Chitpur Local Photowalk

With a name that sounds like a local train, Chitpur Local is an event, or rather a collection of events aimed at reviving Calcutta’s Chitpur area, which was once known for its association with “Jatra”, the popular Bengali folk theatre form. Two photowalks were part of Chitpur Local and I decided to join in. Chitpur gets its name from the temple of Chitteshwari, and Chitpur Road (now Rabindra Sarani) is one of the oldest roads of Calcutta. Old roads = old architecture, I thought, and hence decided to join in. But the theme, I was told wasn’t flat architecture, this was more in the nature of street photography, and the best photographs would be used to create picture postcards of Chitpur. I decided to do what the pros do, shoot with a “prime” lens. A prime lens is a lens with a fixed focal length, no zooming. I chose the only prime in my arsenal, the Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 STM, and turned up at Lal Bazar Police Headquarters, on the corner of Chitpur Road and Lal Bazar Street.

Yumthang Valley, Sikkim

North Sikkim Travelogue Part 2

For 2 ½ hours we were enchanted by the beauty of India’s 2^nd highest lake, Gurudongmar, but we finally had to make a move for the equally beautiful grazing pasture called Yumthang Valley, in North Sikkim. After a short stop for lunch, I and my friend Prasenjit reached the little town of Lachung, where we would rest for the night. Our tour operator had set us up in a top floor room and we had a beautiful view of the mountains from our window, and since I can never sleep peacefully in a new place, I woke up obscenely early, and managed once again, to get that “sunrise in the mountains” shot, that so fascinates tourists.

Sunrise at Lachung

Gurudongmar Lake, Sikkim

North Sikkim Travelogue Part 1

Yumthang Valley and Gurudongmar Lake had been on my travel wish-list for a long time. Both of these places are in the Northern part of the Indian state of Sikkim, high in the Himalayas of North East India. Our travel agent in Calcutta suggested we add Dzongu, a forest valley that has been reserved for the Lepcha peoples of Sikkim, to our itinerary. Since I am not the type who treks, me and my friend Prasenjit chose to do the normal tourist thing, i.e. travel from Calcutta to Bagdogra via air, and take a car from there to Gangtok, Sikkim’s capital. A four by four would then take us for our week-long vacation in the mountains. I don’t know why, but to me, music always sounds better in the mountains, and I find myself quietly staring out of the car window at peaks and valleys, listening to classic rock. Sikkim is magical, they say, and the first piece of magic happened as we pulled in to Gangtok. I had just turned on Led Zeppelin’s Houses of the Holy album on the iPod, and as if on cue, as the first strains of The Rain Song started playing, it began to rain! We arrived at out hotel as it was getting dark, to the sounds of thunder echoing in the mountains.

Thunderstorm in Gangtok

Gillander House, Clive Street

It is fairly simple business to pigeonhole a building based on its architectural style. The Writers’ Building is Greco-Roman. The High Court is Gothic. The Esplanade Mansions are Art Nouveau. But one building in Calcutta completely defies such pigeonholing, partly because it was designed by a man who was a musician, alongside being an architect. The man in question is Harry Stuart Goodhart-Rendel, and the building is Gillander House.

Gillander House

The South Park Street Cemetery

Located at the corner of Park Street (now Mother Teresa Sarani) and Lower Circular Road (now A.J.C Bose Road) is the South Park Street Cemetery, known to many as “the great cemetery”. One of the largest colonial cemeteries of its kind, it is today one of the many tourist attractions of Calcutta (Kolkata). The South Park Street Cemetery replaced the St. John’s Church graveyard as the principal burial ground of Calcutta and the road leading to it, which is today called Park Street, was originally known as Burial Ground Road. It is perhaps difficult to imagine that this part of the city was a jungle back then. Clive hunted tigers in what is today Free School Street. Indeed, so far away was this from the main city, that the Bishop who had to be present for the burial, had to be paid a special allowance so he could maintain a carriage and horses. The reasons behind siting a cemetery so far away from town are not difficult to understand. Calcutta was a malarial swamp, and in an era where there was no understanding of tropical disease, poor hygiene and poorer diet, the mortality rate was shockingly high. The monsoons were particularly bad, and every year at the end of the rainy season, feasts would be organised by those left living to give thanks to God. In such a scenario, repeated reminders of death in the form of funeral processions were thought of as undesirable.

