Recently I read an article in the newspaper. Someone had written about old ancient homes, once elegant buildings now gone or on the verge of breaking down.....
Shreya, my daughter was a member of a small group of photographers who would visit different parts of Calcutta to click interesting photographs of various things...In these were ancient buildings that were elegant once. Most of these structures that belonged to the elite classes are now dilapidated as they are not maintained properly.
I often wondered if anyone maintained any record of their exsistence. Such buildings were fast vanishing as promoters razed them down. There are many reasons for these old buildings of our city vanishing forever . Most owners often wanted to sell these houses before they were declared heritage property. Very high maintanence costs also was a cause. Sometimes a large number of tenants renting the property, made it impossible for the owner to maintain the property thus leading to its collapse. Some of these structures were so broken down that they were actually dangerous and some of the sections quite unsafe.
One of such buildings, belongs to the Mukherji family of Chandan nagar. Most of the members of Mukherji family have shifted to kolkata and elsewhere. Some parts of the home, for instance, the Thakur Dalan, still remind us of what the estate looked like in its opulent era.
The courtyard, the terrace ,the balconies, the dalan, rooms, stairs, windows, doors, tiles, grills, pillars all invoke lost memories and the silence is quite incredible !
All have a story to tell.
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| At Kumartuli |
Shreya, my daughter was a member of a small group of photographers who would visit different parts of Calcutta to click interesting photographs of various things...In these were ancient buildings that were elegant once. Most of these structures that belonged to the elite classes are now dilapidated as they are not maintained properly.
I often wondered if anyone maintained any record of their exsistence. Such buildings were fast vanishing as promoters razed them down. There are many reasons for these old buildings of our city vanishing forever . Most owners often wanted to sell these houses before they were declared heritage property. Very high maintanence costs also was a cause. Sometimes a large number of tenants renting the property, made it impossible for the owner to maintain the property thus leading to its collapse. Some of these structures were so broken down that they were actually dangerous and some of the sections quite unsafe.
One of such buildings, belongs to the Mukherji family of Chandan nagar. Most of the members of Mukherji family have shifted to kolkata and elsewhere. Some parts of the home, for instance, the Thakur Dalan, still remind us of what the estate looked like in its opulent era.
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| The Mukherji family |
All have a story to tell.
Such a beautiful clutter of history.
This is quaint, real, a dream......as if in the distance one can still hear the conch shells as there is aarati going on in the thakur ghar of the Mukherji bari .
For the last 250 years Narayan has been worshipped here, protecting the family, of which only a few members still reside in the house. A house with 50-60 rooms, a mansion with two courtyards, a bari with achievements a home with people.....
This time, I haven't written any recipe, just put on paper my thoughts......
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| Junior Mrs Mukherji, Chaitali |
This time, I haven't written any recipe, just put on paper my thoughts......
If you have anything to say please feel free to write to me.....
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| Antic Homes Pic By: Debashis Kundu |
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