SHIV NANDY - WILLIAM SHAUGHNESSY ... The Bengali-Irish pair behind the First Electric Telegraph Line !!

Burrabazar, the commercial nucleus of Kolkata, is like a labyrinth to anyone who is not familiar with its lanes and bylanes. Stretching from the Ganesh Talkies in the north to the BBD Bag in the south and from the C R Avenue in the east to the Howrah Bridge in the west, the approximate one sq.km. area probably records the highest footfall in a day than any other location of the City. But unlike the rest of Kolkata, the names of the lanes and by-lanes do not really matter here. Most of the people visiting Burrabazar used to acquaint themselves with the commodity or building based demarcations viz. the different sub-markets (patti) like Sonapatti, Tulapatti, Masalapatti or buildings (katra meaning roadside inn or colonnaded structure in Arabic/Persian) housing specific products, like Raja Katra, Manohar Das Katra, Sadasukh Katra etc. A majority of the pathways with their names are now in oblivion. Shiv Nandy Lane in Posta near Ganesh Talkies is one such by-lane. 

It would be a bit of an exaggeration to say that I went hunting down this lane for my story. But in fact, I accidentally came across the alley while researching for another story of mine. I was in Chitpore, Ganesh Talkies, shooting the Adi Brahmo Samaj house near Jorasanko Thakurbari gateway. Suddenly, on the opposite footpath, a street name plate intrigued me - 'Shiv Thakur Lane'. Bound with a curiosity and a hope to find another derelict century old Shiva Temple, I entered the hardly 3 ft. wide alley. After a few yards, it opens up to a rather wide lane, making me to continue my quest. Though I did not find the temple but another street name plate suddenly tickled my memory - 'Shiv Nandy Lane', the name itself seemed to be quite familiar to my mind. A quick googling revealed the mention of this name in Amitabha Gupta's blog post about Optical Telegraph. Shiv Nandy or Shiv Chandra Nandy was the Bengali man behind the first electric telegraph line in India, more than a century ago. 

Wanderlust decided to go on exploring...

CALCUTTA KARMA GON BUDDHIST MONASTERY … A Sanctuary amid the Concrete Jungle!

Calcutta has always rolled the red carpet for the people belonging to different religions. Communities with diversified religious beliefs co-existed here for centuries, making the City of Joy a melting pot of cultures. That’s why it’s not very uncommon to find a Christian Church in a Muslim neighborhood or a Jewish cemetery in a predominantly Hindu locality. Unlike any other city of India, Calcutta is packed with mosques, synagogues and churches, apart from the temples belonging to various religions. So when we discovered a Buddhist monastery, while roaming around the streets of South Calcutta on a Sunday morning and that too in a predominantly Non-Bengali locality, it didn’t surprise us at all. Ultimately it is the cultural capital of India.

- Abhijit & Subhabrata

Abhijit & Subhabrata, the explorer duo and long-time friends of mine, have a habit of traversing through the veins of Calcutta, to discover something new. This time they find and dig up the history of a only-of-its-kind religious shrine from the City. Read on, they write for WANDERLUST...

ST. JOHN'S CHURCH ... where History lies in every corner !!

The objective of my blog is to 'know the unknown' but is it always necessarily be an unknown structure or a place, couldn't it be a well-known monument with little-known or unknown history? That sounds a bit contradictory, right? If it's well-known then how come the history is unknown? Well, it could be ...

These days the heritage structures of the City are used to get a lot of attention due to variety of reasons. The Raj era edifices are regularly featured in print and visual media through the works of bloggers, photographers, journalists, film makers and tour operators. One such popular destination is St. John's Church, situated in the office-para, BBD Bag. Though much have already been written about the Church, a lot are yet to be covered.

WANDERLUST presents before you the St. John's Church, with many never-before-read detail, through its most elaborate post till date ...

P.S. St. John's Church also holds a secret for a long time. A hidden tomb of a significant person, which you will encounter, for the first time, through this post. Read till the end to unearth the secret ... 

