Kolkata Kaleidoscope : Beautification of Kolkata - Painted Movie Posters on Electric Meter Boxes

While wandering around the Rabindra Sarobar Lake area I discovered a unique beautification initiative of painting CESC electric meter boxes and I thought it is worth sharing in my blog.

The originally grey and black painted meter boxes are usually littered with torn posters and spitting stains. But here, on Sarat Chatterjee Avenue and adjoining by-lanes, may of these meter boxes have been used as canvas for painting posters related to luminaries who once lived in the neighbourhood. This artistic approach enlightens the citizens about the cultural heritage of the area and helps in reducing the visual pollution of the city of joy.

Satyajit Ray, the Oscar winning and internationally acclaimed film director who made some of the iconic cult classic films, lived at 3 Lake Temple Road till 1970 and it is then when he made the first Feluda (famous fictional bengali detective also penned by him) flick Sonar Kella. In fact the Sonar Kella poster on Lake Place was the first that cought my attention. And talking of Feluda the image that comes to our mind is that of Soumitra Chatterjee (renowned actor and Ray's protegee), the original and best of actors who played Feluda on screen. Little did we know that he used to live here as well and surprisingly at the same address but at a later time.

Ray made many more popular movies while staying here like Pather Panchali (his debut film), Charulata, Devi, Nayak, Aranyer Din Ratri and Goopi Gyne Bagha Byne.

At first I could not find the Pather Panchali poster but later discovered it on the back side of the Sonar Kella poster on the same meter box.

There are a couple of posters dedicated to film director, writer and actor, Debaki Kumar Bose who is known for his innovative use of sound and music in Indian Cinema. The nearby Lake Gardens Flyover is also now named after him.

We also found one meter box allocated for playback singer, music director and film producer Hemanta Mukhopadhyay who was a resident here and the nearby Lake Terrace Road is now named after him.

Famous novelist Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay never lived in the neighbourhood but since Sarat Chatterjee Avenue is named after him, a couple of meter boxes have been dedicated to him. Many of his novels have been converted to blockbuster movies and not necessarily in Bengali.

The last poster that I came across was assigned for industrialist and philanthropist Bhagirath Kanoria.

This kind of beautification is very inspiring and I hope similar initiatives are taken all over Kolkata.

You may go through my YouTube video on this topic here - https://youtu.be/nmFY1FQGWC0

Kolkata Kaleidoscope : River Cruise

Have you ever been on a cruise on Ganga in the heart of the city of Kolkata? It was one of the late afternoons within a year of our wedding when my wife and I went for lunch at Floatel, a floating hotel on the Strand Road which is actually a ship. After lunch we walked to the Millenium Park and during a stroll in the park noticed a jetty right beside where an exquisitely beautiful boat was docked. Its shape was that of a mermaid and it was named aptly the 'Matsya Kanya' which means the same in Bengali. There was a ticket counter and on enquiry we came to know that an evening cruise was just round the corner. We decided to take the ride and in fact we had to stride really fast to be able to get on the cruise in time. 

There are two floors on the boat,  the lower one being air-conditioned, which may be suitable for families with children and the elderly while the deck is open on the sides which can be reached by a narrow spiral stairway. Wooden chairs are lined up on the sides along the fence; so you do not need keep standing, and the upper parts are ornamented with wooden carvings with wooden pillars at some intervals. You can really enjoy the breeze blowing over the river from the deck. 

The hour long ride takes you as far as the Howrah Bridge on one side and the Second Hooghly Bridge on the other; in fact the boat passes underneath the Second Hooghly Bridge. So, if you take the cruise in the late evening, which we did on another occasion, you will be mesmerized by the illumination of the Second Hooghly Bridge with the background of the dark sky. While when there is still daylight, the view of river Ganga and the ghats on its bank is a treat to watch.

The cruise is operated by Vivada Cruises and there are a couple of timings in the evening. As far I remember it cost us around Rs. 300 per person for the river cruise. You may also book the entire boat for organizing small parties.

Kolkata Kaleidoscope : St. John's Church

On a pleasant morning just at the beginning of winter, I planned to visit St. John's Church, the third oldest and one of the most distinguished churches of Kolkata reminiscent of the British Raj. Saibal and Anirban were my partners in this venture. The church is located near Dalhousie Square in the north-western corner of Raj Bhavan, precisely at the intersection of Kiran Shankar Road and Council House Street. We had to pay a minimal entry fee and a parking fee for our car. It seemed that not too many people visit the place regularly since the bemused security guard asked us whether we were coming from outside the city. Although I have heard that it still holds Sunday services, it is improbable that many people attend those as the church is situated in a largely commercial neighborhood.

