Mar 27, 2008 http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEH20080326042145&Page=H&Title=Top+Stories&Topic=0 Fewer Malyalees, Tamils now in Kolkata Wednesday March 26 2008 PTI KOLKATA: This is not the exodus Raj Thackeray's followers are aiming to achieve in Mumbai but a Kolkata historian says not only the Greeks, Armenians and Jews who built many architectural marvels in Kolkata have left the city, even Tamils and Malayalees and Oriyas are heading back to their home states. "Greeks have totally disappeared from the city. Only 25 Jews now live here. The number of Armenians has dwindled to 600 only. Earlier, they lived in hundreds and thousands here," says P T Nair, also known as the "moving encyclopedia of Kolkata". Their properties were sold out and Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) took over the places of worship. "For example, the city's oldest standing church built in 1724 by Armenians is located on Brabourne road which leads into the city from Howrah station," says Nair who has written 42 books on Kolkata. A survey on dwindling communities in the city, shows the present state of these people coming from outside India during the British period. Nair also called Kolkata's "barefoot historian" has written 42 books on various aspects of the city - social, religious, economical, political, sociological, city roads etc. Of his books, "History of Calcutta" is a masterpiece of research works on the city. Greeks were the first to leave en masse. They were mostly concentrated around Greek church in Kalighat. "After their flight from the city, ASI looks after the Greek church and other properties of the community have been donated to the government, the chronicler of Kolkata," Nair told PTI. According to him, the flight of these communities whom the British patronised at the time of reinforcing their rule began to leave after independence. Several of these communities who are still living in the city have mingled with the mainstream, he says. Only a little more than two dozens of Jews like the famous baker "Nahoum" are left in the city. "Several wealthy Jews of the hundreds who lived in the city went to Switzerland. Many set out for Israel after 1950s. These communities were mostly limbs of the British empire and began to leave India as the British departed," Nair says. Armenians, who left Kolkata either settled in other parts of the country or went outside India. Bulk of the residual community still lives in park circus or areas near park street. Jews built the edifices like Esplanade mansion, Chowringhee mansion and a synagogue close to writers' buildings. Armenians too built churches and beautiful buildings that housed the offices of British India. These are all heritage structures taken up for preservation. Another community that contributed greatly during the upcoming years in the city is Parsis. "They would run small factories or trade. But as the industrial scenario worsened, they set sail towards Mumbai. Now, only a few hundred of them are left in the city," Nair says. Nair, a Malayalee, too came to the city in 1955 to work in a private company. In 1980, he quit his job to devote time to research Kolkata. Even at his old age, he goes to National library everyday to conduct studies on the city. Apart from the Jews, Greeks and Armenians, Kolkata was a melting pot of other Indian communities too. "Now Oriyas stay back in Orissa for economic development there and South Indians like Tamils, Malayalees who would make a living as typists in the offices here have also left," says Nair. The researcher of Kolkata feels, despite the prospect of economy looking up in Bengal with setting up of it and it-enabled service companies, a few outsiders come here as these industries are not labour-intensive. "Outsiders who come now do not intend to settle here," he says. =========================== ----- Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar Nagpur, India