(plate 4), Dutch mausoleum in the Dutch-Armenian cemetery : A grandiose 17th century Mughal-style Dutch mausoleum in the Dutch- Armenian cemetery in Surat, India.
It stands proudly as a silent sentinel - forsaken, forlorn, dilapidated - entwined in the vicious vice-grip of invasive vegetation – serpentine vines and clinging creepers - that threaten to bring it down anytime sooner than later. Yet, it audaciously mocks the vicissitudes of time and the vagaries of nature, by maintaining its lonely vigil over the 300 year old Christian cemetery at Narinda, Wari, old Dhaka. More than a hundred years ago, Francis Bradley Bradley-Birt (1874-1963), ICS, a British civil servant and writer in his book on Dhaka, a slim volume entitled: The Romance of an Eastern Capital , 1906, had also made a similar observation. He said eloquently, It stands namelessly, dominating the whole cemetery and jealously keeping watch over the three graves that lie within. It is the unique mausoleum of an enigma