DETERMINATION PAYS OFF

 KOLKATA , THURSDAY,  April 24, 2014 ( page 2)


Half-a-world Flight Without Skull Bone

Patient Flies To Toronto With City Doctor’s Help

" Ivan Lin Chung Was One Of The Chinese Who Had Left India After 1962 "

Kolkata: When 64-year-old Ivan Lin Chung, a Canadian citizen of Chinese origin, was wheeled into a private hospital in Kolkata last February, his right side was paralyzed and his speech had been affected by a clot in the brain. Doctors rated his chances of survival at less than 50%. Removing a skull bone was the only option left to them. They not only operated on him successfully but accompanied him in his 32-hour journey on connecting flights to hand him over to his family members in Toronto.

    Ivan, who was on his way back home after a trip to China, had stopped over in Kolkata to spend the Chinese New Year with relatives. During a two-month stay at the hospital, he suffered a cerebral haemorrhage, forcing doctors to remove his skull bone to ease the pressure on the brain. On April 13, Ivan — a doctor himself — left the city on a Jet Airways flight for Mumbai, en route to Brussels from where he flew business class to his home in Toronto, accompanied by a doctor and a nurse from the hospital. He made the journey lying on a stretcher, semi-conscious and without his skull bone, even as a battery-operated monitor tracked his vital parameters.

    Ivan has not only survived the strenuous, consecutive commercial flights, doctors and relatives in Toronto said he arrived in a pretty good condition. “In fact, he is showing signs of improvement. On Tuesday, he moved his right leg and made an attempt to sit up. We are grateful to the hospital in Kolkata and are pleasantly surprised by the excellent arrangements made by the airline that made the transportation risk-free. We didn’t expect the journey to be so smooth,” said Michael Chung, the patient’s brother.

    Afflicted with multiple illnesses, Ivan had gone to China in November. He arrived in Kolkata last January and had planned to spend a couple of weeks here. On February 4, his right arm suddenly went numb. His nephew got him admitted to the Medica Superspecialty Hospital where a clot in the brain was detected. Ivan remained drowsy and was treated with anti-epileptic and anti-edema drugs. But they failed to prevent the clot from bleeding. It led to a sudden deterioration and doctors had to do an emergency decompressive hemicraniectomy (removal of the skull bone) to reduce the brain pressure. It was done by neuro-surgeons LN Tripathi and Sunandan Basu.

    “It was the only option left and it stabilized his condition. But he improved very slowly since the procedure on February 20. His daughter flew in from Toronto and wanted to take him back. Initially, she sought to arrange for a chartered flight armed with the necessary intensive care equipment. But the cost turned out to be forbidding. Then, we got in touch with Jet Airways who agreed to allot us the last row of their business class and promised medical assistance at the transit points. It was going to be a challenge but we decided to go ahead with the family’s approval,” said Arindam Kar, critical care head at Medica, who flew with Ivan. They were accompanied by nurse Swapnil Thulung.

    At the Kolkata airport, Ivan was wheeled into the medical zone where he went through a clinical examination and was declared fit to fly under supervision. He was put into an ambulance and driven to the aircraft, shifted to a wheel-chair, lifted to the plane and again put back on the stretcher once inside the flight. Kar and Thulung checked the monitor every 20 minutes and injected fluids.

    The process was repeated at the Mumbai airport, where Ivan’s security check-in and immigration formalities were completed at the medical emergency room. On the flight to Brussels, the patient started feeling uneasy. Kar and Thulung swung into action, using medicines and administering clot-dissolution injections twice to stabilize him. “Fortunately, the situation never went out of control. In fact, he took the strain quite well. It was always going to be a risk, though for his skull bone had been taken off. He had been on ventilation for three weeks at the hospital and was obviously very critical,” said Kar.

    At Brussels, Ivan was put through another round of treatment. “Now, we were on the last leg of the journey and felt a little tense. We didn’t obviously want things to go wrong at the final lap. The cabin crew was just as eager to ensure a safe flight,” said Kar.

    It requires a huge amount of coordination to transport such a critical patient across the globe, said Sarvesh Gupta, chairman of the Airlines Operators’ Committee (AOC). “Every transit station has to be prepared and things have to be done on time. For the airline concerned, it is a risk for if anything untoward happens, the flight has to be diverted to the nearest airport which amounts to a loss of time and money. But airlines do take such risks for the sake of helping passengers,” said Gupta.

    Kar felt this could pave the way for more such critical patients to be flown out of the country. “Like Ivan, foreigners often fall ill and require hospitalization in Kolkata, forcing them to be stuck in an alien city. They end up spending much more than they would back home. In this case, Ivan had spent Rs 8 lakh for his treatment in Kolkata. The bill would have run higher if he stayed longer. In Canada, he is being treated free of charge,” explained Kar.

    Ivan’s family is relieved to have him back. “He is doing well now and may soon undergo a surgery to put the skull bone back,” said Michael Chung.

 ( Ivan Was One Of The Chinese Who Had Left India After 1962 )

Incredible journey

Ivan Lin Chung’s right arm went numb On February 4, when he was visiting Kolkata to celebrate Chinese New Year
A clot in the brain was detected and he was treated with anti-epileptic and anti-edema drugs. But they failed to prevent the clot from bleeding
Doctors had to remove his skull bone to reduce the brain pressure
    His daughter flew in from Toronto and wanted to take him back. Could not afford to hire a chartered flight. Decided to fly him business class
    All medical arrangements were made on board and at all transit points. A doctor and a nurse accompanied him throughout
 

Anxious moments

On flight to Brussels, Ivan Lin started feeling uneasy. The doctor administered clot-dissolution injections twice to stabilize him 

Ivan Lin Chung (left) receives the 2013 Most Outstanding North American Chinese Achievement Award at Newark, California from Democratic California State Assembly Member from the 28th district Paul Fong 

PS :  He Was One Of The Chinese Who Had Left India After 1962

                                                                                                                              Prithvijit Mitra  TNN

From Border to Border

邊界移動兩百年

From Border to Border

影片簡介Synopsis

印度的加爾各答，有多元的族群與文化，還有其他印度城市所沒有的「唐人街」與「中國早餐」。家鄉動盪貧困的華人，從兩百年前開始遷徙的路徑，他們漂移過海，長途跋涉，抵達在英屬印度時期的「黃金地」加爾各答 。

在印度種姓制度下，製鞋、洗衣、鑲牙、製革，被歸為賤民階級的工作，成為華人的維繫生存傳統職業。今日加爾各答現存的中國區，從印度社會投射的想像中，既是英屬印度光輝的時代殘跡，偶爾闔家光臨的異國餐館，也是讓人繞道閃避的貧民窟。長年身處社會邊緣，身分與權益不明確的華人，世代築起高牆，牢固隔閡著印/華間的偏見與關係。

