India, April 23 -- Counting the final 152nd step, I let out a long exhale as I hit the landing and peer through the concrete lattice of the window. A leisurely scan of the area gives me a bird's eye view of the massive quadrangle of Bandel's historic Imambara flanked by rows of pillars, arches, and a water body at the centre. In the distance, the Hooghly meanders through the landscape as silently and as gracefully as an elephant navigates a forest. Children dive off the pier on this warm summer day while adults go about their morning ablutions in the water body that merges with the Ganges, the lifeline of this region. My stupor is broken as the 3,200-kilogram bell of this clocktower chimes, and I descend its spiralling staircase to once a...