Kolkata, Sept, 19, 2004
PTI
NRIpress
A rare book on the 200-year-old Raj Bhavan of Kolkata,
considered the finest Government House in the then British Empire, was
formally launched by NRI industrialist, Lord Swraj Paul in the Lords.
Addressing a select gathering at the Attlee Room of
the House of Lords last night, Lord Paul said the House of Lords was
the most appropriate place to launch the magnificent book - Raj Bhavan
of Kolkata: Two Hundred Years of Grandeur - as everybody who had lived
in it during the Empire days - 23 Governors General and Viceroys - was
a member of the House of Lords.
Lord Paul also praised West Bengal Governor Viren J.
Shah for initiating the renovation of the sprawling
Raj Bhavan and restoring it to its original glory, with the active assistance
of his wife, Anjana Shah.
Ina Puri, author of the book, said it took her about
2 1/2 years to complete the task, as she had to travel frequently between
Kolkata, New Delhi and London to collect the source material.
Lord Wellesley built the extravagant palace on the lines
of the ancestral home of Lord Curzon in Kedleston, Derbyshire, in 1803.
The book has both black and white and colour photographs.
The black and white photos are mostly those of the surrounding locations
of the Raj Bhavan, like important buildings on Dalhousie and Esplanade
such as the General Post Office, High Court, Victoria Memorial, Metropolitan
Building and Grand Hotel