David Hall is an old Dutch-style bungalow that sits at the southern edge of the Parade Ground. It was believed to have been built in the 1670s-1690s and is the only one of its kind left here. It is not clear if this is a residence or a hospice for the Dutch military originally. It was called David Hall by the Jewish Koder family who resided here for a time.

The first visual tour of Cochin takes us through the heart of Fort Cochin.

This was the site of the original Portuguese fortified settlement here, which was subsequently expanded by the Dutch, and then taken over by the British. This was the European civic and residential centre.

The tour takes one around the Parade Ground to visit some of the major religious and civilian monuments in the city. From the southwest corner of Parade Ground, we literally circle the square, before heading up north and ending our tour by the Fort Kochi waterfront, near where the Chinese Fishing Nets are.

The Parade Ground was the heart of the city for the more than 500 years since it was first occupied by the Portuguese. This was where the occupiers would conduct their military drills and exercises.

Around the Parade Ground sat private residences primarily – the commercial and trading heart of town was further north by the waterfront. Because the city wasn’t one of the major metropolises of the British Raj, the British era saw comparatively less investment into the urban planning of the city.

As a result, Fort Kochi still retains is distinctively Portuguese and Dutch air.  Around the Parade Square, the “feel” is most definitely Dutch, with a few Dutch-era residences scattered here and there on the edge of the Square. Alongside these stand many examples of Portuguese-era residences, and many more boasting an eclectic Indo-Portuguese-Dutch style architecture.

Towering over everything are the many rain trees. These are un-clipped and un-manicured here, unlike in Singapore, and so they grow unbridled, with canopies that are sprawling, somewhat gothic and always magnificent.

North of the Parade Ground, the urban landscape, with its narrower streets through low-rise buildings, recalls Lisbon or Fontainhas in Goa – the “feel” here is a wee bit more Portuguese, though most of the buildings here probably also date from the Dutch era.  Certainly, the general outlook of the city here is relaxed, laidback and almost Mediterranean.

I really liked this city and would have loved to stay longer, not least because of all the places I had visited on this Subcontinental Grand Tour, Fort Kochi was really the least congested and most welcoming place.  Coupled with just how green it was, it really reminded me of home away from home.

Around the Parade Ground

Heading south from David Hall down Napier Street, we walk into a residential quarter.

Here’s where one finds the Dutch Cemetery, consecrated in 1724. This is the oldest European cemetery in India. Dutch governors, military officials and colonials who died in Cochin are laid here. The British had preserved this monument for the Dutch, who refused to leave and preferred to stay under British rule.

Nearby stands the Indo-Portuguese Museum, which sits within the compounds of the Bishop’s House. The Museum specialises in Christian Art with Portuguese influences.

In the same compound sits the Art Deco Mount Carmel Petit Seminary, built in 1960.

Outside the compound of the Bishop’s House stands the campuses of the St John de Britto Anglo-Indian High School, established in 1945.

Hotel Victory Dawn occupies a colonial bungalow previously owned by a tea company. It likely dates from the British era.

Around and down Lilly Street sit many examples of charming Portuguese-era houses, such as this delightfully gingerbread-house-like specimen.

Two immaculately restored houses with Portuguese and Dutch influence stand on Lilly Street. This is the first. The configuration of the house – with wooden and shuttered upper levels recall Indische-style architecture in Oud Batavia (Jakarta) and Malacca.

This is the second immaculately restored house on Lilly Street. Again the second floor with its large balconies recalls Dutch East Indies architecture.

Back on Parade Road, we encounter Rosa-Rio Home Stay, occupying a house that probably

Spencer Home occupies a colonial bungalow with interesting Hindu-Christian architectural elements inside.

Bernard Bungalow occupies a Dutch-era building along the Southern edge of Parade Ground.

Santa Cruz Cathedral Basilica, near the southeastern edge of Parade Square, is the main church of the Diocese of Cochin. The church was established in 1505, but this version was consecrated in 1905.

Interior of Santa Cruz Cathedral Basilica.

Nearby stands the Santa Cruz Higher Secondary School, established in 1888 and one of the oldest schools in Kerala. It reeks of Oxford.

Across from the school stands this wonderful building from the Dutch-period with its sloping Dutch East Indies style roof.

Nearby is another example of the Dutch-style architecture.

Along Ridsdale Road, on the Eastern flank of Parade Ground stands the VOC Gate, the only gate standing from the Dutch period and still boasting the coat of arms of the Dutch East India Company. It dates to 1740.

Unfortunately the building the Gate protects dates from the modern era (probably 1970s or later), and houses a cafe.

View of the Parade Ground towards Ridsdale Road.

Between Ridsdale Road and Rose Street on the northeastern edge of the Parade Ground stand a few private residences that date from the Portuguese to the Dutch era. This one probably dates from the late Dutch and early British period.

On the northwestern edge of the Parade Ground stands St Francis Church. Built in 1503, it is the oldest European church in India and once housed the remains of Vasco da Gama and St Francis Xavier.

North of the Parade Ground

Near the Northwest edge of the Parade Ground stands the Cochin Club, founded in 1914 during the British era. The Club stands on a splendid seafront location overlooking the Arabian Sea.

We dive into the area just north of the Parade Ground, with its quaint, slightly narrower streets and lovely Portuguese-Dutch-influenced buildings. This is Vasco House, on Rose Street.

Loafer’s Corner, on Princes Street is one of the most popular hangout places here.

The Delta Study is a high school located in a former Dutch-era warehouse built in 1808.

View down some of narrower, but still well-planned streets in the city. Note the seating just outside the main door of this building which probably dates from the Dutch period.

Walton Hall, on Princes Street.

Koder House, on Tower Road, is a 19th century mansion built by the Jewish Koder family. Today it is a heritage hotel.

Right beside Koder House on Tower Road stands the Old Harbour Hotel, occupying an 18th century Dutch colonial building that had been used as a residence to

The Bastion Bungalow is said to have been built in 1667 in the Indo-Dutch style. It is located on the site of the Stromberg Bastion of the city’s Dutch fortifications.

Near the Bastion Bungalow stand the row upon row of Chinese Fishing Nets.

We amble along River Road, along the waterfront to the Brunton Boatyard, a former shipyard built in the British era (probably late 1800s), and today a luxury hotel with a splendid waterfront view.

And we end this part of the walking tour at Aspinwall House, established in 1867 by the English trader John H Aspinwall as the headquarters of his firm Aspinwall & Co. Ltd. Today, it is the primary venue of the Kochi Biennale, though it appears to largely be left alone in off-Biennale years.

Part one of our tour of Cochin completed, we glance back at David Hall again, where we began our tour.

The Paradesi Synagogue was built in 1568 and is the oldest active synagogue in India. The synagogue was built by Sephardic Jews who were referred to as “paradesi” or “foreigners”.

Mattancherry is Cochin’s ancient trade and commercial hub. Since before the Europeans arrived, this has been a place trading vessels would come to for spices. And certainly it has remained the bustling commercial centre of Cochin through the colonial period till today.

Mattancherry is known for its godowns and for its trading firms, but also for being literally a melting pot. Here, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Jain co-exist harmoniously, testament to centuries of migration and interaction between cultures and faiths here.

Our second visual/walking tour of Old Cochin begins where we left off on the last tour, and takes us along the waterfront thoroughfares of Calvetty Road and Bazaar Road. On the way we admire the vernacular commercial architecture the area is known for, and stop by some places of worship.

Our destination is the historic Mattancherry Palace, and thereafter to the so-called “Jew Town”.  Here, we dive deeper into the history of the Jews of Cochin. There are two key communities of Jews here. The first, and the older community, is that of the Malabari Jews or “black jews”, an ancient community with deep roots in India with records of them being in India from the earliest century of the Common Era.  They have built synagogues in Cochin since the 12th century.

The second community of Jews arrived in the 16th century in the aftermath of the expulsion of the Arabs and Jews from Granada in 1492. This community of Sephardic Jews spoke Ladino and were referred to as the Paradesi Jews, or “foreigner Jews”. They built the exquisite Paradesi Synagogue in 1568, at which we end our walking tour.

Unfortunately, many of the Jews of Cochin are no longer resident here and had either migrated to Israel or to other countries post India’s independence in 1947. But there remains a small community here that still keep a minority of the supposedly 8 synagogues – in particular, the Paradesi Synagogue – active.

We begin our walk at the Calvetty Juma Masjid, on Calvetty Road, not far from Aspinwalls.

Pepper House consists of two historic godowns (probably housing spice) with Dutch-style roofs that sit on Calvetty Road. Today it is an artspace and one of the venues of the Kochi Biennale.

The inner courtyard of Pepper House recalls the courtyard of the Dutch Era Museum in Pettah, Colombo.

Vestiges of the canals the Dutch built still exist. This is the Eraveli Canal. Past this, Calvetty Road becomes Bazaar Road.

The St George Orthodox Koonan Kurishu Syrian Church is the oldest Syrian Church in Cochin. It is one of the churches that pertain to India’s St Thomas Christians. [Public domain.]

Mattancherry Muslim Orphanage.

The Cutchi Hanafi Mosque was built in 1825, and serves the Cutchi Memon Muslim community which had migrated here from the Kutch region in Gujarat.

Vdasa Prabhu & Sons, Tea Merchants.

Nidha Stores, Oils & Provisions.

Sha Dewsee Rayasee, Food Chemical Dealers.

Shah Damodar Laljee & Sons

Church of Our Lady of Life Church, Mattancherry.

Cottage Industries Exposition, Bazaar Road.

Mookken Devassy Ouseph & Sons.

Chettiar & Co, Sugar Merchants.

The Waterfront Granary – a restored granary repurposed as a boutique “museum hotel”.

Cochin Spice Market.

Entrance gate to the Mattancherry Palace complex.

Guard Tower, Mattancherry Palace Complex.

Exterior view of the Mattancherry Palace, erected by the Portuguese in 1555 for the Raja of Cochin, renovated by the Dutch in 1663, and called the “Dutch Palace” thereafter.

From the palace, we enter “Jew Town”, some of whose commercial buildings have been restored. 

Fine Art Emporium, Jew Town. Note the Art Deco ornamentation.

Sassoon Building (1949), Jew Town.

Albert Arts Collection, Jew Town.

The former Pepper Exchange building, Jew Town.

The Cochin Oil Merchant’s Association, Jew Town.

Mandalay Hall, Jew Town, was owned formerly by a Jewish family who had roots in Mandalay. They have since migrated to Israel.

Approach to the Paradesi Synagogue.

Conservation of the Paradesi Synagogue.

View of the interior of the synagogue towards the Ark. The hanging glass lamps are from Belgium. The floor consists of 1100 blue and white porcelain tiles in the “willow style” made in Canton and imported in 1762. No one tile looks the same.

An exterior view of the Paradesi Synagogue, with its clocktower added in 1760. We end our second walking tour of Cochin here.

Bolghatty Palace, on Bolghatty Island, was built in 1744 as the residence of the Dutch Governor of Cochin. Today it is a government-run hotel.

This third visual tour of the city takes in the islands around Fort Cochin, and the city of Ernakulam on the mainland.

Setting sail from Fort Cochin, we first make landfall on Vypin island, just across from Fort Cochin. From there, we take the ferry to Bolghatty Island, to visit Bolghatty Palace – the former residence of the Dutch Governor of Cochin.

We then make a stop at Ernakulam, otherwise known as mainland Cochin and take a stroll around the waterfront. From there, we take a detour to Tripunithura to visit the Hill Palace – the former residence of the Rajas of Cochin, built in 1865, during the British era.

Fort Kochi Waterfront, Vypin and Willingdon Islands

Departing by ferry from Fort Kochi, we get a view of the Fort Kochi waterfront.

