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The `Moghuls' in Madras

CLASSIC INDO-SARACENIC STRUCTURE Robert Chislom's drawing of the General Post Office he designed

Speaking of heritage, I must say I'm delighted that the four facades of the General Post Office are to be left intact after restoration and only the fire-gutted interior is to be built spanking new. It would have been nice if that interior had been restored as it was when it was first built _ that is what classical restoration and conservation are all about _ but I suppose I should be thankful for such small mercies as the fa‡ade not being pulled down with the rest.

That kind of consideration for the past is, however, no reason to go overboard with what is being done. A recent report on the work _ none of it subsequently denied _ has it that the building was "built by the Moghuls and taken over by the British."

History tells me that the `Moghuls' never visited Madras, that the building was designed by Robert Chisholm, and that construction was started in 1874 and it was inaugurated in 1884, by which time the `Moghuls' had vanished. Sadly, what is being restored is only a British-designed, Indian-built building and not a Moghul one. But a classic bit of Indo-Saracenic.

I was also surprised to hear that "clearance had been obtained from the Heritage Wing of the CMDA." I've never heard of such a wing, but there was a Heritage Committee of which several conservationists and I were members. This committee has not met for a couple of years now _ or, if it has, it has stopped inviting all those connected with the heritage movement. I'd be happy to hear from the CMDA about when it set up a Heritage Wing and what the Wing has been doing in the context of all I've said today.

It is also reported that the work is proceeding according to "ASI directions". I wonder what the Archaeological Survey of India has to say about airconditioning, marble flooring and chandeliers.

Be that as it may, I trust that the facades and the towers when restored will at least conform to classical restoration norms and that we will see back in place the Kerala `caps' that Chisholm topped all the towers with (my picture today). At present, the two tallest towers are `capless'.

S. MUTHIAH

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