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All the Raj

Friday, December 12, 2008

Set in 1920's India, Julia Gregson's book, East of the Sun, offers a fabulous slice of sepia tinged nostalgia and captures the fading of the Raj. TheMoveChannel.com takes a looks at the India of yesteryear...

For all you men out there, this book will probably not appeal, as it follows the fortunes of three young women who are on their way to India, each with a new life in mind. They board a ship from London to Bombay (now Mumbai) and, once there, are engulfed in the eclectic clash of colour and culture that was India in the last phase of British rule.

The main reason I'm harping on about this book is because the picture it conjures up of India, from the wealthy Bombay socialites and their tea gardens, to the ragged orphans on Tamarind Street, is unbelievably evocative.

At this point, the Raj was still the jewel in Britain's imperial crown, but India was beginning to start the rebellion against the British occupation.

Whilst for many, the very mention of the word Raj sparks bad feeling about colonial oppression and exploitation; for some of the older generation Indians, they look back on the British days as bringing great benefits to the sub-continent, including education, a railway network and a solid infrastructure.

In the 1920's, whilst on one hand the ruling Brits were busy trying to create a timeless India, harking back to days gone by, they were also introducing new forces of modernity, nationalism and a unified nation, all of which were pushing the country forward and were at odds with this ageless nostalgia.

The architecture of the Raj only served to bring this wistfulness alive. Many of the buildings were in the ‘Indo-Saracenic,' style which, according to David Cannadine's book, Ornamentalism: How the British Saw Their Empire, consisted of ‘flamboyant confections with turrets, domes, pavilions and towers which were redolent of continuity, order and tradition.'

The Indo-Saracenic Style of architecture is seen in several of Bombay's famous landmarks dating from the early parts of the 20th Century.

The most famous is the Gateway of India, which was built to commemorate the visit of King George V and Queen Mary to Bombay, prior to the Darbar in Delhi in December 1911.

The foundation stone was laid on March 31, 1911 and Architect George Wittet's final design sanctioned in August 1914. The foundations were completed in 1920. The construction was completed in 1924, and the Gateway opened on December 4th, 1924 by the Viceroy, Earl of Reading.

Due to a lack of funds, the approach road was never built, and the Gateway now stands at an angle to the road leading up to it.

Nowadays, India is busy consigning colonial buildings and accompanying attitudes to the past. However, some do remain - namely Mumbai's stunningly ornate Victoria Railway Terminus, (known to locals as VT) which is a now a UNESCO World Heritage Site- and the University Library, whose bells once rang out the tune to Rule Britannia.

East of the Sun by Julia Gregson, £7.99, available from all good bookshops.

Picture by rahuldlucca

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