Graves in the South Park Street Cemetery

Mahishadal Rajbari, Haldia

Located around 60 km to the Southwest of Calcutta (Kolkata), in the Mahishadal administrative division in Haldia subdivision of Purba Medinipur (East Midnapore) district is the Mahishadal Rajbari, home to the Gargs of the Mahishadal Raj. Spread over a large area, Mahishadal Rajbari consists of two palaces, a cutchery or court house, a ghat, a large navaratna temple, all surrounded by a protective moat spanned by bridges. The vast property left to decay for many years is now being renovated and opened to visitors. Mahishadal Rajbari is an ideal weekend getaway from Calcutta, especially for history buffs.

The Phul Bagh Palace, Mahishadal

Shaniwar Wada, Pune

Pune’s Shaniwar Wada is a rare example of a fort right in the middle of a modern city. It was the residence of the Peshwa, the prime minister of the Maratha Empire that dominated central India from 1674 to 1818. Once the centre of Indian politics, it was considerably reduced in importance after the Maratha loss in the third Anglo-Maratha war, which left the East India Company in control of most of India.

Shaniwar Wada: Dilli Darwaza

Nadan Mahal: Lucknow's Oldest Monument

Located in the Yahiyaganj locality of Lucknow, the Nadan Mahal Maqbara is the oldest monument of Lucknow, dating back to the Mughal era. But finding it can be a bit of a challenge. When we told our auto-driver we wanted to go to there, he took us to a private house on the Nadan Mahal Road which had a cement airplane on top! If you don’t have Google maps when on tour (I didn’t), what you need to do is to get to Nadan Mahal Road, find an octogenarian Muslim (easy to tell them apart from the attire, fine flowing beards, and exquisite skull caps), and ask for the “Chishti sahib ka dargah”.

Nadan Mahal (right) and the Solah Khamba (left)

Bathgate & Co., Camac Street & Ballygunge Circular Road

The first time I heard the name Bathgate & Co. was when I asked my mother about the dilapidated building that once housed my Kindergarten school. That was the name originally associated with building, she said. Thus, my digging began. I present to you here, information that I have gathered through countless hours of internet trawling. Because, in spite of the fact that Bathgate & Co. were Calcutta’s very first chemists, there is no book or website dedicated to their history.

The root encrusted walls of Bathgate & Co's Ballygunge Dispensary

Rumi Darwaza, Lucknow

Standing on the old Hardoi Road, the Rumi Darwaza (also spelt Roomi Darwaza) is one of the most well-known icons of the city of Lucknow. Like the Howrah Bridge and Victoria Memorial for Calcutta (Kolkata), the Rumi Darwaza serves as the logo for Lucknow in posters and other visual communication. It is another architectural gem that was built under the patronage of Nawab Asaf-ud-Daula by his favourite architect, Kifayatullah. Kifayatullah, as you may know was the man behind Lucknow’s Bada Imambara.

Rumi Darwaza - Western Face

Nawaab Saadat Ali Khan's Tomb, Lucknow

The ornate tombs of Nawaab Saadat Ali Khan II and his wife Khursheed Zadi (or Mursheed Zadi) are two of the principal attractions of the Qaisar Bagh area of the city of Lucknow. Nawaab Saadat Ali Khan II was the 6^th king in the Nishapuri line that ruled the province of Oudh or Awadh, and ascended the throne 21^st January 1798. He is responsible for many of the heritage buildings still to be found between the Qaisar Bagh and Dilkusha areas of Lucknow.

