The Party street Park Street was renamed Mother Teresa Sarani a travesty of sorts. This happening street was once a jungle and was the Burial Ground Road. The Northwas occupied by the British, and when their Church burned down they rebuilt it on the cemetery. The Brits coming here, young and old, girls, betrothed and married often fell prey to the treacherous climate and died. If they survived two monsoons there would be a Monsoon Ball to celebrate the same the legend goes.

The existing Park Street cemetery closed down in about 50 years due to a lack of space. In the vicinity there is a Scottish and even French graveyard, from those days of the 18th century. The tombstones are a fascinating mix of architectural styles, domes, turrets, even a temple with a carved Vishnu on the top. Major George Stuart was an Indophile and insisted on Indian apparel, even sarees as they were much more comfortable than their trousers, boots and coats.  Rose Almyer has a turret like striped head. She evidently died of an over indulgence of pineapples. Elizabeth Sanderson  occupies almost the largest space. A legendary beauty came here to find a husband, she was the heart of every man’s dreams and she eventually married the very rich Richard Barwell. She and her two children died tragically and are interred here.

The stones did speak and visions of the British diaspora came alive as Navpreet led us through this walk, Once Upon a Time in Park Street. Indeed. The Sans Souci Theatre occupied the most famous address of today. The founder and celebrated actress Esther Leach was on stage when her gown caught fire and she succumbed to her injuries. The place was converted by Belgian priests to an educational institution, St Xaviers, school and college.

The once grand  Murshidabad House lies in ruins, if restored it can be a wonderful monument to the glorious era of the Nawabs of Murshidabad. This area once housed only the poor driven away from the posh white neighbourhood of North Calcutta. Many British ladies opened Boarding houses, down Camac Street and Chowringhee. Stephen Arathoon, an Armenian  came as a pauper, traded in Chinese jewels, built real estate.  and became one of the richest men here. He bought Mrs Monk’s Boarding House and converted it into the Grand Hotel.

Sir Elijah Impey compromised the posher area of the North  for a larger home in the South browner environs, with sprawling greens and a menagerie, occupying the entire Middleton Row. a park which is now Loreto school and college. Soaking in the enchantment of those years we strolled down to Flury’s a legendary tearoom housed in Stephen Court.

Folklore has it that Mr Stephen had the grandest fleet of cars but travelled by horse carriage to not dent his prized possessions. His prized pottery on display was accidently broken by his visitor XYZ. Not one to despair, he glued the pieces, added some gold and put a tag saying that it was broken by XYZ. The value increased multifold.

Kintsugi, the centuries old Japanese art of fixing broken pottery with gold was perhaps known to this savvy Armenian businessman. It is an art, we certainly need to adopt in our daily lives, to restore our old possessions and reuse them with care. Our heritage needs this posturing and we need to extend this art to our built heritage and to our lives certainly to make it more holistic, sustainable and valuable.

Credit Fun on Streets