Swabhumi, the heritage park off the Bypass, was to have a Bengal-oriented theme. But it has now become a mix of all cultures. The making of Swabhumi, out of a garbage dump, is a tale by itself Aloke Kumar, till recently CEO of Ganapati Parks (an Ambuja Cement group company), which developed Swabhumi with Calcutta Municipal Corporation, throws light on the concept as well as ways to improve its profile to make a truly interesting spot for visitors from home and abroad.' In conversation with Ranjita Biswas:
You are not an architect or civil engineer. How did you get involved in the project? During the tercentenary celebration of the city, Harsh Neotia of Gujarat Ambuja Cements conceived a project called Homage. In a continuing effort, he wanted to develop something to showcase Kolkata and its heritage, and later invited me to join. With my back-ground of studies in heritage and culture — my father was a well-known antiquarian — and knowing people like R.P. Gupta and P.T. Nair, the idea seemed challenging.
Since heritage is a very broad term, how did you define it and how did you go about building the park? I saw it as an `edutainment' effort, where people could enjoy themselves and learn about the country's history and art. Shaping it from a garbage dump was a challenge, too, involving soil experts and others. An Australian expert on a visit to the city, Bruce D. Stewart, told us how to burn the methane gas that stunted the growth of trees.
Why the name Swabhumi? We had consulted eminent writers for a name. Sunil Gangopadhyay came up with the name that depicts one's own land and a sense of pride and belonging. Going back to the heritage point, the theme seems to be not on Bengal specifically. You are right. We started out conceiving it around a Bengal village ambience and as an interactive place of Bengal art. In the original design (see sketch), the entrance was to have terra-cotta figures of Lakshmi and Saraswati. But in between, we took help of MODE re-search to gauge the mood and found that people preferred more heterogeneous elements.
But don't you think for tourists and for people here, too, it would be interesting to get more flavour of Bengal's crafts? Actually, we had started out with an idea where artisans from Bengal would give live demonstrations. For example, we had talks with Bhakta Bhaskar of Natungram who has revived the art of Lakshmi pencha (the stylised wooden owl popular today) as also other artisans. In fact, we researched and compiled the first crafts directory in the country (on Bengal's folk crafts).
It can still be done? Yes, out of 13.5 acres, six acres have been utilised so far. We had also conceived a portion to the right of the entrance with North Bengal in focus with houses built on stilts and a restaurant called Kolkata. North Bengal's own crafts, like mask work of Dinajpur, can be shown here.
And theme festivals, perhaps? Why not? At the centre of the park, where the architects have created a Thakur dalan kind of atmosphere, Nabobarsho, Dol or even Durga Puja can be celebrated. People can buy tickets to participate. Lots of NRIs and tourists come during Puja, but unless they are known to the para, they do not fit in. Why not give them a chance to enjoy Bengal's very own festival? We even had talks with foreign governments. Canada, Israel, Mexico, for example, were willing to come with their exhibitions. The Peabody Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, is the only one in the world where artefacts pertaining to Bengal's trading history with America are displayed. They were open to the idea, too.
Then Swabhumi can become some-thing beyond a shoppers' arcade? Yes. Today people want to go back to their roots. The thirst for knowledge can be catered to in the relaxed atmosphere of the park.
To read about Swabhumi, click here:
Swabhumi