pandey, fellow, India Foundation of Arts collaborated with the Kalakriti Archives to create “Block by Block”, a board game that takes an infotainment route to engage people. “I have created blocks from the Munn maps and each block has some clue written behind it related to the place. Once all the blocks fall into their respective place, the map of Hyderabad emerges in its full glory. This board game is a fun way to learn about our city and its heritage,” concludes Shikha.