Special issue with the Sunday Magazine
From the publishers of THE HINDU

URBAN SPACES : August 1, 1999

---

A new lease of life

Alka Pande

Saving a ruin? A touch of madness? No it is wisdom backward and forward. If everyone starts building for themselves, then who will look after the buildings of others. The built heritage of the past civilisations has offered a wealth of information about our ancestors. Be it the Pyramids of Egypt, or the Colosseum in Rome, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Empire State Building in New York, or the more recently built Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao these will go down in history as the heritage of our times. These buildings are the milestones which lead backwards into the history of our country.

THE RAMGARH BUNGALOWS

NEEMRANA FORT PALACE

Aman Nath, a post graduate in medieval Indian history from Delhi University, is now committed to the cause of restoring old buildings. Nath is now the force behind the Neemrana Hotels, in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. It was his passion for aesthetics and beauty that made him drift into restoration. Twelve years ago he put his heart and soul in the restoration of the Neemrana Fort Palace, on the Jaipur Delhi Highway, and ever since he has been restoring old forts and palaces. Nath has been responsible for restoring the Piramal Haveli at Bagar, Hill Fort Kesroli, all in Rajasthan. In Uttar Pradesh, he has reworked on the Ramgarh Bungalows - Ramgarh, the Glass House on the Ganga, a property of the Maharaja of Tehri Garhwal on the Rishikesh-Badrinath Road and is now working on the Mud Fort at Kuchesar.

THE PIRAMAL HAVELI,BAGAR

THE HILL FORT, KESROLI

Nath has a scientific explanation for taking up old dilapidated structures, and restoring them, often in a contemporary and practical manner. In his quest for re-using these ruins, Nath is also doing a sterling service. He is saving a heritage - a voice of the past, a legacy for the future. For if buildings are not inhabited they die an untimely death, owing to disuse. A building in use is ensured not of immortality, but longevity. Most of the heritage buildings in the country are well located and better planned than some of the modern buildings. "They catered to all the requirements such as security, mobility and accessibility - all that we look for even today. When one restores a building the site is already chosen, the foundations are already laid out, there is no problem of revolution of design; one has to just think of filling in the gaps, make things look like they were always there, and give the building a longer life with the touches it needs so that it can be made liveable." Living in gives the building the sense of life that ought to be a part of it. Buildings are to be lived in, not just for boring decoration to make them look like the stars of yesteryears. If a place is lived in, it is also looked after from day to day. Re-use is complementary to restoration. In restoration there are no set rules. While restoring a building for re-use one goes according to availability of material and suitability of application.

Nath is convinced that restoration is very much the need of the hour, particularly in a country like ours, where every ruler, or chieftain built beautiful homes for themselves, with the deepest respect for time and space. Neemrana is a 15th century building, India's oldest heritage resort. Today the property covers 25 acres of land. Neemrana has earned a reputation for its Rajasthani and French cuisine. It runs a lifestyle store as well. People can buy whatever pieces of handloom or handicraft that they might want. In this way Nath has also tried to make Neemrana self sustaining, for whatever cannot support itself will in any case decline. Everybody likes to build a house to live in but how many people help others' fantasies come alive. Restoration of buildings is not only a productive way of giving longer life to the existing buildings by dressing them up but also a way to upgrading the tourism industry of the country. Foreigners get to see the real India, its cultural heritage, the legacy handed down by our forefathers.

GLASSHOUSE ON THE GANGES

THE MUD FORT, KUCHESAR

"I am guided mainly by structure, what it demands. I always imagine myself living in the place that I am working on," says Aman Nath. Some of these buildings contain such extraordinary things made with a lot of talent and care just locked up and falling to ruin. "I try not to standardise my work, I remain completely open to everything. Observation and different travels are put into my work, the legacy of my experiences. One does not need to do a course to restore a building, you have to have the sensibility and the passion for it. It is the fine tuning of your aesthetics," says Nath.

Christine Pemberton/ Fotomedia

It is essential to be an architect to rejuvenate old buildings, structures and edifices. Spontaneity and passion for the old and beautiful, the need for their preservation can trigger the saving of many such ruins all across the country. "It is the architecture of common sense, which people then interpret as genius. All that you need to do is to dress a house like you dress yourself." Restored buildings provide the inimitable and fatal attraction for foreigners and bring home the fact that our forefathers were definitely at the forefront of building technology. They were original landmarks, not pale copies; even today they stand as a testament to the genius of their times, and provide great lessons in building for the future. For the architect of the past was a more holistic builder - right from selecting the site to its security, he was completely in tune. He took into account not just the building material, but the ambience, landscaping, and the location.

The ruins of the past have their own tales to tell and when restored they are given a fresh lease of life, they live another generation, enthusing, energising and touching all those who come within their fold.