Sir,

Kudos to Gouri Satya for the wonderful history of ‘Fountain Circle’ or the ‘Elgin Fountain’ (SOM dated Oct.19). This is exactly what I have been asking for the past several years, via this medium.

Fountain Circle, as it is known today, is truly a historic monument, a monument worth saving. A monument that can in every sense be called a heritage structure / building / monument.

 We know who built it and why it was built and when it was built. This important monument was moved several times, but it was reserved. It is important when declaring a building or a monument as heritage, who built it, what was the purpose, was the building occupied by a famous person (like the residence of R.K. Narayan, Mysore Palace, Crawford Hall etc.). Declaring a building heritage just because it is more than 100-year-old is definitely not the criteria.

History is important, a famous architect, sculptor, artist, a famous occupant, the age of the structure in conjunction to the above, the technology (again in conjunction with the above). These are some of the criteria to attach the word HERITAGE.

Recently, a portion of Mysore Palace Fort wall collapsed. All sorts of excuses are being given. Why wait till the collapse or wait till it’s about to fall?

Why not have a fixed budget to maintain genuine heritage structures and why not conduct regular inspections of heritage (whether genuine or heritage decided by age alone) and undertake repairs if it’s found to be in a sorry state?

I hope the authorities will rethink and preserve the Fountain Circle and for the sake of genuine heritage lovers, get the fountain to work as it will be an additional draw for tourists to Mysuru along with the Palace and other Heritage buildings, statues, clock tower etc. Do not erase history, instead embrace it and create new structures and monuments that 100 years from now will leave a history for future generations to be proud of.

– George Rego, Mysuru, 20.10.2022

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