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With more than 50 years of travelling about in India, one can share a good deal of information and experience about out-of-the-way places and roads less travelled. That can make visits all the more exciting and enjoyable.

Monday 7 October 2019

Barrackpore - once a colonial outpost

Much has been lost in Kolkata (till 2000 known much more widely as Calcutta, the first capital of British India) over the last one hundred years or so; but much still remains. Thanks to the personal interest taken by Shri Somen Mitra, Additional Director General of Police (West Bengal Police), the Governors' House in Barrackpore near Kolkata has received a new lease of life. Slowly, the classical architecture with the Doric facade is emerging out of the dust and shadows of years of neglect.
Barrackpore can be easily reached by a short drive of less than an hour from Kolkata along the Barrackpore Trunk Road, turning left at Chiria More, or four-way crossing, towards the Barrackpore Cantonment; the main sites are to the left shortly beyond the small Lady Hardinge Bridge. One may go in a shorter time of about half an hour from Sealdah Railway station by suburban train up to Barrackpore; but such trains tend to be quite crowded.
The history of the governor's house at Barrackpore goes back to the life and  times of Lord Wellesley, governor-general at the Fort William in Calcutta in 1798. Since then it has served as the country residence of successive Governors-general and Viceroys of India under the British colonial rule, till India achieved Independence in 1947.


 





It was in the adjoining military cantonment at Barrackpore, that Mangal Pandey, a sepoy in the Native Infantry, lit the lamp of revolt against the British military establishment, that saw its rise into the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 (also known as India's first War of Independence) against British misrule in India. 
Barrackpore is a short journey by local suburban train (best over a week-end) or by car from Kolkata. After passing "Lat Bagan" (literally, the governor's garden) at Barrackpore,  one would have get permission from the local Directorate of Police Training and proceed to the Lady Hardinge Bridge a short distance from the "White Tiger Statue". The small museum in the basement of the Governor's House is a "must see" for local history - indeed for modern Indian history.
  

Sunday 26 May 2019

Kolkata - a city that grows on you

Tucked away in the far south-eastern corner of the Gangetic plains, about 1400 kms away from the bustling capital city of Delhi, Kolkata ( earlier known as Calcutta - once the second city of the British Empire) had not been given much attention earlier by tourists. It is overlooked that Calcutta was the administrative centre of British India during the days of the East India Company from about 1695 and later, from 1858, the seat of the British colonial administration in India. It was, in fact, capital of British India upto 1912, when this was shifted to Delhi. 
Now it is coming increasingly into its own. Teeming with people of all colours and creeds, with notable historical sites, a major centre for art and culture, cuisine of all sorts at affordable prices, many places to "chill-out" with friends, Kolkata seems to grow on you.








                                            The Calcutta Collectorate

Walking through the streets of Kolkata there are so many sights and sounds that one can experience: there is the Flower Market on way to the Howrah railway station, church bells on a Sunday morning, or chanting of prayers at a temple, or a horse carriage ride near the Victoria Memorial. The archtecture in the city is varied, from a ixture of Renaissance, Gothic and Baroque during the British adminitsration, to the Indo-Saracenic, to "ath-chala" of native Bengal; a few of these are illustrated on this page.

                                            Victoria Memorial

                                                        The Flower market


                                                        St John's Chirch
There is so much to see and do, so many interesting art galleries and museums, theatres (though mainly of Bengali plays). There are many books on the history and architecture of Calcutta, and the work "10 Walks in Calcutta" is a useful read, appreciated by Lonely Planet and Frommers. This book guides the visitor through easy walks to discover the city. For those who can read Bengali, one can leaf through the "Paye Paye Kolkata" recently published by Ananda Publishers, that should give a visitor a good introduction to the city.

Thursday 17 January 2019

Vanghat - close to Corbett National Park

Many people visit Corbett Tiger Reserve each year and, it is certainly one of the premier wilderness areas in India. Perhaps not quite as many people know about Vanghat and, fewer still take the trouble to visit it. 
Vanghat is located about thirty five kilometres from the town of Ramnagar, itself accessible by a six-hour road or rail journey from Delhi, past the village of Mohan on the way to Marchula in the Kumaon Hills. 
The first sense of excitement comes with seeing the Ramganga River glittering like a streamer of light and winding its course through the high cliffs on either side of it. This excitement increases when one is walking with a guide about two kilometre along a footpath that clings to the hillside through scattered forests, where a ghoral, a Yellow-throated Marten,  a Yellow-billed Blue Magpie or a Kaleej Pheasant can be seen with equal ease. The alternative is to ford the Ramganga River in a 4-wheel drive vehicle at five places and to do the last stretch on a bamboo raft. 


Making the last stretch by bamboo raft

Cottages at Vanghat

A Brown Fish Owl close to the river


Grey-headed Tree pie in the campus

I took it easy this time, my fourth visit to Vanghat in twelve years: the intervening years had taken some toll. Sumantha Ghosh, in spite of his very heavy schedule, provided all the consideration and ensured all my comfort.  So in the end, I could just stand or sit anywhere in the campus and soak up the sun as it moved across the sky or listen to the sound of the  Ramganga River as it brushed past the black rock-face of the cliffs. In the process, I managed - without really trying -to see about 45 species of birds just within the Vanghat campus, including a pair of Kaleej Pheasants, a flight of Long-tailed Minivets and an unexpected bonus of a Rufous-bellied Niltava; Grey-headed Tree-pie seemed to have taken over the dining area, with a Blue Whistling Thrush keeping them company. The alarm calls of the kakar and of the sambar on the second evening on sighting the tiger that at times comes in to the neighborhood, was the icing on the cake.
Vanghat! Long may you continue to give this unalloyed delight to lovers of wildlife in India.