All historic cities of the world have multiple stories and narratives woven in their veins. Ahmedabad is India’s first World Heritage City with centuries of history, hence it is imperative that these stories be discovered. These stories will encompass the city’s rich cultural heritage and histories ranging from its nature, architecture, textile, arts, crafts, design, science, technology, and the important personalities who impacted through different ages. 

Through this initiative, stories from the past will be researched and collected from the present and an oral history archive will be created. These stories and archive will be freely available with open access on the website and YouTube channels of ‘The Museum Memories Project’ and the VarnikaDesigns blog.

 As the first project of this initiative, Aanchal Mehta and I conducted site visits of both Sarkhej Rauza and Vishala Utensil Museum during Disability Week with 35 students of the Foundation on a cool Sunday December morning. 

The objective was to bring the students out of their small homes from clustered areas and let them experience the breezy Sarkhej, built as a Sufi shrine dedicated to the saint, Ahmed Shah Ganj Baksh Khattu, who is credited with directing the Sultan in establishing the city. A workshop on different textures and basic shapes and how to locate them in heritage structures and objects was also conducted. 

The Vishala Museum tour was interesting as exciting aspects of utensils were highlighted by their staff Rajesh Parmar. 

Both sites were difficult to navigate with students who were on wheelchairs but the local people were extremely helpful.