《邊界移動兩百年》以八個章節，探見印度華人兩百年間的「來」與「去」，影片呈現老中青三代印度華人身處時代邊緣的記憶碎片，對照歷史影像紀錄、印度左翼導演Mrinal Sen《藍色天空下》電影見證的1930年代，拼貼出印度華人在時代洪流中消聲的歷史，今日的生活處境與心理狀態，以及變動中的未來。

Taking place in Calcutta’s Chinatown, From Border to Border recalls the complicated relationship that continues to divide India’s ethnic Chinese and mainstream Indian communities. Supposedly marked by social exclusion and self-segregation, the ethnic Chinese community has remained a mystery despite generations of living in India. Through a collection of oral narratives, Chung Shefong and her film crew carefully uncover the intriguing yet troubled history of India’s Chinese community. Starting from the Chinese community’s arrival in India in the 1800s, to the effects of the 1962 Sino-Indian border conflict, to their recent mass emigration, From Border to Border puts voices to faces as interviewees retell their histories and describe their experiences living with generational discrimination and alienation, cultural preservation and familial expectations.

台灣 Taiwan 2013｜106 min｜Color HD

語言 Languages  華語、客語、粵語、英語、印度語 Chinese ( Mandarin, Hakka, Cantonese) English, Hindi

字幕 Subtitles     繁體中文、英文 Traditional Chinese or English

導演 Director     鍾適芳 CHUNG, Shefong

製作 Produced by

大大樹音樂圖像 trees music & art

監製與版權所有 Copyright

台灣客家電視台  客家委員會Hakka TV, Hakka Affairs Council, Taiwan 

                 

Water Drop TeaHouse

The Chinese have been in Kolkata for more than 230 years.  Their numbers have been decreasing as many of them have been leaving for other lands. There are efforts to start a revival, although it seems impossible. However some Chinese and well wishers are trying to put our shoulder to the wheel to make good our stay in the land of our birth.

                                                                    The Teahouse

In West Bengal one the most famous and popular activity is having tea. This friendly pastime is a medium for gathering together for bonding or as a prelude to more serious business.

We welcome the initiative by the disciples of Fo Guang Buddhist Temple for opening the Water Drop Teahouse.

This Teahouse is a humble offering to the citizens of Kolkata to experience the taste of Chinese culture and share the treasures of Chinese living in India.

Currently, the Teahouse is opened only on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 15.00 hours to 18.00 hours.

We would seriously advice you not visit it after 17.00 hours as supply may run short.This is a strictly vegetarian joint.

Some of the items include :

Fruit Tea, Indonesia Traditional Herbal Tea, Lotus Tea, Herbal Tea ( Chrysanthemum Wolfberry etc..),Jasmine, Dry Raisen, Red Date Tea.

Dumplings : (momo), Sushi, Mushroom Cheese Sandwich,
Rice : FGS ( Lucky ) Special Rice, Spring, Special Package Rice, Indonesia Turmeric Rice, Golden Fried Rice, Mahogany Fried Rice.

Fried Noodle, Fried Rice Noodles. In addition there are soups such as Tomato, Sweet Corn and Hot and Sour soup.

This is but offering by the Temple's disciples and therefore all charges are treated as donation.

If you want to have the unique  experience do drop in at :

The Waterdrop Teahouse

Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Temple,

8 / 1  New Tangra Road,

 Kolkata -700046

Contact number : (033) 3292 3031 

The Chinese Connection

Travel 3Sixty

(The official inflight magazine of the World’s Best Low Cost Airline AirAsia)

February 2014

Page 80

South Asia’s only Chinatown is located in Kolkata,the capital of the state of West

Bengal in India,and this sizzling spot brims not just with hot Chinese food but a

delectable wealth of history.If you’re a connoisseur of exotic food and happen to be in

Kolkata, make a trip to the Old Chinatown in Tiretta Bazaar (named after an Italian

architect and town planner) located down Bentinck Street, where Chhatawala Gully meets

Sun Yat-sen Street.Since everything is freshly prepared, and sold by eight o’clock in

the morning, one has to be there at the break of dawn.

Chopsticks start clicking before the cock crows or the city buses start rolling out.

Chinese ladies with their straight black hair pinned up in tight buns set up stalls to

sell soup from large tureens,momo (pork, chicken and shrimp dumplings)with pau (steamed

buns), fish balls swimming in light gravy, and ‘moon cakes’ (a traditional baked

dessert) stacked on large trays, as well as numerous varieties of mouth-watering dim

sum.Dim sum and momos are in high demand at Tiretta Bazaar.

Among the crowd here are young journalists, call centre staff and policemen– night owls

most of them. The ambience is that of a classic oriental food court: Noisy and crowded,

with delectable aromas wafting through the air.

A local patron, who looks a thousand years old, assures me that the food, cooked home

style, is delicious. I tried a bowl of soup, a pau and some pork momos, and fell in

love.

MAPPING CHINATOWN

Tiretta Bazaar, a stone’s throw from the city’s police headquarters at Lalbazar,retains

a buzzing Chinatown vibe. I see an old man ambling along Sun Yat-sen Street.My

photographer Bijoy Chowdhury, who is familiar with the area, whispers, “Here comes

Paul Chung, a walking encyclopaedia on the Chinese in Kolkata.”

Soon, we are chatting with Chung over jasmine tea and learning about the Chinese of

Kolkata. “The Chinese started coming to India along the Silk Route in the second

century.Buddhist monk Faxian (Fa-Hien) came to India in the fifth century to study

Buddhist scriptures. Then, in the early 15th century,Admiral Zheng He arrived in Bengal

on his sixth voyage. The Sultan of Bengal gifted his pet giraffe (brought from Somalia)

to the admiral,” explains Chung.But things only started happening after the arrival of

the English East India Company.

According to Chung, Tong Achew, a tea trader from Guangdong, landed at Budge Budge

(a suburb of Kolkata today) in the late 18th century. The then Governor General Warren

Hastings granted Tong land to set up a sugar cane plantation and sugar factory.Folklore

has it that Tong wooed Hastings with a packet of tea, and Hastings offered him a plot

of land 10kms from Budge Budge, provided that the Chinese could mark the area of the

land within 24 hours. Tong marked out 650 bighas(a little under one square kilometre)

of land on horseback! He then imported 110 workers from South China to run his

plantation and mill. “These workers,” Chung continues,“are the ancestors of most of the

Chinese population of Kolkata.”

