At St.Johns Church

 

I met Mr. Charnock today

Wandering about, brooding at the skies;

Here is the founder, I stand amazed,

What legacy! Does he even realise?

 

Sutanuti, Gobindopur, Kalikata joined

And that is how the story goes,

Here he comes, should I tell the truth?

Will he believe me. Or he already knows?

 

‘Charnock Saheb,’ I slowly start

‘Can you recognise your city today?

City of Lights and shimmer and shine,

Without you, would it come this way?’

 

He softly smiles, nods his head,

‘In every slice of time I can see,

Calcutta it is, with different names,

But nothing to do with you or me.’

 

‘It is the will of the lands below,

In the dust of time, destiny’s call

The Empire’s best - it would always rise

Charnock, Melville, Andrew or Paul.’

 

And he splices time in the midday sun

A thousand Calcuttas wake in the rays,

That same bustle of a metro’s soul,

In every version, dances, plays

 

And in every one, an ochre church

A founder talking to a passer-by,

A common city strings the dreams,

Without asking ‘who’, or even ‘why’?

 

23^rd May, 2026

 

Job Charnock, an administrator for the British East India Company, was historically revered for centuries as the founder of Calcutta (now Kolkata). On August 24, 1690, Charnock stepped ashore at the swamp-girdled village of Sutanuti on the banks of the Hooghly River, establishing a strategic British trading outpost after escaping conflict with Mughal forces further upstream. Over time, this settlement amalgamated with the neighbouring villages of Kalikata and Gobindopur, laying the infrastructure for a bustling metropolis that served as the capital of the British Raj until 1911.

Job Charnock, the informal founder of the city lies buried at the St. John’s Church, Calcutta.