"Novelty, no more?” (Parsiana, October 7, 2018) is a very good piece of history to be preserved. I remember all the places in Delhi mentioned by Rusi Sorabji. I had seen movies in Novelty and the West End in old Delhi. Some of the buildings are still there but nobody knows their history.
There is still G. B. Road (Garston Buston Road), which has been renamed Swami Shraddhanand Road, up to Lahori Gate. This area is now the wholesale grain market of Delhi. G. B. Road that continues from Lahori Gate to Ajmeri Gate is the red light district of Old Delhi.
Elite cinema in Calcutta Photo: Wikimedia Commons
I had seen a diesel generator in Lahori Gate in 1952. It is not there anymore. Delhi is not known as a city to preserve historical memories. All that remains is the Parsi Anjuman outside Ajmeri Gate. The Railway Hospital still stands in Connaught Place.
Of course Calcutta still has the Madan Street, just near Janata Cinema. I remember seeing Elphinstone Picture Palace in Calcutta in 1956. There still stands Elite Cinema, once owned by Sohrab Modi. But in Calcutta too, the mall culture is slowly taking over.
DHARMENDRA RAI GUPTA
Calcutta
drgupta36@hotmail.com
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