 

The land on which the church is built was donated by Maharaja Naba Krishna Deb of Sovabazar. The founding stone was laid by Warren Hastings, the then British Governor General of India, in 1784 and the church was inaugurated in the presence of Lord Cornwallis in 1787. It initially served as the Anglican Cathedral of Calcutta and was the first Anglican church in the city. Modeled by architect Lt. James Agg, on lines of the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields in England, the church is built with brick and stone and often referred to as 'the stone church'. The portico with lofty pillars and the tall stone spire holding a giant clock along with the imposingly large square base make an impressive architecture. Inside, the main altar is a simple one and to its right is a colourful stained glass window.

To the left of the altar, hangs on the wall, the famous painting of 'Last Supper' by England based German artist Johann Zoffany. Unlike Leonardo da Vinci's rendering of the painting by the same name, Zoffany's 'Last Supper' has a distinct Indian touch like the sword or the spittoon and even it is believed that some of the disciples of Jesus were modeled on real life Britishers of then Calcutta. The painting was restored in 2010 by the Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan India in cooperation with the Indian National Trust for Art and Culture Heritage. In Fact if my memory serves me right, I came across in the newspapers a few years back that during the restoration part only the identity of the artist was revealed and it was hitherto unknown that he had been to Kolkata.

All along the walls of the church are memorial tablets mainly of army officers and civil servants besides other prominent citizens of the day. Interestingly many of these tablets too has some Indian-ness reflecting in them. A wooden arching staircase on the right connects the first floor but it is now out of bounds for the general public.

The church compound also has a cemetery, probably the oldest Christian cemetery of Calcutta and many tombs and memorials of renowned persons are to be found here. Once we exited the church building from the left side, we came across such a memorial dedicated to Lady Canning, the wife of British Governor General and Viceroy to India, set up in 1861. Her name has been made immortal after a popular sweet was named after her in Bengal. Some of the other prominent people whose tombs we noticed included Lord Brabourne, Goveror General and Viceroy of British India.

At a far end of the ground is located the circular dome shaped tomb of Frances Johnson, a famous wealthy socialite who married four times and died in 1812 at a ripe old age of late eighties. She was popularly known as 'Begum' due to her close association with Amina Begum, the mother of Nawab of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, Siraj-ud-Daulah.

Not far from it, is the mausoleum of Job Charnock, a trader of the erstwhile British East India Company, who is popularly regarded as the founder of the city of Calcutta. Back in 1690, he set foot on the city which then comprised three small villages namely Sutanati, Gobindopur and Kolkata. Traditional belief is that he combined the three villages into the city of Calcutta but this theory is also challenged by many, especially the Sabarna Roy Chaudhury family and there had been a High Court ruling as well contradicting this opinion. Charnock only lived for two more years and died on 10th January, 1692 according to the date on his gravestone. However, from other reliable sources it is evident that he died in the year 1693. This discrepancy is attributed to the old calendar system by which the new year begun in March. The simple white two-storied mausoleum has an octagonal base with a dome shaped roof, arched doors and a balustrade of short peaked arches. The mausoleum, which has an evident effect of Indo-Islamic architecture was erected by Charnock's son-in-law, Sir Charles Eyre and the epitaph is inscribed in Latin.

Another interesting cenotaph is the Second Rohilla War Memorial, which comprises a circular dome shaped roof supported on twelve Doric pillars and contains a plaque with the names of many British soldiers who were killed in the Second Rohilla War of 1794.

Also located in the church compound is an obelisk with a wide base which commemorates the controversial Black Hole Tragedy of Calcutta. In 1756, after Sirad-ud-Daulah siezed Fort William from the British, it is said that the prisoners of war were confined in a small and poorly ventilated room and many of them died due to suffocation. John Holwell, who was a survivor of the incident narrated that 123 out of 146 prisoners died overnight. However, many historians have questioned the veracity of Holwell's account and feel that his version is highly exaggerated. Some even rejected the authenticity of the entire episode. Nevertheless, after Robert Clive defeated Siraj in the Battle of Plassey in 1757, Holwell built a memorial near the present day GPO in Dalhousie Square area to commemorate the victims of the Black Hole Tragedy. At some point of time during 1821, the memorial was broken or removed and Lord Curzon during his vice-regency (1901-6) commissioned a replica to be built in 1902 which was later on relocated to St. John's Church compound.

Contented after spending an hour in the peaceful church where we were the only visitors surrounded by so much history of the city of Calcutta of the colonial time, we stepped out to the busy modern city which is now rechristened as Kolkata.

