In 2015, state Education and Cultural Affairs Minister Vinod Tawde proposed turning the bungalow into a tourist attraction

The Kipling Bungalow, inside the Sir JJ School of Art campus, has been in news for a decade over its restoration.

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The Kipling Bungalow inside the Sir JJ school of art campus.
The Kipling Bungalow inside the Sir JJ school of art campus. © Pradip Das

It is said that Sir Rudyard Kipling, author of The Jungle Book, was born in 1865 in a bungalow adjacent to this one, when his father John Lockwood Kipling served as the first Dean of the JJ School of Art. The original house was demolished as it aged. The present bungalow was built in 1882 after Rudyard, still a young boy, was sent to England.

In 2015, state Education and Cultural Affairs Minister Vinod Tawde proposed turning the bungalow into a tourist attraction. There were also plans to turn it into a literary venue. Art museum with a cafe and a virtual reality show on The Jungle Book were some of the other ideas.

However, these ideas are still at an inception stage, said Dr Tejas Garge, Director, State Directorate of Archeology and Museums. “The ideas are under discussion. Nothing has been planned so far. We have a couple of ideas but nothing has been finalised. It could be anything or involve everything,” he said.

Garge said the physical part of the restoration was complete. “In the last financial year, we completed structural conservation work. In the next financial year, we will take up landscaping and electrification,” he said, adding the focus was to recreate the Victorian era ambience....

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