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Your One Stop for Experiential Tours of Historic India
Walks
Join us on our historic walks of Chennai that was Madras. Led by the city’s favourite historian, Sriram V. On the third Sunday of each month.
Tours
Join us on our tours of various parts of India. Announced at periodic intervals, these will give you an insight into India’s history and culture as never before.
Talks
Listen to Sriram V, hold forth with his characteristic humour and storytelling skills, bring alive a slice of India’s history.
About Us
About Us
Put together by well-known writer and historian Sriram V, Past Forward specialises in heritage tours and trails. Each of these is crafted to suit a wide variety of interests – temples, stately homes, great personalities, scandals, music, dance, intrigues and plenty of humour.
Beginning with walking tours and trails in and around Madras that is now Chennai, Past Forward has since gone on to curating heritage experiences in other parts of Tamil Nadu and the rest of India.
Watch out for our announcements each month.
And in case you are in a hurry, do give us a shout. We will do a tour specially for you, with one of our trained docents.
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Talks
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Testimonials
Heritage sail - Madras Week 2018 with Sriram ! It was perfect — Fun Sunday, loads of history interspersed with humorous anecdotes and absolutely perfect weather !!!
Dear Mr Sriram and Mrs Sarada,It is in fact we who should thank you for giving us the incomparable experience. After everyone of the tours with you, I come back wondering how come I knew so little about a place I had already been to many times.For the young and intelligent musician whom you bring along on the tours, there is learning which perhaps would have been available only in a gurukulam. It is a divine experience for us to hear kritis chosen for the context and live without accompaniment.Both of you are also great hosts. In fact, both of you hardly rest and, therefore, it will be nice if you allow us to do volunteer work in future tours.Looking forward to the next trip and, in the meantime, thanks once again
The very fact that my wife and I are addicted to the tours undertaken by Sri Sriram must speak volumes about the quality of these tours. They are so well managed, filled with splashes of history, great comfort and good cheer.
The very fact that my wife and I are addicted to the tours undertaken by Sri Sriram must speak volumes about the quality of these tours. They are so well managed, filled with splashes of history, great comfort and good cheer.
Our first walk with Sriram was gosh, I think about 15 years ago and I remember even today how he traced the musical heritage of Mylapore walking us past the streets and homes linked with the musical heritage of the city. With a style that is uniquely his, Sriram holds our attention and impresses us as he rolls of the dates and names with such ease. As he builds the narrative through his walks, he helps us visualise the way things were eons ago.As we went along with him and explored parts of the city, we learnt enough to see where the stories intertwined and got to see some buildings and sights we never knew existed. Initially sporadic the walks became a more frequent monthly feature. over the years, the only sad feelings were when we went back to an area after a gap of few years to find some heritage homes gone.From a smaller number, the group that ``pessara Iyer`` drags out early morning on Sundays has grown to nearly 85 ... and with the introduction of the headsets, the growing numbers have been accommodated very well and Sriram’s voice strain has reduced as well!Going out of town with Sriram and Sharada is a unique experience that we would recommend to anyone interested in culture and history. They take care to choose the places of stay and the hospitality is excellent.
Our Benefits
What do you get by joining Past Forward on its tours/walks or attending a talk organised by it?
Understand India
This is a country that is not uni-dimensional. Its history is so multilayered that it is only by experiencing it that you can comprehend the country. That is what we offer.
Relive History
The history of India is not the dry-as-dust writing that you find in textbooks. It is a dramatic past, full of sacrifice, greed, love, hate and just about anything else that makes humankind so interesting. We recreate this through our tours.
Experience Culture
To us, culture is not something in a museum. It needs to be soaked in. Our offerings give you just that.
Fifty Historic Residences of Chennai. Released on 18th August 2008 by B Vijayaraghavan, IAS (Retd) and first copy received by S Muthiah, Chronicler of the City. This book, a bilingual in Tamil and English, takes a look at what made a few houses in the city of Madras historic – their residents, stirring events that took place in them and reasons that they deserve to be commemorated. This book was brought out by Kalamkriya of the Sanmar Group.