Brunton Boatyard from the water.

The Indian Coast Guard Building, from the water.

Aspinwall, from the water.

The Fort Kochi waterfront.

The Church of Our Lady of Hope – Nossa Senhora Da Esperança, 1605. Fort Vypin, Vypin Island.

Old Administrative Building, Willingdon Island.

Colonial buildings on Willingdon Island.

Bolghatty Island and Bolghatty Palace

The main building of the Bolghatty Palace, built in 1744. In the British period, it was the seat of the British Resident of Cochin.

Side view of the Bolghatty Palace.

Ground floor terrace, Bolghatty Palace.

Interior, Bolghatty Palace.

The grounds of the Bolghatty Palace.

Ernakulam

National Institute of Oceanography, Ernakulam.

The Infant Jesus Church, Ernakulam.

Archbishop of Verapoly.

St Mary’s Cathedral Basilica, Ernakulam.

The Latin Archbishop’s House, Ernakulam

The Malabar Mail, Ernakulam.

Colonial edifice.

CSI Immanuel Cathedral, Ernakulam.

Mosque

Shophouses, Ernakulam.

St Mary’s Orthodox Church, Ernakulam.

The Hill Palace, Tripunithura

The approach to the Hill Palace, today a Museum of Archaeology.

Close-up of the entrance to the Hill Palace.

Entering the Hill Palace.

The coat of arms of the Cochin Royal Family.

Hill Palace complex.

South Block, Hill Palace.

Hill Palace Complex.

Centre for Heritage Studies.

View of Hill Palace Complex.

Deer Park in the Hill Palace Complex.

Terraces in the Hill Palace Complex.

Goodbye to the Hill Palace.

Le Colonial, formerly (variously) known as “St Francis Bungalow”, “Jan Van Spall Huis” and “J Thomas Bungalow”.

Fort Cochin doesn’t have a grand hotel in the tradition of the Grand Tour of the East, but it does have a quaint little gem of a boutique heritage hotel by way of Le Colonial.

Nominally managed by the Neemrana Group, this property is actually privately owned and managed. I had the privilege of meeting and (briefly) hanging out with the owners of the property when I was there…more than a year ago now.

The building the hotel occupies is possibly the oldest European colonial building in Asia. It dates from 1506, just a few years after the Portuguese arrived on these shores, and a mere three years after St Francis Church, just next door, was erected. Vasco da Gama and St Francis Xavier supposedly resided in this very house.

The building was the Portuguese Governor of Cochin’s private residence, and its architecture is primarily Portuguese. It sits just off the northeast corner of the Parade Ground and from there, it is easy to get to anywhere in central Fort Kochi on foot.

In the Dutch era, the VOC destroyed practically all the Portuguese buildings in the Fort, except for the St Francis Church, and a few others, including “Le Colonial”. The property fell into the hands of the Dutch Governors of Cochin until it was sold in 1795 by Jan van Spall. The original sales deed can be seen framed in the house.

In the British period, the house was sold in the mid 20th century to the tea trader, J Thomas who used it as a residence.  In 2004, the building was restored, refurbished and re-opened as a boutique hotel. A swimming pool was installed in the courtyard.

Le Colonial made for a restful and nostalgic stay. The interiors of the property are beautifully furnished with antique furniture and works of art and the rooms wonderfully appointed.  I was very well taken care of by the Manageress of the hotel, who, every evening, had the chef whip up a custom-made and very yummy dinner.

All in all, I had a wonderful time here.

Approaching Le Colonial.

The Dutch apparently placed the V.O.C. logo over the gateway to Le Colonial, with

View towards the main building, with its ground floor and second floor balconies.

The ground floor patio.

The beautifully furnished ground floor living room.

Warm, historic atmosphere on the second floor.

Four-poster bed in my wonderfully-appointed bedroom. It was so high one needed a step to clamber atop it.

Absolutely luxurious bathrooms with baths.

Delicious dinner of Keralan specialities each evening, specially concocted by the chef.

The jewel-like swimming pool provided respite from the heat.

…and the gardens were also beautifully tended to.

Goodbye Le Colonial and goodbye Cochin!

For more information refer to the Le Colonial website at: http://www.neemranahotels.com/le-colonial-cochin-kerala/history/about-us.html

Detail, Vienna Secession Building, 1897.

My resolution in 2017 was to commit acts of rebellion, great and small, as frequently as I can.

I have to say that’s almost all I’ve been doing this year, professionally, at least.

I’ve succeeded in taking the museum in its own unique direction; a direction at first controversial but which now seems perfectly obvious. I recently took over the Chairmanship of the Asia-Europe Museum Network, an international network of museums – and I managed also, through meeting almost every member of my Executive Committee individually to seek feedback, to shape the direction of this association with a brand-new Strategic Plan.

I’ve continued to always question why and not take instructions at face value. I’ve succeeded, ultimately, in always maintaining my own view and position even in the face of insurmountable odds.  And most importantly, I have not been afraid of saying no and of delivering bad news – always politely, of course; there’s no need to be rude.

Asian Civilisations Museum, at Empress Place Singapore.

2017 has been an extremely challenging year, to say the least. And 2018 will most likely bring even greater challenges. I can see them coming already.

And so, in the face of such adversity, I’ve decided that my resolution for 2018 has to be to KEEP CALM AND SMELL THE ROSES.

Window to possibility.

 At one level, this means I need to continue keeping a stiff upper lip in the face of adversity. I have done that all year and I am certainly not going to let up. It has earned me respect, notwithstanding my considerable youth where the job is concerned.

At a deeper level, this means that even as I am challenged professionally to do more and to go even further beyond my comfort zone, I have to remember to take time out to succor my mind and my soul. I have to admit I haven’t been doing enough of that in 2017 – and so this is a commitment to myself to do more of the things I love (write, travel, cook) in 2018 and to spend more time with friends and family.

Exactly what I’d like to feel next year…

To keep calm and smell the roses also means to be able see beauty all around you, in the simplest of things. My job as a museum director, handling exquisite works of art and cultural heritage, has trained my eye; taught me how to really look for and admire details. And indeed, I have often been pleasantly surprised at moments of beauty afforded me if I simply look more closely, or looked at things from another perspective.

Detail at the Miniature Wonderland, Hamburg.

“Han” (“He”) by Dano-Norwegian artist-duo Elmgreen & Dragset. Also known as “The Little Merman”, Helsingor (Elsinore) harbourfront.

“Reclining Figure No. 5 (Seagram)”, 1963-64. Henry Moore. Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark.

Finally, to keep calm and smell the roses means to always see the best in people and in the world – to be an optimistic, cup-half-full sort of person, regardless of the situation. I’ve always endeavoured to be this cup-half-full sort of person, and in the coming year of great uncertainty, I will continue to be the first one to look out the window to embrace whatever’s coming with hopefulness, laughter and good cheer.

To 2018!

Light at the end of the tunnel – travelling up the escalator into the heart of the brand new Elbphilharmonie (Elbe Philharmonic Hall), designed by Herzog & de Meuron. Hamburg Hafencity.

“Gleaming Lights of the Souls”, 2008. Yayoi Kusama. Installation at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark.

Art Nouveau frescoes dating from the early 1900s, painted on the ceiling of Mellin’s Passage in Hamburg. This passageway is the oldest and the also the smallest covered shopping arcade in the city. It is named after Mellin’s Biscuits, an American food company.

Old Goa, with its swaying coconut trees and magnificent baroque cathedrals.

The name Goa conjures up these images of golden-brown beaches and idyllic palm trees swaying in the breeze, crumbling Portuguese mansions and the sweltering heat, and those age-old edificios – the cathedrals and churches that point to the territory’s history as a small slice of Europe on the Indian Subcontinent.

The Portuguese arrived here in 1500. By 1505, they had defeated the ruling Sultanate of Bijapur and wrestled the port of Goa from Sultan Yusuf Adil Shahi, thus establishing their Estado da India.  In 1530, the capital of the Estado da India was moved from Cochin to Goa. And here, the Portuguese would stay for another 450 years till 1962, when Goa became part of the Republic of India.

From Goa, the Portuguese ruled over a vast network of trading settlements across Asia.  The heyday of the Estado da India, and thus Goa itself was in the 1500s to the early 1600s, when Portugal reigned supreme across the eastern seas. Goa was the western-most port in a string of ports that included Hormuz in Persia, Malacca in the Malay Peninsula, Macau in southern China and Nagasaki in southern Japan.

Bird’s Eye View of the City of Goa, 1595, by Jan Huygen van Linschoten. The map is oriented with north at bottom – the city at centre is Velha Goa, or Old Goa. [Public Domain.]

By the mid 1600s, Old Goa had begun to decline with the rise of the Dutch East India Company in global trade, and significant loss of territory on the part of the Portuguese in the East Indies and Japan.  Old Goa lost its shine and begun its centuries-long process of decline.

The Viceroy’s Arch was the main entrance to the city of Old Goa. Visitors would arrive by river and dock here. This is the back view of the Arch. The Arch was built in 1599 and reconstructed in 1954.

The Se Cathedral was constructed in 1619 in a typical Portuguese-Manueline style (as in, the style that prevailed under the Rule of King Manuel I of Portugal). It is one of the major sights in Velha Goa.

The St Francis of Assisi Church was built in 1661 – its front facade is also in the Portuguese-

The breathtaking interior of the St Francis of Assisi Church.

Perhaps the most important church in Old Goa is the Basilica of Bom Jesus, built in 1605 in a Baroque style. It is best known for holding the body of St Francis Xavier.

Just beyond lies the body of the Saint.

The Chapel of St Catherine, built in 1550, is the oldest Christian structure built in Goa. It’s earlier incarnation was built in 1510 by Afonso de Albuquerque – the second Governor of the Estadio da India.

By the mid-1700s, plague had forced the inhabitants of Old Goa to move en masse, further west to the mouth of the Mandovi River. To build their new capital city of Panjim (Panaji), the Goans simply demolished all buildings in the Old Goa – save for the religious edifices – and transported the blocks of stone and rubble down the river, reusing them in the construction of new civic and residential buildings.

The Mandovi River, just off Panjim, with its floating casinos.

Unlike Velha Goa, Panjim has the air of a provincial township, and is distinctly free of major monuments, save, perhaps, the iconic Igreja da Nossa Senhora da Imaculada Conceição, or the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception.  This church, previously a parish church, predates much of the city, having been built in 1609. From its location at the top of a small knoll, it commands a magnificent view of the city and the river just beyond.

Downtown Panjim is small, and easily taken in in a series of walks – which we shall undertake in the next few posts. While the city centre still contains a significant number of historic buildings, it is in the quaint little district of Fontainhas, the old Latin quarter, and its adjoining Altinho quarter, that one gets a feel of “old goa”, in the quotidian sense of the term.

Here in this oldest district of the city, one may walk for hours amongst dozens and dozens of old houses built in a historic Indo-Portuguese style. Here too, one finds delightful restaurants and cafes with traditional Goan cuisine.

This is the oldest building in Panjim – the Summer Palace of Adil Shah of Bijapur, which was repurposed as the Secretariat during the Portuguese era.

The Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, built in 1609.

Close-up of the church, with its Baroque style architecture.

The streets of Panjim are filled with colour.

The Casa da Moeda, or Panjim Mint House, circa 1834.

The Bishop’s House, in the Altinho.

Portuguese-style houses in Fontainhas, the Latin Quarter.

Indo-Portuguese style house, Fontainhas.

Azulejo tiles on the street.

Azulejo tiles on the facades of buildings, Fontainhas.

Old residences, Fontainhas.

The pink house, Fontainhas.

Small and colourful details, Fontainhas.

Art Deco, Fontainhas.

