greet a visitor in front of 134 muktaram babu street where stands the dilapidated mess labourers are busy with renovation work basus passion for the author is endearing but few will agree that their display of the memorabilia is any match to whats on offer at the bards house but that will happen only after we have taken his works to the global audience on record they dont want to state the reasons we had organised one birth anniversary programme in that room too said sandip dutta the owner of presidency boarding house according to shyamal k basu general secretary of sarat samity the trust that looks after the house there is no entry fee and students come in large numbers but it is open to visitors only if permission is sought in advance shuvaprasanna chairman of west bengal heritage commission is still overwhelmed by the way tolstoy and alexander pushkins houses have been preserved in russia however there is still no museum in kolkata to show the memorabilia of the icon or even that of his father sukumar ray too much of media coverage is also not welcome for the fear of drawing attention of landsharks waiting to turn them into highrises on a lazy spring afternoon the house is witness to a lot of activity we cant exactly identify which room jibanananda had stayed in i wish we are able to inculcate the same sentiments while preserving writers houses in kolkata the creator of the endearing character tenida used to live at 18 potoldanga street in 1998 the city of london assumed responsibility for this house narayan gangopadhyays 18 potoldanga street residenceat 46a tala park avenue a bust of nazrul is the only way to connect the author to the address in shibrams room now stay three borders mahasweta devis memorialthis is in sharp contrast from the practices in the west even filmmaker tapan sinha had lived in one of these rooms for more than a year quite close is the vidyasagar smriti mandir on 36 vidyasagar street where iswar chandra vidyasagar had breathed his last on july 29 1891 just like shibrams times tenants still have to adhere to the practice of sitting on the floor while meals are served to them visitors are allowed entry by paying 650 approximately rs 589 to see where john keats had lived for 17 months since 1818 nothing else of the past remains while two rooms will be turned into a guest house another will be used as a seminar hall at the ray society we have been trying to find a space where we can have a museum film and study centre for baba we first shifted to manmatha dutta road and eventually to this house in 1957 when funds are a problem they still flaunt about not charging any entry fee the controversy surrounding michael madhusudan dutts house in kolkata is proof of that in defence however kolkata easily says there can never be any comparison between the