Kolkata is often accused of drowning in Raj’s nostalgia. Some think it has never recovered from its lost glory as the second capital of the British Empire.
Kolkata is often accused of drowning in Raj’s nostalgia. Some think it has never recovered from its lost glory as the second capital of the British Empire.
Our nursery rhymes pussycat had to go to London to meet the queen.
My aunt Mithali had gone to a garden house on the outskirts of Kewal Kolkata with her parents. It’s 1961. Queen Elizabeth II He had to pass through the middle of the city. In the middle of the paddy fields, away from the crowds that filled Central Avenue in the city, my aunt saw her first royal couple. He got a good view as there were hardly any people around.
“She didn’t have a crown, but I didn’t expect it. She was smiling, waving because I think that’s what they do—with or without a crowd,” remembers my aunt.
She had a scrapbook of Queen Elizabeth’s clippings from the time she ascended the throne and remembers she was excited because this was no storybook queen.
“I was going to see a real queen.”
Kolkata is often accused of drowning in Raj’s nostalgia. Some think that it has never recovered from its lost glory as the second capital of the British Empire. It also has some mini Big Bens. One can imagine the ancient brown sires in starchy clubs nodding their heads while raising a toast to Her Majesty, saying that “young Charles” doesn’t have the same royal touch.
But Kolkata is becoming more sensible about its reputation for nostalgia. It understands that even indifference can be currency. New are the retro restaurants serving chateaubriands and the prawn cocktails for which their long-dead ancestors were famous. Malavika Banerjee, director of the Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet, called it “happy nostalgia”.
She says her in-laws hired a ship to fly to London to watch the coronation of Queen Elizabeth in 1952. Banerjee hosts a literary festival on the grounds of the Victoria Memorial, a building in memory of Elizabeth’s great-grandmother. But he feels that there is no need to do favors with its ghosts.
Reclaiming the Victoria Memorial
“I can’t think of a better place to discuss the Empire,” she says. For example, Shashi Tharoor has suggested that the Victoria Memorial may become a memorial to the plunder of the Raj. Vikram Seth is sitting on the stage and trapped in a relic of Victorian times, Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. “The Victoria Memorial was built to establish a certain superiority over the Indians,” says Banerjee. “Today we retrieve it and reimagine it.”
Tourists at Victoria Memorial in Kolkata. , photo credit: Getty Images
It is the same with Queen Elizabeth II. English professor Niladri Chatterjee has been the royal guard for years. He has a solid collection of royal memorabilia, including photographs of the Queen during the Trooping of Color ceremony in 2017 when she visited London. He secured a good vantage point for a parade at 6 a.m., which didn’t start until 10:30 or 11. “I just went berserk and kept taking pictures until my hands almost fell off,” he says.
When Elizabeth died, she posted a photo of her on Instagram—a postcard she had bought in 1997 at the National Portrait Gallery. Some friends think he is suffering from a colonial hangover. But his interest in royalty is more sociological. “How is it that some of the most progressive countries in the world have retained the royal family?” She wondered. “In Belgium, it is openly accepted that the country would probably break into at least two parts if they did not have a royal family.”
It is not a matter of nostalgia, although it may seem so to an outsider. It is the ability to appreciate a remarkable life in the public eye and at the same time be aware of the crushing price that countries like India paid for it.
Kolkata Cash In
Chatterjee’s interest in the royals doesn’t stop him from rolling his eyes at Prince Philip’s infamous mistake, wondering whether the death toll at Jallianwala Bagh was exaggerated. He says that if he was a real atheist, he would have wanted the British back. “It’s something I absolutely don’t want. I’m so glad they’re so far away. It makes them alien.”
It’s not idol worship, but with Durga Puja I wonder if we might be seeing a Queen Elizabeth-themed goddess this year. Chatterjee laughs and recalls a short story by Tarashankar Bandyopadhyay where Maa Durga was given like Queen Victoria to flatter the British rulers.
Later that day, I saw a post on Instagram that said that Chaletbagan Durga Puja in Kolkata is planning a goddess in the late queen’s likeness.
I don’t know if it’s the Queen circa 1950 or 2020, but that’s all I do know – it’s not being done to please any Brit. It’s just roasting Kolkata Rani.
This nostalgia isn’t stale or smoky-eyed. It is royally market friendly.
The author is the author of ‘Don’t Let Him Know’ and likes to let everyone know their opinion whether asked or not.