ACHIPUR, KOLKATA’S FIRST CHINESE SETTLEMENT

Tong Achew’s name lives on in Achipur, the site of his sugar cane plantation. Located

33 kms from Kolkata, Achipur can be reached by a bus service, which operates from

Esplanade in the heart of Kolkata, and stops at a place called Chinamantala meaning

‘the place of the Chinaman’.

On the Sunday after the Chinese New Year, Kolkatan Chinese make a pilgrimage to Achipur

to pay tribute to the man who started the first Chinese settlement in India over 230

years ago. The sleepy hamlet comes alive with the beating of Chinese drums and

Cantonese being spoken, and the Achipur temple is filled with Kolkatan Chinese offering

prayers to Chinese deities. While candles and incense sticks lend the place a divine

aura, a tempting spread of delectable food items sets a festive

spirit. Here, you can hear the older people exchanging greetings softly:“Yĕxŭ shàngdì

ràng mĕigèrén dōu jīngshénjuéshuò” (May God keep everyone hale and hearty) or“Kĕ

zàihépíng Táng Achew de línghún ānxi!”(May Tong Achew’s soul rest in peace).

The temple houses the male and female deities Khuda and Khudi, distinctively Chinese in

appearance. The low ceiling,the pillars and the walls are decorated with Chinese

calligraphy, while the prayer halls are lit with candles.

Chinese fortune tellers make a brisk business here, and people light candles and

incense sticks to pay tribute to Tong Achew at his red horse shoe-shaped burial site

overlooking the Hooghly River.

KOLKATAN, BORN & BRED

While the Chinese in Kolkata have retained their culture and traditions, many of them

feel an affinity to the city and to Bengali art and culture. Paul Chung feels that

there are many similarities between Chinese and Bengali traditions. Both Chung’s

daughters have married Indians – one of them a Bengali. When I ask Chung if he’d like

to spend his last days in China, Chung says, “My motherland is India; I

am an old Calcuttan (Calcutta was the old name of Kolkata). I was born here. Why should

I leave the city? Yes, I go to China, but only as a visitor.Wherever I go, I return to

my home in Calcutta.”

Love for Kolkata rings in the voice of shopkeeper Stella Chen, who I meet when I

pop into her Chinese provisions store, Hap Hing on Sun Yat-sen Street. Chen tells me,

“My grandfather came here over one hundred years ago. I have an umbilical attachment to

the city. My father opened this shop in 1934.” The store, where a single tungsten bulb

hangs from the ceiling emitting more gloom than gleam, is a piece of China, right here,

in Kolkata. You can find exotic green tea, pickled plums, rice noodles, orange peels,

sun dried mushrooms, and pink-edged prawn wafers,as well as a unique assortment of

Chinese medicine – from the ever popular Tiger Balm to strange medicated oils and vials

of secret panaceas. It is charming that Chen prefers to use a suan pan(Chinese abacus)

rather than a pocket calculator

Even the younger generation, forced to migrate due to economic reasons, miss Kolkata.

At Chen’s shop, I meet her nephew Michael Lou, a dental surgeon in Montréal,who is

visiting Kolkata where he spent his childhood. He says, “Look, we may have left

the city to seek greener pastures, but Kolkata lives on in our minds forever.”

Back on the street, I am pleasantly surprised to hear a young Chinese man cheerfully

sing a Bengali song: Tumi je amar... chirodiner-i(You are mine forever). I come to know

that his name is Dominic Lee. His friend Joe tells us, “Dominic is madly in love with

this city.”

A SWEET TRIBUTE

Locals believe the word chini meaning sugar is thought to have been inspired by Tong

Achew, a Chinese trader who set up a sugar factory in Kolkata and mapped

out the boundary of the first and only Chinatown in South Asia.This Bengali word for

sugar is unique among languages descended from Sanskrit.The word for sugar is sharkara

in Sanskrit,sacchar in Latin,zucker in German,sucre in French,sakhar in Russian and

shakkar in Hindi – all with Proto-Indo-European roots.

VISITING NEW CHINATOWN

As lunch time approaches, we head to Tangra,the New Chinatown on the eastern fringe of

Kolkata. In the past, Tangra was nothing more than a cluster of foul smelling tanneries

– now closed down and relocated. Although the hint of an odour lingers on occasion,

Tangra is now a centre for authentic (typically Hakka style) Chinese cuisine. The

ornate gateway to New Chinatown, with its beautiful Chinese characters, is evocative of

days gone by.

At a typical big ticket Chinese eatery in Tangra, the food and the service are both

without parallel. Here, I meet Monica Liu, the owner of a chain of restaurants

including the immensely popular Beijing Restaurant. She serves delicious food that she

cooks herself, and declares, “Kolkata keeps its doors open to outsiders. I have a very

special respect for this city.” Arguably, the biggest name in Tangra is the elaborately

laid out Big Boss restaurant. Its owner Xie Ying Xing left his tannery business

and built the restaurant on Matheswartala Road. An astute restaurateur, he realised

the importance of adding a touch of spicy Schezwan flavour to his fare as a concession

to local tastes. To this end, he introduced various vegetarian delicacies. Giving a

twist to paneer, a soft Indian cheese, somewhat similar to the Greek feta, Xie created

dishes like Kung Pao-style paneer to woo Kolkata’s significant vegetarian population,

comprising the Marwaris and the Gujaratis.

The Chinese in Kolkata today work in diverse fields as tannery owners, sauce

manufacturers,shoe store owners and restaurateurs. A number of them run beauty

parlours, and the younger generation is again taking to dentistry – a

traditional occupation. They’re a driven people, ambitious and determined.

TRUE TO THEIR ROOTS

With the steady economic decline of Kolkata,which began right from the end of the

British Raj, the Chinese population in Kolkata has declined in number, which is quite

evident in the drop in sales of India’s only Chinese-language newspaper:The Overseas

ChineseCommerce in India.Today, the small but fiery Chinese community in Kolkata

strives to hold on to their proud legacy and remember their roots.

 Sunday,Feb 16,2014,Kolkata


Tai Chi More Effective Than Yoga ?


After years of being exalted as an exotic form of martial arts, Tai chi is now seen by the medic world has an answer to most physical grievances. Week after week, researches are bringing to light the many healing benefits of this form, which includes it being beneficial to people suffering from osteoarthritis, diabetes, musculoskeletial pain triggered from working on computers. It is also being looked upon as an alternative option to yoga.

