Heading home

After a successful NLS "gig", Kevin and I are heading for home tomorrow. Kevin's talk, "Kolkata Curiosities" went really well at the Book Fair yesterday, and despite me having a rotten cold, I managed to get through my talk at the NLI this afternoon. The assembled librarians were quite a shy bunch, so not many questions, but all contributions were very positive. The NLI director K. K. Banerjee was there (as was ours - Martyn Wade arrived safely this morning) and it all looks very promising for partnerships between our two national libraries. I was interviewed for TV, too (what with the paparazzi earlier in the week and now this, it's quite gone to my head).

Edinburgh's going to seem very strange when we get back.

Kolkata update

After several attempts at another post late last night (problems with internet connections)I gave up, so here I go again – fingers crossed.
I want to mention the marvellous British Council staff, who are unflaggingly generous, kind, and fixers of the highest order. They also do a rather good blog. Edd McCracken of the Sunday Herald, also did a blog and the Book Fair will be featured in the paper this Sunday, though I’m sure Edd’s got enough material to get a series going.
It’s difficult to keep track of everything we’re doing here. (I'm afraid I spent a whole day with a, er, tummy bug, and lay around feeling faint like a Victorian memsahib). As a result I was disappointed to miss tea at the Governor's residence.
The visit to the Scottish Cemetery was a highlight; we hope that the efforts by RCAHMS and the Kolkata Scottish Kolkata Heritage Trust to restore it will bear fruit.
A talk by Lord Bruce on Scots and India was very well received, and he was followed by the very learned Prof. Barun De, who revealed that he is a great fan of the NLS. He reminisced fondly about his visits there in 1957.
Later, we visited the Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre, and watched a workshop where rural artists are given a chance to raise themselves above the poverty line. They do some beautiful work, and we were particularly struck by the similarity of the painted scrolls they produce and one we have in NLS which dates back to 1788.

O Calcutta!

Kevin Halliwell (Foreign Collections) and I are at the 33rd Kolkata Book Fair, where Scotland is the theme country. Everyone has been so charming, and the Scottish delegation (including Sir Andrew Cubie, Lord Charles Bruce, Alexander McCall Smith and the British Council staff), were welcomed and presented with bouquets of flowers at the impressive and historical City Council Chambers (pictured).
The Book Fair itself is open but there was still a lot of building of stalls going on when we left at 6.30 today - including a mini White House for the U.S. pavilion, with cut-out Obama figure!
We've had a hectic couple of days, so more reports and pictures later.

Scottish Cemetery

Off a busy street in Kolkata lies a little corner of Scotland - the old Scottish cemetery, containing the remains of hundreds of Scots who made their home in what was the heart of Imperial India. The decaying cemetery is now the subject of a project by our heritage colleagues from the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS). At the invitation of the Indian National Trust for Art & Cultural Heritage and the Kolkata Scottish Heritage Trust, RCAHMS staff are on their first field trip there to assess the damage and draw up a restoration plan.
Names from the interment register will be added to a database, and the team will not only restore the monuments, but help create a green space for the city.

You can follow the team's progress in their very entertaining blog!