Kolkata Kaleidoscope : Bhukailash Temples

On the auspicious day of Bengali New Year, my mother and I went to visit the Bhukailash Temples in Kidderpore. The temple complex was a little difficult to find as it is almost hidden in the crowded neighbourhood with many Bhojpuri speaking people dwelling in the surrounding. The nearest landmark is the Kidderpore Tram Depot and one should take the road opposite to the tram depot and then take a left turn and after some more turns down the narrow lanes, one would reach the temple complex. My mother remembered that she had visited the temples long back when she was a child. Interestingly, the place finds its place in a blog of the renowned author Amitav Ghosh.

The Bhukailash estate is one of the oldest zaminder family's palaces dating back to almost 250 years and is known as the Bhukailas Rajbari. The whole area was spread over hundred bighas of land but the property was reduced due to extension of Kidderpore Docks.
 
On the bank of a pond, the twin Shiva temples dedicated to Rakta-Kamaleshwar and Krishna-Chandreshwar were built by Maharaja Joynarayan Ghoshal Bahadur in the year 1781. Two large Shiva Linga each about 11 feet high are the reigning deities of the two temples. The temples look like they have been given a fresh coat of paint in recent times but the colours seemed a bit too bright and may be the old worn look which I have seen in some earlier photographs would have suited them more and be reminiscent of the bygone era of the Bhukailash zaminders. The temple architecture is that of the a simple aat-chala which is typical of Bengal.

Joynarayan Ghoshal (1752-1821) was born in Gobindapore and was well versed in Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali, Arabic, Persian and English. According to a book, he was nominated by Nawab Mubarak Daulat to serve the provincial councils of Patna, Murshidabad, Dacca and Burdwan.  He received a royal grant from the Emperor of Delhi, Mohammad Jahandar Shah and was conferred with the title of Maharaja Bahadur. As per a stone inscription nearby, he also held the post of a superintendent during the tenure of Police Superintendent John Shakespeare and was involved in benevolent activities along with Raja Rammohan Roy and Iswarchandra Vidyasagar.

The zaminder palace has been ruined and only a few pillars and the inner courtyard and nahabat-khana are reminiscent of the past.

A temple dedicated to Patit-Paboni (manifestation of Goddess Durga) and built in the year 1782 is situated inside the inner courtyard.

It is believed that Sadhak Ramprasad visited this temple and it is he who gave the name Bhukailash or Abode of the Gods on Earth. 

Kolkata Kaleidoscope : St. Teresa's Church

I first came to know of the existence of this church when I was invited to a wedding reception of one of my ex-colleagues. I was a bit surprised at first since he was a Hindu and it was a reception party and not the wedding itself but when I reached there I realized that the backyard of the church has been rented out for the wedding reception. The church building in itself looked interesting so I came back after a few days to visit the church along with Saibal, a friend of mine (who was also invited to that wedding reception party).

It is a catholic church, formally called St. Teresa of Avila Church, built in the late 19^th century and located on the AJC Bose Road near Moulali. There is very little information that I could gather on this particular church apart from the fact that it was founded between 1895-97 and was blessed by Monsignor Goethals. The church was renovated about a hundred years later and was blessed then by Mother Teresa. The church was named after St. Teresa of Avila, the prominent Spanish mystic, Roman Catholic saint and Carmelite nun of the 16^th century.

The beautiful red building of the church has an imposing structure and the interesting fact is that many of the instructions were written in Bengali indicating that it must be a popular parish amongst the Bengali speaking Anglo-Indian society. The church also contains a statue of Mother Teresa.

Kolkata Kaleidoscope : Metcalfe Hall

During one of my walks in the Dalhousie area, the heart of the Kolkata's business centre, I came across the Metcalfe Hall at the juncture of Strand Road and Hare Street. It was built between 1840-44, was designed by the city magistrate C.K. Robinson and was named after Sir Charles Metcalfe, who officiated as the Governor General in 1835-36 during the interval of the departure of Lord Bentinck and arrival of Lord Auckland, in honour of his efforts towards a free press. The architectural showpiece is said to be inspired by the Tower of Winds in Athens. Thirty lofty Corinthian columns supporting the massive entablature gives it a classical Greek look.

The Imperial Library was inaugurated here by Lord Curzon in 1903 and later on it evolved to National Library and shifted to Belvedre. 

On the eastern side is a huge portico with wide stairs leading to the hall. The building has been renovated recently by the Archaeological Survey of India and is being prepared to use it as a museum, supplementing the Indian Museum at Chowringhee. When I visited some terracotta tablets and brick samples were exhibited but renovation was still going on in the interiors.