HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT: FOUR HOMES & A CITY

At Hisar, Bindu Manchanda brings the gaze back to heritage with a renewed perspective: shifting the focus from monumental grandeur to the often-overlooked details that shape the fabric of history in everyday life

- SHRITI DAS

It's a funny thing-how history hides in plain sight. It is a hot afternoon in Hisar, this quaint little city in Haryana. As we walk the grounds of the Tayal household, which was once a factory, we find a series of bricks beneath our feet, plastered over a concrete road. They are stamped 'Gartcraig Patent Glasgow' and bear the archetypal grooves.

We are not excavating nor scavenging for treasures, but recceing the property for our story, to frame and photograph the best vantage points. This estate dates back to the British era, with two historic homes occupied by the family. It also houses offices and industrial buildings that date back to the 1800s. Hisar has been an important administrative region for Mughal and British rulers alike.

And if this overture of history conjures imagery of magnanimous edifices and gilded details, then let me turn the page to a place where heritage is not confined to grand monumentality or nostalgia of the past, but in the fabric of everyday life.