I arrived in Goa during Carnival, and the city was a awash with colour and festive cheer. With a friend in Goa showing me the sights, I was able to get a glimpse of the best the city could offer during this period – flamenco concerts in ancient churches, parades and markets in the city, and everyday people, dancing in the streets till the wee hours of the morning.

The Jardim Garcia da Orta (Garcia da Orta Gardens), all decked out for Carnival.

Large floats preparing for the evening’s parade.

The Church of Our Lady of the Mount, Old Goa, was built in the 1500s. I came here, with a friend, for a night-time concert.

Flamenco, in the courtyard of the Church of Our Lady of the Mount…

Hearty Goan food…

…and music and dancing in the streets.

Elsewhere in Goa, one of the most significant legacies of the Portuguese are a string of forts that they had erected along the coast. I visited one of the largest of them – the Aguada Fort – built in 1612 at the mouth of the Mandovi River to ward off a Dutch invasion of Goa.

Here, on the edge of the ocean, it was hard not to feel overwhelmed by the sheer enormity and audacity of the Portuguese overseas effort in the 1500s to gain control of the oceans; and the irony that all of that effort was motivated by a desire for those dry and aromatic bits of tree and shrub; those spices like pepper, cardamom and cinnamon that we view as commonplace today.

Near Reis Magos Fort.

Beach at Aguada.

View of part of Fort Aguada, from the Taj Fort Aguada Resort and Spa.

The main Fortress, Fort Aguada.

Staring out into the Ocean, Fort Aguada.

…and a backward glance at Se Cathedral, in Velha Goa.

Sé Catedral de Santa Catarina, also known as the Se Cathedral (completed in 1619).

In the heyday of Velha Goa, one would have arrived by barge up the Mandovi River, docking to the north of the city proper, and arriving into Old Goa by way of the ancient Viceroy’s Arch.

Today, it is far easier and no less atmospheric, to arrive by bus, right into the heart of the city. The journey from Panjim is short – just under an hour – and one is thrust into the midst of everyday Goans, going about their business.

Old Goa was founded in 1510 by the Portuguese, upon an earlier port city that had existed here during the Bijapur Sultanate. It was the capital of the Estado da Índia until the 18th century, when the entire populace was forced, by an outbreak of plague to move to Panjim.

For as long as it was the heart of the Portuguese Overseas Empire, Old Goa was also known as the “Rome of the East”, due to its being essentially the heart of Roman Catholicism and Catholic missionary activity in Asia.  Certainly, before the city’s decline, it would have been a splendid sight to see, with its monumental ecclesiastical edifices and its opulent villas and residences.

All this sumptuousness also belied a violence and cruelty. The Inquisition came to these shores by way of Old Goa. For almost 200 years, the Roman Catholic Church persecuted Indian Hindus here, destroying Hindu temples, banning Hindu feasts, arresting thousands of individuals and even resorting to burning some at the stake. Indian Muslims, and Sephardic Jews who had fled here from Spain were also persecuted.

None of the brutal excesses of history remain today in this magnificent ghost town of a city, which was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1986.  While many of the churches still have healthy congregations, the entire city as a whole is more tourist destination than living, breathing city.

This gallery takes in the key sites and monuments.

The Chapel of St Catherine was established by Afonso de Albuquerque to commemorate his capture of the city on St Catherine’s day. It was apparently rebuilt in 1952. The church itself is simple, unimposing and unadorned.

Igreja de São Francisco de Assis – the Church of St Francis of Assisi was built in 1661 and is one of the highlights of any visit to Old Goa.

The facade of the church has three tiers with octagonal towers on each side. At the top and centre there is a statue of St Michael.

The interior of the Church of Saint Francis of Assisi is staggeringly beautiful. This is a view of the main altar – note the statue of St Francis of Assisi and Jesus on the cross at the top. To the sides are painted panels that depict the life of St Francis of Assisi.

The back view of Se Cathedral, which stands just behind the Church of St Francis of Assisi.

Se Cathedral is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Goa and Daman. It’s facade is built in a Tuscan style. It once had two bell towers, but the other collapsed in 1776 and was never rebuilt.

The spectacular main altar of Se Cathedral is dedicated to St Catherine and depicts the martyrdom of the Saint.

A statue of Jesus Christ stands in the courtyard facing the Cathedral.

Just around the corner is the Viceroy’s Arch, erected in 1599 by the grandson of Vasco da Gama. Part of it had collapsed in the passing of the years but it was completely restored in 1954. This is the back side of the arch – the statue depicts

The front of the Viceroy’s Arch holds a statue of Vasco da Gama himself.

View of a plaque in the arch which commemorates Portugal’s independence from Spain in 1640.

Approaching Old Goa from the Viceroy’s Arch, the first church one would have seen was the Igreja de São Caetano, or Church of Saint Cajetan, built in 1661 and modeled after St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.

The facade boasts Corinthian columns and pilasters, and the building itself boasts a splendid dome, which can’t be seen in this view.

The Church cloisters.

Statue of a monk on the church grounds.

Another view of the delightful church grounds.

The exquisite main altar, dating to the 1700s, is dedicated to Our Lady of Providence.

The undisputed main draw in Old Goa is the Basílica do Bom Jesus, or the Basilica of the Infant Jesus. Consecrated in 1604, the Baroque facade is three tiered.

“IHS” – the symbol of the Jesuit order – are the initials of “Jesus” in Greek,

The Basilica is best known for holding the sacred remains of St Francis Xavier, who led extensive missionary work in Asia in the 1500s. He died in China, had his remains held in Malacca for a few months, before those remains were finally deposited here in Old Goa, where they remained ever since.

The Tower of the Ruined Church of St Augustine is 46 metres and five storeys high. The church was built in 1602 by the St Augustinians. The main body collapsed in 1842 and most of the rest of the church followed by 1938.

The Ruins of the Augustinian Church.

The Convent and Church of Saint John was built in the late 17th century.

View from the Convent and Church of Saint John towards the ruins of the Augustinian Church and the former Convent of Santa Monica.

The historical Santa Monica Convent is home to the Institute Mater Dei.

Close-up of the front entrance to the former Convent of Santa Monica.

Nearby sits the Museum of Christian Art, also occupying the grounds of the former Convent of Santa Monica.

Interior of the museum.

The Chapel of Saint Anthony is one of the earliest-built churches in Goa.

The Church of Our Lady of the Rosary is the oldest still-standing church in Goa, built in the 1540s in the Gothic and Manueline style.

The interior of the Church – View towards the main altar.

The front facade of the church commands a spectacular view of the Mandovi River.

Here is the spectacular view of the river from the front of the church.

The Chapel of our Lady of the Mount sits atop the Monte, near the Church of San Cajetan. It is the final stop on this tour of Velha Goa.

The Chapel was also originally built in 1510 by Afonso Albuquerque, though it has been later renovated and restored.

A backward glance at Velha Goa…the Church of St Francis of Assisi.

Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, Panjim.

In 1943, Panjim was designated the capital of Goa. Almost a century earlier, the Viceroy and may residents of Old Goa had already moved their residences to this city by the mouth of the Mandovi River.

It was a hasty move. Old Goa had been struck by the plague, and so its commercial and residential buildings were literally taken apart, floated down the river, and reconstructed again at the new site.

Perhaps due to the hasty and pragmatic nature of the city, Panjim is short on major monuments. It does, however, have a very distinct Mediterranean air that no other Indian city possesses, particularly in the old Latin Quarter of Fontainhas (Bairro das Fontainhas), and the adjoining hilly, exclusive residential district of the Altinho.

The most important landmark in the city is Nossa Senhora da Immaculada Conceição – the Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. Built in 1609 in a Baroque style on the side of a hill facing the Garcia da Orta (Municipal Gardens), the church looms over much of Panjim, recalling Lisbon here in the East.

The rest of downtown Panjim is far more functional, with dozens of civic and commercial buildings erected in a no-nonsense neo-classical or art deco style.

It is when one crosses over into the district of Fontainhas that one really gets a sense of “Old Panjim”. Here, through the winding streets one finds many examples of historic 18th and 19th century Indo-Portuguese architecture. The district is residential and the atmosphere is laidback. Here are some of the most spectacular and colourful villas and mansions, and also many a quaint little house.

From a well-preserved well by the side of San Sebastian Church, one can take a path up to the Altinho, where there are unparalleled views of Fontainhas, and also a few examples of startling villas that would been occupied by the aristocratic class in the old days.

Here we rest, contemplating the view.

Downtown Panjim

Idalcao’s Palace (the Summer Palace of Adil Shah of the Bijapur Sultanate) predates the Portuguese occupation and probably dates from the 15th century. It was used as the Viceroy’s Residence and became the seat of the Secretariat when Goa reverted to India.

Office of the Postmaster General, on Post Office Square.

Casa da Moeda (Mint House), 1834, on Post Office Square.

Office of the Commissioner of Excise.

Cremeux Cafe and Bistro.

Commercial Buildings.

Vintage car and vintage edifice.

State Bank Building.

Institut Menezes Braganza.

Goa Police Headquarters.

Singbal’s Book House, across from the Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception.

Indo-Portuguese-style architecture with the sloping roof and covered balcony.

Hotel Republica.

Commercial edifice.

The tiny Sao Tome Chapel.

Bairro das Fontainhas (and the Altinho)

Villa, Fontainhas.

Streetscape, Fontainhas.

Indo-Portuguese House.

Chapel of St Sebastian.

Historic houses in Fontainhas.

Quaint little Goan house.

The striking Pink House, with its statues of soldiers on the facade.

Indo-Portuguese architecture.

A more modern style of Indo-Portuguese.

The Horse Shoe Bar and Restaurant is perhaps the best place in Fontainhas to sample Goan cuisine.

Wax Merchant.

Many of the buildings here have been repurposed into boutiques, restaurants,

The Fundação Oriente occupies a historic residence.

Facade of the Fundação Oriente building.

Old Villa nearby.

Hip(ster) cafe in the Old Quarter. Interestingly, this cafe is run by a Goan who had studied in Singapore. 

The Old Well that sits by the Chapel of St Sebastian. A path leads up to the Altinho.

The Archbishop’s House, Altinho.

A former mansion in the Altinho, transformed into Sunaparanta – Goa Centre for the Arts. We end our walk here.

A backward glance at the Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception.

The Mandovi (1952).

The Mandovi is the closest Goa has to a “Grand Hotel” in the vein of the Taj Mahal Palace in Bombay or the Grand Hotel in Calcutta.  Built in 1952, it was Goa’s first hotel that matched international standards, the first 5-storey building in Goa, and also boasted Goa’s first lift.

The hotel, which commands a spectacular location and view on the Mandovi River (hence the name), was designed in an Art Deco style by a Bombay-based architectural firm, and its construction was personally overseen by the Portuguese Governor-General. Before Goa’s liberation and after, it was the centre of the city of Panjim’s social circle, playing host to dignitaries from all over India and the world.

Unfortunately, I did not stay in The Mandovi during my time in Panjim, choosing instead to stay in Fontainhas at the delightful Panjim Inn. I did, however, lunch at the Mandovi’s restaurant where extremely yummy Goan and Portuguese cuisine has been served since the hotel’s inception.

Panjim Inn is a 130-year old grand mansion built in 1880 and still owned by the family who built it. It has been lovingly restored and transformed into a heritage boutique hotel in the very heart of historic Fontainhas. One could spend lazy afternoons nursing a drink at the hotel’s Verandah Restaurant, which also serves delicious Goan cuisine.

From Panjim, I ventured further out to Fort Aguada, one of the oldest and largest forts in Goa, built by the Portuguese in 1612 at the mouth of the Mandovi River to guard against a Dutch attack. Occupying an entire peninsula, the Fort provides a spectacular backdrop to the Taj Fort Aguada Resort and Spa, where I sojourned briefly before leaving Goa.

