In this episode, join Simran Kaur as she explores the role of recording and sketching in preserving endangered heritage. Focusing on her doctoral fieldwork in Farrukhnagar, Haryana, the episode reflects on the discovery and subsequent demolition of a forgotten Mughal-period city gate, and asks what it means to document history that may soon disappear. Through discussion of the sketch walk organised by Speaking Archaeologically, this episode examines how archaeology can move beyond excavation to become an act of memory, resistance, and public storytelling.

In this episode, we up where we last left off: the step wells of Delhi! Built in 1506 and tucked away in the Mehrauli Archaeological Park, the Rajon ki Baoli was the site that set the entire Baolis of Delhi project in motion. But this episode isn't about its history or architecture. It is about what our team found when we got there, and what that visit revealed about a city-wide crisis hiding in plain sight.

Listen to Ms. Simran Kaur as makes a case for why condition surveys are one of the most powerful and most underappreciated tools in heritage conservation. From siltation to structural decay, from public invisibility to the idea that documentation is itself a form of preservation, this episode asks a simple but urgent question: how do we protect something if we don't first stop to look at it?

For the full history and architecture of the Rajon ki Baoli, check out our dedicated video on the Speaking Archaeologically YouTube channel :

https://youtu.be/c7zZyX5lSaw?si=n_-vIa1rmmPlHofK

What began as a routine site visit in December 2019 soon turned into a race against time. When members of the Speaking Archaeologically Delhi Research Wing encountered the stepwells of Rajon ki Baoli and Gandhak ki Baoli, they uncovered a larger, urgent story: one of disappearance, neglect, and fading memory.

Once numbering around 100, Delhi’s baolis have dwindled to just 14–15 surviving structures today, many undocumented and barely recognised. In this episode, panelist Simran Kaur traces the rationale behind the Baolis of Delhi project, a project that focused on documenting, recording, and reviving these forgotten water monuments through fieldwork, photography, site reports, and oral histories.

Join us as we explore how these structures hold fragments of the city’s past and why saving them from obscurity matters now more than ever.

Join Mr. Diptarka Datta as he delves into how Sunder Nursery has continued to captivate artists through history. The episode will unpack how the monuments within this historic complex have been perceived in art and how archaeological illustrations are an important tool to uncover a site's story!

Every excavation tells a story. Every artwork does too. Art allows archaeologists to trace the shifts that a monument goes through across time. In this episode, join panelists Diptarka Datta and Simran Kaur Saini as they explore Skhédíos, an art competition that aims to bring artists and archaeologists together, and ask what each discipline sees in the other. Tune in to know more about why Skhédíos began in the first place and how you can be a part of the competition as well!

Are museums slowly drifting into irrelevance? In an age of shrinking attention spans and endless digital content, many institutions face a pressing concern: disinterested visitors.

At the same time, collections themselves tell a fractured story. Objects from a single site, culture, or historical moment are often scattered across institutions, sometimes across continents, making it nearly impossible for audiences to encounter a coherent narrative. What does it mean to interpret the past when its material remains are physically and intellectually fragmented?

Join Dr. Shriya Gautam as she asks difficult yet important questions about visitor fatigue, dispersed collections, and institutional inertia in museums.

In this episode of Speaking Archaeologically, we explore the Piprahwa Relics Exhibition at the Rai Pithora Cultural Complex and its significance in India’s decolonisation journey. Tracing the relics’ discovery by William Claxton Peppe, their dispersal under colonial rule, and their dramatic 2025 return following an attempted auction at Sotheby's Hong Kong, join Research Wing members Keerthana Girish and Samarth Tyagi as they discuss how this exhibition reframes sacred Buddhist heritage as living spiritual history. Join us as we reflect on restitution, museum ethics, and what it truly means to bring heritage home.

What does decolonisation actually mean in museums and what does it look like beyond rewritten labels?

In this episode of Speaking Archaeologically, Senior Research Panelist Simran Kaur explores how colonial histories continue to shape museum narratives, particularly around South Asian artefacts. From silences embedded in gallery labels to the politics of visibility, this conversation asks how institutions can move beyond aesthetic admiration towards transparency and accountability.

Using the exhibition Swords of Lucknow at the Wallace Collection as a case study, the episode examines how five ornate swords become more than masterpieces: revealing stories of courtly power in Awadh, erased labour, colonial collecting, and the afterlives of empire.

Can reinterpretation be a form of decolonial practice? And is slowing down, adding context, and refusing silence a meaningful step towards change?

This episode invites you to look again and to ask different questions in the museum gallery.

The National Museum, Delhi holds some of India’s most significant archaeological collections but how effectively do these objects speak to the public today? In this episode, we take a closer look at visitor engagement in Indian museums through the lens of the National Museum.

Join Research Wing member Avighna Parul Pande as she discusses gaps between curatorial intent and visitor experience, the role of interpretation and education, and what it really means to make museums welcoming, inclusive, and relevant in contemporary India.

How effective are our laws in protecting the past, and where does public responsibility begin? In this episode, we examine the protection of tangible heritage through the lens of legislation and public awareness, focusing on the UNESCO-listed Sanchi Stupa. Join Dr. Shriya Gautam as she unpacks the the challenges of enforcing legal frameworks on the ground, and the crucial role of public engagement in conservation. As pressures from development and tourism grow, we ask: can laws alone save heritage, or does its future depend on how deeply people care and participate?