Tai chi is a series of bodily movements that's performed in a slow and graceful manner, each movement flows to the next without a pause. The technique was first introduced by a Taoist monk who got his inspiration from watching a crane and snake at war. Says Sensei Sandeep Desai, "Tai chi is largely under-utilised here! I've been teaching Tai chi for more than two decades, and I see only those who are spiritually inclined trying to learn this form. But Tai chi is more than just a form that helps you spiritually or helps you attain flexibility. It's an internal form of martial arts, deep and profound. It is not meant for instant gratification or instantaneous results."

Purnima Shah feels that Tai chi helped to bring an attitudinal change in her when dealing with chronic back problems. "It instilled a more positive attitude, and helped me divert my mind from the pain. The pain has reduced to large extend, and my body is no longer stiff, " she shares.

About Tai chi being seen as a better form of yoga. "I have specialised in both tai chi and hathyoga. The stretch in tai chi is not done at the cost of causing discomfort. This is significant, as when you stretch beyond a certain point, the body goes into a shock and recoil state, this is bad in the long run. Tai chi does not encourage that, and usually follows the movements of a cat. Sleep and stretch just enough to be able to spring back into action," explains Desai.

With varied benefits like efficient breathing, flexibility, balance, calm and reduction of stress hormones with minimum effort, it's not surprising that tai chi is taking over yoga.

Types of Tai Chi

Chen Style Tai Chi
Chen style Tai Chi Chuan is the oldest form of Tai Chi from which all the other styles derived. Chen style is known for its lower stances, silk reeling, jumps, stamps and Fa Jing encapsulated within a smooth flowing powerful form.

Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan
Yang Style Tai Chi are arge and relatively simplified movements and is the most popular styles practiced in the world today.

Sun Style Tai Chi Chuan
Sun-style Tai Chi is recognised by its small high postures with flowing movements forwards and backwards accompanied by connected arms movements.

Lee Style Tai Chi
Lee Family Tai Chi can be traced back to Ho-Hsieh. His teachings looked at all aspects of Chinese health and martial arts.

Guang Ping Tai Chi
This form incorporates a solid differentiation between yin and yang, as well as a number of well-defined silk drawing movements. Made up of 64 movements which relate to the sixty four hexagrams of the I Ching.

8 Diamond Form Tai Chi Chuan (8 Energies)
8 Diamond Form Tai Chi Chuan Form is based on the foundations of the eight key energies: peng, lu, ji, an, leigh, tsai, kao, zhao. These energies are fundamental to the practice and development of any Tai Chi Chuan Form and any Tai Chi Chuan practitioner. This form is short, simple and has a lot of depth.

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Small  is  beautiful

Peter Chan, an ethnic Chinese born and brought up in Calcutta, is one of the world's leading bonsai experts and gives Prince Charles gardening tips. Sajeda Momin meets him

When he was a young boy, he grew potted plants picked up from the footpaths of Sealdah in the balcony of his Entally home in Calcutta. Today, he gives gardening tips to Britain's Prince Charles. Peter Chan — an ethnic Chinese born and brought up in Calcutta — is one of the world's leading experts of bonsai, the ancient Japanese art of growing miniature plants.

You can take a Calcuttan out of Calcutta but you can't take Calcutta out of him. As we sit chatting in his beautiful Surrey home, about 100km south of London, on a cold and wet afternoon, his old hometown crops up again and again in our conversation.

Chan, now in his 70s, has vivid memories of the city he left over 50 years ago. "I have always felt more Indian than Chinese and continue to do so," he says, showing no trace of bitterness towards the country which branded him and thousands of other ethnic Chinese as traitors during the 1962 India-China war and herded them out of their homes.

He and his four elder sisters escaped the camps set up in Deoli (Rajasthan) that many Indian Chinese were interred in. As their Hong Kong-born mother was a British national, Chan and his sisters were able to seek refuge there in 1963. But he felt he didn't "belong" there and soon moved to Britain, he says, looking out at the seven and half acres of beautifully landscaped gardens that he now owns.

It was Chan's grandfather who first came to India in 1890 and settled down in Calcutta. "He and his younger brothers set up the family carpentry business K.T. Hing Bros which mostly manufactured carriages for trains, but also made the furniture for King George V's durbar in 1933," he says proudly. Chan's grandfather also ran a cinema in Calcutta's Chandni Chowk which showed Chinese films and even brought actors from China to stage plays.

As the family flourished Chan's father, who studied engineering in Milwaukee, US, started working for Clyde fans. But tragedy struck the family when he was killed during the Calcutta riots of 1947, possibly caught in cross-fire on his way to work. "I was seven. My mother was widowed and penniless and had to bring us all up. It was my eldest sister, Eleanor, who worked as a secretary and paid for us all to go to college."

Though gardening was his passion, Chan followed in his father's footsteps. After studying at the Calcutta Boys School and then St Xavier's, he studied engineering at IIT, Kharagpur. "IITs in India were considered institutes of excellence. Yet when I came to the UK, I was told my IIT degree was not recognised," Chan says.

He finally got a break when an interviewer at the British Electric Board realised his potential and hired him. By the age of 29 Chan was a senior engineer.

Bonsai came to Chan only in his later years. Well-settled with his wife Dawn, an Englishwoman, and their two children, he began to spend more time on his passion for horticulture. "I was fascinated by bonsai and how these miniature trees could live for centuries and so began to do more and more research on them," he says, sipping tea, and surrounded by his beloved bonsai.

Chan, who learnt the art mainly through books and by experimenting at home, published his first book Bonsai — the Art of Growing and Keeping Miniature Trees in 1985 and it became a bestseller. Since then he has written eight books including Bonsai Secrets — the bible for bonsai lovers around the world.

In 1986 he bought a beautiful plot in Lingfield, Surrey, and set up home and Herons, Britain's premier bonsai nursery. "There were herons on the lakes here and in Chinese mythology herons are the harbingers of good luck so I kept the name."

The nursery is a treasure trove of miniature plants. The outdoor flowering plants include pyracantha shrubs with white and red flowers, rhododendrons, wisteria trees and chillies. Among the fruit trees are crab apple, edible fig, mulberry and pomegranate. The indoor varieties include tropical and semi-tropical plants such as the Chinese elm, jade, pepper tree and orange which actually bear small, perfectly edible fruits.

Helped by Dawn, Chan began to take his bonsai to the UK's most prestigious flower show, The Chelsea Flower Show. Soon he had started winning gold medals for his exhibits. He has a record-breaking 21 gold medals from the Chelsea show, most of them presented to him by Queen Elizabeth II.

"She is extremely gracious and would always come and admire our Japanese garden and bonsai displays," Chan adds.

