The last Wikipedia Takes Kolkata photowalk was on 2014 and the year 2015 saw no new seasons. Finally it returned January, 2016 with Season V and this time we explored the areas around Kidderpore. This time it was a much compact and dedicated team which started the walk from Kidderpore tram depot after a light breakfast of Kachori from a roadside stall.
Rangan Datta giving a brief intro before the starting of the walk
Our first destination was the St. Stephen’s Cemetery which was established in the year 1820. The cemetery is maintained by the Christian Burial Board, who is in charge of the iconic South Park Street and the Lower Circular Road cemeteries too. This cemetery, once, was used as the burial place for sailors and sea-men. Today most of the old surviving graves are broken and in bad state.
St. Stephen’s Cemetery (Photo: Santanu Chandra)
St. Stephen’s Cemetery
A Tomb at St. Stephen’s Cemetery
Wikipedians at the St. Stephen’s Cemetery (Photo: Biswarup Ganguly)
The next destination was the Bhukailash temple complex of the Ghoshal Rajbari. Constructed in the year 1781 on the Eastern and Western sides of the palace by Maharaja Joynarayan Ghoshal, they are dedicated to Raktakamaleswar and Krishnachandeshwar (Shiva temples named after his parents). The Shiva Linga in one of the temples was huge. There was a lake in front of the temples. The palace is in ruins and part if it has been remodeled by the current generation Ghoshals. Only the Nahabatkhana of the old palace remains, though sandwiched between matchbox apartments, and has been restored(?) and declared as heritage site.
The Nahabatkhana From Outside
And Inside
One of the temples at Bhukailash
Bhukailash temple wall artwork
There is also a Patit Paboni Durga Temple inside the palace complex established in 1782. Inside the temple are plaques written in English and Arabic.
Patit Paboni Durga Temple (Photo: Indrajit Das)
Our next destination was the area near the Kidderpore bridge. This area is called Kabitirtha due to the houses of three poets, Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Rangalal Bandyopadhyay and Hemchandra Bandyopadhyay. Madhusudan’s house is right on Karl Marx Sarani (20B) and is now occupied by a diagnostic centre, clothing retail shop etc.
Residence of Michael Madhusudan Dutt (Photo: Indrajit Das)
Rangalal Bandyopadhyay’s home is on a road off Karl Marx Sarani. A plaque has been placed on the house which reads “Kobi Rangalal Kutir”.
House of Poet Rangalal Bandopadhay. (Image: Indrajit Das)
Of the three houses, Hemchandra Bandyopadhyay’s house is in the most sorry state. It is literally falling off and one of the neighbors told that at times chunks from the house fall on their home too, damaging it. Even after repeated pleas from the locals, no step has been taken to restore the house.
House of Poet Hemchandra Bandopadhay. (Photo – Indrajit Das)
Around the Kabitirtha area we saw several beautiful houses, some in bad condition, others better. If all these houses are restored this area will become a visual treat and can very well be promoted as a tourist spot.
Our last destination was a bit away. Walking through Kidderpore we reached Tolly nullah and crossed it to enter the Marine area of Hastings. We were visiting the Lascar War Memorial. Quoting the plaques of the memorial –
was erected by the
shipping companies &
Mercantile community
of Calcutta to the
memory of
896 Seamen of Bengal
Assam & Upper India
Who lost their lives
in the service of the
British empire
in the great war
of 1914-1918”
Lascar War Memorial (Photo: Indrajit Das)
It was unveiled by the then Governor of Bengal Lord Lytton on 6th February 1924. The 100 feet monument was built by William Ingram Keir. Taken over by the Indian Navy in 1994, it was renovated from December 1994 to April 1995.
All thanks to Indian Navy, our walk ended with a refreshing breakfast of tea and sandwich on the lawns of Lascar War Memorial.
Before ending few photos of the walk participants –
Arup Chowdhury
Santanu Chandra, Tapas Deb, Ananya Mondal
Kalyan Sarkar, Sujay Chandra
Deepanjan Ghosh, Amitava Sengupta, Indrajit Das, Rangan Datta
Shaikh Sohail, Deepanjan Ghosh, Amitava Sengupta, Indrajit Das, Rangan Datta
Thanks to –
Wikipedia Kolkata for yet another wonderful walk
Rangan Datta for leading the walk
Shaikh Sohail for guiding us through the lanes of Kidderpore
Commodore Ravi Alluwalia, Naval Officer in Charge West Bengal, for the lovely welcome at Lascar War Memorial
Other Blogs on the event –
Lovely captures!
Thanks from the whole team 🙂
this is really amazing… even I would like to be a part of a wiki walk some day 🙂
Yes, it really was an amazing experience 🙂
Excellent post and Thanks for mentioning my name !!
Thank you comrade 🙂
love all the photos and so varied. This looks like an interesting adventure.
What a beautiful cemetery, as well as the other old buildings. It’s too bad they’re not better cared for. I love the old history of buildings and places like cemeteries, but it’s so hard to get the money to keep them up.
That war memorial is gorgeous!
I’ve never heard of a wiki walk. Looks like it would be really interesting. Your photos were fun to look through. The architecture of some of those buildings is amazing!
Perhaps it’s strange to think so, but cemeteries are such beautiful places. The moments to lost loved ones and gorgeous art are always so moving. The temples, likewise, are beautiful! It looks like you’re journey was a beautiful one.
This is such an amazing experience! This is also actually the first time that I’ve heard of a wiki walk – and it absolutely looks amazing! I hope it could be something I can experience too. (Great shots, by the way!)
Now this is entirely new to me and I was not aware that this existed. I think it would be something different to try and also sounds interesting. You got a lot of great pictures in there.
Seems like it was a beautiful walk you had. There is just some amazing architecture that they have here. And I love just some of the beautiful bright colors they put on some of those buildings. It’s just so different.