Th e
Maidan - literally "field" - which stretches from
Esplanade in the north to the racecourse in the south, and is bordered
by Jawaharlal Nehru Rd (Chowringhee) to the east and the Strand
and the river to the west, is one of the largest city parks in the
world. This vast area of open space stands in utter contrast to the
chaotic streets of the city that surrounds it, big enough to swallow
up several clubs, including the Calcutta Ladies Golf Club,
and the immaculate greens of the Calcutta Bowling Club. It
was created when the now-inconspicuous Fort William was laid
out near the river in 1758, and Robert Clive cleared tracts of forest
to give its guns a clear line of fire. Originally it was a haven for
the elite, with a strictly enforced dress code. Now, early each morning,
ordinary citizens come to exercise, shepherds graze their flocks,
and riders on horseback canter along the old bridleways. In the late
afternoons, it plays host to scores of impromptu cricket and football
matches, as well as games of kabaad
iA road leads west through the Maidan from the top of Park Street
to the gates of Fort William. As the military headquarters
of eastern command, this allows entry only to those who have sought
permission in advance, although the public are allowed into certain
sections on special occasions. Built on the site of the old village
of Govindapur, and commissioned by the British after their defeat
in 1756, the fort was completed in 1781 and named after King William
III. A rough octagon, about 500m in diameter, whose massive but low
bunker-like battlements are punctuated by six main gates, the fort
was designed to hold all the city's Europeans in the event of attack.
To one side it commanded a view of the Maidan, cleared to give a field
of fire; to the other it dominated the river and its crucial shipping
lanes. Water from the river was diverted to fill its surrounding moat.
Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century structures inside include the Church
of St Peter's (now a library), barracks and stables, an arsenal, strong
rooms and a prison. Today, the army still controls the Maidan and
any special construction or activity must be approved by them.
The sprawling and amorphous area of north Calcutta was long
part of the "native" town rather than the European sectors,
and was where the city's prosperous nineteenth-century Bengali families
created their little palaces. Today its markets continue to thrive
unchanged, and the occasional church stands as a reminder of days
gone by
North of BBD Bagh, the area known as Barabazaar has played
host to a succession of trading communities; the Portuguese were here
even before Job Charnock landed at the fishing village that stood
close by, and it later became home to Marwari and Gujarati merchants.
The small and hectic lanes south of MG Rd are lined with shops and
stalls that sell everything from glass bangles to textiles
At the northwest corner of Barabazaar, near Howrah Bridge, is Calcutta's
oldest church, the Armenian Church of Our Lady of Nazareth.
Founded in 1724 by Cavond, an Armenian from Persia, it was built on
the site of an Armenian cemetery in which the oldest tombstone dates
to 1630. The Armenian community, drawn from both Armenia and Persia,
was already highly influential at the courts of Bengal by the time
the British arrived, and played an important role in the early history
of the East India Company. Later they went on to help start the lucrative
jute industry. Just around the corner on MG Rd at Murghihatta, the
"Chicken Market", stands the Portuguese Roman Catholic
Cathedral, built in 1797.North Cal
East of Barabazaar on Rabindra Sarani (formerly Chitpore Road), the
huge red Nakhoda Masjid, whose two lofty minarets rise to 46
metres, is the great Jami Masjid (Friday mosque) of the city. Completed
in 1942, it was modelled on Akbar's Tomb at Sikandra near Agra; its
four floors can hold ten thousand worshippers. The traditional Muslim
market that flourishes all around the mosque sells religious items
along with clothes, dried fruit and sweets such as firni, made
of rice. Down the road is Calcutta's most renowned Muslim restaurant,
the Royal. North along Rabindra Sarani, musical instrument
makers specialize in sitars, harmoniums and tanburas
Until relatively recently, the chaotic jumble of streets to the south
along Rabindra Sarani housed a thriving Chinatown, opium dens
and all. Chinese families continue to live around Chhatawala Gully,
where a small early-morning street market offers home-made pork sausages,
noodles and jasmine tea. But the stalls serving wonton and
dim sum, are rapidly disappearing and the legendary Nanking
restaurant, once one of the most elegant in the city, has finally
closed its doors. Today, the best Chinese restaurants can be found
in the east of the city, in the new Chinatown in Tangra
North of MG Rd, on the tiny Muktaram Babu St off Chittaranjan Ave,
the controversial Marble Palace preserves its lavish, sensuous
and sometimes tasteless treasures in less than satisfactory conditions
(Tues-Wed & Fri-Sun; free). Visitors are supposed to obtain passes
from the main tourist offices at BBD Bagh or Shakespeare Sarani, but
a little baksheesh to the caretaker has not been unheard of;
photography is forbidden. Built in 1835 by Raja Rajendro Mullick Bahadur,
a wealthy zamindar educated by an English tutor, the colonnaded
mansion epitomizes the incredible profusion of influences of the period,
and is still maintained by the Raja's descendants, who live here.
