Wrapping up the St. John’s Church visit

“Seven generations of my family were born in Calcutta, there are three Dalrymples sitting inside St John’s graveyard. And a great-great-grandfather’s plaque is on the St John’s Church wall.” – William Dalrymple While the graves might have been shifted to a different location with St. John’s Church compound no longer being a graveyard, the plaques, […]

St. John’s Church Interiors – Unimaginably historical

The St. John’s Church is indeed one of a kind. While I gave glimpses of the remarkable church compound in my last post, in this one, we will slowly step in through the foyer and take in the first set of unimaginably amazing artefacts that you might have no idea could exist anymore! Consecrated on […]

“Presidency” Church compounds – A walk through history

“We owe to future generations a preserved and unmutilated heritage of Calcutta’s eccentric but exciting old buildings,” – Amartya Sen Having covered most of the Tank Square, as it was called in its heydays, the distant steeple of the St. John’s Church calls…like an appropriate next stop, particularly having mentioned the Black Hole tragedy in […]

Tank Square, Black Hole and the Nursery of Calcutta

“Anyway, if Calcutta today suffers in comparison, it’s not really to other cities, but principally to itself and what it used to be. Anyone who has an idea of what Calcutta once was will find that vanished Calcutta the single most insurmountable obstacle to understanding, or sympathising with, the city today.” – Amit Chaudhuri Let’s […]

Of Letters, Life Insurance and a Secretariat…

“…কলিকাতা শোনে নাকো চলার খেয়ালে; নৃত্যের নেশা তার স্তম্ভে দেয়ালে।আমি মনে মনে ভাবি চিন্তা তো নাই, কলিকাতা যাক নাকো সোজা বোম্বাই।দিল্লি লাহোরে যাক, যাক না আগরা – মাথায় পাগ‍্‌ড়ি দেব পায়েতে নাগ্‌রা।কিম্বা সে যদি আজ বিলাতেই ছোটে ইংরেজ হবে সবে বুট-হ্যাট্‌-কোটে।কিসের শব্দে ঘুম ভেঙে গেল যেই- দেখি, কলিকাতা আছে কলিকাতাতেই॥”– রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর “…Kolikata keeps walking […]

Connected and insured under the watch of the Knight Grand Commander

“In the streets of Calcutta I sometimes imagine myself a foreigner, and only then do I discover how much is to be seen, which is lost so long as its full value in attention is not paid.” – Rabindranath Tagore And who could say it better, than him? How often do we roam around the […]

Calcutta… the London that was!

This has been looooooooooooong due! Manjit took me on this walk in February 2018, and here I am with half of 2020 gone! Not that it can be an excuse but 2018 had been a mad year and then it just slipped off the radar! And yet, as I started going through some old pictures, […]

Mind over matter or matter over mind????

Thought translation of আমি by Rabindranath Tagore, written on 29 May 1936 at Santiniketan By the power of my concsiousness, emerald got its green and coral red.The force of my vision illumined every corner of the vast spread, that is the sky!In my love for the rose, I uttered “Pretty” – and oh, how handsome […]

Tagore – Through the eyes of Gulzar Part III

By some strange coincidence, SAREGAMA today posted a song that had been on my mind since the last few days… and the words were haunting me as much as the tune. You know like those songs that you keep humming through the day, for no apparent rhyme or reason! Ok, there might be a reason, […]

Longing…

Tonight, I fear not even if you come empty-handed into my lonely chamber, O friend… for I know your hands are there to hold me if my steps falter… Aimlessly I have wandered day and night through the streets and alleys of futile desire. It is about time I yield to your august presence. For […]