Golkonda photos

Old photos of Golconda and Pondicherry

Golconda from sowth-west

View from the Ashram
Terrace

North east view, 1947

Golconde towering over
neighborhood

View from north-west

1940s

View from west

Entrance staircase before
the layering of the Cudda-
puh stones. Early 1940s

Boats on Pondy beach

Pondicherry’s Port
and Pier, 1930s

The Old Pier

Schemes, drawings of Golconda, documents etc

Construction

Wooden formwork for pillars and beam	Wooden scaffolding	Steel framework for reinforced concrete pillars
Work in full swing. Girdharlal and Uday Singh supervising	Reinforced pillars and foundation	Concreting
Shanti with workers on Golconde scaffolding	Full view of the Tower	Bottom of Tower for hauling up construction material South view of scaffolding at second floor level
Sammer supervising the steel work	Chandulal supervising workers	Preparation for laying the concrete.Sammer and Chandulal at the back
Pump – 1938	Steel framework for reinforced concrete	Golconde workers
Cement vibrator - 1938	Khirod working in the construction-Passing of the mortar	08.1940
East view of the the service stairs scaffolding. Shanti in foreground.	Scaffolds for the 1st floor
North-east view	Northeast view	View from the South June 1942
	View of Golconde from the Ashram terrace	Drying clothes in the closed area
Shells used in the plaster	Grinding lime mixture	Plastering a wall
Making Golconde furniture	Making Golconde furniture

Persons

Sir Akbar Hydari	Antonin Raymond	From left: Raymond (2nd), Noémi (3rd), Pavitra (4th), In Japan
Bula with friends, 1980	Chandul. Ashram architect and engineer	Chandulal
Chandulal, Pavitra	Girdharlal (mathematician)	From left to right: Harikant, Tulsi, Purushottam, Amba- bhikshu. In front of Sundarananda’s room in the late 1930s
Jagdishbhai	Jotindranath Baul	From left: Jotindra Baul, Jyotirmayee and Nirodbaran
Ila Sen and her family. Chitra & Amita in front. 1943	Kesari N. Dikshit
Krishnalal by the Golconde lily tank	Krishnalal - 1934	Krishnalal, Sundarananda, Sanjivan, Vishnu, Romen From left: Krishnalal, Sanjivan, Romen, Vishnu
Kusum Visanji Nagda	Madan Poddar	Maniben Patel
Maniben (centre) with Pushpa, Mona, Ruth	Millie	Mrityunjoy Mukherjee
Mrityunjoy	Mrityunjoy Mukherjee	Mona
Mona with Gauri	Mona with the ‘Golconde girls’, the main supervisors and workers Mridula, Mona, Maniben, Kusum, Lilou, (front) Pushpa, Kumud	Mona. 1960
Mona	Mona. August 1992	Mona doing the Golconde accounts. 1993
Mona folding the washing 2001	George Nakashima – 1937	George Nakashima
Sundarananda Nakashima	Sundarananda (name given by Sri Aurobindo), Pavitra and Anilbaran on the Ashram terrace	Sundarananda with workers on site
Sundarananda with his friends, Romen, Yogananda, Poornananda	From left: Dr. Nirodbaran, Dr. Becharlal Bhatt	Noren Singh Nahar
Noren Singh Nahar	Chandubhai and Noren Singh outside Golconde	Pavitra in his office
Pavitra in his Atelier	Pavitra, Mrityunjoy, Mitran and workers. Pavitra’s Atelier in the Ashram building, Jun 1931	Pavitra’s workshop in the Ashram main building. Abhay Singh Nahar, worker, Pavitra, Arun Ganguli
Phutidi (last row, 3d from right). Terrace Darshan, Ashram courtyard	Phutidi (fragment of previous photo)	Purani and Udar
Rajsena Nahar	Sammer	François Sammer
Shanti	Shanti 2nd from left, with friends	Sumitra Nahar (center)
Tehmi with parents, niece and nephew	Vishnu, Krishnalal, Sanjivan	Vithalbhai Tulsi – 1952
Udar	Udar Pinto	Udar, Amulya, Panu. Harpagon Office – 1947 Panu, Udar, worker Spray painting, 1947
Golconde tea basement in the 40s Mona, Mridula, Maniben, Kusum, Udar, Beauty	Golconde tea basement Bob, Udar, Sudarshan Nagpal, Eckhard, Mahendery
Uday Singh Nahar	Umirchand. 1930s	Parichand and Umirchand 1960s

