Crowdsourcing has helped not only cinema. Social media and crowdsourcing have made it easier for people to gain new insights and perspectives on projects of different kinds. This was recently brought home to participants of Heritage Walk Trivandrum (HWT). During a visit to two well-known landmarks in Kowdiar, Belhaven Palace and Trivandrum Golf Club, the members led by archaeologist Bina Thomas Tharakan were able to listen to conservation architect Sharat Sunder Rajeev who shared with them the interesting history of the Palace that is now the official guest house of the Reserve Bank of India.
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Although they knew that the beautiful building was built by a wealthy businessman of Portuguese descent, not much was known about who he was or why the Palace was called ‘Belhaven’. Nevertheless, all the information that was gleaned during the walk was shared on the Facebook page of the group. As soon as architect and artist Maya Gomez read the post, she posted on the page the information she had gathered from her father, architect Vernon Gomez. Says Maya: “Growing up, I had heard about Belhaven Palace from my father and so I went back to my dad to get a clearer picture,” says Maya. Her post cleared all the doubts about who was the wealthy businessman. “Some of the older people in our community know about the original owner of the property. Theodore Lawrence Gomez (TL Gomez) was a trader and ran a race course for the British in this area. He was the first trader in western goods in Trivandrum, and his store was at the present Canara Bank (opposite Spencer’s),” she posted.
“TL Gomez had two sons. John Brown Gomez and Michael Gomez. John Brown’s daughter was Isabel Gomez (Bella) and she married a trader called Abu Backer. She came to be known as Bella Baker. This palace and Belhaven gardens might be named after her. However, TL Gomez’s wife was also Isabela, so it could be named after her too. Bella Baker’s grand-daughter, Tina Moreira, is a resident of the city. Another of TL Gomez’ descendant was May Moreira, Maya’s father’s great-grandmother,” she explains. She adds that during her childhood, she had shared a room with her great-grandmother and had “learnt of most of these people from her”.
Thanks to Maya, members of HWT were able to complete the jigsaw puzzle about the Palace and its quaint name. They were able to get a complete picture of the history of the Palace, which was later bought by Sree Moolam Thirunal, ruler of erstwhile Travancore, for his daughter, Thangam. In 1968, it was bought by the Reserve Bank of India. The Southern Air Command was headquartered here for a while before it was moved to Akkulam.