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

[John Davison]

WHEN IN CALCUTTA I WAS TOLD THAT THE MERCURY UNDER THE ANGEL OF MERCY , NOT A FAIRY , HAD DRIED UP ? MAKES SENSE !
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: John Feltham 
  Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 4:47 PM
  Subject: [BITList] Fracas over Calcutta's Victoria-Memorial fairy






  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.








------------------------------------------------------------------------------


  _______________________________________________
  BITList mailing list
  BITList at lists.bcn.mythic-beasts.com
  http://lists.bcn.mythic-beasts.com/mailman/listinfo/bitlist



------------------------------------------------------------------------------


  No virus found in this incoming message.
  Checked by AVG. 
  Version: 7.5.552 / Virus Database: 270.9.19/1853 - Release Date: 17/12/2008 8:31 a.m.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.bcn.mythic-beasts.com/pipermail/bitlist/attachments/20081218/a5959fdc/attachment.shtml