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Andrew yelp reservations12/11/2023 Geddes rubs his face and climbs out of the chair – involuntarily grunting as he rises. He finds quiet repose in the dusty tranquillity of his beloved reading rooms, and – though his ideas and enthusiasms were not just of his youth – he often comes here to sit awhile, an old love letter from his wife in hand. And yet, since the double loss of his wife and son in 1917 (his dearest Anna passed away never knowing that her boy was gone, killed on the Western Front), that energy is somewhat depleted, a flame flickering a little from sorrow. And so he would walk, observe, ask, listen – a cheerful nomadic flâneur buoyed by curiosity.Īll who met him were enthused by the energy of this prodigious man. “By living we learn”, he would say to his students from the University of Bombay. His early days in Bombay were spent humbly, wandering the streets. A pioneer of town planning (successful and prolific in equal measure), he brought plenteous wisdom to India from his years reforming Edinburgh’s Old Town. Bombay has been his home since 1917 when he travelled to India at the behest of Lord Pentland, Governor of Madras. Everyday people all sitting, working and sleeping, cheek by jowl.Īnd amongst them sits Geddes, a big-hearted Scot of excitable character. He observes the marble-topped tables lined with many varied visitors: students, curious readers, elderly men poring over periodicals in English, Marathi, Hindi and Gujarati, while a handful of others are quietly nodding off. The muffled din of the street and the gentle whir of ceiling fans fill the quiet room. Petit reading room, in that second of clean consciousness that comes with waking. An unruly mop of hair sits atop his wide forehead, which is etched with many lines. Botanist, ecologist, and all-round man of the people Patrick Geddes reclines on a long-armed rattan chair.
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