Friday, July 23, 2010
Temple Terracottas of Bengal
Friday, January 15, 2010
A FORGOTTEN PALACE IN WEST BENGAL (INDIA)
A VISIT TO SONARUNDI
I visited a small village named Erera during January,2007 ...... this was my first visit to a small place without any official bindings in many years.It is near a station called Salar in Murshidabad district.The village is predominantly inhabitated by agriculturists - the land owners and the peasants.
I stayed at Erera for two days and two nights.The last place where my host took me on the 1st day was Sonarundi.It is at the border of districts Burdwan and Murshidabad, 5 km from the place where I was put up .... may be 17/18 km from Katwa , a big and quite well known town in the Burdwan district and on the confluence of the Ganges and Ajay rivers.
TRIPS TO SONARUNDI :
The Palace, the Gate ,the Tower and the stable are in ruinous stage, ravaged by time . A small part of Palace only is habitable . Inside ,within the habitable part itself, there is a huge courtyard and a 'thakur-dalan' where idols of Radha-Krishna are worshiped. A large-scale repair work was going on there on the structure around the court-yard ... unfortunately , photography of the court-yard and 'thakur-dalan' is prohibited.
(On LH, a view of the once-magnificent Arch of the Entrance)
Most of the external areas of the palace are a photographer's delight.But, it is important that this once-magnificent structure gets fund for repair urgently, as I was told by my host that the deterioration is rapid.
( On the LH, a view of a small portion of the Palace which has properly maintained facade.
On the left, we can see the sprawling Stable with no roof and at the far end, the Watch Tower with 52 stairs......... now inaccessible. )
The Palace was a two storied brick-and-mortar structure , rectangular in shape , built with bricks.The structure could be at least 125 years old.The photos 'Ravaged by time' posted at the end of this page as well as the one above give the Viewer idea about the height . The compound wall and the minor gates with arches are gone. But, as one walks around this Palace, and also on the ground beyond the Stable, one can see crumbling structures of the once-strong boundary walls , gates etc.
I felt sad at the way two cannons were lying on the dusty ground , neglected . If they could have been mounted on masonry blocks , with their respective histories inscribed on plaques fixed onto the front face of these blocks, it would have looked quit regal !
(On the RH, one of the two cannons lying on the ground)
The owner, known as 'Ranee-ma' stays at Katwa with her relatives.I would like to meet her during the coming winter during my next visit to that region , learn and publish the history of this Palace with some more photographs . This will create an awareness about the urgency of the situation. Also, I believe , publicity will attract tourists to Sonarundi.After all , Katwa is not very far from Calcutta. Crossing the rivers in a ferry while wondering at the width of the confluence , homage to Ma Kali and Radha-Krishna at BilalaBabar Ashram at Shankhai Ghat and then a visit to 'Uddharapurer Ghat' on the Ganges and then enjoy an afternoon's photography around this Palace, feeding the age-old fishes of adjacent pond can be an intersting trip to travel-crazy Bengalis.
A post-script : Forefathers of my mother are from a neighbouring village ... Shimulia. I was told that my maternal Grandfather, Yoshoda Nandan Bhattachayra, who was a freedom fighter and a Doctor, studied in the school adjacent to the Palace of Sonarundi. It was at least an hour's walk for a boy from his village those days.
A FEW MORE PHOTOS FROM MY ALBUM :
( Clockwise from the top :
Ravaged by time -I
Ravaged by time - The entrance to the Tower.
Ravaged by time - Another view of of I )
DESTINATION SONARUNDI :
If one plans to travel by train and buses from Calcutta , there can be two alternatives .
- One can go to Burdwan by train, take a Burdwan-Baharampur bus and get down at Sonarundi.This trip will take upto 90 minutes.
- At the time of returning, one has to change buses at Pachindi to visit Uddharanpurer Ghat on the Ganges and Shankhai Ghat at the confluence of the Ganges and Ajay river.These are small distances which can be covered on foot . The ferry-ride across the confluence in a bright afternoon is a trip one must enjoy. On the other side of the ferry-ghat,one can take a rickshaw to the market of Katwa town, relish his/her pick of the choicest sweets available from the neat eateries and then take a train to Calcutta.
