Heard of Thalaserry? It's a small town in North Kerala, where cricket was first played in India more than two centuries ago.

Towns such as Thalaserry are not very well known. But that might change soon when a web-based initiative by unesco to make cultural maps of important, but little known, towns in India takes shape.

The current cultural maps of the country do not justice to its heritage, says Minja Yang, director, unesco's-India Office. The maps will locate monuments and heritage sites, and have information on the intangible heritage of the region in the form of dances and festivals, all aimed at giving the prospective tourist a feel of the region.

But Thalaserry might have to wait for a while. "Karnataka and Rajasthan will be our pilot sites for cultural maps. We will evolve a template for other regions based on this pilot project,' Yang says.