Strung Out

Kolkata’s Nanking Restaurant is now a shell of its past self

01 September 2012
Now home to a garbage dump, the entrance to Kolkata’s Nanking Restaurant, according to local grocery store owner Dominic, once boasted of “violinists playing just outside”.
DILIP D’SOUZA FOR THE CARAVAN
Now home to a garbage dump, the entrance to Kolkata’s Nanking Restaurant, according to local grocery store owner Dominic, once boasted of “violinists playing just outside”.
DILIP D’SOUZA FOR THE CARAVAN

JOSEPH LING, slim and with a hairline that has receded too fast, leant over the balcony of this once elegant edifice in Kolkata’s Tiretta Bazar, shouting above the din. “Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, they all came here!” Joseph waved. “They waved like this! To big crowds where you’re standing.”

I tried to imagine being part of a mob of swooning fans on this lane, faces craned upwards at filmstars. If Joseph didn’t quite fit my mental picture of a star, the scene on the street didn’t quite fit my mental picture of a crowd of fans.

Joseph and friends had described this place to me as it must have been circa the late 1950s. Consider then the reality of 2012: this dusty crimson shell of a building, stripped to the bone inside, stained glass panes chipped and cracked, intricately carved decorations stolen or broken.

Dilip D'Souza  has won several awards for his writing, including the Outlook/Picador prize. His most recent book is Roadrunner: An Indian Quest in America.

Keywords: Kolkata Nanking Restaurant Toong On Church Joseph Ling
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