Tomb of Nawaab Saadat Ali Khan II

Nizam Palace and the Legend of J.C. Galstaun

Before it was acquired by the Nizam of Hyderabad, the building known today as Nizam Palace was the home of one man, Calcutta’s Armenian millionaire, Johannes Carapiet “J.C.” Galstaun. It was an art deco palace, designed for his beloved wife Rose Catherine. The man, his immense wealth, and his “many acts of kindness” are the stuff of legends. In this first guest post on the blog, Max Galstaun writes about his illustrious ancestor.

Nizam Palace today

The legend of J.C. Galstaun, businessman, sportsman, Calcutta's biggest real estate developer of all time, philanthropist and social worker - is a legend that stands unequalled in Calcutta history. Like most legends, the story has a humble beginning, with a young, 13 or 14 year old, Armenian lad from Julpha, Iran, learning to ride a piebald pony on the Maidan. His determination impressed the Fort William Cavalry officers and they gave JC early lessons in horse-riding, which grew into the most formidable talent not ever seen again, on the racecourses in Calcutta and England. The pony rider struck fear into bookmakers and horse owners of Royal Indian and British blood.

Chetla Chhoto Rashbari, 93 Tollygunge Road

Chetla Chhoto Rashbari - interior

Hiding behind the busy market on Tollygunge Road, at number 93 is the elaborate temple complex known to locals as the Chhoto Rashbari (also spelt Rasbari, Ras Bari, Rashbadi or Rash Badi) or minor house for the Rash festival. What was once the Govindpore Creek, became Surman’s Nullah after John Surman of the East India Company started living there. It would then come to be known as Tolly’s Nullah after Major William Tolly conducted dredging and excavating operations there between 1774 and 1777, making it navigable upto Garia. Indeed the entire area of Tollygunge gets its name from him. But for locals, this is the Adi Ganga or the original Ganges, since it was through here that the Ganges or Hooghly flowed before it changed its course. The Ganges being a holy river, all along the two roads on its East and West, Tollygunge Road and Chetla Road, ghats and temples may still be found. Like many other heritage structures in the Chetla area of South Calcutta, the Chhoto Rashbari is also neglected, overgrown, and other than local residents, few are aware of its existence.

The Jagannath Temple of Mahesh, Serampore

The giant chariot or "Rath" of Jagannath at Mahesh

One of the earliest mentions of the village of Mahesh (pronounced Maa-hesh), now part of the town of Serampore in the Hooghly district of West Bengal, occurs in the works of 15^th century poet Bipradas Pipilai. Bipradas is known as one of the contributors to the “Manasamangal” genre, and for having written many of the stories of “Chand Saudagar”. His descriptions of Mahesh are probably from around 1495. But the cult of Jagannath in Mahesh is much older than that. The area was probably under the rule of Oriya Kings, and as Lord Jagannath (Anglicized to Juggernaut) was the royal family’s deity of choice, it found acceptance among subjects here. Mahesh today, remains a centre of Jagannath worship, and is home to the second oldest “Rath Yatra” or car festival in India, after Puri. The story goes that Dhrubananda Brahmachari, a devout man of Mahesh had travelled to Puri to worship Lord Jagannath. It was his desire to give the deity “bhog” with his own hands, but this was prevented by the temple authorities. But right after this debacle, Lord Jagannath himself appeared to the heartbroken Dhrubananda in his dreams, commanding him to return to Mahesh, where he would appear to his devotee. Dhrubananda followed the instruction, returned to Mahesh, and by one account found an idol of Lord Jagannath trapped in the sands of the Ganges’ bank. An alternative version says Lord Jagannath had promised to provide to Dhrubananda, a Daru-Bramha, or the trunk of a Neem tree, out of which Dhrubananda had the idols carved out. These idols were that of Lord Jagannath, his brother Balarama, and sister, Subhadra. They were installed in the original Mahesh temple which dates back to 1397. But this temple is no longer in existence.