CROWNING GLORY: Murals on the ceiling of India House; the royal cort?ge arrives for the inauguration in 1930 (below)

It’s a long way from the sun-baked temples of Rajasthan to India House, in the heart of upmarket London. But the Indian artisans hard at work within the building at Aldwych feel quite at home. After all, the seat of the Indian high commission in the UK is not lacking in the colours of the subcontinent.

As you step in, the entrance hall greets you with murals depicting the six seasons of India in all their glory. The balcony all around looks resplendent in red sandstone jali work. But for years now, much of this beauty has remained hidden behind layers of grime. And perched on the metal scaffolding with their pumice stones in hand, the artisans ? many of whom have never been outside India ? are busy giving a fresh lease of life to the artwork.

India House could well do with the spit-and-polish routine ? only it must get done by July 8. For, that is the day the old lady of Aldwych will celebrate 75 years of its glorious history in the UK. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on his way back from the G-8 summit at Gleneagles, will drop in and unveil the inevitable commemorative stone. Chances are that a number of British politicians and NRIs will grace the occasion. Clearly, there’s ample reason for the artisans to show off their best.

But deciding on such policy matters as clean-up operations isn’t always easy. “All UK companies wanted to use power hoses and chemicals,” says Soumen Roy, the counsellor at the Indian high commission in charge of the restoration work. The director of the Archaeological Survey of India, on examining the murals, suggested cleaning them manually. It was then that the artisans, who had worked on the temples in Rajasthan and later at the Swaminarayan and Ealing road temples in the UK, were brought in.

As work on the 18 magnificent pillars, 26 square metres of Agra sandstone and 101 inverted bells started six weeks ago, there was ample reason to handle the project carefully. After all, India House has always been the picture of Little India in the din and bustle of London.

The edifice is flanked by the Strand and its buzzing theatres and restaurants on one side. Covent Garden, with the famous Royal Opera House, arcades, open air performers and market stalls is a few minutes’ walk down the road. But it is a different story within the portals. The floors are decorated with Indian symbols such as the rhino and the tiger. All religious festivals ? from Id to Diwali ? are celebrated here with a gusto that’s typically Indian.

Spread over five floors with the offices of the high commissioner and of the consular departments, there’s not much on the outside ? except for the tricolour and the name of the building in both English and Devanagri ? to mark out its strategic importance. But every bit within is steeped in history.

It was Sir Atul Chatterjee, a Cambridge student and later a high commissioner in 1925, who first dreamt of moving the high commission office from its rented address at Grosvenor Gardens to its own buildings. When governor general Lord Irwin finally gave his nod to Chatterjee’s proposal, a 12,400 square feet plot was granted by the County Council on a 999-year lease. Work on the building finally began in 1927 with Sir Herbert Baker, who designed the Parliament House and the Secretariat building in New Delhi, as the chief architect.

It was a sunny morning on July 8, 1930, when George V and Queen Mary drove up in the royal carriage to throw the gates open. The king was gifted a solid gold key for the rosewood door, the crowds cheered, a host of Indian maharajahs looked on and The Times fittingly described it as the “one of the most attractive buildings in modern London”. But the crowning glory of India House, the murals, was still to come.

Working in a temporary studio lit by a skylight from April 1931, four Bengali artists worked tirelessly for 10 months on a pay of one-pound-a-day to complete the murals that decorate the central dome, the entrance and the main hall. Earlier, the quartet ? Lalit Mohan Sen, Ranada Charan Ukil, Dhirendra Krishna Deb Barma and Sudhansu Sekhar Choudhury ? had trained at Florence, Rome and other European cities to gear up for the job. The murals, which depict scenes from Indian history, were praised by Rabindranath Tagore when he visited India House in 1931.

Old timers still remember Apa Pant, the colourful high commissioner who was in charge when Indira Gandhi held meetings here during the crucial months of the Bangladesh war of 1971. Pant, a master of yoga, would often stand on his head to amuse his colleagues.

So, as the artisans scrub the murals clean, it is this seven-and-a-half decades of history that they are trying to resurrect. But as India projects itself as a global player, it is important that India House, despite its history, should reflect this resurgence. So the clean-up operation is part of a larger plan to give the building a complete image makeover. The basement and the sub-basement will be converted into an area to be used for consular purposes ? all for a neat ?190,000.

One pillar, though, has been left untouched to show Manmohan Singh the transformation after the cleaning is complete.

A popular story has it that Jawaharlal Nehru once got stuck inside a lift at India House. As he waited for the elevator to start up, Nehru recalled later, he thought it would be a good idea to stock some books inside the lift for such emergency moments.

The lifts at India House might not have books even now, but as the black Swedish granite facade shines in the summer sun, it looks ready to usher in the Indian PM on July 8.