Here on Sinquerim Beach by the surreal-magnificent Fort Aguada ramparts, I spent a few relaxing days reflecting on my journey thus far and planning the journey ahead, now that I had come to the mid-point of this Grand Tour of the Port and Princely Cities of the Subcontinent.

The Mandovi

Close-up of the Art Deco Mandovi, Panjim.

The front facade of the Mandovi is in an Art Deco style which channels Marine Drive in Bombay.

The crowded restaurant of the Mandovi.

A must-have: Goan Fish Curry.

Goan Beef Steak.

Panjim Inn, Fontainhas

Panjim Inn is a grand family mansion built in 1880.

From the Verandah Restaurant one can see the adjoining Panjim Peoples, which holds a gallery and guest rooms as well.

The back of the property.

My room…

Close-up of Panjim Peoples.

Taj Fort Aguada Resort and Spa

The ramparts of Fort Aguada, jutting out into the Arabian Sea.

At the edge of the ramparts.

At the edge of the ramparts, looking back toward Taj Fort Aguada Resort and Spa.

View from the hotel out towards the ramparts.

View of the ramparts.

Fort Aguada Lighthouse, located at the Upper Fort of Fort Aguada proper, which is some 20 minutes away from Taj Fort Aguada by car.

Another view of the magnificent Fort Aguada Lighthouse.

Back at the ramparts, near Taj Fort Aguada… looking out to sea.

Sinquerim beach lay just beyond the ramparts…

And finally, a backward glance at the Mandovi. Goodbye Goa!!

Next stop: Bombay (Mumbai) 

A city spectacular…a dream of a city…

Recently, I dreamed of a city…

It was a city I had known before.

An impossible city, perched precariously on a craggy peninsula and island at the mouth of the Pearl River; floating at the edge of the South China Sea, in the far reaches of the Orient.

A city spectacular, its landscape one of mountain, water and sky; of verdant peaks plunging precipitously into emerald green waters; of epic forests of skyscraping glass, steel and big capital; and of stairways and escalators leading nowhere and everywhere at once.

Also a dramatic city, erstwhile Hollywood of the East, where the old co-exists with the new, and the city itself plays backdrop to countless movies and tunes about love and longing, heartache and happiness.

I dreamt that I walked this city, across its narrow, mediaeval streets, up and down its endless slopes and stairways, in and out of its countless establishments – bars, restaurants, clubs, museums.

And as I walked, I experienced a series of strange moments of intensity.

One moment I felt completely enraged, believing I had just been bullied; remembering the many instances of bullying masquerading as efficiency I had witnessed before and how this inappropriateness had been normalised and seen as ok.

The next moment – an extension of the first – I felt utterly alone…exposed and vulnerable; walking ahead in the exact direction I wanted to go, but with nobody there at my side rooting for me, just a series of obstacles placed along the path, which I had to overcome on my own.

But some moments after – completely and unexpectedly; out of the blue – I realised I wasn’t alone, and that there was someone looking out for me; and knowing that filled me with a kind of childish joy; the sort that made one giddy and see stars shooting across the sky.

And then soon after, I became again overwhelmed with a kind of delicious melancholy, bursting into tears without rhyme or reason, enjoying the physicality of sadness, learning to let go and let flow…

This moment passed eventually and was replaced by a kind of translucence – a feeling of intense clarity, as though I had seen something I had not been meant to see, but now that I had seen it, it would change me forever.

I learnt a few things as I walked and I walked in this dream of a city, overcome with wave upon wave of emotional intensity.

I learnt that in the course of being too long and too entrenched where I now am, I had come too close to being little more than a robot, executing, value-driving, decision-making, smiling and entertaining even as I have been lost and heartbroken.

I learnt that sometimes innocuous or circumstantial decisions are, on hindsight, incredibly cruel and selfish.

I learnt that one always has to stand up for one’s self because one only earns respect by clearly drawing boundaries.

I learnt that emotions are beautiful – all of them…happiness, heartache, grief, anger, desire, longing, loneliness. And that it is important to feel all these emotions regularly to be whole.

I learnt that sometimes circumstance trumps desire, and that there is a certain dignity in choosing the former over the latter, even if it is always simultaneously abject folly.

I learnt that many things in life are inexplicable and remain out of our control, and the semblance of control and “togetherness” that we “put on” are just that – put on. Understanding this is key to empathy and to understanding the human condition.

But then I ran out of time.

I was awakened rudely and abruptly from my dream, with loose ends untied and mind swirling from the cocktail of emotions and lessons learnt.

And in that general malaise, nursing the hangover I had (not from drink but from emotion), I decided that the overwhelming point of all this walking and feeling, this sturm und drang, was to remind me that it was important to be true to myself.

That in the overwhelming flood of obligations I have found myself having to fulfill in this stage of my life, it was important to remember that I have personal goals, needs and desires, and that these have to be addressed first and foremost, and not simultaneously as or after other (peoples’ and organisations’) goals, needs and desires.

This antediluvian dream of a city was a sign that I had let myself go; that I had not been taking enough care of myself; that I haven’t done enough of what I love to do, what I used to do more of in the past and which I would have never allowed anything else to compromise.

Time to rectify that.

Once upon a time… when I wrote songs about cities I dreamed of…under a pseudonym conjured up in my sleep.

The Gateway to India was inaugurated to commemorate the arrival of King George V and Queen Mary at Apollo Bunder in 1911. It was finally finished in 1924 and remains one of the most iconic buildings in Mumbai.

Bombay is India’s port city extraordinaire; the most glittering of the glittering port cities dotting the never-ending coastline of the Subcontinent; a city of extremes.

Once, the city was split into seven islands – seven puny and peripheral landmasses at the north-eastern edge of the Arabian Sea; variously under the jurisdiction of successive Buddhist and Hindu dynasties – the Mauryas, the Satvahanas, the Abkhiras, the Silharas, the Chalukyas and more… followed by the (Muslim) Gujarat Sultanate.

The islands fell into Portuguese hands in 1534, with Portuguese settlements established in Mazagaon, Salsette, Andheri – suburbs of the city today.  They called the city Bombaim – which could have meant “good harbour”; or could have more likely been derived from the Portuguese pronunciation of the name of the city’s Patron goddess – Mumba-devi (the local version of the Mother Goddess).

Bombaim was neglected, however, in favour of Goa, the capital of the Estado da Índia. So for a hundred years, the islands slumbered.

Traces of Portuguese Bombay, in the corridors of the former Prince of Wales Museum.

The city’s fortunes took a turn on 8 May 1661, when, as part of the marriage contract between Charles II of England and Catherine of Braganza (in Portugal), Bombay (and other Portuguese possessions) were turned over to the English as part of Catherine’s dowry.

Between 1782 and 1845, the English undertook and accomplished an ambitious and unprecedented feat of engineering and land reclamation, linking all seven islands of Bombay into one island – today’s Old Bombay – with a deep, natural harbour. This exercise is known as the Hornby Vellard, after William Hornby, the Governor who initiated it.

Two Views of the English Port of Bombay [Public Domain.]

The Island of Bombay in 1909. The Bombay Harbour is at right, while Back Bay

City and port grew swiftly from the mid-1800s on, particularly in the aftermath of the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, which made Bombay THE port-of-call par excellence in British India. By the turn of the 19^th century, Bombay had become the most important port in India, and one of the wealthiest cities on earth.

This wealth was built into the very fabric of the city, which boasts some of the most monumental and monumentally over-the-top buildings of the colonial era this side of London. Almost all of these buildings still stand today, and are concentrated around the iconic Flora Fountain, built in 1864 and named after the Roman Goddess of Spring, Fertility and Youth.

Flora Fountain, 1864 – arguably the heart of Old Bombay.

The Bombay Naval Dockyards and Clocktower.

Elegant Neo-Classical buildings frame Horniman Circle.

The “Town Hall” of the Royal Asiatic Society, Bombay, was built in 1830 in a Doric style.

From the very beginning, Bombay, unlike Calcutta, was seen as a European, rather than an Indian city. It was westward-facing – one of the first stops for any vessel coming from Europe and Suez.  And certainly, without the British, there would not have been Bombay the metropolis. And so in terms of architecture – it was the Imperial City of London, and none other, that offered inspiration.

Bombay’s heyday was during the Victorian era, and the city is (still) known for having quite possibly the largest collection of Victorian Gothic Revival buildings anywhere on this planet.

Oriental Buildings, Bombay, designed by Frederick William Stevens in a Victorian Gothic Revival Style. Built in 18

JN Petit Institute (1898).

Elphinstone College (1888).

The Central Telegraph Office, built in an Italianate Style (1869).

The Oval Maidan (Bombay’s massive cricket and recreational green). To the left is the High Court (1878), and to the right is Rajabai Tower (1878), part of the campus of the University of Bombay.

Crawford Market, built in 1869 was the city’s main bazaar. It is also known for its connection to John Lockyard Kipling (who designed a fountain that still stands in the market today) and Rudyard Kipling.

The most important, most stunning and most extreme of these is the Victoria Terminus (known as the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus today), completed in 1888 as a symbol of Bombay’s opulence and importance to the Empire, and echoing St Pancras Railway Station in London.

The message was clear: after London, it was Bombay that claimed the title of second city of the British Empire.

Bombay Municipal Corporation Building (1893), by architect, Frederick William Stevens.

Across from the Municipal Corporation Building – Victoria Terminus (1888), by Frederick William Stevens. This is Bombay and Stevens’ crowning glory.

The 1920s and ‘30s brought another economic and thus building boom to Bombay. Then it was that another icon of the city was completed – the Gateway of India, 1924. But another, thoroughly modern architectural form would define Bombay for what it was – a glittering, and thoroughly modern port of the 20^th century.

Art Deco took the world, and particularly Bombay, by storm. Even today, Bombay boasts the second largest collection of Art Deco buildings in the world, after Miami. In fact, Bombay has its own version of Miami Beach – this is Marine Drive, a 3.6 kilometre long waterfront boulevard framing a magnificent bay, and flanked by a seemingly endless row of Art Deco buildings.

At the northern end of Marine Drive is Bombay’s popular Chowpatty Beach and (in)famous Malabar Hill – the exclusive, rarefied residential district of Bombay’s super-rich and famous. In their palaces in the sky, the city’s elite sequester themselves, keeping their distance from everyday Mumbai-kers blissfully at play in the water.

The Gateway again…

The interior of the former Prince of Wales Museum (today’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya), completed in 1915, but only opened as a museum in 1922. It is built in the Indo-Saracenic style.

Bombay Art Deco

Sweeping view of Marine Drive, the “Miami Beach” of Bombay.

Close-up of Marine Drive.

Chowpatty Beach, busy with families on a weekend.

Malabar Hill – gleaming in the distance, across the opal-hued waters of Back Bay.

Bombay wasn’t built by the British only. Like many other Indian port cities, it had (and still has) a cosmopolitan population, including Jews, Arabs, Armenians and of course, Indians of all religions (Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Jain) from all over the Subcontinent.

Its Roman Catholic, Portuguese residents continue to live and worship in the old Portuguese settlement of Mazgaon, today a suburb to the north of Old Bombay, and with an atmosphere redolent of Goa. A stroll through the suburb takes one to a few outstanding places of worship, including Gloria Church and Hasanabad – a mini Taj Mahal-like mausoleum believed to be the resting place of Aga Khan I, the 46^th Imam of the Ismaili Muslims.

In Mazgaon too, lived the city’s resident Chinese population, reduced to a few individuals and a single Chinese temple today. A visit to this temple – dedicated to Kwan Kung, or the God of War, is a must, if one can find it.