Prince Charles, another royal gardening enthusiast, invited Chan to his country retreat at Highgrove to learn about bonsai. "He is a lovely person, very interested in gardening and the environment. He wanted me to help him design and set up a Japanese garden at his home, which of course I was more than happy to do," Chan says modestly.

The heir to the British throne may be the most high profile of Chan's students, but he is not the only one. Chan travels the world holding workshops, classes and one-on-one lessons on maintaining bonsai.

"I have been to India many times for workshops," he says. "My pupils there tend to be the wives of the rich and famous, who have the fascination and the money to cultivate bonsai as a status symbol."

It is certainly an expensive hobby as an average bonsai plant at Heron's costs about £200 (approximately Rs 20,700). The cheapest plants are for around £45 (Rs 4,660) while at the top-end some rare and old miniatures are priced at about £40,000 (Rs 41.4 lakh).

Three decades on, Chan has no complaints. "At IIT I had wanted to change from engineering to architecture but wasn't allowed. But life has come full circle and my desire has been fulfilled by landscaping beautiful Japanese gardens," Chan says. "I am a lucky man living in these silken surroundings," he adds, gazing over his little bit of heaven.

Short and sweet

Tips on bonsai

• You can make bonsai out of any plant

• Bonsai does not have to be expensive

• Calcutta's climate is ideal for ficus, jade, juniper

• Don't forget to water the plants daily — since they exist in pots, they need regular water

• In summer keep them in the shade; the rest of the year in full sun

• Prune regularly

Chinatown Revival

Friday,January 3, 2014,page 5,Times City,Kolkata

Chinatown revival at Tiretta Bazar, Tangra

100-Crore Project Is A Brainchild Of Singaporean Conglomerate Buzzmedia

KOLKATA: Imagine this. Rows of kiosks selling hot steaming Chinese breakfast, well decorated shops selling Chinese goods, ornate oriental entrances to eateries that serve authentic Chinese food and lounges atop houses where you can relax with your cup of 'cha'. And all this in the heart of the city?

Impossible? Not at all.

If things go according to plans, our very own Tiretta Bazar and Tangra will soon look start looking like the Singaporean Chinatown which was painstakingly revived from the rubbles by that government and has since been a showpiece. This time around, the Singaporeans have come forward to help the state tourism department to revive one of the world's oldest Chinese settlements outside mainland China. The project that has been named 'Cha', after the drink that's known by that name both in Bengali and Chinese, is a brainchild of Singaporean conglomerate Buzzmedia. It has a Singaporean conglomerate that has a large number of Kolkata-born Singaporeans on board, many of whom are of Chinese origin from Tangra. For them, it is time to pay back and there's a lot of all round excitement.

People from the Chinese community celebrate New Year at Chinatown

The project will cost at least Rs 100 crore and funds will come largely from Kolkata-origin Chinese and Bengalis settled in Singapore. Some private builders in Kolkata are also keen on investing in the project.

Intach, an organization working on heritage restoration, has been roped in for the project. It will be done in two phases. While Tiretta Bazar will be revived first as Old Chinatown, Tangra will be revived later as New Chinatown. Work will start with Toong-On Temple in Blackburn Lane that used to house the famous Nanking restaurant and is are both lying in utter neglect. "The Pei May, the last surviving Chinese language school in the city, has also shut its doors and its sprawling campus is lying unused. We will revive this also. There are six such temples, a cemetery and an opium lane that will be revived along the way in this project," said G M Kapur, state convener of Intach.

"Once the work for Old Chinatown is over, we will replicate the model in New Chinatown," said Rinkoo Bhowmick of Buzzmedia, who is coordinating the project. Her representative, Nandini Das Ghoshal, a management training expert in Singapore, is presently in town to help integrate the Chinese community with the project.

TOI has recently reported that preliminary talks have about the project started between the state tourism department and Buzzmedia over the revival of Chinatown. The department had asked the latter to prepare a detailed project report, work for which is on being prepared at the moment. On Thursday, at least 25 members of the Chinese community spoke to Buzzmedia about their hope and anxiety. They spoke about their grievances on the lack of civic amenities in Tangra and how a revival has become imperative.

Talks, naturally, veered towards the fact that the Chinese settled in Kolkata about the same time that Job Charnock's ship anchored here. Chinese traveller Atchew and 110 of his countrymen set up a sugar plantation and mill in Atchipur, the place that was named after him, in 1778. Periods of disorder in China - the Opium War (1840) and the Revolution (1911) - saw waves of Chinese men and women coming to Kolkata. The community started tanneries in Tangra to give vent to their traditional craftsmanship and soon there was a demand for the Hakka tanners and shoemakers, Hupeh dentists and of course Cantonese carpenters and restaurateurs.

The Japanese air raids in 1939 and during World War II in general saw a break in the flow of Chinese population to Kolkata. The Sino Indian War (1962) changed everything and suddenly the community lost several civil rights and Indian passports were also revoked in some cases. That was the time when a large number of Chinese settlers in the city migrated to Canada and Australia.

"We feel that we are not part of the excluded from mainstream Kolkata though the city loves to eat Chinese food in our food joints. Several members of our community have no citizenship proof. The all-round stench and squalor in Tangra will tell you why a revival is immediately needed," said George Ling, a member of the community who was present at the dialogue with Buzzmedia on Thursday.

"Right in front of our church you will find heaps of garbage. We have not been able to convince the civic authorities to take the vat away. That is because we have no convincing power as a community," said Chang Shiyenyeh. "We are extremely happy that our friends from Singapore are talking about this revival. We agree to co-operate with them in every possible way," he said.

Minister for tourism, Krishnendu Choudhury, looked upbeat. "Though the preliminary talks for the project started before I took over as a minister, I feel that two revived pockets of the city as old and new Chinatown will attract tourists. I am waiting for the DPR," he said.
                                        

                                                                                                                            Jhimli Mukherjee Pandey,TNN
                                                                                                          

Save The Heritage

 

KOLKATA , WEDNESDAY,  DECEMBER 18, 2013 ( page 2)

Heritage Buried Under Garbage

KMC Insensitivity Pushes Toong On Church To Ruin

Kolkata: Looking at the ramshackle building and the heaps of garbage lying around, you wouldn’t believe that this was the first Chinese restaurant, not just of Kolkata but the country. Or that it was once the haunt of the wellheeled and famous hub of a bustling community.

    The two-storey colonial style building that housed Nanking restaurant and Toong On church is crying out for attention. It is impossible these days to even

walk up to it without stepping on faeces and rotting filth. The overpowering stench in Blakburn Lane makes it impossible to imagine the violin notes that once wafted through it in the evening.

    Nanking — a favourite with stars like Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and Sunil Dutt — shut down long ago. The building is now dwarfed by skyscrapers all around.

