A City's Footnotes

Guided heritage walks are being reimagined by a new generation of cultural custodians.

- By PROTIMA TIWARY

In the shade of a moss-draped trail in Bicholim, North Goa—where the Chorla Ghats begin their slow, deliberate rise—lies a quarry, still and half-forgotten. A small group stands at its edge, listening. As Mackinlay Barreto, Founder of The Local Beat, begins to speak, the landscape stirs. Stories begin to surface—of labour, longing, and love—until the quarry seems to breathe with memory.

Guided heritage walks, once confined to textbook-style tourism, are being reimagined by a new generation of cultural custodians: Researchers, writers, chefs, archivists, and former architects who lead with lived experience and a storyteller's instinct. There are no geo-tags here, no “Instagram hotspots” of a city. They are inviting travellers—and often locals—into the living rooms, courtyards, and kitchens that cities usually keep hidden.

“We're not just walking through history,” says Tanya George, a typographer who has been guiding lettering-focused walks in Mumbai since 2017. “Indian cities are a lovely amalgamation of heritage. Whether it's the Art Deco lettering of Marine Drive or colonial scripts in Ballard Estate, these signs speak of migration, commerce, language, and evolving aesthetics. Over the years, I've realised that people connect more with stories than technicalities—narration brings history alive.”