Guests and VIPs

	Karan Singh and wife at the Savitri Painting Exhibition, 21.10.70 with Kiran P.and Udar	Uveraj Karan Singh’s, with his wife and other. Madhav Pandit, Mona, Udar, officials
Wil, Jo & Muriel of Matagiri, with Poornanand and Yoganand. 1976	Mme. Kobayashi with friends. 1960	Mme. Kobayashi on the stairs of Golconde
Admiral Tompkins with Dimitri, Eckhard, Udar and others	Admiral Rutledge Tompkins with Udar	John Hunt with Udar. 1988
Dr. Masha.1960	Sri S.B. Dutt	Sri Prakash, Governor of Madras
Jawaharlal Nehru’s visit 1955	Indira Gandhi’s visit November 1955

Golconda staff and maintenance of Golconde

The 1st batch of Golconde workers. Gardeners and boys in front line Sadhaks and Sadhikas seated (extreme left Shivalingam, resident gatekeeper). Back row maids (extreme right, paid gatekeeper)	The 1st batch of Golconde helpers and supervisors.	Golconde maids. 1979
Golconde maids. 1991	Golconde ladies. 1991	Golconde maids. 1999
Golconde Ladies. 1999	Golconde Staff. 2003
Making tea in the kitchen. Mona, Maniben, Vasant P.. Kusum V.	In the Kuja room	Filling kujas with filtered water
Cleaning bathrooms and wash-basins daily	Working outside the gardeners’ room	Service basement Service basement
Service basement	Folding the washed clothes	Working in the tea-kitchen
Polishing the furniture	Changing bed clothes	Making residents’ bed
Arranging residents’ luggage in the luggage room	Running the washing machine	Drying clothes on covered terrace
		Clothes drying in covered terrace. Water tank at the centre left
Sorting out the clean clothes	Bed with foldable mosquito-net supports	Mopping floor of residents’ room
Amra doing the Golconde accounts. 2011	East service corridor drying the Kujas
Prof. volunteering for gate duty	Golconde gatekeeper	Meeting a guest
Service stairs	Carrying the washing to the terrace for drying	Trimming creepers
Weeding	Watering the back lawn	South elevation
View of the Ashram from Golconde construction site View of Mother’s room from Golconde. 2011	Hoisting Mother’s Flag every Darshan day and Sunday

	Dupuy St.
	West wing	West wing
West wing	West wing
West wing	West wing	Dupuy St.
		Water storage tank and boiler on left
		Roof tiles

		Pivoting concrete windows of basement
Water tank and Japanese lantern	Japanese lantern	Water tank and canal




‘Spiritual Intensity’ growing at base of coconut tree		Artesian well
View of Entrance from the Imagination Tree		“Happy Heart”
North-west part	Under the ‘Realisation’ tree

East garden and back gate	Watering the lawn
Back gate of Golconde (outside view)
Back garden. Trunk of “Joy in Fairyland”

	Bedroom interior	Chettinad plaster seen on the wall of a room
Hand-embroidered bed-cover	Room with louvers closed	Room with louvers open. View of Ashram
Kuja stand, glass	Kuja room	Kerosene lamps on case of failure of electricity

Louver detail	Louver detail

The Office		West service corridor
Service staircase	concrete steps to drying area on the open terrace	Details of concrete formwork of ceiling and stairs seen from below
Formwork of staircase	Tea-basement	Toilets
The Fresco by Krishnalal
Entrance staircase, umbrella stand and shoe-spaces	Entrance staircase	Umbrella stand
Fossil stones at entrance	Entrance	The brass lotus of Golconde’s entrance gate
Residents’ laundry room	Pump Room	One room model of Golconde built in the courtyard of house opposite Ganesh Temple

Concrete formwork detail	Plan of Mother’s property called Nouveauté	Ground Floor of the Painters’ House
First floor of the Painters’ House	Plan of Bandari House situated on the Canal Street (Quai de Gingy) which was bought 3 years later. The length of Golconde was then extended and rooms added.	The Plan of the position of Golconde in connection with the Pondicherry Town plan. The plots marked A show Golconde's position.
Drawing Office Description of Drawings 1935-1938	Text see here	Typical roof details