Goodness & Mercy, the Life and Times of Dr Mathuram Santosham, released on 21st June 2013 by K Rosiah, Governor of Tamil Nadu. Dr Santosham was many things – a TB specialist, a philanthropist, a Congress man turned Swatantra Party member, an MP, a leader of the Christian community, an author and a man of music. This colourful personality’s life is documented in this book.
Friends of the Earth, the Stanes Story – a history of the 150-year old T Stanes & Co Limited of Coimbatore, released on 9th July 2012 by the Hon. Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.
Fort St George is the administrative seat of the Government of Tamil Nadu. It is also a historic precinct that dates back to 1640, a year after the British established a base in Madras/Chennai. It therefore holds within it 377 years of history. In the fort are to name a few must-see relics – the tallest flagstaff in the country, the only surviving Indian national flag among those unfurled across the country on August 15, 1947, the oldest Anglican church east of the Suez, the first British inscription in India and the largest covered barracks in the country. There are besides hundreds of stories of the people who lived, loved, broke up, stole, earned, profited and died within the walls. A Guide to Fort St George is a volume that enables you to take a tour by yourself of the Fort. Covering 30 buildings and provided with a map and several photographs, it is a boon companion for people wanting to make sense of the various structures inside the walls of the Fort. Compiled by historian Sriram V and published by Palaniappa Brothers, the book can be ordered here. All proceeds from the sale of the book go to Chennai Heritage, the not-for-profit company.
Carnatic Summer, the lives of twenty-two exponents. This book chronicles the lives of some of the greatest stars of the 20th century. Beginning with the man who gave us the modern concert format – Ariyakkudi T Ramanuja Iyengar, it makes it way up relatively younger musicians such as Mali Released by Justice Prabha Sridevan on 12th December 2004, the first copy was received by Sanjay Subrahmanyan the eminent Carnatic singer. APJ Abdul Kalam, who claimed to have read it in one night, described the book as ‘unputdownable’. Carnatic Summer was reprinted for the tenth time in 2013.
Four Score and More, the History of the Music Academy, Madras c-authored with Dr Malathi Rangaswami, released by Dr C Rangarajan and with first copies being received by Sangita Kalanidhis RK Srikantan and R Vedavalli. The Music Academy, the pioneering Sabha that first came up with Chennai’s celebrated Music Season, has had a colourful history of achievements, controversy and plenty of stirring events. All this and more, captured in a racy style, with rare photographs.
Semmangudi, Life and Music, co-authored with V Subrahmanyan and released on 25th July 2008 by the Hon. Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, is a biography of Semmangudi R Srinivasa Iyer, a top-ranking artiste, who dominated the world for Carnatic music for almost a century.
This book on Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School, Mylapore has been penned by two of its alumni – Sriram V and Karthik A Bhatt. Released to coincide with the diamond jubilee of the founding of the school, it is an account of how the institution developed over the years and is today enjoys premier status in India with illustrious alumni all over the world, in several walks of life.
The Devadasi and The Saint, the life and times of Bangalore Nagarathnamma. Released on 19th December 2009 by Kanimozhi, MP with the first copy being received by Sanjay Subrahmanyan, this is the biography of a doughty woman who, from humble origins made it to the top. And while there, became a champion of Devadasi rights. And then she devoted her life to building a memorial to the composer Tyagaraja, at the spot where he was buried. This book won the United Nations Female Population Award for Gender Sensitivity in writing.
Championing Enterprise – the 175-year history of the Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry, released on 29th September 2011 by K Rosiah, Governor of Tamil Nadu. The MCCI is the second oldest Chamber of Commerce in the country. It came up at a time when the empire was still in formation and Madras meant a vast Presidency, from Orissa to Cape Comorin. The Chamber was the pioneer in several infrastructural developments in the region, all of which we take for granted today – posts, roads, telegraph, the railways, the port and administration. Lavishly supported by photographs, the book looks at the way much of South India industrialised and urbanised.