Old houses in India

Balcony with Coloured Glass Devalia, Gujrat Our Architectural Heritage is an exhibition of Photographs by Anil Dave who has captured the images of beautiful intriguing old houses of India where people are still live.Each photograph is a story of love, care and passion, of refined taste and architectural beauty. The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts is interested in the collection not only for the dynamic and enormous potential of the art of photography but for the content of the photographs which is a documentation reflecting the Centre's concern on Space (Akasa), Form (Akara) and the architectural elements in the houses people have built, to inhabit. These give us an insight into the lives and times of different regions. The rich variations of landscape and climate, the influences of conquerors and colonists, the home building choices, whether of forest dwellers or of urban sophisticates, architectures in India has been, to quote a world famous author "the great book of humanity, the chief expression of man in his various stage of development."

Unfortunately, much of this invaluable part of our heritage is being demolished or altered, under a range of pressures, rising real estate prices, changing commercial priorities, often a meaningless craze to appear modern.

Before much of this is lost it is necessary to record atleast a little of this treasure. Anil Dave's camera has wandered across the country, to look beyond the magnificence of marble and the polished gleam of wood, to catch glimpses of the past, both remote and recent.The soaring devoutness of Chola kings, the dreams of Mughal emperors and colonial traders, the perceptions of Ratwa village fold and Toda tribe; all these and more, are brought together. Through Anil Dave's photographs we learn and understand a little more about ourselves.