- The other way is to start from Katwa , cross the confluence to Shankhai Ghat and follow the reverse of the bus journey mentioned above.Once back to Burdwan, there will be lots of trains to take to Calcutta.
From top to bottom ( clockwise) :
(Confluence of the Ganges and Ajay river)
( Uddharanpurer Ghat on the Ganges )
( While I was standing at the Sankhai Ferry Ghat)
NOTE : for details regarding location, please view :
http://wikimapia.org/#lat=23.670311&lon=88.114471&z=13&l=0&m=a&v=2
KNIGHT : OUR BLACK LAB.
knight:ourblacklab.
Memories of Knight : his early days at Durgapur :
Knight greets Pucho on his return
from Pune, summer 2004.
Knight at my friend's residence at Tollygunge.
Knight our constant companion :
at Bakreswar, March, 2005
Thursday, January 14, 2010
THE CELEBRATION & A 'THANK YOU' NOTE !
Moumita suggested if the Reception can be arranged in a lawn .Fortunately, we located a lawn quite close to our Flat @ Parnasree.This lawn in a premises called 'Daga Vatika' suited us to a 'T'.It was half-a-kilometer away, close to Behala Airport and adequate for the 300 guests we planned to invite.The few persons who went with us to check if the lawn is good enough came out satisfied at our selection.
After this easy task was over. Ruby started the lengthy process of getting ready the dresses everyone of our and the extended families would wear on the evening of Reception. In all, she designed more than a dozen dresses for that evening, each of which drew admiring attention of the guests.
Hurray! to Liaqat whose associates did a wonderful job for us.
Surath landed in Calcutta on 5/12/2009 and took over the responsibility of the balance work to be done for the evening of the Reception and formalities of gift exchanges . He single-handedly tackled decoration of the lawn and the Reception Hall and led the running around during exchange of gifts between the families of the bride and groom.He was in the party that went to accompany the bride and the groom to our Flat from the bride's residence on the afternoon before Reception, managing the activities of decoration on phone . Surath also captured video and still photographs of the occasion which fill up 16 GB of my HDD.
' Thank you' Surath for managing all these activities without loosing your cool.
Surath's fiancee, Ritika was always available for discussion and video chat with Ruby regarding the dress design phase and kept up the tempo. This was her 2nd visit to our place in Calcutta. She handled two major responsibilities with elan . First was : carrying gifts for Moumita's family, together with Surath and a contingent of US/Indian friends, to her place and representing our family .Second was : looking after the guests during the Reception. Her demeanour earned a lot praise from our friends, immediate and extended families.
'Three Cheers' for Ritika for coming forward to share the families' responsibility of hospitality.
Our Caterer Debu , whom we 'discovered' a fortnight before the Reception, executed his responsibility of the dinners of both the marriage party and the Reception smoothly. Shall I call it like 'a hot knife in a slab of butter'.... hmm, not a very apprpriate comparison. A well-known caterer of Calcutta,"Bhoj' was thrown out because their extremely poor show in another Reception a few days ahead of our dinner. A risk we took and whoa!, it worked !
'Three cheers' for Debu for 'delivering' the long-debated menus on the buffet tables , excellent and mouth-watering in taste .
'Three cheers' for Moly and Prabhat for their co-operation in allowing our out-station guests in their vacant flat @ Parnasree. It was a great help as we could accommodate Ritika and her parents, who came all the way from Gurgaon plus some the friends of Sujash just across the road.
The marriage is an occasion which need the best from the mother of the groom and Ruby was always ready with ideas for making the occasion different by raising all the departments a notch above the usual . Design of dresses and the invitation card and packaging the gifts to the bride's family received her top attention. I do not know which were her bigger achievement - the aesthetics or the show or managing the disparate group of guests our friends and relatives,friends of Sujash and those of two extended families .... I cannot say. I would say, Ruby, what this occasion would have been if you were not so resourceful !
Not resting on her laurels, she has started planning for the surprise items for Ritika-Surath's marriage !