The Indian city that shines like Paris at night

While the air -conditioned bus is weaved through the tumultuous traffic in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata, the leader of the tour, Sujoy Sin, is listed by many tourist attractions on the flight line.

This seems to be a snapshot on the history of the global city – colonial buildings such as the General Post Office and the Palace of the former British Vice -King, Hindu and Jane temples, Greek Orthodox Churches and Portuguese, and Anglican Cathedral, and Freedom fighters who fought the British Raj and the British men under their leadership.

But unlike most heritage rounds, this happens after sunset. And its main focus is not only the date or architecture, but the lights that illuminate the buildings.

The Kolkata Lighting project is the latest addition to many tours and walking in the city. Mr. Sen, who runs a tourist company, dated an article on the newspaper about the city’s fans who illuminate some of the major heritage buildings in the city. He got a list of buildings and went to verify them.

He says, “I am surprised.” “I saw Paris at night. I didn’t realize that Kolkata could be like this too. I wanted others to see it too.”

Hemangali Sankar, born and raised in Colkata, who now lives in Delhi, joined the tour. She says the buildings themselves are familiar to them, but lighting changes them. “It seems as if they were alive, and they are preparing their minds.”

The project is one of the girls ’ideas called the citizens called Kolkata Restorers.

“But it is not a real organization. There is no committee, no president. It is just a sign. WhatsApp group,” says Mudar Patherya, the power behind this endeavor.

He says he did not start plans to light the city. It came to an old market crowned with a large dome and a broken watch containing numbers in Bengalia, and the most common language in the city. He wanted to draw the dome and collect money from friends and colleagues.

He says: “But then I realized while she looked good during the day, in the evening it could not be seen at all,” he says. “So the hat again passed and the money was collected to shed light on it.”

It ended with some remaining money. So he also lit a pause in the North Kolka neighborhood. The carved stone façade is complex in the soft yellow glow of LED lights in a way that cannot be under the harsh sun.

Mr. Pathria was a drug addict. Within weeks, the classic British colonial building that included the geological survey of India was lined up. He soon obtained permission to light one of the most famous city headlines – Raj Bahvan, Al -Hakim Palace, once the residence of the British Deputy King.

“In about 21 months, we are about 92 buildings,” he says. “The model is simple. It’s your property, my lights. You only pay the price of electricity and I am working on this cost in advance.”

Suyash Narsaria’s lighting designer says that obtaining the necessary intensity of the light and the required error.

“We reduced the electric power to make it more efficient, change the places, and put the lighting in layers to highlight the columns, fence and murals.”

But with the expansion of the project, Mr. Pathria realized that there is one problem that he did not expect, along with the sinbling that chew it through the wires. The buildings were often in bad condition and highlighting this. Before they can light, they need to be repaired and restored.

For example, the 150 -year -old Hogg market, a huge Gothic market where one can find everything from parrots to excessive band cheese and Christmas cakes from a Jewish bakery.

But the watch on the clock tower stopped working. They found that the ceiling was wore far and the floor boards rot in the rain. The tower had to be fixed first. But it is not easy to fix the watches that are more than a century.

Fortunately, Mr. Pathria found the man who could help him.

Swapan Dutta, a fourth -clock fabric, tracked him, attributed to one of the grandfather who worked around the clock for Cooke and Kelvey in the British era.

Mr. Dutta, nicknamed “Ghary-Babu” or Clock-Man, is excited to work on the Hogg Market watch, which is called by the star of the Kolkata Tower watches. It is an hour that harmonizes every fifteen minutes, and a different melody for every quarter of an hour, and it is a voice that the city has not heard for years.

“These hours have stopped working for years … we have to examine them, make accounts and rebuild all the lost parts,” says Mr. Dutta sitting in his small workshop. But he is confident that the Kolka Tower watches will harmonize again. Mr. Dutta has already fixed more than half of the hours of watches for Mr. Patherya, in churches, churches and old markets.

What their recipients at Kolkata truly try to restore not buildings but a feeling of pride in the city.

Once the British capital of India has declined since independence. The selective mixture of the new classic architecture, Gothic and Art Deco disappears quickly, as old homes give the road and shopping centers – lands that are more than heritage, with their owners unable to preserve the remainder.

“Often we are talking about how to keep Kolkata not keeping up with times,” says Hemangali Sancar. “It is great to see enthusiastic and enthusiastic people of the city and its buildings.”

But in a city eager on Woo Business, heritage is often rejected as expensive luxury and low priority.

Mr. Patherya wants to show that heritage restoration can be led by citizens.

“An apartment in one of the most luxurious complexes in the city can cost about 150 million rupees (about $ 1.7 million),” he says. “With only 22 million rupees, we restored 92 buildings, eight or nine hours, and about 1300 Tombstone plaques.”

Mr. Patherya was not accomplished.

On the Kolkata by Night tour, it indicates almost a complete mass by Kolkata’s reports: All buildings closed in the new classic red brick buildings were closed on Sunday evening but they glow yellow warmly.

“I want to reach 200 buildings,” he says. “Then it will be one of the most wonderful cities at night in the country. Because architecture is already.”

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