Month: Mar 2018

To Gabo, With Love

When life turns mundane

And days repeat themselves

When people and their acts

Seem self-similar

I think of you, Gabo

I wait patiently

For magic to spring from reality

It does spring from Life

From the mundane

On dullest day

I step out to behold

The beautiful spring

A saddest day

Holds a surprise

Dreams I dare not

Yet they come true

The places I got kicked

Same places do spring tickles

Instead of me seeking beauty

Beauty seeks me

When the world tells me I am wrong

I wait in the dark hour

For the light and truth to appear

To liberate me

Gabo, thanks for teaching me

Teaching me to wait

To look for beauty in the decadence

To see life and hope spring

From unusual dark spaces

Thanks for bringing to us

The tale of Ship-Wrecked Sailor

And the woman who trained her dog

Trained it to visit her grave

For Hundred Years of Solitude

And Love at the Time of Cholera

For teaching me Love and Death

Mean the same

Thanks, dear Gabo

Old Kenilworth Hotel- a Curious Case of Heritage Demolition and Moral Decadence

Kolkata’s iconic and historic heritage hotel – Hotel Old Kenilworth is being demolished to make way for a new swanky destination. The hotel was enlisted as Grade -II heritage building in the municipal records so there was absolutely no scope of demolition. Apparently, the new owners of the property had applied for change in the status so the heritage building was downgraded to Grade-III building paving way for the demolition.

Human civilization seems to be great at making rules, just to bend them and undo them. The good old Physics law of Entropy seems to apply to human societal laws too. We just seem to be heading towards more and more disorder while seeking new order and form.

There is nothing wrong in seeking new form, new structures and development. But question is, at what cost? One cannot trade away history, legacy and even legal norms to move ahead. Here changing the heritage tag silently points towards moral decadence of the authorities. Were the city historians, heritage conservationists consulted before the committee made the decision?

As always, it is too late to ask questions and seek answers. The demolition is already underway and part of the building has turned into rubble.

Why Kolkata cannot be a historic city showcasing it’s troubled but glorious past through these iconic buildings? Why can’t these structures be conserved, restored? Why we must demolish the past to make way for the present and future?

Moreover, none of the iconic buildings are being replaced by architectural wonders. A thin tall skyscraper in a historic city just sticks out like an eye-sore in the landscape. Unfortunately, the Entropy – the disorder just goes on increasing. These actions cannot be reversed and I am afraid it will pave way for bending of more rules for the demolition of more heritage buildings.