As India Builds (Part 6)

The face of Calcutta is degenerating fast. Droves of glittering shopping malls welcome young Calcuttans – since among other things India is also importing Retail Therapy. A new credit card industry booms. The expanding middle class rejoices in the sudden Western availability of product after product after product. Satya Paul saris and Giorgio Armani jackets float in shop windows, and in today’s India, people actually have the money to afford such luxury.

But no, the consumerism doesn’t bother me. What bothers me is the relentless architectural strife. My maternal grand parents’ house on Russa Road had a fish pond which my grandfather always kept full of Tilapias, and where I fished. The plot is now a five-story concrete box, occupying all open space on the property. The Kath Champa tree gone. The water gone. The fish gone.

On Elgin Road, besides the Mitra House, there were also the Roy Mansion, the House of the Sarkars, Jahaj Bari (the Ship House), and others down the lane. The Sarkars sold out, but before that, the government deemed their property a heritage house, forbidding developers from tearing down the main building. Consequently, a multi-storied unit climbed from their back lawn attaching itself to the heritage home, creating a grotesque architectural juxtaposition that juts out like a steel-necked giraffe.

Entrance staircase at P. C. Mitter’s Elgin Road house with his portrait hanging at the half-landing

This segment is part 6 in the series : As India Builds
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