    The inevitable assault of modernity wasn’t as damaging as Kolkata Municipal Corporation’s insensitivity. The civic body built two huge garbage vats on either sides of the building — although the church exists — and allowed squatters to settle on the footpaths.

                                                                                  The littered stretch in front of Nanking

   

For years, an open garbage dump stood at the entrance to the lane. Instead of doing away with it, KMC built another one next to Toong On church. The trustees and the Kolkata Chinese community strongly objected to it. Banners strung up in the lane lament the desecration of the community’s heritage. But it failed to move KMC.

                                                              A Chinese resident makes a dragon model for Chinese New Year Celebrations

  

 Local councillor Rena Khatoon said: “We are trying to keep the place clean and will remove the vat if we find an appropriate place.” The vicinity of a place of worship is not “appropriate” either, says the Chinese community.

    A tiny shanty colony has come up behind a garbage pile. A public toilet hides the rubbish and their illegal existence from public view but can’t mask its unbearable stench.

    “We kept requesting the local councillor to keep the doorway of the church free from garbage. Some days the stench is so horrible that we cannot sit here for a minute,” says Li Han Kuang, secretary of Toong On church.

    Nanking restaurant, which was on the ground floor, closed down in the ’70s. But the Toong On church has been kept alive by the community that has dwindled to just 14.

    Their ancestors migrated from Toong On county in Canton province of China during the first world war and settled in Kolkata.

    “Our dwindling number has not robbed us of strength to fight to save our heritage. The 1912 building was almost put on sale at point of time. Au Yau Wah, grandson of Nanking restaurant founder Auyue Shoon tried to sell it but we moved court and saved it,” says Kuang, a retired sailor.

    The city civil court imposed Section 144 at 22 Blackburn Lane, ordering that Au be barred from leaving the country.

    Kuang said that the Auyue family was very powerful and the elders of the Chinese community allowed him to open the restaurant purely on trust in 1924. He spoke English and was a police officer. But after his death, his descendants failed in business, said Kuang. Au Yau Wah died from a massive heart attack and it was the end of the restaurant.

                                                                     Toong On church

   

The church now houses the warrior god Kwandee, holding a big knife. Kuang recalled seeing spears and scimitars hanging on the wall on the first floor and a Buddha bust on the ground floor. He alleges that Wah not only sold the property that belonged to the Toong On Church but also vandalized the temple with its intricately carved altar and antique furniture.

    “The furniture is a century old. The people who have taken over the church have removed everything,” said Kuang, adding that cubicles with shutters had been built, possibly in preparation for opening shops.

    Finally, the undying passion of Kuang and Wang Liant Sen for securing the safety led the then municipal commissioner Alapan Bandyopadhyay to include the building in the heritage list to save it from the demolition. That was only a temporary reprieve. Unless the authorities act fast, no one can save it from the vagaries of time

                                                  Krishnendu Bandyopadhyay  TNN

World Mind Games 2013

 

12-18 December, Beijing 

                                                             World Mind Games

               

                           SportAccord World Mind Games is a multi-sports event centered on the gymnasium of the mind, highlighting the great value of the mind sports.

On the program there are five minds sports : Bridge,  Chess,  Draughts,  Go,  XiangQi.

They are all about the power of the human brain, strategy, intelligence and the exercise of the mind.

In addition, a competitive attitude, quick reflexes, physical fitness, and discipline are needed to excel.

Mind Sports intervene in the fields of education and health with teaching programs in schools and, for adults and older players, enables them to retain their intellectual faculties while also providing an active social life through meeting and playing with others.

The event not only demonstrates the world a first-class performance of the mind sports competitions, but the cultural and social aspects are also showcased during the event.

The event includes a worldwide online tournament and a cultural and social programme.

The five international sports federations participating in SportAccord World Mind Games are:

World Bridge Federation (WBF)

World Chess Federation (FIDE)

World Draughts Federation (FMJD)

International Go Federation (IGF)

World XiangQi Federation (WXF)

Chinese Abacus

An  Intangible  Cultural  Heritage

The Zhusuan, otherwise known as the Chinese abacus was officially listed as an intangible cultural heritage at the 8th Annual UNESCO World Heritage Congress on December 4th, 2013 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

The abacus is an ancient calculating method with a history of over 2,500 years. It is regarded as the fifth invention in Chinese history and was listed as a national-level intangible cultural heritage in 2008.

The abacus’s popularity has been compromised over the course of time by the emergence of digital calculators; however, they are still in use in many of China’s rural marketplaces. Today, the abacus has a richer value as a cultural symbol rather than a practical calculating tool.

The UNESCO stated that intangible cultural heritage could bring a sense of identification to the people who own it and it is essential to maintaining cultural diversity and human creativity.

Since 2001, China has successfully applied for 37 items to be listed as World Intangible Cultural Heritages, including Kunqu opera, the shadow play and acupuncture.

China currently has 30 intangible cultural heritage items listed by UNESCO, the most among all countries throughout the world.


Facts about the abacus :

The Chinese abacus, also called suanpan, can be traced back to the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC).
It has two decks and more than seven rods. The upper deck, which is known as heaven, has two beads on each rod. These beads each have the value of five. There are five beads on the bottom deck, known as earth. Each of these has the value of one. The beads are moved up and down during calculation.

Intangible cultural heritage are the practices, representations, and expressions, as well as the knowledge and skills that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage. It is sometimes called living cultural heritage, and is manifested among other things in the following domains :

Oral traditions and expressions, including language as a vehicle of the intangible cultural heritage;

Performing arts;

Social practices, rituals, and festive events;

Knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe;

Traditional craftsmanship.

The intangible cultural heritage is transmitted from generation to generation, and is constantly re-created by communities and groups, in response to their environment, their interaction with nature, and their historical conditions of existence.

It provides people with a sense of identity and continuity, and its safeguarding promotes, sustains, and develops cultural diversity and human creativity. 

Calcutta , September 21, 2013 ( Metro,Page 24 )

The sound of Chinese Hok San drums and cymbals pierced the bustling lanes around Tireta Bazar on Friday morning as a dozen members of Calcutta's dwindling Chinese community waited with bouquets at the entrance of the Toong On Church.

At the stroke of 10, an SUV pulled up in front of the 90- year- old church on Blackburn Lane near Bowbazar and Lim Thuan Kuan, the high commissioner of Singapore, alighted from the car. The drumroll got louder, the lion dancers leapt in the air.

A two- hour excursion through Calcutta's Old Chinatown followed. Metro accompanied Lim through the bylanes of a once- glorious Chinese neighbourhood gasping for revival.

