Speaking Archaeologically™

An aerial view of Dagshai  My visit to the small hill town of Dagshai, began in the unlikeliest of scenarios, when a close acquaintance, an alumni of APS Dagshai, a noted school of the army cantonment, was paying me a visit in Chandigarh.  The Catholic Cemetery blanketed in moss and ferns A mere 60kms separate the two cities, and the road up until the mountaintop offers an unparalleled experience for avid travelers like myself. By late afternoon we arrived in Dagshai, with the sun kissed town looking as radiant as the shy afternoon sun itself. The Heritage Museum  The road treads past the memorial of Maj. Uday Singh at the very entrances of the town, alongside the wall which bore the insignia of every regiment of the Indian Army that had been posted at Dagshai, followed by campus of APS entirely built by during the British occupation if the region. The style of architecture was predominantly Tudorbethan and Neo- Gothic, whi...

SA is all about understanding history in every possible way, which obviously includes a lot of museum tours and workshops. The tour to Shimla State Museum, though, was different : only three privileged members Vedant Chandel, Vidushi Chandel and I were a part of it, because we wanted to stay active for otherwise inactive weeks and work on regional archaeology. Since all three of us hail from Shimla,  we teamed up for the tasks ahead and thus The State Museum, Shimla was finalised as the place of our research. We walked all the way from Chotta Shimla to the  Museum, a path that covered at least three of the major heritage walks of Shimla. It took us about an hour and to reach it, and although it was tiresome, we still had fun. The State Museum Shimla is housed in a Victorian mansion, carefully altered to the requirements of a museum. It is built on the hilltop of  ‘Inveram’  and is ,sometimes, known by this name, too. It belonged to General Innes in the 1860sl...

Shan-e-Hind, the Indian End of Hussainiwala Border I think it is pretty unfair that all we ever associate Indo-Pak borders with, is the flag ceremonies:hoisting and beating the retreat. Hussainiwala is not exception!  And so, after a sad, halfhearted goodbye to the Jain Temples of Zira, we made our way to Hussainiwala, for a doze of British Indian history and its forgotten sites. I was too tired to take anymore pictures though the way to the Border is lined with meadows, forests and even lotus in the small ponds. I heard Dad explain to us the double-ditch defence strategy and that was the only remotely interesting to spark an interest in my tired, aching brain.  We reached Hussainiwala an hour too early for the parade and spent the time taking pictures of Shan-e-Hind gate. I never warmed up to the idea of the flag ceremonies.  They are just the same and seem to say something entirely different from what they actually mean.  So, even on that day...

                                              Tuesday, 27 October, 2015 Dear Diary, I am in Goa, at last (which explains the absence on the writing front!) At Aguada Fort We reached Goa on the 25th and I've been busy shopping and exploring the beaches, it's not a historical trip so that is what we do most of the time. Today, though, Aguada Fort was on the itinerary and I was all excited and thrilled about it, of course,  because of my unending love for historic places. The ulterior motive though, is because it is my first week volunteering for Speaking Archaeologically and  I am the only one, to have taken an exemption from the very first task because of the trip. I felt awful, but then my task in charge, Shriya Gautam, gave me a list of places I could gather information about, for SA and make up for the exemption.  Aguada Fort happened to be o...