Fireside chat with Jahnavi Prasada on Nainital, heritage, and community

 

Brewing Knowledge Friday

Fireside chat on Nainital, heritage, and community

Key Takeaways

• Nainital as “living heritage” → personal memories + historical documentation; book born from 10–15 years of on-ground observation and archiving

• Preservation vs change → advocate preserving viable heritage; accept smart infrastructure change where necessary; ~80% buildings not preserved, ~40% gone

• Himalayan Echoes (Kumaon Literature & Arts) matured to a boutique, mountain-voices festival → 10th edition; ~25–26 authors; ~300 attendees cap; non-political, environment-forward

• Reading advocacy needs hand-holding and simplification → short formats, visuals, school programs (Reader Leader in 4 govt. schools), podcasts as complements, not replacements

Opening and Context

• Weekly Friday 5:30pm The English Book Depot conversation; guest: author-curator Janhavi Prasada (Nainital: Memory + History + Identity)

• Coordination; hybrid presence from Dehradun/Delhi; Sneha hosts as EBD intern

Early Memories and Sense of Place

• Daily dawn imagery → Sher Ka Danda ridge; Deopata peak; Gayatri Mantra; birds on a walnut tree

• Childhood texture → free-range hills life: tree climbing, wild berries, nettle stings; continuity into adulthood (seasonal light, monsoon rainbows)

Realising Heritage (Later, not as a child)

• Awareness matured in teens; initially took setting for granted (long school days, Doordarshan/VCR era)

• Family home, Abbotsford (purchased 1906) → Tagore family link via grandmother; ship consignment of artefacts (life-size marble Roman busts; chandeliers)

• Early casualness (artefacts outdoors) → later conservation mindset; brought artefacts inside; learned why “no dirty shoes/no running” rules existed.

Journey to Documentation and Writing

• Media path → Cardiff (broadcast journalism); Pioneer; ANI/Reuters; DD; Channel News Asia

• Return to Nainital to steward Abbotsford; aim: experiences with meaning, not generic hospitality.

• Graphic novel adaptation of Gandhi’s autobiography (HarperCollins) → visual/brief-sentence style foundation

• Nainital book emerged after a decade+ of photos, interviews, and noticing transitions (buildings decaying, people ageing/absent post-COVID)

Style and Format Choices

• Intentional brevity → TV-influenced short lines; accessible non-fiction

• Rationale → today’s low attention spans; visuals aid retention; preference for graphic/concise formats to keep radical ideas readable

Heritage: Preserve vs Evolve

• Position: preserve when possible; share to sustain (Abbotsford as boutique stay; book as scalable “guide”)

• Acknowledges financial strain; calls on educated/able owners to conserve and open to the public

• Infrastructure pressure example → single entry/exit roads; lower road lost sections to the lake; locals resist change but embrace good design-led solutions

Himalayan Echoes: Kumaon Festival of Literature & Arts

• Origin → built Nainital Book Club first (30–40 regulars), then launched the festival

• Scale shift → from 5 authors/50 attendees (at Abbotsford) to ~25–26 authors/~300 attendees over 2.5 days; boutique by design to protect quality

• Focus → mountain/trans-Himalayan voices; environment, climate, sustainability; non-political stance despite political lineage

• Notables → Lobsang Sangay is a Tibetan-American politician in exile who was Kalon Tripa of the Tibetan Administration in India  (CTA, PM-in-exile). Patrick French, Manisha Koirala, Shobhaa De; mentor: Namita Gokhale; speakers from Ireland/Sweden

• Identity after 10 years → serious, culturally grounded, environment-forward think space

Community Reading Programs

• Reader Leader Project → 4 govt. junior schools; mini-libraries; weekly volunteer-led sessions with props to normalise reading

• Target equity → prioritise govt. schools for author access; post-festival school programs; expansion to village schools

• Sneha/Sandeep align on making reading “flavourful” via mixed media (on-screen texts + conversations)

Food, Bakeries, and Local Flavour

• Personal house favourites served at Abbotsford Cafe → Irish stew (weekly), UP kebabs, mulligatawny soup, jelly custard, caramel custard, apple crumb.

• Heritage bakeries → Bakery No. 6 (~1921) fresh macarons noted; “Lotte Wala Jalebi” as an enduring local institution

• Travel ethos → savour local farmer ’s-market-style foods; concern: domestic tourists often default to 5-star staples over local cuisine.

Walks, Fauna, and Safety

• “Walk in Heaven” chapter → post-festival ritual 1-hr forest walk; cemetery walk (WW veterans, POWs, carved epitaphs), mist, woodpeckers, treepies, barking deer.

• Leopards (bagh/tendua) are omnipresent in hill life → safety practice: avoid solo walks after 6pm; if alone, keep talking to deter approach (keen hearing)

• Personal loss → first pet Pomeranian, taken by leopard; underscores coexistence realities in hill towns

Reading: How to Start

• You can’t force reading; reduce intimidation with hand-holding and simple, short visual content.

• Make reading casual, everyday; use podcasts as complements, not substitutes; NGOs and community hubs are essential for scaffolding.

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