The Telegraph - Calcutta : Metro

| Saturday, September 10, 2005 |

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Calcutta Crumbling

pThis is the Adi Brahmo Samaj church on Chitpur Road. A faded signboard still bears the name of Raja Rammohan Roy, and this is where some leading lights of Calcutta used to gather for worship. The altar has disappeared and there is a gaping hole on the floor where labourers sleep. Needless to add it has turned into a godown for storing marble in a stretch where statuary is sold. qThe Town Hall was restored a few years ago but maintenance being zero, signs of decay have already set in in the backyard. Here someone wanted to erect a mall. Everything was finalised but it was hastily abandoned after the public screamed blue murder. The remnants of the aborted project are visual pollutants.pThis is the house of Hemchandra Bandopadhyay in Paddapukur, Kidderpore. Michael Madhusudan Dutt used to live in this area too but his house has been misappropriated. Another litterateur Nabinchandra Sen used to visit them here, which is why this neighbourhood is called Kabitirtha. But what?s in a name? uUN Brahmachary, who had invented the kala-azar antidote urea stibamine, lived on Loudon Street and this huge house on Bidhan Sarani used to be his office. Derelict today, the groundfloor of La Jardinette is still a huge bazaar. Shoppers and residents don?t mind the dilapidation. pThe oldest Zoroastrian fire temple was erected by the Banajis, one of the oldest Parsi families of the city. But the family?s only male heir has been unable to ward off encroachers. The huge compound facing Ezra Street is an electrical goods market now. tRaja Subodh Mallik had gifted his palatial residence at the corner of Creek Row to Calcutta University. But the building was already occupied and the institution has for years been trying to remove the squatters. It won the case in the high court. Now it has gone to the Supreme Court. The house goes to pieces, meanwhile.