 
Toong On Church

 Built in 1924, it once housed Nanking. " Calcutta's first Chinese restaurant, it had hosted celebrities like Shammi Kapoor," said Dominic Lee, vice- president of the Indian Chinese Association. The restaurant wound up and morphed into Toong On Church last August after a decade- long litigation. A huge Buddha idol sits on the ground floor while the prayer room on the first floor is home to war god Guan Di and his two sworn brothers.

Lim and about 20 community members sat across an old dining table in front of the deity. Paul Chung, the 72- year- old president of the association, was brought up on a chair by two youngsters and placed next to the high commissioner.

" This is my first visit outside New Delhi and I am delighted to be here," Lim said.

" A sapling needs constant supervision and support till it grows into a tree," said Chung, metaphorically explaining the efforts to revive the neighbourhood.

Soon English was ditched.

Mandarin followed and so did siu mai, fish dim sums and several rounds of jasmine tea until Lim got up.

 
Sea Yip Church

 A minute's walk from Toong On is the 108- year- old church with god of compassion Quan Yin as its presiding deity. The wooden staircase leads to an altar carved out of wood. It was imported from China a century ago. Lim's gaze fell on a bamboo box containing fortune sticks. Shake the box till a numbered stick falls out. Depending on the number, a piece of paper is handed out with predictions about a person's future.

Lim gently declined to try his luck! " It is fascinating to see a vibrant Chinese community tucked within the heart of Calcutta," he said outside, breaking into a jog across Lu Shun Sarani to dodge a speeding bus.

 
Gee Hing Temple

 Popular for its mahjong sessions, the temple doubles as a community centre for the 2,000- odd members in central Calcutta. Mahjong is roughly the Chinese equivalent of the card game rummy.

" Ah mahjong!" Lim gushed. " We used to play it quite often in Singapore. It is very popular there," he said, running his fingers through a bowl of mahjong tiles on one of the four tables.

" Many elders spend hours at the temple playing mahjong," said Jospeph Percy Ling, who conducts tourist walks across Chinatown.

 
Voi Yune Club

 A giant portrait of Sun Yatsen, the founding father of the Republic of China, greeted Lim at this temple club. That's not a photograph but a painting, he was told. Lim, mouth open in awe, took a closer look.

The club has a small temple in an adjacent room. Small but 106 years old! Lim lit incense sticks amid beats of the drum and chimes of the cymbals.

 
Nam Soon Temple

 If other temples have clubs and community halls, this one of 1820 vintage houses a secondary school and a small museum.

A winding lane lined with meat shops and shanties leads to a courtyard in front of the temple devoted to the god of commerce.

A room abutting the temple is the museum, where jade vases brush shoulders with swords and ornate divans of opium traders. A cupboard holds an old abacus. " My father would use this a lot," Lim said. " Does it have an Indian equivalent?" Out in the courtyard, a group of students chorused in Mandarin: " Yi er san si wu liu qi ba jiu shi ." Lim bowed and the customary " xie xie " ( thank you) rang out. " I enjoyed exploring the rich Chinese history and heritage," he told Metro . Well, yi er san… means " one two three four five six seven eight nine ten".
   

Still waiting ...

In India, ethnic Chinese still waiting for apology

Thousands were rounded up as suspected spies and sent to an internment camp after India lost a 1962 border war with China. India never filed any charges.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi in May (Saurabh Das, Associated Press / May 20, 2013)

 By Mark Magnier

June 28, 2013, 1:01 a.m.

KOLKATA, India — India-born Monica Liu was 9 in 1962 when her family was loaded into box cars for an eight-day rail trip to an internment camp in the western Indian desert.

The Lius were among about 3,000 people of Chinese descent, most of them Indian citizens, rounded up without trial as suspected spies or sympathizers and placed in Rajasthan state's Deoli camp after India's one-month border war with China. Her family remained in detention until 1967.

Over the decades, the Chinese-Indian community has paid a high price for India's humiliating defeat and the subsequent distrust between the two Asian giants. In May, recently named Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visited India in a bid to improve relations. But few expect close ties anytime soon, in light of a disputed 2,100-mile border and India's hosting of the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader.

Long consumed by fear, anger and denial, many former detainees have only recently begun speaking out, urging New Delhi to admit mistakes, as Washington finally did in 1988 for the detention of Japanese Americans during World War II.

"I've felt that the Indian government should apologize openly," said Harry Shaw, secretary of a Toronto-based association of former Deoli internees. "Unfortunately the whole thing's been swept under the rug."

Liu, the eldest of five siblings from the northeastern Indian city of Shillong, recalls the shock of arriving at the sparse 40-foot barracks surrounded by barbed wire.

The heat was oppressive and beds were often bug-infested, she said. There were no schools and only rudimentary medical care in the camp, built in 1852 by the British. Boredom was endemic and internees were treated as if they were criminals.

"Escape was impossible," Shaw said. "Rajasthan is desert and, being Chinese-looking, you'd be immediately spotted. It's not like we fit in."

Those who accepted deportation — India's preferred solution — were released first, with hundreds immigrating to China in 1963. Those who refused, including families fearful of the Chinese Communist Party, Tibetans and many who'd never been to China, languished for years.

Not everyone hated the experience.

"I didn't know where I was and worried about my mother," said Berkeley-based Yin Marsh, author of "Doing Time with Nehru," a book about her Deoli experience. "But my younger siblings, who were 4 and 8, they thought it was summer holiday — great, they could explore free, no one told them to go to school."

Most of those released in waves from 1963 to 1967 found their possessions had been either seized as "enemy property," looted or stolen by neighbors. Many saw their citizenship stripped, barring them from owning property, and were forcibly resettled. Travel restrictions lasted until 1996.

Liu and her family returned to Shillong nearly penniless. They were taken in by other Chinese Indians released earlier and survived by making dumplings at night, selling them on the street and eating potatoes, the cheapest food available.

"To this day, I can't eat potatoes," said Liu, who owns four successful restaurants in Kolkata, formerly Calcutta. "I don't even want to smell them."

Despite the often draconian measures, the Indian government never filed a case or found any apparent evidence of espionage by the Chinese Indians. "I don't think there were any spies, just citizens living their lives," Marsh said.

Those who lived near the Chinese border were sent to the camp, but thousands farther afield faced assaults, discrimination and prison sentences amid official anti-Chinese rhetoric and Bollywood depictions of Chinese as villains and prostitutes. Feeling like outcasts, their job options limited, many fled to the United States, Canada or Hong Kong.

Although Chinese have visited India since at least the 4th century, few moved there before the late 1700s, when they were encouraged by British rulers hoping to jump-start the economy. Further waves followed such events as the 1840 Opium War and the 1949 communist takeover.