DURGESWAR - RAMESWAR - BANESWAR ... The SHIVA TRILOGY !!

The title might sound familiar but this post has nothing to do with the Amish Tripathi's Shiva Trilogy, the best-selling mythological fiction series in India.

The article is about three, century old Shiva Temples of Calcutta, surviving through years of ignorance and atmospheric erosion while serving hundreds of devotees everyday. In fact though I named this post a Trilogy and planned three consecutive articles but in future it can easily and certainly be extended to form either a tetralogy or a pentalogy or even a decalogy, considering the number of significant shrines in the City !!

Hindu Temples in the City are a common sight now-a-days but an inevitable question is: How old are they? Various sources suggest that few of the City shrines dates back to Job Charnock or probably before that. Prosperity of a religious shrine always depends upon the people surrounding it and Calcutta was no exception. People used to inhabit Calcutta (or more specifically Sutanuti, Kolikata and Gobindapur) since the early seventeenth century, long before Job Charnock settled here. Lord Shiva and various forms of his consort Parvati, were the most worshipped divine entities. It was almost customary that the ancient rich and aristrocratic families of the City establish temples of Lord Shiva, either in their residences or in the locality or on the bank of river Ganges. In the year 1856, there were 24 Shiva temples in Calcutta compared to only 5 temples of goddess Kali, a popular form of Parvati.

This trilogy is an attempt to uncover the past of three ancient Shiva Temples of North Calcutta, situated within a radius of 1 km but almost unknown beyond its daily visitors.

BIDHAN SABHA BHAWAN - W.B. LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY HOUSE ... Witness to the Debates & Power Shifts !!

Which iconic structure is situated to the east of Calcutta High Court, west of Raj Bhawan, south of Town Hall and north of Eden Gardens? ... The question would surely baffle any Calcuttan for a moment. I am not generalising but here are some replies from the people I know -

• 'আরে, আমি বুঝেছি ... ওই সাদা বাড়িটা ... নামটা মাথায় আসছে না ...' ('I got it ... that white building ... I just can't remember the name ...')
• 'ওই যেখানে সব নেতারা বসে ... পার্লামেন্ট এর মতই ... কি বলে মনে পড়ছেনা ...' ('The seat of the ministers ... like Parliament ... can't get the name ...')

It is WEST BENGAL LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY HOUSE or BIDHAN SABHA BHAWAN.

Now, why this unexpected ignorance? Multiple reasons could be there but the most prominent one is certainly its location. Isolated by high railings and mature trees, it stands well away from public scrutiny, unlike Raj Bhawan. Among the three most important government buildings of the City, Assembly House comes third when public awareness is concerned (other two are Writers' Building & Raj Bhawan). It is actually this unawareness that has prompted me to write an article on the edifice.

SHAHEED MINAR ... OCHTERLONY MONUMENT ... the Oldest Calcutta Icon !!

Every great City has its own icons. One or more architectural marvel/s that define/s the exclusivity of the location. Taj Mahal indicates Agra, Charminar to Hyderabad, Eiffel Tower to Paris, Colosseum to Rome and many more. Calcutta is also not an exception. Though the City is much younger in age compared to the above examples, but the City of Joy indeed has an unique character and obviously some splendid icons. 

Ask any random Calcuttan about five architectures which he thinks define our City. I can bet, the answer will definitely include the following three: Victoria Memorial, Howrah Bridge and Shaheed Minar. While the former two has not yet been 100 years old, Shaheed Minar is on the verge of completing two centuries of existence.

Though the catchline of my blog states 'Know the Unknown' but WANDERLUST decided to explore this widely recognised tall beauty as there are no detailed article on internet about Calcutta's very own 'Monument', except wikipedia !! (at least as on the date of article).

SANSKRIT COLLEGE & PANDIT PREMCHANDRA TARKABAGISH ... An Invaluable Chapter of Sanskrit Literature !!