The Knesset Eliyahu is the second oldest Sephardic synagogue in the city, established in 1884 by the Sassoon family. It is located in the Fort area of today’s Mumbai.

The Maneckji Seth Parsi Agiary is the second oldest fire temple in the city, established in 1733 by the Maneckjis, a wealthy Parsi trading family. It sits in the Borabazar area.

Gloria Church, Byculla, Mazgaon, is one of the oldest Roman Catholic churches in the city, first built in 1632 by the Portuguese, though this version was built in 1913.

The See Yup Koon is Bombay’s only remaining Chinese temple, dedicated to the worship of Kwan Kung.

The Hasanabad in Mazgaon was established in 1884.

Portuguese-style houses in Mazgaon afford it an atmosphere redolent of Old Goa.

Bombay is perhaps best known for being home to the largest population of Parsis in world; in particular, one Jamshedji Tata, who in 1868, formed Tata Group, India’s biggest business conglomerate today, owning interests in many industries including power, steel, automobiles, real estate and hospitality.

Jamshedji Tata is known for yet another icon of the city’s — the fabulous Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, on the banks of Apollo Bunder, beside the Gateway to India. Tata was believed to have commissioned the Taj Mahal Palace  in 1903 after having been refused entry to the leading hotel in Bombay at the time, the British-built and “whites-only” Watson’s Esplanade Hotel.

The Parsi community in Bombay is known also to be fabulously wealthy, and many of them live, naturally, in Malabar Hill. On the hill today still stands a Towers of Silence – the Parsis are Zoroastrian, and they practice sky burial: leaving their dead exposed in circular towers to decompose while exposed to the elements and to be devoured by vultures.

[Unfortunately, the city’s vulture population has plunged dramatically due to the birds being poisoned by insecticides. As such, the viability of sky burial has been called into question.]

Café Leopold, one of the city’s oldest and most popular cafes, was established by a Parsi family in 1871.

Interior of Café Mondegar – the other famous and still highly popular eating joint in Bombay; also established by a Parsi family in 1932.

Café Mondegar is one of the best places to have absolutely scrumptious Goan Fish Curry.

The former Watson’s Esplanade Hotel, established in 1863, still stands. It is the rather dilapidated building to the far right of this photograph. At the time, it was the city’s first cast-iron building.

The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel (1903), in an opulent and eclectic Indo-Saracenic style.

Also on Malabar hill stands another landmark – the surreal, unmissable, towering Antilia, a 27-storey residential home of Indian tycoon Mukesh Ambani, complete with 600 staff, 6 levels of underground parking and 3 helipads.

It is an indication of the phenomenal and almost absurd wealth that continues reside in the city, alongside squalor and poverty; a sign of how Bombay – now Mumbai – remains a city of extremes.

Antilia, named after a mythical island in the Atlantic, towers over everything else in Malabar Hill.

Everyday Mumbai-kers enjoying the panoramic view of their city from the Hanging Gardens of Malabar Hill.

Meanwhile… back at the Gateway to India, the crowds are amassing.

Flora Fountain is the heart of Old Bombay, in the central district known as Fort, because there used to be a fort in this area.

The first part of our walking tour of Old Bombay takes in the heart of Old Bombay – known as the Fort district, because once there actually was a Fort – a fortified settlement here.

We begin where we began this stint in Bombay – at the Gateway to India, on Apollo Bunder, an important pier for passengers travelling to the East. We head north, past Wellington Fountain to Horniman Circle – the commercial heart of Old Bombay.

Crossing the Circle, we make our way to Flora Fountain, the iconic centre of Old Bombay, and wend our way south again down Mahatma Gandhi Road towards Wellington Fountain, ending at the Museum Quarter.

This first segment of the tour of Bombay’s monumental architecture takes in primarily 19th and early 20th century commercial architecture in Bombay, with a few instances of religious, civic and military architecture.

The entire walking tour is a loop that will probably take the intrepid tourist some 2 – 3 hours to take in entirely.

Apollo Bunder to Wellington Fountain

The Gateway to India (1924), designed by George Wittet in an Indo-Saracenic style. This is the sea-facing facade of the structure.

The Taj Mahal Palace is Bombay’s Grand Hotel. It was commissioned by Jamshedji Tata and designed in an Indo-Saracenic style by Indian architects Sitaram Khanderao Vaidya and D. N. Mirza. An “up-yours” to the British, completed in 1903.

The Old Yacht Club Building, at the edge of Apollo Bunder.

The Royal Bombay Yacht Club (1897), designed in a Tudor-bethan Gothic style.These are the residential annexe to the Old Yacht Club building.

Commercial cast-iron style building

Dhunraj Mahal was built by a Raja of the Princely State of Hyberabad in the 1930s in an Art Deco style. It was the most expensive residential development of its time.

Majestic Hotel, 1909.

Waterloo Mansions (early 1900s).

The former Royal Alfred Sailor’s Home (today’s Maharashtra State Police Headquarters), 1876. Venetian Gothic style – note the Ibero-Moorish arches reminiscent of the Great Mosque of Cordoba.

Regal Cinema, 1934. Designed in an Art Deco style.

From Wellington Fountain to Horniman Circle

Church of St Andrew, 1815. This is the Scots Kirk of the city.

KR Cama Oriental Institute, 1930s Art Deco style. It contains a rare collection on Parsi culture and history.

The Great Western Hotel, first built in the 1770s, was the residence of Governor William Hornby – of the Hornby Vellard (the ambitious plan to link the seven islands of Bombay through land reclamation). It became the Great Western Hotel in 1883.

Writer’s Building – once the Secretariat Building.

Nearby sits the Old Admiralty, 1800s.

…and Knesset Eliyahoo, the second oldest synagogue in the city.

The Naval Dockyard.

The old Bombay Town Hall, built in 1833 in a Doric style. Also the headquarters of the Royal Asiatic Society.

The Bank of India Building.

From Horniman Circle to Flora Fountain

Horniman Circle – the commercial and civic buildings framing the circle were completed between 1858 to 1878.

The circle was once known as Elphinstone Circle

Elphinstone Building, late 1800s. Venetian Gothic.

Brady House

British Bank of the Middle East

St Thomas Church, 1718. This is the oldest church in Bombay.

Readymoney Mansions, designed in an Indo-Saracenic style.

Flora Fountain, 1864.

From Flora Fountain to the Museum Quarter

Hongkong and Shanghai B

Reserve Bank of India, 1935.

Grindley’s Building.

Watson’s Esplanade Hotel, 1869. This was once the foremost British-run, “whites-only” hotel in Bombay – from which Jamshedji Tata was refused entry.

Army and Navy Buildings, 1900s.

David Sassoon Library, 1870. The Sassoons were a Baghdadi Jewish trading family.

Elphinstone College, Victorian Gothic Revival Style.

Victoria Terminus (today’s Chharapati Shivaji Terminus), is Old Bombay’s most iconic building. It was designed by Frederik William Stevens in the Victorian Gothic Revival style, and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Opened in 1888.

The second part of our walking tour of Old Bombay takes in some of the most iconic, monumental and stupendous buildings and public spaces in Bombay in what constitutes the civic and cultural heart of the old city.  Many of these buildings were erected in the Victorian Gothic Revival style that give Old Bombay its very distinctive character.

We begin, where we left off, in the Museum Quarter, and veer west towards the Oval Maidan. This is the city’s equivalent of the Padang – a large green used for military and recreational purposes. To the East and North of the Oval Maidan stand some of the largest and most outstanding civic monuments in town.

We head north along the eastern flank of the Oval Maidan to Flora Fountain. Here, we find ourselves at the Southern end of the former Hornby Road (named after a former Governor of Bombay, William Hornby), today’s Dr Dadabhai Naoroji Road (an important Indian nationalist leader).

This road is another extremely important thoroughfare in the old city, and both sides of the road are lined with impressive Victorian Gothic and Neo-classical buildings. The road also, more importantly, links three of the most important monuments in the city – the Flora Fountain, Victoria Terminus and Crawford Market, where we end our walk.

This walking tour will similarly take the intrepid tourist some 2 – 3 hours to take in entirely.

Museum Quarter to Flora Fountain, via Oval Maidan

The former Prince of Wales Museum (today’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya), was founded to commemorate the visit of Edward VIII when he was Prince of Wales. It was designed by George Wittet in the Indo-Saracenic style and completed in 1915, though it was only used as a museum from 1922.

The interior of the museum. Note the Rajput-style arches in the second-floor balconies.

The National Gallery of Modern Art is housed in the former Cowasji Jehangir Public Hall, designed by George Wittet and built in 1911. Only the facade of the building remains.

The former Royal Institute of Science was established in 1920 and designed by George Wittet.

The Old Secretariat Building was completed in 1874 and designed in a Venetian Gothic style by Colonel Henry St Clair Wilkins. It sits towards the southern end of the western flank of the Oval Maidan.

View across the Oval Maidan to the Rajabai Tower and the High Court Building.

The Rajabai Clock Tower was built in 1878 and modeled after Big Ben in London and designed in a Venetian Gothic style. It sits on the Fort campus of the University of Mumbai. Designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott.

The Bombay High Court building was built in 1878 in the English Gothic Revival style. Designed by Colonel James A. Fuller.

Close-up of the back of the High Court building, facing the road.

Public Works Department Building, complete in 1872 in a Venetian Gothic style. Designed by Colonel Henry St Clair Wilkins.

The Central Telegraph Office, 1869. Designed by James Trubshawe in Venetian Gothic style.

Side view of the Central Telegraph Office, with its distinctive twin towers.

The Western Railway Headquarters, formerly Churchgate Terminus, designed by Frederick William Stevens in Victorian Gothic with Byzantine elements, and opened in 1899.

Along Dadabhai Naoroji Road from Flora Fountain to Victoria Terminus

Flora Fountain marks the beginning of Dadabhai Naoroji Road.

Across from Flora Fountain stands the Oriental Buildings, designed by Frederick William Stevens and completed in 1896.

Siddharth College of Law.

Standard Life Insurance Buildings.

Thomas Cook & Co. Buildings.

The JN Petit Institute, 1898. Venetian Gothic.

Bombay Mutual Life Building, 935.

LIC Building.

Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada.

National Insurance Building.

Commercial building along Dadabhai Naoroji Road.

Standard Chartered Building, 1902, Mahatma Gandhi Road.

Cathedral Middle School, Mahatma Gandhi Road.

From Victoria Terminus to Crawford Market

Across from Victoria Terminus sits Capitol Cinema.

View of the Municipal Building at left and Victoria Terminus at right.

The Municipal Building was designed by Frederick William Stevens in a Victorian Gothic style with Byzantine elements, and completed in 1893.

Across from the Municipal Building sits the crowning glory of Bombay and Frederick William Stevens’ work – Victoria Terminus, 1888, in an exuberant Victorian Gothic Revival style with Byzantine elements.

The General Post Office, designed by George Wittet in the Indo-Saracenic style and completed in 1911.

The Times of India, Indo-Saracenic style, 1903.

Anjuman Al-Islam School, Indo-Saracenic, 1893.

Crawford Market, 1869. We end our tour here. 

…and a backward glance at Victoria Terminus, once again.

Maneckji Nowroji Sett Agiary

This third “walk” through Old Bombay takes the grand tourist through four districts and suburbs, providing for a multi-cultural experience.

Bazaargate

Bazaargate was the erstwhile “Black Town” of the city; the commercial heart of the non-European residents of the city. Then as today, the city plays host to historic Parsi agiaries and Jain temples. In the 1930s, it was here, also, that a commercial and residential Art Deco style sprung up, in line with the newfound wealth of Bombay-ites.

Jain Temple, Bazaargate.

Art Deco Residence.

Blackie House – Victorian Gothic Revival.

United Building – Art Deco.