The palace earns its name from its ornate marble-paved chambers, which
hold statues, European antiques, Venetian glass, chandeliers, mirrors
and Ming vases. There are paintings by Rubens, Titian, Sir Joshua
Reynolds and Gainsborough; supposedly there's even a statue by Michelangelo.
At the centre of the building, part of an Italian courtyard is taken
up by an aviary, while the grounds hold a small zoo
North of Marble Palace is the city's main red-light area, Sonagachi.
This is not a district into which travellers are advised to venture;
those who do invariably come to harm, at the very least through finding
themselves arrested by the police
On Dwarkanath Tagore Lane, a short walk northeast of the Marble Palace,
the small campus of Rabindranath Tagore's liberal arts university,
Rabindra Bharati, preserves the house where he was born and
died. Now the Rabindra Bharati Museum, currently undergoing
restoration, it holds a large collection of his paintings (Mon-Fri
10am-5pm, Sat 10am-1.30pm; free). Next door, Bichitra Bhavan is used,
as it was by Tagore himself, to stage theatrical performances. In
September, it is the scene of a festival commemorating the Nobel Laureate
Further east, College Street stretches along the edge of Calcutta
University. Established in 1857 as the pride of Bengali learning,
it still has one of the largest student bodies in the world. Senate
House, one of its earliest buildings, was gutted during the turbulent
days of the early Seventies. College St deals exclusively in books
and supplies for students; its pavement stalls and shops are an excellent
hunting ground for secondhand books, if not genuine antiques. Adjoining
Albert St the famous India Coffee House, although now a bit
jaded, continues to attract students and the intelligentsia. The small
Ashutosh Museum of Indian History, at the Centenary Building
on College St, has a good collection of Bengali art, handicrafts and
fabrics as well as rare Buddhist manuscripts and statues (Mon-Fri
10.30am-4.30pm, Sat 10.30am-3pm; free)
North Calcutta has two large Jain temples. One, in Belgachia
next to the bridge and the Metro station, is a simple red sandstone
structure set in manicured lawns, dedicated to the Digambara sect.
The other, at Manicktolla, known as the Parasnath Jain
temple, consists of a group of temples set in an ornate garden which
holds ponds full of carp. It honours Sitalnath, the lord of
water and the tenth in the line of twenty-four tirthankaras
(crossing-makers) that culimnated with Mahavira, born in Vaishali
in 599 BC. Neoclassical marble and alabaster statues grace the grounds,
while the main temple, another architectural hybrid, is crowned by
an ornate cupola. Inside the chamber the image of Sitalnath is surrounded
by gaudy marble-work studded with silver. An odd mixture of Venetian
and post-Moghul, its assorted multi-hued chandeliers are offset by
the surrounding glass and mirrors.
|
|
 |
Inside Kolkata |
|
Outside Kolkata |
|
