India Lost & Found is a crowd creative campaign founded by renowned photographer Amit Pasricha (@panoramist) that encourages the youth to come together, pool in their talents, and in their own way help preserve the built heritage of India.
Our vision at ILF is to create a virtual museum of rich thought, both tangible and intangible, centered around our built heritage. We hope this may help us imagine the pulse of the place, the throb of civilization past as it flourished, and treat our heritage as our ancestry, to proactively protect it.
Under the umbrella Heritage Map of India campaign, we have a network of over 1000 volunteers, working on several projects. Like explorers, we locate and map heritage sites, research them in detail and narrate stories about them. We have a panoramic vision, and we like to engage with our heritage with a wide lens. We also photograph heritage structures and their unique architectural elements, illustrate and animate characters based on each site, and quite literally, in an endeavor to keep the dialogue going, lend them our voice. Apart from this, we have a thriving social media and HR team, library and oral histories groups, and more. Our tribe is always growing, and what connects us is a love for our heritage, be it well-known or lesser known. We strive to bring back that sense of wonder associated with a heritage site and its attendant inhabitants, be it one as local as a haveli or as monumental as the Taj.
We also have a strong knowledge network of more than 300 experts, including the likes of Laila Tyabji, Swapna Liddle, William Dalrymple, Amit Pasricha and more, who add direction and value to our passion project.
While we may be building a Heritage Map, at our heart lies a strong community of young campaigners spreading awareness about India’s heritage, and contributing their bit to preserve it. We also host exhibitions, competitions and more to bring together a nationwide community.
Be it senior voice artists, programmers, marketing professionals, animators or students, our doors are always open to creators and their creations. If you’re a lover of heritage and culture, why not join our quirky, motley crew of passion driven enthusiasts?
Find India with us! It’s a lot of fun 🎉