Pirojbai Dadabhoy Maneckji Vatcha Agiary (1881).

Gresham Building – Neoclassical.

Ballard Estate

Ballard Estate was the first deliberately planned commercial district in the city. It sits on reclaimed land and was converted, in 1914 – 1918, into a premiere business district in the city by the Bombay Port Trust. Today, it is verdant and tranquil residential area with a strong Edwardian atmosphere reminiscent of London.

Bombay Port Trust Building – note the ships on the facade.

“New” Customs House, designed by George Wittet.

Neville House.

MacKinnon MacKenzie Offices.

Bombay Seamen’s Society.

Reliance House – Art Deco.

Ballard Estate.

Grand Hotel, designed by George Wittet.

The Art Nouveau Cafe Universal.

Colaba

Colaba is the southernmost district of metropolitan Bombay (Mumbai), extending from the area around the Gateway to India, to the very tip of the Peninsula. The northern end of Colaba is home to luxurious residential villas and fashionable boutiques, cafes and restaurants; while the southern end is military. In between these extremes sits Colaba Causeway, a bustling, commercial street.

From one cafe to another – Cafe Mondegar

Cafe Leopold

The Salvation Army.

Churchill Chambers.

Former church building.

Holy Name Cathedral.

The YMCA.

Historic residence.

Historic Residence.

Electric House, along Colaba Causeway.

The historic Afghan Church (1858), or the Church of St John the Evangelist.

Interior of the Afghan Church.

Mazgaon

Mazgaon is the Portuguese quarter of Bombay, where remain Bombay’s community of Roman Catholics. Here too, one finds a major Ismaili landmark – the Hasanabad, traces of the Parsis, and – most importantly – Bombay’s only remaining Chinese temple.

Gloria Church, Mazgaon.

Rustomjee N Wadia Trust Building.

Hasanabad.

Entrance to Kwan Kung Temple – the only Chinese temple remaining in Bombay, situated in 12 Nawab Tank Road, the heart of Bombay’s former Chinatown.

Bombay’s only remaining Chinese temple – serving the spiritual needs of the former Sea Ip Koon community from Canton.

Zaver Mahal, Marine Drive, Bombay.

It is a very little known fact that today’s Mumbai plays host to the second-largest number of Art Deco buildings in the world after Miami. Most visitors gape in awe at the city’s monumental Victorian Gothic buildings, and oftentimes overlook this other part of the city’s architectural heritage.

Bombay’s Art Deco buildings attest to a time when the city was a glitzy, glittering, fabulous, paradise of a metropolis (which Mumbai still is, of course, but in a different way).  Many of these buildings – particularly the residences – were built by wealthy Parsis from the 1920s to the 1940s. The early ones have Arcadian English names like Oceana, Fairlawn and Green Fields.

There are two main areas where one finds residential Art Deco – the first is on the western flank of the Oval Maidan, where a row of residential Art Deco buildings stands facing the monumental Victorian Gothic civic buildings on the eastern flank of the Maidan.

The second is Marine Drive – Bombay’s jewel of an esplanade; 3 kilometres of exquisite Art Deco residences, echoing Miami Beach.

The tour takes the intrepid tourist across both these areas, and then, since we are there anyway, we take a leisurely jaunt up Malabar Hill – the abode of Bombay/Mumbai’s rich and wealthy – ending our tour at the Hanging Gardens where one gets a panoramic view of not only Marine Drive, but all of Bombay.

For a detailed inventory of all of Mumbai’s Art Deco buildings, visit the excellent site Art Deco Mumbai at http://www.artdecomumbai.com. This is a non-profit that has been meticulously photographing and documenting Art Deco buildings in Mumbai, in the hopes of securing conservation status for them.

Churchgate, Oval Maidan 

Eros Cinema, 1938.

Industrial Assurance Building Clock Tower.

Court View.

Fairlawn.

Green Fields.

Empress Court.

Rajesh Mansions

Rajjab Mahal

Shiv Shanti Bhuvan

Marine Drive

View of Marine Drive towards Malabar Hill. The three kilometre walk can be taken in

Shanti Kuteer

Oceana

Sea Green Hotel

Suna Mahal (right) and Sunder Mahal (left)

View of Marine Drive, with its row of Art Deco residences.

Krishna Mahal

Keval Mahal

Sonawala

Al-Sabah Court

From right to left: Al-Jabreya Court, Matruchchaya, Giri Kunj, Bharatiya Bhawan

Backward glance at Marine Drive

Gobind Mahal

Meghdoot – this is the very last Art Deco building on Marine Drive proper.

Chowpatty Beach and Malabar Hill 

Chowpatty Beach

Chowpatty Beach

Purandare Hospital, on the Chowpatty Beach waterfront.

View to Malabar Hill

Residences at the foot of Malabar Hill

Historic buildings at the foot of Malabar Hill

Memorial to the Parsis who died during the Great War 1914 – 1918.

Residences on the way up Malabar Hill.

Residences on the way up Malabar Hill

Antilia – private residence of the Ambanis.

Hanging Gardens

View of Marine Drive, from the Hanging Gardens in Malabar Hill.

And finally…a backward glance at Marine Drive.

The Taj Mahal Palace Bombay, designed in an Indo-Saracenic style and opened in 1903.

The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel was and still is the grande dame of the Bombay/Mumbai hospitality scene. It appears, like a mirage at the edge of Apollo Bunder, facing the Arabian Sea. In fact, the best view of the hotel has to be taken from the water.

The Hotel was opened in 1903, and commissioned by the wealthy Parsi merchant Jamshedji Tata, founder of the Tata Group, purportedly as a response to his being snubbed by the grand hotel establishment at the time, Watson’s Esplanade Hotel.

When the hotel opened, it was the first in India to have electricity, elevators, butler service and other luxury amenities. It would set the standard for many other hotels to come.

The hotel was designed by Indian architects, Sitaram Khandarao Vadya and D. N. Mirza in an Indo-Saracenic style, which was, at the time, the architectural style associated with modernity and British India.

In its time, the hotel has played host to maharajahs, heads of state, celebrities and writers. The last viceroy of India, Lord Louis Mountbatten spoke at the Taj two days after India received its independence.

In 1973, the Taj Mahal Tower wing was opened, and with its opening, the main entrance of the building was shifted from where the present swimming pool now sits, to the ground floor of the Tower wing.

View of the Taj Mahal Palace and the adjoining Taj Mahal Tower Wing (1973). One enters the property through the Tower Wing.

The Taj was the site of a terrorist attack in 2008, with bombs being set off in the building and more than 200 guests being held hostage and more than 150 others killed. The hostage situation was resolved by the army in three days but the hotel itself was damaged, with the ground floor entirely gutted.

The restored hotel was finally reopened in 2010 and swiftly reclaimed its position on the Mumbai hospitality scene.  Security scanning of all visitors – still in place today, ensured the safety of hotel guests.

During my sojourn in Mumbai, I stayed at one of the sea-facing rooms in the historic Palace Wing of the hotel. From my room, I could see the iconic Gateway of India, and the shimmering waters of the Arabian Sea extending to as far as the eye could see.

Mumbai would be the last port city stop on my Grand Tour of the Subcontinent. From here on, I venture inland, to Delhi and the princely cities of the former Rajputana (today’s Rajasthan).

Accommodations

Main Reception of the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, Tower Wing.

View of the entrance lobby of the Tower Wing. Entry is through the glass revolving doors at right.

The original entrance to the Palace Wing of the hotel now opens onto the courtyard and swimming pool.

View of the original entrance courtyard at the Palace Wing.

View up the central stairway, with a bust of the patriarch himself – Jamshedji Tata.

Mind-boggling view down the central stairway of the hotel’s Palace Wing…

…and up, towards the underside of the Palace Hotel’s iconic dome.

The endless corridors and balustrades in the hotel.

My room, with its delightful niche in the corner, overlooking the Arabian Sea and the Gateway to India.

View from my room…

Dining

Breakfast at Shamiana Restaurant.

The lovely, tranquil, Sea Lounge, where one can have breakfast, afternoon tea or lunch.

The Sea Lounge.

Fish and chips at the Sea Lounge

View of the swimming pool, which occupies the original entrance courtyard of the Palace Wing.

The courtyard to the swimming pool.

Briyani at Aquarius, the hotel’s outdoor, courtyard restaurant.

View of one of the landward flanks of the Palace Wing.

Evening

Wandering around the basement galleria…

View of yesteryear…

The hotel itself is like a museum, with antiques secreted here and there, in the corridors and public spaces.

More of the endless corridors and exquisite furniture. 

Close-up of the underside of the dome, with its Rajput-style architecture.

The Grand Stairway.

More corridors…

…and yet more corridors.

The Taj Club.

Evening drink at the Harbour Bar, with a view of the Gateway of India.

The courtyard corridor at night.

Goodbye, Taj Mahal Palace and goodbye Bombay! Till next time.

THE BIRTHDAY

Earlier this month I turned 40, a very “grown-up” sort of age, even though I don’t feel particularly different; and to be frank I’ve “grown up” so to speak, much faster than my peers, even as I’ve retained a very eccentric, Kennie-ish flavour of child-like ditziness.

40 seems to be the sort of age when one reflects on one’s life, at least on one’s recent life, and one assesses if life has been successful.

“Success” is, of course, subjective. I certainly don’t equate “success” with material qualities like being wealthy or powerful, or having a good career or a great family. Nor do I equate “success” with more emotional aspects like being happy or fulfilled. “Success” requires one to feel the whole gamut of human emotions – happiness, sadness, anger, disappointment, ambition and so on.  Happiness is shallow and one-dimensional.

By “success”, I mean having been true to one’s self. And by the latter, I mean having done what one loves to do and having lived up to one’s personal values.

BALANCE

Some (personal) history is in order…

In 2011, I checked myself into therapy. I was a lost boy then. An important phase of my life had just ended, and I found myself drifting from shore to shore (literally), unable to decide who I wanted to be at 33 years of age (one’s ’30s would prove to be the new “teenaged years”).

I was the quintessential Singaporean X-ennial (trapped in between path-laid-out-for-me-already Gen X and I’ll-do-what-I-want-thanks Millenial). I hated Singapore, in a grass-is-greener sort of way. I thought that things would be better, anywhere out of here. I felt suffocated, useless, restless. But I still felt obliged to be conventional, to get a job, find a partner.

The first of my sessions in therapy as a 33-year old “teen” turned out to be the most productive and meaningful hour of my life back then. I learned how to forgive others (particularly my parents) and how to love myself more; how it was important to (first) love and respect one’s self, in order to be able to give love and respect to others.

And the most brilliant part of that therapy session was that I was gifted with a very simple approach to go about loving and respecting myself more.

COOKING

I was asked to list down the things I loved to do; things which I could do on my own for hours, losing track of time. And after thinking about it for about a week, I listed down only five things:

1. Travel
2. Writing (both words and music)
3. Cooking
4. Singing
5. Dance

My therapist suggested that to love myself more meant to consider doing more of all (or some) of these things I loved.

I thought it an entirely sensible suggestion and so I did just that; and have been doing just that, more or less, ever since.

In 2012, I started a blog about travel and cities – this very blog, Dream Of A City, on which I’m still uploading blogposts regularly and assiduously, 7 years on. The blog was an ode to cities, travel, culture and art.

In the course of posting on the blog, I realised I needed to take up photography.  And so I went for professional photography classes, and I spent hours, weeks, days and then months, wandering the streets of New York (where I was at the time), taking shots of random, trivial things.

WRITING

In 2012 I returned to Singapore, and went back to a job in the cultural sector (where I had been before I left).  Having attempted to find a job in London and New York, to no avail – I “grew up”, so to speak, and understood just how privileged I was in Singapore, and that I really shouldn’t be complaining. I went straight back to where I had been, and I haven’t regretted since.

