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Have you ever walked past an old building and wondered about its story? In Delhi, there are hundreds of such historical treasures, but most people hurry past them without a second glance.
This is what bothered young Vihan Tampi, a Class 12 student from Shiv Nadar School, Noida, who grew up exploring these historical treasures with his father, Chandrashekar Thampi, a heritage expert.
“Ever since I was four, Dad would take me on these amazing walks and tell me stories about each place,” says Vihaan. “But over the years, we’ve watched how pollution and negligence have degraded these structures.”
Instead of just feeling sad about it, Vihaan decided to do something.
Along with his schoolmates — Arnav Vij, Aryan Bardeja, and Karissa Gupta — he created an app called WaPas (Walking Past). It’s a clever play on words — while it refers to people walking past monuments, the shortened form ‘WaPas’ also means ‘going back’ in Hindi, perfectly capturing the app’s aim of helping people connect with their past.
How does it work?
Think of WaPas as your pocket-sized heritage guide. When you’re walking or driving around Delhi, it sends a friendly notification if you’re near any of the 500+ historical sites in its database. “It’s like having a knowledgeable friend who gives you a gentle nudge whenever there’s something interesting nearby,” explains Aryan.
The team worked with mentors from Adobe to make the app easy to use. It allows users to listen to information about sites instead of reading it, save favourite places for later visits, and get detailed stories about each location. While the app is already available for iPhone users, Aryan is planning to release an Android version soon.
Hidden gems they’ve found
While researching for the app, the team made some amazing discoveries. We were on a walk on the outskirts of Delhi when a local guide, Sunil Harsana, showed us some rocks that turned out to be Stone Age tools!” Karissa shares. “These could be older than the Harappan civilisation — imagine that!”
They also found something incredible in a small gurdwara in Noida. “There’s a rock there that freedom fighters Bhagat Singh and Chandrashekhar Azad reportedly used while making explosives during the independence movement,” Aryan says. “Such important pieces of our history are just sitting there, and hardly anyone knows about them.”
To get the facts right, the team didn’t just rely on Google searches. They dug through old books and records, talked to historians, and double-checked everything. “We wanted to make sure we got the real stories, not just what’s popular on the internet,” explains Karissa.
What’s next?
The project, which started with a Rs 2 lakh investment from the group’s own savings, has bigger dreams now. The team wants to take WaPas to other cities like Mumbai and Lucknow. They’re also thinking about working with tourism companies and adding special features for users who want more.
Even though they’ll be heading off to university soon, mostly abroad, they’re not abandoning their project. “Most of our work can be done online,” says Arnav. “Plus, we can look at adding heritage sites from other countries too!”
The project has had wonderful support from their school, with school coordinator Deepa Ranganath guiding them throughout, backed by Principal Anju Soni’s encouragement.
Vihaan shares a story to underscore why the initiative matters. “There used to be this old tower we’d see every time we drove to Agra. It’s fallen now. I know about it because my dad told me, but future generations won’t even know it existed. That’s why we need WaPas.”
In our fast-moving world where old stories often get forgotten, these young innovators have created something special — a simple way to help people discover the amazing history around them, one notification at a time.
Edited by Arunava Banerjee