Kolkata International Book Fair is organized every year for a period of approximately 13 days. But if you are a book worm or atleast a book lover or in need of some academic material, then there is a book fair in Kolkata which runs throughout the year. It is in our very own 'Boipara' - College Street. The area is associated to academics for more than two centuries and consists of some finest institutions of this country. Sanskrit College is one of them. Unlike the name suggests, the college doesn't only offer Sanskrit language but provides an array of Oriental academic courses for more than 190 years now. 

Many stalwart academicians were associated with this college in the past. Pandit Premchandra Tarkabagish was one such name. He was one of the greatest Sanskrit scholars of 19th century and actively contributed in Bengal Renaissance. I get to know about him while doing a story on 'Widow Remarriage' and later a meet with his descendant Mr. Biswanath Chattopadhyay, intrigued me to explore the scholar in depth.

On 2nd January, 2016, Sanskrit College turns 192 years. WANDERLUST decides to explore its centuries old legacy along with a biographical sketch of Pandit Tarkabagish. 

SHIVA TRILOGY - Part 3: Baneshwar Shiva Temple, Kumortuli

The title might sound familiar but this post has nothing to do with the Amish Tripathi's Shiva Trilogy, the best-selling mythological fiction series in India. 

The article is about three, century old Shiva Temples of Calcutta, surviving through years of ignorance and atmospheric erosion while serving hundreds of devotees everyday. In fact though I named this post a Trilogy and planned three consecutive articles but in future it can easily and certainly be extended to form either a tetralogy or a pentalogy or even a decalogy, considering the number of significant shrines in the City !!

Hindu Temples in the City are a common sight now-a-days but an inevitable question is: How old are they? Various sources suggest that few of the City shrines dates back to Job Charnock or probably before that. Prosperity of a religious shrine always depends upon the people surrounding it and Calcutta was no exception. People used to inhabit Calcutta (or more specifically Sutanuti, Kolikata and Gobindapur) since the early seventeenth century, long before Job Charnock settled here. Lord Shiva and various forms of his consort Parvati, were the most worshipped divine entities. It was almost customary that the ancient rich and aristrocratic families of the City establish temples of Lord Shiva, either in their residences or in the locality or on the bank of river Ganges. In the year 1856, there were 24 Shiva temples in Calcutta compared to only 5 temples of goddess Kali, a popular form of Parvati.

This trilogy is an attempt to uncover the past of three ancient Shiva Temples of North Calcutta, situated within a radius of 1 km but almost unknown beyond its daily visitors.

SHIVA TRILOGY - Part 2: Rameswar Shiva Temple, Shovabazar

The title might sound familiar but this post has nothing to do with the Amish Tripathi's Shiva Trilogy, the best-selling mythological fiction series in India. 

The article is about three, century old Shiva Temples of Calcutta, surviving through years of ignorance and atmospheric erosion while serving hundreds of devotees everyday. In fact though I named this post a Trilogy and planned three consecutive articles but in future it can easily and certainly be extended to form either a tetralogy or a pentalogy or even a decalogy, considering the number of significant shrines in the City !!

Hindu Temples in the City are a common sight now-a-days but an inevitable question is: How old are they? Various sources suggest that few of the City shrines dates back to Job Charnock or probably before that. Prosperity of a religious shrine always depends upon the people surrounding it and Calcutta was no exception. People used to inhabit Calcutta (or more specifically Sutanuti, Kolikata and Gobindapur) since the early seventeenth century, long before Job Charnock settled here. Lord Shiva and various forms of his consort Parvati, were the most worshipped divine entities. It was almost customary that the ancient rich and aristrocratic families of the City establish temples of Lord Shiva, either in their residences or in the locality or on the bank of river Ganges. In the year 1856, there were 24 Shiva temples in Calcutta compared to only 5 temples of goddess Kali, a popular form of Parvati.

This trilogy is an attempt to uncover the past of three ancient Shiva Temples of North Calcutta, situated within a radius of 1 km but almost unknown beyond its daily visitors.