Though one thing had changed.

I now understood that life was not about the job, but rather, one took a job, in order to live one’s life to the fullest. It was important that I liked and believed in the job enough; but it was clear to me, that the job was secondary – it helped pave the way (and pay) for what I REALLY wanted to do.

And what I REALLY wanted to do was to travel the port and imperial cities of, first Southeast Asia, then East Asia (China, Japan Korea), then South Asia (India, Sri Lanka and hopefully Pakistan), wandering the streets of these cities with my cameras documenting the historic architecture and streetscapes; spending time in grand historic colonial hotels and palaces, and writing about history and about my experiences later.

It was a completely decadent WANT, of course. But then that was what the job was for.  To pave the way (and pay) for the kind of experience one needed a lifetime to have, but which I wanted, while I was young.

TRAVEL…

… and THE GRAND HOTEL / PALACE

As I traveled through Asia’s historic port and imperial cities, I posted my experiences and my photography on this very blog, and I brushed up on the history of Asia, and in doing so, learnt more about myself than I could possibly have done before.

My blogposts led eventually to my first book deal (THE ROMANCE OF THE GRAND TOUR – 100 YEARS OF TRAVEL IN SOUTHEAST ASIA) which then, in turn, led to my second and my third. I had a fourth book deal which eventually fell through – to be frank, I was dumped by the publisher.

But I was more than compensated when the museum director job quite literally, and completely out of the blue, landed at my feet in 2016; due, also, in no small part, to my books and my own interest in port cities and syncretic/hybrid cultures and identities.

In the meantime, I cooked and cooked constantly. Even if, or perhaps all the more when, I was on my own. I would whip up simple or elaborate dinners-for-one (and for two), because I enjoyed the peace that preparing dinner afforded me, and I liked the fact that I was cooking and consuming exactly what I loved eating, and the one I loved also loved the same. =)

I didn’t do so much of the Singing and Dancing, I’m afraid. The Travel, Writing, Cooking and Photography seemed like more than enough to do.

SHOWMANSHIP

But let’s take a small step back.

In 2013, I was placed, surprisingly and somewhat against my will, into a senior executive position. I accepted the position as a challenge, though I was perhaps ten years too young for the job, and an average of 10 years younger than everyone who reported to me.

I was terrified. I had sleepless nights. Thankfully, my company saw fit to hire me an executive coach and to also invest in training me up as a coach and mentor to others.

Once again – the experience being coached and learning how to coach was transformational. I learned to articulate what my core values were. And I learned that I should never undermine these core values; that it was important when choosing an organisation to work with and a profession to pursue, that I put my core values first and foremost.

In any case, I narrowed down my core values to five (it would seem I like the number 5):

1. TRUTH – that I would always be true to myself; that I would draw boundaries where I needed to; that I would always speak the truth to others, though I need never be rude.
2. BEAUTY — that I would see beauty in the simplest of things; that I would see the best in people and the best in myself; and that I would surround myself with beauty.
3. PASSION — that I would choose to do what I am passionate about; that I would always speak with passion, confidence and conviction about what I believe in and what I love. And that I would strive to nurture passion in others.
4. BALANCE — that it was important to be measured; to be diplomatic; to stay grounded. That I needed to spend time on my own, to rejuvenate; I need to acknowledge that I am ultimately an introvert.
5. SHOWMANSHIP – that no matter what I am feeling, or what I am going through emotionally, “the show must go on”, so to speak. I have to be professional. I will smile and entertain, because that is what I have been trained to do.

BEAUTY

My experience with executive coaching and my own professional experience as a senior executive was critical in helping me cope with the demands of the Museum Director position, which proved again to be a whole other ball game in terms of managing people and challenging circumstances.

Once again, I think I was probably way too young for the job.

And it has aged me very quickly and prematurely (my hair began turning grey within months of the job).

THE JOB

THE PROFESSIONALS

I didn’t just need to manage a team of professionals, almost all of whom were (are!)  older than me.  (Sounds familiar?)  I also needed to manage upwards – my various bosses but also the many board members, civil servants, patrons and donors of the museum who are some of the most wealthy and/or powerful people on earth.

I don’t really care much about what they are; that’s irrelevant. What’s more important to me is who they are – that they are good people, and that they have the museum’s best interest at heart.

And what is important also, is that I am always polite, even when I’m speaking the truth and standing my ground. And I must add that I am polite to pretty much EVERYBODY, regardless of what standing they have in life – because I believe in treating people with dignity (even if sometimes, I may not receive the same in kind).

THE SHOW MUST GO ON

This year, 2018, has been particularly difficult, as my best-laid plans for my professional, literary and personal lives were thrown in disarray by a slew of unexpected events personally and professionally; and as I have been on the receiving end of what I can only describe as behaviour that squarely crossed the line.

And just a few weeks ago, I was spending night after night bursting into tears, wondering if the Museum Director job was really worth it, wondering if I should not throw in the towel, quit Singapore and go back to just wandering and writing, which I enjoyed infinitely more.

[It didn’t help also that the one I loved relocated far, far away from me, halfway across the globe, and I could not follow – because I had chosen the job. But that’s another story.]

I decided instead to hold firm, speak the truth, and clearly define and declare my boundaries.

And that turned out to be the best decision I could have made.

TRUTH

Today, at 40 years of age, I examine closely my own response to every single challenge that has been thrown my way, not just in the past few months but in the past 7 years. And it seems clear to me, that in all instances, I have held fast to my values – I’ve not for a single moment compromised them.

And so I can confidently say that life has been good and I have, therefore, been phenomenally successful, on my own terms. Because above all, I have always strived as best as I could to prioritise doing what I love, and to let no person or circumstance compromise my values.

To put it simply: I don’t just think I’m ok.  I know I’m ok.

And that, I think, is the most important measure of success in life.

PASSION

THE CAT

India Gate is a memorial to soldiers of the British Indian Army who died in the First World War and other wars fought between 1914 – 1921. It was designed by Edwin Lutyens and completed in 1931.

From the glittering port city of Bombay, we wend our way inland, and commence our Grand Tour of the Princely Cities of the Subcontinent.

The first of these cities, is the grande dame of cities herself – Eternal Delhi.

It is said that Delhi is the historic site of seven mediaeval cities, with the eighth being the modern city of New Delhi, established by the British in the 1930s.

Map of Lutyen’s projected New Delhi from 1910-12. To the top right is Old Delhi. [Public Domain.]

Today, the area is known as Mehrauli, and is home to one of the most impressive monuments of all time – the Qutb Minar, the tallest free-standing brick tower in the world.

The Qutb Minar was first established in 1192 by Qutb Al-Din Aibak, the first Sultan of the Mamluk Dynasty. It was successfully added to in the ensuing centuries. The entire Qutb complex is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Visitors at the foot of the Qutb Minar, just to show its monumental scale.

Jamali and Kamali Mosque and Tomb, in the Mehrauli Archaeological Village. Completed in the 1530s.

Tomb from the Lodi Dynasty, Mehrauli Archaeological Gardens.

Lunch at Lavaash by Saby, an Armenian restaurant in Mehrauli.

From the Mamluks, we skip forward in time to the Sayyid and Lodi Dynasties, which held sway here in the early-to-mid 1400s and the mid 1400s to early 1500s respectively.

The tombs of their emperors are still scattered in the city today, primarily in Lodi Gardens, where the tombs of two of their emperors – Muhammad Saha (Sayyid) and Sikander Lodi – still stand today amongst others.

The tomb of Muhammad Shah Sayyid, built in 1444. Lodi Gardens.

Bara Gumbad and Mosque, 1490. Attributed to Sikander Lodi.

Children in the Lodi Gardens.

Then come the Mughals, who rule from the 1500s to the 1800s. They were one of the greatest of India’s Empires.

Delhi is known for being the final resting place of one of the five great Mughal Emperors. Humayoun, son of Babur and father of Akbar, is buried here, in a great Mausoleum alongside other tombs, in Nizam-ud-din, a residential district named after a 13^th century Sufi saint.

Elsewhere in the city sit other monuments that date to the Mughal period, such as Safdarjung’s Tomb at Lodhi Road, an example of late Mughal architecture; and the curious-magnificent Jantar Mantar, a complex of astronomical instruments built by the Maharajah Jai Singh II of Jaipur, who was in turn, commissioned by the Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah.

Tomb of the Mughal Emperor Humayoun, completed in 1572. Nizam-ud-din, Delhi.

Safdarjung’s Tomb was built in 1754. Lodhi Road.

The Jantar Mantar complex of astronomical structures was built by the Maharajah Jai Singh II of Jaipur and completed in 1724.

The Agrasen ki Baoli is an ancient step-well believed to have been built in the 14th century.

In 1639, the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan – he of the Taj Mahal – decided to move the capital of the empire back to Delhi (it had been briefly moved to Agra in Akbar’s time). He built a magnificent walled city, complete with a stupendous Red Fort and Friday Mosque (Jami Masjid), and called it Shajahanabad.

Shajahanabad is today known as Old Delhi, and it is here – in the expansive courtyard of the Jami Masjid and along the crowded sidewalks of the city’s main commercial thoroughfare, the great Chandni Chowk, that one gets a feel of real life in the city.

Of course, not stay in the city would be complete without a visit to the Red Fort itself, built by Shah Jahan, and home to the Mughal emperors for 200 years.

Jami Masjid was built by Emperor Shah Jahan and completed in 1656. It sits in the Old City of Shahjahanabad.

Tourists at the Jami Masjid.

Resident peering out of an ornate facade along the historic Chandni Chowk.

The Red Fort, completed in 1639 by Emperor Shah Jahan. This was the Palace of the Mughals in Delhi. It was constructed of red sandstone. The Fort is accessed through the Lahori Gate, so-named because it faces the city of Lahore.

Visitors to the Red Fort.

The many repeating arches of the Diwan-i-Aam, or the Hall of Public Audience.

Young couple enjoying the gardens of the Red Fort. In the background are the military barracks built by the British in the Red Fort.

The British first arrived in Delhi in the 1800s, as officials of the Honourable East India Company. By 1857, they had removed the last Mughal Shah on a pretext, and imposed direct, colonial rule upon India.

The capital of the British Raj being Calcutta, the British kept initially to the outskirts of Old Delhi, in what was then and still known as Civil Lines.

Today, in this quarter situated to the northeast of Old Delhi, one still finds significant monuments of the time, including St James Church, one of the oldest churches in Delhi, and the historic Maiden’s Hotel – once the grande dame of Delhi’s hospitality scene.

St James’ Church, built in 1836, is one of the oldest churches in Delhi.

Delhi Legislative Assembly Building, 1912. Unfortunately obscured by foliage from my vantage point.

Maiden’s Hotel in Civil Lines opened in 1902, and was the grande dame of the Delhi hospitality scene up until the establishment of New Delhi.

In 1911, in a great show of Imperial power, the Delhi Durbar was organised to commemorate the coronation of King George V as the Emperor of India. During the Durbar, it was declared that the Capital of British India would move to Delhi from Calcutta.

Over the next two decades, a gargantuan exercise would be undertaken to build a brand new, thoroughly modern European city in the outskirts of Old Delhi. The architect of the exercise was one Edwin Lutyens, who with his team of architects, designed the urban plan of New Delhi, as well as many of its major monuments.

The most imposing of these monuments was Kingsway (todays Rajpath), with the monumental Viceroy’s House standing like a palace on Raisina Hill to the west, and mighty India Gate to its eastern end.

The Delhi Durbar, December 1911. The Nizam of Hyderabad pays homage to George V, Emperor of India, and Queen Mary. [Public Domain.]

The Secretariat Building, North Block. Designed by Herbert Baker – Edwin Lutyens’ colleague – and completed in the 1910s.

