Two beautiful buildings, but whither heritage?

By Dr. K. Javeed Nayeem, MD

Very recently I saw a news report in Star of Mysore that the Command Area Development Authority (CADA) building in our city was getting a complete makeover. As most of us Mysureans know, this very ornamental and majestic building which stands on Sayyaji Rao Road, in close proximity to our Amba Vilas Palace, once housed the offices of the Mysore Palace. The building was constructed exactly a hundred and one years ago, in the year 1921 by His Highness Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar and it was later passed on to the CADA.

This Rs 1.65 crore restoration work, undertaken by the Public Works Department (PWD), is said to be going on under the strict guidance and supervision of very knowledgeable experts in the field of the preservation and restoration of heritage structures, after approval from the District Heritage Committee. All this naturally sounds very reassuring to armchair heritage buffs like me, who are apprehensive that no heritage building in our city should be allowed to lose its dignity and go the Devaraja Market and Lansdowne building way.

The report also went on to give details about how age-old, traditional building materials and techniques were being used to restore this building to its original glory. It appears that the materials that are being used in this ongoing restoration work are similar to the ones that were originally used when the building was constructed, because the heritage guidelines mandate the same. Materials like lime mortar, jaggery paste, soapnut, brick powder and M-Sand are being used to plaster the walls to ensure that the distinct character of the building is retained.

While all this sounded fine, the mention of M-Sand however struck a discordant note in my mind and I could not help wondering why the traditional old kind of river-bed sand was not being used here. But being a most forgiving man, let me hope that this reference to the kind of sand being used, is only a typographical error in the report!

So far so good. But I wonder if the heritage experts overseeing the restoration work of this building will raise their heads and look at something else that has been allowed to mar not only its beauty but also outrage its heritage status, over the past thirty years or so. I am talking about the four disgustingly ugly water tanks that have been erected at its four corners, under its beautiful domed canopies.

This was done most irresponsibly by some very practical minded but certainly ham-handed government functionaries, to meet the needs of its much-augmented work force, when the building changed roles from being the majestic Palace Office to just another drab government office, sans any heritage upholding responsibility.

But now that it is getting a makeover that is purportedly going to preserve its heritage character, can we expect the experts reposed with the responsibility of overseeing this work to also ensure that these ugly water tanks are relocated to a place where they are out of public view and thus once again restore the original beauty of the building?

Coming to the second building, to the sorry plight of which I wish to draw the attention of our heritage experts, I would like to emphasise here that it is for the third time that I am doing this. I am talking about our Government House, located in a sprawling expanse of nearly fifty acres of greenery in the heart of our city. 

Incidentally, this building was the subject of my very first column, which I wrote more than seventeen years ago! It was built in the Tuscan Doric style, in the year 1805, as the official residence of the British representative in the Mysore Kingdom and it was then called the Lower Residency. Its front portion was built by Major Wilks and its rear portion designed by the famous engineer De Havilland, was added later by Sir John Malcolm and it was then the building with the largest hall, unsupported by pillars, in the whole of Southern India. Over the past few years, it bears a garish set of yellow, solar water heating tanks that have been prominently placed atop the more than two centuries old building.

The first time I drew the attention of the public of Mysuru to this sacrilege was when I wrote about it in this very same column, a good many years ago, when I first spotted the tanks, even as they were being placed where they now stand and mock at our sensibilities.

The second time I did it was when I, in the company of a small group of heritage experts, led by Prof. N.S. Rangaraju, spent some time standing at the majestic entrance arch to the Government House and discussing how best we could retain it, along with its almost identical counterpart, in front of our bus station.

This was the time when the two structures were in grave danger of being razed to the ground, to widen the busy roads around them. Thankfully, better sense has prevailed and the crisis has passed and now both the structures stand safe and tall, with metal barricades protecting them from any mishap.

But what has been done is not at all enough because nothing whatsoever has been done to restore their beauty, by cleaning away the age-old layers and layers of whitewash that have almost completely effaced the intricacies of the ornamentation on them. The picture that I have taken of the Government House today, clearly shows how ugly and out of place the yellow tanks look. I fervently hope that the powers that be, do something now, which they have so callously not bothered to do, over so many years.

It was a very foggy morning today when I went there, which has certainly lent a unique, mystical charm to the building and its environs and the pack of no less than nine, lowly, stray dogs that you can see in the picture, seemed to be the only denizens privileged to enjoy its charm and ethereal beauty!

e-mail: kjnmysore@rediffmail.com