Indian city that sparkles like Paris at night

As the bus with the air conditioning is intertwined through the busy movement of the Eastern Indian city of Calcutta, the tour leader Sujoy Sen lists many sights on the route.

This sounds like a picture of the cosmopolitan history of the city – colonial buildings such as the General Post Office, and the mansion of the former British deputy, Hindu and Jajan temples, Greek Orthodox and Portuguese churches, the Anglican Cathedral, the houses of Freedom fighters.

But unlike most inheritance tours, this occurs after the sunset. And its focus is not only the history or architecture, but also the light that illuminate the buildings.

The Calcutta project is the last addition to many city tours and inheritance. Mr. Saint, which leads the tourist campaign, came to the newspaper’s article about city lovers that cover some of the grand, but often neglected heritage buildings. He received a list of buildings and went to check them out.

“I was stunned,” he says. “I saw Paris at night. I didn’t realize that Calcutta could also be like that. I wanted other people to see it.”

The Hymanjali Sancar, born and raised in Kolkut, who now lives in Delhi, joined the tour. He says she is familiar with the buildings, but their lighting changes them. “It’s like they come to life by returning greatness.”

The project is the brainchild of a group of citizens called “Calcutta”.

“But this is not a real organization. There is no committee nor the president. It’s just label. The WhatsApp group,” says Patterria Medar, the strength after the beginning.

He says he did not start covering the city from the plans. He came across an old market, crowned by a large dome and a broken clock that had in Bengali, which most often spoke in the city. The evangelist Kolkata covered, he wanted to paint the dome and raised money for his friends and associates.

“But then I realized that it looked good in the afternoon, in the evening it was not visible at all,” he says. “So I went through the hat again and raised money to illuminate it.”

He finished some remaining funds. Thus, it also caught fire the temple hidden in the neighborhood of North Calcutta. A bizarre cut the stone facade of the temple came to life in a soft yellow glazing lanterns in such a way that it could not be tough.

Mr -n Patory was clinging. For several weeks, he lined up for the introduction of a British neoclassical colonial construction into the housing of India’s geological service. He soon received permission to cover one of the most famous addresses of the city – Raj Bhavan, the governor’s mansion, once the residence of the British deputy.

“In about 21 months, we are about 92 buildings,” he says. “The model is simple. This is your property, my light. You only pay for electricity and I get this price in advance.”

Receiving the right light intensity needed attempts and mistakes, says Suyash Narsaria lighting designer.

“We have reduced the power to make it more efficient, changed positions, putting lighting in layers to highlight columns, railing and murals.”

But as the project expands, the Patory realized that there was one problem that it did not envisage, except for the squirrels that chewed through the wires. The buildings were often in a state of trouble, and the lighting emphasized it. Before they could light, they needed to be repaired and restored.

For example, the 150-year-old Hogg market, a huge Gothic market where you can find everything from parrots to hyperlacal cheese and Christmas pies from the Jewish bakery.

But the clock on the clock tower stopped working. They found that the roof was worn and the floors rotted in the rain. The tower had to be repaired first. But it is not easy to fix the hours over the century.

Fortunately, Mr. Putar found a man who could help him.

Swapan Dutta, the fourth -generation repairman, traces his gender to his great -grandfather, who worked as a Cook and Kelvi watch technician for the clock for the British era.

Mr. Datta, nicknamed “Hari-Babo” or a man, glad to work on the Hogg market clock, which he calls the star of the Calcutta Tower. This is a clock that burns every fifteen minutes, another tune for every quarter of an hour, a sound that the city has not heard over the years.

“These hours have stopped working for many years … We have to study them, make calculations and reconstruct all the missing parts,” says Mr. Datt, who is sitting in his tiny workshop. But he is sure that the tower watches will be launched again. Mr Datt has already repaired more than half a dozen watch for Mr. Putar, in churches, synagogues and old markets.

The fact that Kalcuta’s restorers really try to restore is not buildings, but a sense of pride in the city.

After the capital of British India, the state of the city faded after independence. Its eclectic mixture of neoclassical, Gothic and art -gothic architecture disappears quickly as the old houses are inferior to apartments and shopping malls – Earth is more than heritage, and owners cannot keep what remains.

“Basically, we talk about how Calcutta does not keep up with the times,” said Hymanja Sanka. “It is great to see people who are excited and captured by the city and its buildings.”

But in the city that strives for business, the heritage often deviates as expensive luxury and low priority.

Mr. Patory wants to show that heritage restoration can be under the guidance of citizens and the crauds.

“The apartment in one of the simplest complexes of the city can cost about 150 million rupees (about $ 1.7 million),” he says. “Out of 22 million rupees, we restored 92 buildings, eight or nine hours and about 1300 memorial securities.”

Mr -n is not done.

In Calcutta, it shows almost the entire block, illuminated by the restorers of Calcutta: all imposed non -classical buildings of red, closed on Sunday night, but warm yellow.

“I want to get to 200 buildings,” he says. “Then it would be one of the most marvelous cities at night in the country. Because architecture is already there.”

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