[BITList] Fracas over Calcutta's Victoria-Memorial fairy

[John Feltham]

Begin forwarded message:


Fracas over fairy

December 15, 2008

This is a fairy tale but no end seems to be in sight. The bronze
fairy atop the dome of the Victoria Memorial, one of the most
famous British structures still extant in India and a major tourist
attraction for decades, does not twirl though it was built to serve
as a lofty weather vane.

Nobody in the city has seen the fairy move with the wind except
old timers who have vague recollections. The stilled fairy, however,
has almost become an insignia for Victoria Memorial and has been
featured in many novels, short stories and films over the years.

The 13-tonne, 16-foot tall fairy was commissioned in 1905 in
Calcutta, then the seat of the empire outside London, by Lord
Curzon, one of the last governor-generals of India, and installed
in 1921.

Subhas Dutta, a noted PIL activist who is known for his work on
keeping the lungs of the city, the Maidan, green, has now decided
to write to Queen Elizabeth and seek her personal intervention to
get the fairy to twirl again.

Incidentally, the ball-bearings needed to move the fairy are found
only in Liverpool. Nobody has yet made any effort to procure them
though the case is pending in court but has been overshadowed
by more important environmental issues regarding the Memorial:
garbage, encroachers and morning-walkers, to name a few.

"Nobody bothers whether the fairy moves or not. But it used to be
such a wonderful sight. It was called the Angel of Victory though I
am not sure what victory Lord Curzon was celebrating at that time,"
said Dutta.

Dutta, on a serious note, said that it was imperative that the fairy
is made to move because its static weight may harm the Victoria
dome permanently. "Imagine a heavy weight on your head constantly.
Won't there be problems with blood pressure...The same logic holds
here too, I think," said Dutta.

He is rushing his letter to the Queen on Wednesday.

Earlier he had written to the then Prime Minister of Britain, Tony  
Blair,
who had wanted to extend all help including technical expertise to keep
the fairy moving. "That was in 2006. Blair was very prompt but nobody
even took notice of the UK offer. The authorities here said that Indians
had the knowledge to make the fairy move but it has been almost three
years but no effort has been made. Sometimes, the base is cleaned
and the fairy is rotated by hand, that is, manually. Does this make  
sense?
A weather vane being moved by hand? And there cannot be any excuse
over wind speed. The speed needed to move the fairy is 22 km per hour.
In the sprawling lawns and the high point, such a speed is normal,"  
Dutta
said.

The curator of the Victoria Memorial, Chittaranjan Panda, said there
was no basis to Dutta's complaint. "The fairy is moved regularly by
hand. Yes, we do not have the 23 ball-bearings to move it on its own.
But there are other pressing issues about the Victoria Memorial. The
fairy is not that important an issue. We have to save the monument
first," he said.

Panda said that Indian experts were quite capable of making the fairy
move as it does regularly." He added that Dutta and others had vested
interest and were only interested in defaming him. "Why should we take
foreign help when we have the same expertise in India?" he asked.

The former Central Pollution Control chairman, Dilip Biswas, said, "
I have seen the fairy. No, it does not move. But it could prove  
dangerous
for the entire monument. A 13-tonne weight atop the dome should be
allowed to spread its weight. It's something like what is happening to
the Taj, perhaps on a smaller scale," he added. Incidentally, Lord  
Curzon
while making the memorial used the same marble which Emperor Shah
Jahan had used for the Taj.

http://indiatoday.digitaltoday.in/content_mail.php?option=com_content&name=print&id=22663



ooroo

If you don't hear the knock of opportunity - build a door.

Anon.



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