“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” — Albert Einstein

As India Builds (Part 3)

Wednesday, May 2, 2007 | 4 comments

The past always recedes. Sensible people do not let that be bothersome. The old steps aside for the new and so it should. Yet, looking out the car window driving through India these days, I am stricken by the pace and brutality of this transition. Chowringhee, Calcutta’s once impressive Paris-esque boulevard, is now layered in flyover roads obstructing views of British era architectural gems such as the Indian Museum, and Geological Survey. The imposing Calcutta Club building has also lost its eminence with the intervention of the Lower Circular Road flyover.

In South Calcutta, Sir Rajendranath Mookherji’s house on 7 Harrington Street awaits its yet unknown fate; a silent ponderer of its owners’ declining prominence. The lure of escalating real estate prices will soon become too much. Sir B.C. Mitter’s 19 Camac Street has already been demolished, a skyscraper in its place. The same for Raja Promotho Roy Chowdhury’s 9 Hungerford Street overlooking the lake in Minto Park. In the older North Calcutta, Sir Kailash Bose’s residence will soon be sold, wiping out another reel of childhood memories for my mother and grandmother. Ramdulal Sarkar’s Beadon Street house, Digambar Mitra’s Jhamapukur house, Manmathanath Mitra’s Shyampukur house all still stand, but in dilapidated conditions; all of them, like elephants, will fold gently, horrendously, onto their knees.

chowringhee building