Let’s write good English
The Tiger in the Tunnel by Ruskin Bond Thembu’s father, Baldeo, was a small-time employee in the railways. His job demanded working at night. No matter how cold or wet the night was, he had to brave the elements to go out of his …
The Flower School Introduction .. Rabindanath Tagore is the iconic Bengali writer who brought India its first (only, so far) Nobel Prize in Literature. Through the innocent eyes of a school-going child, the poet captures the thrill and excitement of the blossoming of flowers with …
George Orwell Bookshop Memories When I worked in a second-hand bookshop — so easily pictured, if you don’t work in one, as a kind of paradise where charming old gentlemen browse eternally among calf-bound folios — the thing that chiefly struck me was the rarity …
1. Why did artists flock to the Greenwich Village?
The houses in Greenwich Village had Dutch attics and eighteenth century gables. These offered the ideal setting for budding painters. Apart from this, the rent there was affordable for the painters who were still struggling in their careers.
To the west of Washington Square, there is a quarter that has a maze of narrow winding streets which can easily confuse a stranger. The streets crisscross so frequently that a bill collector on his errand would curse himself to find that he has returned to the same point in his quest of the elusive debtor.
This place, known as Greenwich Village, has some modest houses that are available for affordable rents. Budding painters flock to this area as they find the houses with their Dutch attics and eighteenth century gables the ideal setting for their pastime. In the past, many such artists have come here with their wherewithal to set up their studio. The place has become their ‘colony’.