At its peak, India's population of ethnic Chinese numbered in the tens of thousands. Today, Kolkata's once-vibrant ethnic Chinese community has declined to about 4,500, with an additional 1,500 sprinkled across India, according to Paul Chung, president of the Kolkata-based Indian Chinese Assn. The total swells to 1.5 million if Tibetans are included.

During decades of discrimination, Chinese temples and other landmarks in Kolkata's two Chinatowns fell into disrepair as residents avoided spotlighting their heritage. In recent years, however, a more economically confident India and growing trade links with China, mostly in Beijing's favor, have bolstered community confidence.

A nascent organization is fighting to regain control of Kolkata's Toong On temple, built in 1924, after an ownership dispute led to its sale to Indian investors. And Kolkata is talking about revitalizing Chinatown to boost tourism.

But distrust persists, community leaders say. Many Chinese Indians remain wary of any official contact, with some panning the revitalization plan as an ethnic "amusement park."

"They've suffered so much, they can't believe anything good comes from the government," Chung said.

Chung believes that the Indian government should make amends, "not for the money, but to make us feel that we belong here."

Others, however, see little chance of an apology with the community's limited political clout and some feeling that for India, such a move would be tantamount to giving in to Beijing and could set a precedent.

"There are lots of wronged groups in India waiting for an apology," said S.N.M. Abdi, deputy editor of Outlook magazine, who is writing a book on the community. "It would be a very long list."

 View  Online

mark.magnier@latimes.com

Tanvi Sharma in The Times' New Delhi bureau contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2013, Los Angeles Times

An Untold Story

An Untold Story by Nicole Marsh 

Published on June 17, 2013 



 

Little China at Jorasanko

 

Calcutta , Sunday June 02, 2013 , page 24 

Xu Beihong studio recreated at Jorasanko as part of the Tagore and China gallery

Little China in Tagore home

In the run-up to Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’s visit to India, a permanent exhibition opened at Tagore House in Jorasanko on Tagore and China. Housed in eight rooms in Ram Bhavan, on the first floor, the exhibition centres primarily around Rabindranath Tagore’s first visit to China in 1924.

One of the eye-catching exhibits is the wooden Waterwitch. Built to order from Dwarkanath Tagore’s Carr Tagore Company in Kidderpore in 1831, the 363-tonne clipper, used by the East India Company for carrying opium grown in India to China, sailed from Canton to Calcutta in 1838 in a record 25 days.

Rabindranath’s grandfather let out his ships to the Company for opium trade, which he later became directly involved in. In 1861, a 20-year-old Rabindranath himself would denounce opium trade in an essay, calling it a business to kill the Chinese. 

“Dwarkanath’s ties with China were business-related. Tagore fraternised with the people,” pointed out poet Sankha Ghosh, who was present at the inauguration of the gallery funded by a grant from the Chinese government. He praised Rabindra Bharati Museum curator Indrani Ghosh for the research and tasteful display of information.

When Tagore was invited to China, collections of his poetry had already been translated to Chinese. As Rabindra Bharati University vice-chancellor Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury mentioned in his address, people knew him as the author of Gitabitan and Stray Birds. Covers of other works in translation like The Cycle of Spring, dated 1921, are on display in one of the rooms alongside a Tagore special issue of the Chinese magazine, Novel Monthly, that commemorated his visit.

Another reason endeared Tagore to the Chinese. He was critical of Japan’s invasion of China in 1938, as revealed in his letters to poet Yone Noguchi, a fact remembered with gratitude by Chinese consul-general Zhang Li Zhong.

Tagore’s visit occasioned a flow of students, delegates and scholars to Santiniketan. We get to know that he named a tea circle on his return after his interpreter in China, the poet Xu Zhimo. A room has been set up as the studio of the artist Xu Beihong, who visited Santiniketan. The room also contains an original letter by the artist (signed as Xu Peon) to Abanindranath Tagore, which his grandson, the Chinese scholar Amitendranath, has gifted to the gallery along with some other articles.

The exhibition was inaugurated by education minister Bratya Basu. Liu Yuening, a professor of the Central Conservatory of Music, played a Rabindrasangeet on yang qin, a Chinese dulcimer, at the opening.

Vat  a  bother

Toong On church at 22 Blackburn Lane, built in 1924 in what was the Chinatown of old Calcutta, once housed Nanking Restaurant. It was the best place for Chinese grub, long, long before chowmein in its various mind-boggling avatars became the favourite snack of all Indians. The restaurant was run by the Au family and the property belonged to the trust that was in charge of this place of worship.

                                                                               

The vat in front of Toong On church in Blackburn Lane

Then sometime in the past, the restaurant closed and the place fell into disrepute. There was an effort a few years ago to hand over the building — illegally, no doubt — to a promoter but the small Chinese community in Calcutta — there are about 1,500 of them in the central areas of this city, 1,500 in Tangra, and about 1,000 in the rest of the country — resisted, and the church reopened last year.

Most of the wonderful antique furniture is gone and so is the old signboard of the restaurant, but on the first floor, the wooden images of the wargod, Guan Di, and his two sworn brothers, and an intricately carved wooden altar remain. A devotee donated a large Buddha statue and it was installed on the ground floor. Prayers are held here daily.

The lane leading to the church was always dirty as several families of pavement dwellers occupied the space, and even worse, at the head of the entrance to the lane on Lu Shun Sarani (formerly New CIT Road), was a sprawling garbage dump. Most of the refuse was strewn all over the place than inside it.

The church is a Grade-I heritage building, according to the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC), like Victoria Memorial Hall, and no construction can come up close to it. But in spite of local resistance, the CMC seems to be bent on shifting the garbage dump from Lu Shun Sarani to the narrow confines of Blackburn Lane, close to the church.

This new vat at the other entrance of the lane is far too small for the tonnes of refuse that are thrown on the main road. But protests notwithstanding, the vat came up about a year ago, and on April 22, the CMC sent a bulldozer to start using the smaller vat.

Local people were up in arms against this and the police had to intervene to maintain peace. Not just Toong On church, even Masjid Khairul Baqa in the same neighbourhood is against it. Now the small Chinese community has moved court and Section 144 CrPc has been imposed around this unique place of worship. The Chinese have petitioned the West Bengal Minority Commission as well.

This at a time when the local Chinese community is trying to revive the old Chinatown in central Calcutta, and is collaborating with Intach and an organisation in Singapore to build a museum showcasing Chinese culture in India inside the church, and turn Blackburn Lane into a pedestrian plaza where Chinese delicacies will be available.