The house that Jack built came up long after he and Jill tumbled down a hill when they went to fetch a pail of water. Whether Jill too lived in it with Jack is presumed because they had grown up together and formed a lifelong friendship. But Metcalfe House did not have such a romantic link, though Sir Thomas Metcalfe did love his wife dearly and also his children, of whom Emily went on to write that masterpiece, “The Golden Calm” about her stay in Delhi before the First War of Independence in 1857. Sir Thomas, British Resident or agent at the Mughal court had succeeded William Fraser after the latter’s murder in 1835, but his brother Sir Charles had also been British Resident in Delhi earlier (living the life of a Naboob) before going on to become Governor-General of India and later Jamaica.
At Christmas Metcalfe House changed into a veritable fairyland because Sir Thomas always did things in great style, like putting on kid-gloves to pinch the ears of disobedient servants and starting off his day by writing letters in his study (decorated with busts of his hero Napoleon) before breakfast and then driving off in his carriage to office. In summer he moved to his country house Dilkusha, built upon the tomb of Mohammad Quli Khan in Mehrauli, where he also constructed a land-locked lighthouse of all things, besides another building which came to be known as part of Metcalfe’s Folly. He enjoyed the early monsoon at Dilkusha and moved back to Metcalfe House (now part of Defence Research and Development Organisation complex) when the monsoon became more vigorous but ordered the ladies of the house to eat seasonal mangoes (and oranges) in the bathroom as he didn’t like to see them messing up their mouths and clothes with the abundantly flowing juice.
Atal House in Bazar Sitaram is now a ruin but at one time it was the palatial home of Kamla Kaul who married Jawaharlal Nehru there on February 16, 1916. The Kauls were among the noted Kashmiris living in the locality. Dojana House was the residence of Nawab Dojana and is now a complex of DDA flats which have become dilapidated. Nawab Budhan’s house is Suiwalan has disappeared but old-timers still talk of the nawab who set sartorial fashions in 19th Century Shahjahanabad. In Basai Darapur the house of the Nawab of Basai has also disappeared and the area is now known for the ESI Hospital located there. Chandni Mahal in the Kutcha Chelan area was once the home of Mirza Elahi Bux, ‘Samdhi’ of Bahadur Shah Zafar as his daughter was married to the king’s son. Like Zinat Mahal in Lal Kuan Chandni Mahal too has disintegrated. Alipore House was originally the residence-cum-office of the Commander-in-Chief of the British-Indian Army. In 1932 Indraprastha College for Women moved into the colonial-style building designed by George Wood in the early decades of the 20th Century. It shifted there from Chandrawali House in the Civil Lines.
Indrapratha College had actually started in Chhipiwara, behind Jama Masjid in the haveli gifted by Rai Balkrishna Das in 1904 for Indraprastha Girl’s School. Recently Dr Romila Thapar of JNU inaugurated the college archives and museum. The archives are the repository of the history of the college, which had started with just five students in 1924 but in 1934-35 the number had risen to 71, thanks to the efforts of the Australian educationist and theosophist Leonara G’meiner, who was the first principal of the school and college right from 1904 to her retirement in 1935. It was Lala Jugal Kishore, who was instrumental in acquiring the services of Miss G’meiner. The present principal, Babli Moitra Saraf strived for years to create the archives and museum. Ex-students like Annima describe her as “the graceful madam with green eyes”.
One can see in the archives hoary pictures of Annie Besant, Jawaharlal Nehru and other famous leaders, who visited Alipore House from time to time and recorded their memorable impressions of the first women’s college of Delhi University. Interestingly, one of the students was Zohra Ansari, daughter of the noted freedom fighter Dr M.A. Ansari. Among other Muslim girls, who gave up purdah and joined the college was, believe it or not, Begum Musharraf, mother of the former Pakistan President. Later Qurratulain Haider, noted Urdu litterateur and novelist, also studied there briefly.
Among the noted visitors in more recent years was Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, who was the guest speaker at the Fourth Annual Public Lecture on 13 December, 2007. No wonder a visit to the college is a rewarding experience made all the more vivid while sitting in the verandah facing an enchanting garden that still breathes of the halcyon days of Alipore House. However that pleasure is denied to the visitor in other historic houses which have tumbled down like Jack and Jill of the nursery rhyme.