SHIVA TRILOGY - Part 1: Durgeshwar Shiva Temple, Nimtalla

The title might sound familiar but this post has nothing to do with the Amish Tripathi's Shiva Trilogy, the best-selling mythological fiction series in India. 

The article is about three, century old Shiva Temples of Calcutta, surviving through years of ignorance and atmospheric erosion while serving hundreds of devotees everyday. In fact though I named this post a Trilogy and planned three consecutive articles but in future it can easily and certainly be extended to form either a tetralogy or a pentalogy or even a decalogy, considering the number of significant shrines in the City !!

Hindu Temples in the City are a common sight now-a-days but an inevitable question is: How old are they? Various sources suggest that few of the City shrines dates back to Job Charnock or probably before that. Prosperity of a religious shrine always depends upon the people surrounding it and Calcutta was no exception. People used to inhabit Calcutta (or more specifically Sutanuti, Kolikata and Gobindapur) since the early seventeenth century, long before Job Charnock settled here. Lord Shiva and various forms of his consort Parvati, were the most worshipped divine entities. It was almost customary that the ancient rich and aristrocratic families of the City establish temples of Lord Shiva, either in their residences or in the locality or on the bank of river Ganges. In the year 1856, there were 24 Shiva temples in Calcutta compared to only 5 temples of goddess Kali, a popular form of Parvati.

This trilogy is an attempt to uncover the past of three ancient Shiva Temples of North Calcutta, situated within a radius of 1 km but almost unknown beyond its daily visitors.

GWALIOR MONUMENT ... Cenotaph from Melted Weapons !!

Let me start this post with the definition/explanation of two common English word:

• Folly - An act of foolishness OR A costly ornamental building with no practical purpose.
• Pepper-pot - A container for pepper (a common item in our dining table).

I know that you are confused. You are definitely wondering that whether I am conducting an English class or writing a heritage blog. Please don't get bewildered. Have patience and read on. 

Today, I'm exploring the GWALIOR MONUMENT, a solitary structure in the revamped Kolkata Riverfront, stretching from Outram Ghat to Prinsep Ghat. The above words are linked to this site only but I will explain those in the proper place. First, let us go back around 200 years to start the journey.

MANOHAR DAS TARAG, ESPLANADE ... From a Pond for Cows to an Entertainment Park !!

'Tarag', in Bengali, means a pond or a medium scale waterbody having approximately 200 ft. of depth. The same meaning is conveyed by the Hindi word 'Talab' or 'Talao'. In 1706 there were only 17 waterbodies in Calcutta which catered the needs of native population. After the British settled down in the City they dug up or renovated numerous tanks to serve the purpose of drinking water, most of which are not in existence today. Among the existing ones, Laldighi and Wellington Square are the notable. But other tanks were later filled up to build parks like Curzon Park, Allen Park, Shraddhanand Park and many more.

But it was neither always the British who dug up the tank nor the purpose of public usage for which the tanks were dug up. In early nineteenth century, a Varanasi born businessman and philanthropist MANOHAR DAS SHAH converted an idle land into a pond to provide a drinking place for the cows. Yes, he was an animal lover and the tank is still there and known as MANOHAR DAS TARAG.

'HINDOO' STUART's MAUSOLEUM ... Tomb or Temple ??!!

During the Bengal Renaissance of nineteenth century, many prominent names of the society chose to adopt Christianity and converted. Reverend Krishna Mohan Bandyopadhyay, Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Toru Dutt, Chandramukhi Basu are only to name a few. The scenario was similar in the remaining part of Colonial India too. With the increase in European settlements in India from 17th century onwards, conversion to Christianity from Hinduism was not a rare or surprising instance. But finding a British (technically Irish) dignitary, who inspite of adhering to his religion, embraced Hindu Culture, is a rare instance indeed !

In the 25th post, WANDERLUST explores an Irish Major-General who practiced idolatry, wore dhoti, used to bath in River Ganges, advised Memsahibs to wear Sari, built a temple, criticized European missionaries and has a Mausoleum in South Park Street Cemetery which looks like a temple !!