Viceroy’s House (now Rashtrapati Bhawan), designed by Edwin Lutyens and completed in 1929.

The Canopy, behind India Gate, was constructed in 1936. It used to house a statue of King George V. This was removed in 1968 and relocated to Coronation Park.

Elsewhere in the centre of New Delhi, there were rather more modest forms of architecture, including Connaught Place – a large circular “square” that was designed to be the commercial heart of the city; and the many residential bungalows in Neo-classical style, that constitute what is today known as the Lutyens’ Bungalow Zone.

Many of these bungalows continue to be the residences of government officials, while others house Embassies and High Commissions.

Connaught Place, completed in 1933, was New Delhi’s commercial centre. It is still a bustling commercial centre today.

The flag of the Republic of India, flying at Connaught Place.

One of the many Lutyens Bungalows in the LBZ.

Contemporary Delhi retains much of that which is historical, even as it has developed a youthful dynamism as India’s new economic capital (having surpassed Mumbai some years back).

Nowhere is this dynamism more evident than in the vicinity of Khan Market, a bustling quarter of boutique shops, restaurants, bars and bookshops in the city centre.

Nearby sits genteel Sujan Singh Park, a cluster of Art Deco-style apartments erected in 1945, and founded and named after the father of Sir Sobha Singh, the eminent Builder of much of New Delhi.

Sujan Singh Park, 1945.

Street Art around Khan Market.

Street Art around Khan Market.

The delightful SodaBottleOpenerWala, a Parsi restaurant at Khan Market.

Having a Parsi bhonu (the equivalent of an Indian thali) at SodaBottleOpenerWala.

Here at Khan Market, in one of its many cafes, is a good place to settle down to a cup of tea, and to ponder the many cities of Eternal Delhi.

A glance back at India Gate, Kingsway (today’s Rajpath).

The Qutb Minar, dating from 1192 A.D., in Mehrauli.

Our Grand Tour of Delhi begins in Mehrauli, ancien address of one of the seven mediaeval cities of Delhi, and home also to spectacular Qutb Minar Complex, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Mehrauli was one of the capital cities of the Delhi Sultanate – a pre-Mughal, Muslim Sultanate that ruled over much of the Indian Subcontinent from the 1200s to the 1500s. The Delhi Sultanate wasn’t a single entity, but consisted of five dynasties in succession: the Mamluks (1206 – 1290), the Khaljis (1290 – 1320), the Tughlaqs (1320 – 1414), the Sayyids (1414 – 1451) and the Lodis (1451 – 1526).  The tombs of their kings are scattered all around Delhi today.

Qutb Minar Complex

Work on the Qutb Minar began in 1192 under the auspices of Sultan Qutb al-Din Aibak, the first Sultan of the Mamluk Dynasty, and therefore the Delhi Sultanate as a whole. In the course of successive dynasties – and even during the British period – Delhi’s rulers would add to the height of the Qutb Minar, such that today, the structure has the distinct honour of being the world’s tallest free-standing brick structure.

For it to stand quite so tall, its base has to be immense – and the photos earlier able below attest to this girth. Inscriptions in Persian script around the Minar tell the storey of its construction.

The Qutb Minar was built beside the Quwwat al-Islam Mosque, the first mosque built in Delhi, also undersigned by Qutb al-Din Aibak and established in 1192.  Part of the mosque was built using sections from earlier Hindu and Jain temples that had been destroyed by Qutb al-Din Aibak’s iconoclastic troops. They can still be seen today.

Within the mosque complex stands the Iron Pillar, dedicated to the Hindu God Vishnu, originally dating to the Gupta Dynasty (300s – 500s AD), and ultimately brought here by Qutb al-Din Aibak as well. Around the mosque are other structures, including the tomb of Iltutmish, the third of the Mamluk Sultans, and Alai Minar – the stump of a planned tower, commenced during the Khalji Dynasty, that was never completed.

Indo-Persian script around the base of the Qutb Minar.

Detail of one of the storeyed balconies with muqarnas.

Approach towards the Alai Darwaza, the entrance gateway to the Quwwat al-Islam Mosque. The Alai Darwaza was built by Alauddin Khalji in the 1300s and is the first building in India to incorporate Islamic architectural principles.

Side view of the Alai Darwaza.

Qutb Minar, Alai Darwaza and the Tomb of Imam Zamin. The Imam Zamin lived during the final decades of the Lodi Dynasty and the tomb itself was built in the early Mughal Period.

In the central courtyard of the ruins of the Quwwat al-Islam Mosque, circa 1192.

The Iron Pillar commissioned by Chandragupta II, of the Gupta Dynasty.

Pillars which, upon closer inspection, appear to consist of architectural elements from demolished Hindu and Jain Temples.

Detail of one of these pillars.

The Alai Minar, a folly of its time (the Khalji Dynasty).

The tomb of Iltutmish, third Sultan of the Mamluk Dynasty.

Mehrauli Archaeological Park 

Near the Qutb Minar Complex, and almost completely ignored by tourists, sits Mehrauli Archaeological Park, a sprawling park that contains within it many other important historic sites, including the ruins of Lal Kot, dating to the 1000s, and therefore pre-Delhi Sultanate.

I took a leisurely and entirely delightful stroll through the Park while I was here, far away from the madding crowd, stopping occasionally to visit a large and beautiful ancient baoli, or stepwell, and to pay homage to the many tomb complexes here.

At the end of my walk, I tucked into lunch at an Armenian restaurant, dreaming of the Qutb Minar…

Mughal-style gate near the entrance of Mehrauli Archaeological Park.

The Jamali Kamali Mosque and Tomb, built in the 1520s (the transitional period between the Lodi Dynasty and the Mughal Dynasty).

Interior arcade, Jamali Kamali Mosque and tomb.

Tomb structure beside an ancient stepwell.

The Rajon ki Baoli – an ancient stepwell.

Alternate view of the Rajon ki Baoli.

Balban’s Tomb. CC BY-SA 4.0. By Harvinder Chandigarh, available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehrauli_Archaeological_Park. 

Ruins of Lal Kot Fort. CC BY 2.0. By Varun Shiv Kapur. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_bastion_of_Lal_Kot_fort,_Mehrauli,_Delhi.jpg.

Metcalfe’s Dilkusha (Tomb of Quli Khan). Sir Thomas Metcalfe, Governor-General of India during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zahar, built a country estate here in Mehrauli, incorporating the pre-existing tomb of Quli Khan. CC BY-SA 3.0 By Nvvchar. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Metcalfe%27s_Dilkusha_with_Qutub_Minra_in_the_background.JPG.

View from a tomb in Mehrauli Gardens.

Adham Khan’s Tomb (1560s), sits at the edge of Mehrauli Archaeological Park.

Nearby is St John’s Church, founded in 1927 by the Bishop of Lahore. It has a Neo-Mughal style.

Lunch at Lavaash by Saby, an Armenian restaurant in Mehrauli.

Dreaming of the Qutb Minar…

Humayoun’s Tomb, in its Paradise Garden.

Delhi is a city of monuments, tombs and gardens. It is actually a very beautiful city, and the perfect introduction for any tourist, let alone a Grand one, to India.

On a clear day with blue skies – an increasingly impossible phenomenon due to the crushing air pollution – the city has a charm all unto its own.

We continue our sojourn here with a romp through two Mughal tomb complexes, a large garden in central Delhi, and a few other smaller monuments. Most of our tour takes place south of (Lutyens’) New Delhi.

Humayoun’s Tomb (and Safdarjung’s Tomb)

Of the five great Mughal Emperors, one of them – Humayoun, the second of the Great Mughals – is located here in Delhi.  Of the other four – Babur’s Tomb lies in Kabul, Afghanistan, Akbar in the outskirts of Agra, Shah Jahan is entombed with his wife in the Taj Mahal, and Jahangir’s tomb sits in Lahore, Pakistan.

Humayoun’s tomb was built in 1570 and commissioned by the Mughal Emperor’s widow, Empress Bega Begum. It begins an architectural tradition of Mughal Royal Mausoleums that reaches its zenith with the Taj Mahal.

The tomb itself is symmetrical, and situated in a Persian-style, Paradise Garden or Char Bagh. The entire complex, which includes other important and minor tombs, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Entrance to Humayoun Tomb Complex.

Entrance to Humayoun’s Tomb proper.

Approach to the Tomb.

The simple interior of the tomb.

Arcades at the base of Humayoun’s Tomb.

Close-up of the arcades.

Side view of the tomb structure.

The tomb of Isa Khan Niyazi, who was an Afghan noble during the Suri Dynasty.

Isa Khan’s Tomb

Detail of the underside of the dome – Isa Khan’s

Mosque Complex in the Isa Khan Tomb Complex.

Tomb of Humayoun’s favorite Barber.

Some 4 kilometres down Lodhi Road from Humayoun’s Tomb sits Safdarjung’s Tomb, another example of Mughal Tomb Architecture. The tomb was built in 1754, during the late Mughal period and is the last monumental tomb garden built by the Mughals.

Safdarjung was the Prime Minister of the Mughal Empire during the reign of Emperor Ahmed Shah Bahadur. Interestingly, the tomb complex sits facing Humayoun’s Tomb on the central 4 kilometer axis of Lodhi Road.

Sadarjung’s Tomb Complex.

Detail.

Entrance to Safdarjung’s Tomb.

View from the back of the tomb.

Safdarjung’s Tomb

Lodhi Gardens

Between both tombs, though a stone’s throw from Safdarjung’s Tomb, sits Lodi Gardens. The sprawling gardens are home to yet more tombs, hailing primarily from the Lodi Dynasty (from which the Gardens get their name) but also from the Sayyid Dynasty – the two late dynasties of the Delhi Sultanate.

The earliest of the tombs in the Gardens is that of Mohammed Shah, the second last of the Sayyid Dynasty,  built in 1444. Two other important structures in the Gardens are the Bara Gumbad and (three-domed) Mosque (from 1494) – which I found just delightful in terms of its architectural detail – and the tomb of Sikander Lodi (1517), the second-last of the Lodi Sultans.

Lodi Gardens is a delightful place when the weather is fine, and one can often see groups of young persons, dating couples, or whole families picnicking on the green, around the many scattered monuments.

Tomb of Muhammad Shah, of the Sayyid Dynasty.

Bara Gumbad and Mosque Complex.

Detail of the entryway to the Bara Gumbad.

Three-domed mosque in the Bara Gumbad complex.

Detail, facade of Bara Gumbad Mosque.

Detail, interior of Bara Gumbad Mosque.

Detail, underside of dome, Bara Gumbad Mosque

Mihrab, Bara Gumbad Mosque

Muqarnas vaulting, Bara Gumbad Mosque

Shisha Gumbad – a former residence.

Tomb of Sikander Lodi.

Jantar Mantar and Agresen ki Baoli

We take a detour up north through Lutyens’ New Delhi to Connaught Place. In the vicinity sit two key monuments.

The first is the Jantar Mantar – a historic observatory with a small collection of monumental astronomical instruments, dating from 1723. Designed and built by Maharajah Jai Singh II of the Rajput state of Jaipur, it is one of five Jantar Mantars, two other jantar mantars being located in Varanasi and the city of Jaipur itself.

Within walking distance from the Jantar Mantar is the Agresen ki Baoli, an ancient stepwell that probably dates from the 14^th century. It is also popular with tourists and Delhi-ites alike.

Misra Yantra, Jantar Mantar.

Inside view of Rama Yantra, used to measure the altitude of stars based on the longitude and latitude of the earth.

Samrat Yantra, a sundial for calculating time.

Descent to Agresen ki Baoli.

Near the foot of the baoli.

A backward glance at Humayoun’s Tomb.