Hyderabad was crowned as the Best Heritage City of the country a couple of months back. And the celebrations are underway hallu–hallu. After wining the prestigious title from Union Tourism Ministry and receiving the award from the President of the country, the celebrations took some time in order to make it a remarkable one.

In keeping with its image, the city of Charminar, tombs, pearls and biryani, is coming up with both tangible and intangible ways to celebrate . “A whole lot of events are lined up. From culture to food to sight seeing, this city offers tourists everything. Tourists don’t come to the city only for sight seeing, the city is to be experienced in all ways. And what better way to celebrate the Heritage Week than with cultural programmes in the lap of heritage,” says G. Kishan Rao, director, Chowmahalla Palace.

The Chowmahalla Palace will host a whole lot of cultural shows and events. The event kickstarted on Wednesday with a jugalbandi with music maestro Mangalampalli Balamurali Krishna and Pt.Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. Over the week, connoisseurs of music will be treated to scintillating sessions of music, poetry, qawwali, mushaira and traditional dances. “The cultural shows are lined up to highlight the rich cultural heritage of the city. The shows are a mix of music and dance and theatre . The attempt is also to make people aware of what we have as a city. On the final day, there is a Kathak performance by Pandit Birju Maharaj,” confirms Kishan Rao.

This is not all, G. Kishan Rao says there are different programmes and cultural shows which are being hosted at Qutub Shahi Tombs and Taramati Baradari as well.

To mark the World Heritage Week, INTACH gave awards to several heritage buildings and structures in and around the city. Describing their search and attempt as a deepone, Anuradha Reddy of INTACH said, “Lots of heritage structures have been destroyed and neglected but there is still much more that can be preserved, if we make an attempt. This time we looked at various aspects of heritage. The search made us look at heritage that is part of people’s lifestyle and habit. The search showed up areas where heritage is intact. Secunderabad’s rich heritage and buildings talk of the influence of various communities in their architecture and material. One building highlighted modern architecture in traditional use and that discovery is a very interesting one.”

If this is one part of the celebration, there is more for everyone at the ‘entry-free-for-all’ event at Shilparamam. To highlight the intangible aspect of heritage and culture in the city, food is being highlighted through cooking competitions and food stalls being set up. Venkateshwarlu, administrative officer at Shilparamam says, “The event begins with a festival of Mughlai dishes and goes on to show the different cooking styles of various regions as well. The event also has a cooking competition for men and a biryani festival. Besides food stalls, there will be cultural shows as well.”

So let’s rediscover and raise a toast to our city.

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Life & Style> Metroplus / by Prabalika M. Borah / April 18th, 2012