Presenting CHARLES 'HINDOO' STUART and his exceptional Mausoleum.

SUSANNA ANNA MARIA's TOMB, CHINSURAH ... Dutch Lady - Ruskin Bond - 7 Khoon Maaf !!!

When a guy visits the ruins of an old haveli on G T Road, Old Delhi, he was told the story of the mysterious haveli owner, Susanna and killings of her husbands...

 - Plotline of 'Susanna's Seven Husbands'

by Ruskin Bond

Bond's 5 page story was adopted by the film director Vishal Bhardwaj in 2007 and developed into a Bollywood film - '7 Khoon Maaf' (Seven Sins Forgiven), starring Priyanka Chopra as Susanna. On the request of Bhardwaj, Bond wrote a 80 page novella based on the short story and Vishal Bhardwaj made a screenplay out of it, co-written with Matthew Robins from Hollywood. The screenplay along with the novel and the original short story were later published as a full fledged book by Penguin India. 

But this post is not a film review. This article is about the principal character of the story - SUSANNA ANNA MARIA YEATS, who surprisingly (or might be intentionally!) resembles a Dutch Lady of the same name of 18th century Chinsurah, a Dutch colony then.

Read on with WANDERLUST...

BASRI SHAH MOSQUE ... Oldest Mosque of Kolkata !!

Winter is almost here and so is the season of Calcutta's Heritage Hunts, organized every year by different clubs, motoring enthusiasts' associations and media houses. Being the defending champion of City's two most prestigious treasure hunts, we have already started to polish our Heritage IQ and gearing up for the brain storming trails in the coming months. Two weeks ago, in one of those random chit chats with my fellow hunter Abhijit and Souvik, we were discussing about the 'OLDEST's of the City. We jotted down the following :

• Oldest Existing Building - Dum Dum Clive House
• Oldest Temple - Kalighat or Chitteswari ??
• Oldest Church - Armenian Church
• Oldest Synagogue - Neveh Shalome Synagogue
• Oldest Mosque - ???...

We were clueless and as the last resort, googled it. An online newspaper report revealed that the City's oldest existing Mosque is in Kashipur and known as BHONSRI SHAH MOSQUE but not much description was there. Further research in the topic led us to the Graded List of Heritage Buildings of Kolkata compiled by Kolkata Municipal Corporation and we indeed found an entry in the heritage list of Ward 6 (i.e. Kashipur Area) that describes an unnamed Category I Heritage Mosque as "Popularly known as 1, Lockgate Road".

And we decided to pay a visit...

A WALK TO REMEMBER ... Heritage Literary Walk - APJ Bangla Sahitya Utsob 2015

It is not everyday that you get to know the best in class bloggers and photographers of Kolkata through a single walk. Oxford Bookstore made it possible and for me it was a golden opportunity. So I decided to board 'no 11' on 10th October from Maniktala at 7.30 am sharp. 

The objective of the journey was to explore the landmarks of Bengali literature and stalwarts, organized as the part of the APJ Bangla Sahitya Utsob 2015 in association with Oxford Bookstore, Streets of Kolkata, Kolkata Bloggers and Bengali Wikipedia. Our pilot was Mr. Amitabha Gupta (Heritage Enthusiast, Travel Writer and Photographer) who had not only chalked out the route but also lead throughout from the front. My co-walkers include some prominent names of Kolkata's blogger and photographer community - Deepanjan Ghosh, Indrajit Lahiri, Soumya Shankar Ghosal, Sammya Brata, Srotoswini Svetlana Baghawan, Indrajit Das, Sumit Surai, Subhadip Mukherjee to name a few.

Image Courtesy : Soumya Shankar Ghosal

The route was mainly centered around the Maniktala-Amherst Street area which was once the Home and Workplace of leading people of Bengali Renaissance.

TRANSGENDER DURGA IDOL - ARDHANARISWAR ... Hype, Misconception or Exceptional Interpretation ??!!

