Aishwarya Amar Kirit

This Foundation Project implemented by IFA will result in the creation of an accessible, digital archive of the Star of Mysore’s reports on the built heritage in Mysore and investigate the impact this reportage has had on both the government and citizens’ involvement in protecting and revitalising the old buildings. The project will also explore the steps taken towards conservation, disputes over re-structuring, and the significance that the buildings have in the lives of the local people. This is a collaboration with the Star of Mysore newspaper, Mysore. SOM, launched in 1978, is a popular local English evening newspaper from Mysore and is the only subscribed eveninger in the country. Founded by KB Ganapathy and the late CP Chinnappa, the paper has the distinction of not merely recording the history of the city for over 45 years now, but has given a voice to its local citizens. The archive has copies of the physical newspapers that have been printed from the late 1970s and digital copies of the online version. The paper is rich in local content and images and traces the social, political and economic history of the city. Aishwarya Amar Kirit is the Principal Investigator for this project.

Aishwarya has worked in the field of heritage and conservation earlier. She is a museologist and communications professional. She has worked as an archivist with Eka Archiving Services, a professional organisation within the culture and heritage industry. She has also worked with the Outreach department at Drishyakala, an art museum run by Delhi Art Gallery in collaboration with the ASI in the Red Fort, New Delhi. Given her experience she is best placed to be the Coordinator of this Foundation Project of IFA.

Mysore’s identity as a city is closely tied to its heritage and culture. While the district’s website lists only a few palaces, surveys by other organisations have listed over two hundred buildings. Although a few of the buildings were built by the royal family, a number of them built during the 19th and 20th centuries bring to mind the city’s colonial history. Interestingly, a few of the buildings like the KR Hospital for instance, still retain the purpose that they were originally built for, while structures like the Jaganmohan Palace have been repurposed.

The Principal Investigator has listed the process that she will follow in the project. The first step will be to digitally document all the reports that have appeared about heritage structures in the SOM since its inception in 1978. Articles related to the buildings, budget allocations, disputes, restructuring, readers’ letters and photo essays will be collated chronologically for each heritage structure encountered in the archive. This information will be used to trace the development of the building and its surroundings, and to create a timeline of the importance of the building in the city.

Next, the chronologically categorised newspaper reports will be further divided on the basis of the use of the building. For example, they could include - popular tourist sites, repurposed buildings, markets, government offices, private buildings. The categories could overlap with each other and could be expanded as the research progresses. While the value of built heritage is closely tied to its impact of culture and tourism, a large number of the buildings in a city like Mysore are still part of the daily lives of its citizens be they office spaces, hospitals or markets like Devaraja Market. Using these categories, and the manner in which these buildings have been reported and responded to by the readers, the project will map the significance that these physical structures have had in the lives of people.

The last phase of the project will analyse how a local newspaper like the SOM can, through its reportage, create awareness about heritage conservation. Focusing on the reader’s letters to the editor and other articles and responses sent in by readers, this part of the project will try to understand the role that the newspaper along with its readers, have played in the preservation or restoration of built heritage in the city. 

The outcomes of the project will be a digital, accessible archive of the SOM’s reportage on the heritage buildings in Mysore; an online exhibition in the form of a website or blog that can be hyperlinked to the existing website of the newspaper, which will contribute to the ongoing conversations about heritage structures, their conservation, and the livelihood of the people who use these buildings. Apart from the online presence of the archive, a social media account (Instagram and Twitter), that focuses on the built heritage of Mysore through the lens of the newspaper’s archive will be set-up in order to reach out to a larger audience. Readers and followers of the newspaper in turn could contribute their stories and images of heritage buildings. The archive will also spill over to the physical space, where readers will be invited to share their stories and memories of buildings that they have lived in, worked at, or seen every day. This will add a layer of oral history to the existing physical newspaper archive. Other public programmes will include talks and heritage walks. The Principal Investigator's deliverables to IFA with the final report will be the digital archives, access to the social media account and recordings of the public events. 

IFA will ensure that the implementation of this project happens in a timely manner and funds expended are accounted for. IFA will also review the progress of the project at midterm and document it through an Implementation Memorandum. After the project is finished and all deliverables are submitted, IFA will put together a Final Evaluation to share with Trustees.