World | India
Scotland keen to reclaim forgotten heritage in Kolkata
Set to fund renovation of imperial buildings
- The Daily Telegraph
- Published: 00:00 November 9, 2009
New Delhi: The land traditionally known as the jewel in the crown of the ‘British' empire is about to have a Tartan makeover.
In a bid to remind the world of the prominent role that Scots played in laying the foundations of colonial India, the Scottish government has launched a campaign to renovate some of the sub-continent's finest imperial buildings before they decay beyond repair.
The conventional view of Indian colonial life as a quintessentially English experience has long overlooked the fact that Scots were heavily represented in the vast imperial civil service, and as businessmen and architects.
Now, keen to underline its independence from London in foreign affairs, Scotland's nationalist government plans to reclaim that forgotten heritage in Calcutta (now Kolkata), the capital of British India.
Its first aim will be helping to restore the rubble-covered grand staircases and peeling walls of buildings like Duff College, named after Alexander Duff, a Scots missionary and pioneering educationalist who arrived in the city in 1830 after being shipwrecked twice en route.
Many of the city's most illustrious sons, including Subhas Chandra Bose, the independence movement leader, were educated in Scottish colleges in the city.
A Scottish official in the Bengal Civil Service, Allan Octavian Hume, was later one of the founders of the Indian National Congress, the party which led the country to independence in 1947.
"We can preserve these buildings, not just as an act of altruism but because they're part of Scotland's heritage and story," Scotland's culture and external affairs minister, Michael Russell, said.
Agreement signed
"We want to build relations in science and trade, and culture is part of that. These things make Scotland visible abroad. It's hard for a nation of 5 million to be seen by a nation of 1.2 billion. It's not just India's heritage, it's Scotland's too."
Last month, Russell visited Kolkata, where he met West Bengal's chief minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, and signed an agreement to catalogue the city's colonial architecture and lead conservation and restoration work.
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