"It takes a great deal of courage and independence to design your own image instead of the one that society rewards, but it gets easier as you go along" 

- says Germaine Greer in The Female Eunuch

But in reality it is not that much easier. Imagine that you are travelling through the city streets in your car or by a local train. A group of transgender appears before you. They are demanding money. What will you do? You will give them some bucks and just want to get rid of them. But have you ever thought what force them to 'beg'? The most prominent reason could be that they are deprived of a definite and respectable social status and it is reflected every now and then in our attitude towards this community.

MAHISASURAMARDINI ... Invoking the Mother !!

আশ্বিনের শারদ প্রাতে

বেজে উঠেছে আলোকমঞ্জীর

ধরণীর বহিরাকাশে

অন্তর্হিত মেঘমালা

প্রকৃতির অন্তরাকাশে জাগরিত

জ্যোতির্ময়ী জগন্মাতার আগমনবার্তা...

- Where the above lines are taken from?

If you are a Bengali then no reward for the correct guess. But if you are wrong then you are not a Bong!! And you certainly deserve "৩ দিনের জেল আর ৭ দিনের ফাঁসি". Yes, it's the baritone that gives you goosebumps every year, on an autumn dawn, right from your childhood. It's the gateway to the greatest celebration of Bengali community, Durga Puja. It is 'MAHISASURAMARDINI' or 'The Annihilator of Demon Mahisasur', a Bengali-Sanskrit oratorio that has become synonymous with the celebration in the last 83 years.

WANDERLUST, in the first of its two Puja Special Posts, explores the legacy of this audio montage... 

Read on...

EDEN GARDEN'S PAGODA ... A Neglected Beauty !!

These days there are more than dozen parks in Kolkata that serve as the favourite strolling area of the City's residents. Elliot Park, Citizen's Park, Eco Park are only to name a few of the biggies. There are also hundreds of smaller ones scattered around different neighbourhoods. But like many other things we owe the concept of parks too, to the Britishers. In those days, it was the height of gentility for the British East India Company's covenanted servants to take their spouses for an evening stroll or moonlight fete. Almost 300 years ago, the first of its kind Park in the then Calcutta was Captain Perin's Garden in Sutanuti area which was later developed into Bagbazar neighbourhood. The Garden was sold in around 1752 and post Plassey Battle, Laldighi or the Dalhousie Square was advanced and used as the public garden. Later on, two more parks were developed on the surrounding grounds of Fort William commonly known as 'Green before the Court'. Those are Eden Garden and Curzon Park.

When we talk about Eden Garden, in 99% cases we refer to the internationally famous Cricket Stadium but what we ignore is the fact that the Stadium owes its name to the adjacent park, the brainchild of Lord Auckland, Governor General of India during 1836-42.

WANDERLUST brings before you the story of a 150 years old BURMESE PAGODA, situated in the Eden Garden, unfortunately obscured from the public memory due to the never-ending renovation process.

Read on...

(Image Courtesy & Copyright : Indiamike Website)

GANDHI BHAWAN ... HYDERI MANZIL

AUGUST 1947. 

India awaiting Independence 

More precisely Undivided India awaiting Partition 

Millions of refugees are trekking across the newly drawn Borders 

The Price of Freedom has been paid by Massive Bloodshed

Bengal was no exception. The memory of Direct action Day or Great Calcutta Killings of August, 1946 had not yet been faded. Tension were once again surging up in Bengal, between the two communities, Hindus & Muslims. It was the time when Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi arrived in Calcutta (Kolkata).  His month long stay helped to brought down the violence and peace was restored in the City. HYDERI MANZIL in Beliaghata was his address during the mission. Later on it was converted to a museum and rechristened as GANDHI BHAWAN.

In the context of Gandhi Birthday, WANDERLUST presents to you GANDHI BHAWAN or HYDERI MANZIL, where Mahatma Gandhi spent the moment of Independence on 15th August, 1947.