The name is a familiar name for me because my school where I spent 12 years of my life also had the same name. The picture that one sees above seems to be a large one; yes I did it purposefully to do justice to the original sheer size of the structure.
It is at 1 Cathedral Road and to be more simple bang opposite Birla Planetarium.The vintage is visible from outside; let me clarify not in terms of the colour but in terms of the sheer size. Nowadays, no one would ever build anything close to the dimensions. As I entered the premises, I was again disappointing to note that cameras were not allowed inside. Another distinct piece of the complex was the clock which was seemingly working when I entered the complex. I am using the word seeming because I forgot to check the same while returning.
The entrance itself leaves one spellbound. At the left immediately on entering is the original chapel which is now called The Memorial Chapel. The wooden panel surround the same and there is a beautiful carving of large marble around which are small chairs and pillows (probably used for kneeling down). This cathedral served as the metropolitan and mother church of the Anglican province of India, Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon till the inauguration of the church of North India on 29 Nov 1970.
The place is full of memorial notes written in marble, some on metal and some just engraved on the walls; paeans written by the followers, juniors or family / friends of the departed with a brief history about their acts. I am sure while writing these, the thought must have been that some day an acquaintance might drop in and have the memoirs read. Now after many score of years later, I doubt any of the names would be identified by any of their acquaintances; this is the power of time. Sigh we do not recognise that today; someday, there would not be a single soul alive on the Earth who would know that a person by mine / your / our name ever existed.
The walls are atleast 50 ft. high. Some cracks are visible in some of the corners; probably that was the corner reported in the papers some days back. There is a large statue (sitting position) of Heber to the right of the entrance. There are many rare photographs also. One of them is the house of Bishops of the Church of India, Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon which met at the General Council of Calcutta in Jan-1970; it was here that the historic decision of entering the Church of North India was taken. We have pictures of Charles Freer Andrews (d 05-04-1940) and Sir Robert Barlow Bart.
The list of Cathedral Chaplains and Cathedral Vicars from 1847 is mentioned in a place. From another memorial, I came to know the names of the first Bishops of Calcutta. They were as follows:
Thomas Fanshaw Middleton (1814-1823)
Reginald Herber (1823-1829)
John Thomas James (1827-1829)
John Matthew Turner (1829-1832)
Daniel Wilson (1832-35)
To the left is the Mass place. Chairs, really old ones are there; the space can accommodate 1000 people. There are beautiful frescos; only if cameras were allowed. This was empty with prayer books scattered around; probably the mass had got over in the morning. Besides this, there was a small prayer room where the lectures were on. Behind this, the collection of engravings, statues and artwork continued. We have a huge marble piece in the memory of comrades of Bhutan Field Force. There is a marble engraving of Nagendra Nath Sengupta (scientist and Director of Govt. Test House, Alipore) and his wife (Lulu Putalie Sengupta) in their memory. The last memorable piece which I came across was a small memorial in honour of Maj. Gen. William Nairn Forbes of Bengal Engineers who was the architect of the Church.
Tragedy then struck me as I was interrupted by a staff member asking me not to take notes.
As usual, this visit also reminded me of the temporal nature of nature. Souls glorified of those days have just become names etched on walls, marbles or metals. Perhaps this is the reason history is taught as a compulsory item in schools, alas if some could appreciate that!
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| As has been always, my gems were with me |
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