I woke up on a sunny Saturday morning...with an urge to visit the Kolkata Riverside...
So, in the evening... after a lot of hmming & hawing, I managed to get hold of a friend of mine, to support me in my endeavour...
We took off in a taxi... as we traveled through the jam-packed, maze of roads in order to reach our destination... we came across jay-walkers... bad drivers... inept policemen & the RED LIGHTS!!!
I kept looking at the sky, cursing my luck & at whoever came in our way as I was afraid that due to the rapidly falling dusk... I will not be able to capture any good photographs on my camera....
If that was not enough...in-between, dad called up to say that there was a thunder storm warning... and asked me to stay clear of the water... sooooo.... no boating!!!
As we neared the Race Course... this little box on top of the tree(as it looked to me), caught my eye...
The watchtower overlooking the Royal Calcutta Turf Club, covered with trees…looks very striking against the clear Blue Sky…. must be a brilliant place to see the race from….
As we sped up the over-bridge… there was a beautiful scene of the Vidyasagar Setu rising like the pyramids of Giza from in between the neighborhood buildings….but our cab was traveling too fast for me to capture the sight, much to my disappointment…
I just couldnt wait to take the photos....
A quick click from my slow moving taxi, gives me this result...
The commemorative building in the memory of James Princep… The ‘Vidyasagar Setu’ towers over it…It looks like as if the columns of the cable stayed bridge is balancing on the diminutive building…
The commemorative building in the memory of James Princep… The ‘Vidyasagar Setu’ towers over it…It looks like as if the columns of the cable stayed bridge is balancing on the diminutive building…
As we neared Princep Ghat… my breath caught at the seer visual simplicity of the scene…
The slow moving river…
Soft waves glide over the surface of water
Like ripples on satin…
The water glitters in the light of the setting sun…
Like floating diamonds…
Boats bob gently…as if nodding their heads in agreement with the serenity
Buoys float by idly…like dark specks of rocks amidst the ocean..
At the banks the boatmen call…
To the lovers one and all…
Who sit and watch the sun go down
Then return home without a frown…
The vendors cry to sell their wares…
Urchins move without a care…
The trees whisper, rustling the leaves…
The dogs waiting for someone who gives,
A little love and some food perhaps…
The birds fly to their nests...
Now is the time, for insects and pests….
The slow moving river…
Soft waves glide over the surface of water
Like ripples on satin…
The water glitters in the light of the setting sun…
Like floating diamonds…
Boats bob gently…as if nodding their heads in agreement with the serenity
Buoys float by idly…like dark specks of rocks amidst the ocean..
At the banks the boatmen call…
To the lovers one and all…
Who sit and watch the sun go down
Then return home without a frown…
The vendors cry to sell their wares…
Urchins move without a care…
The trees whisper, rustling the leaves…
The dogs waiting for someone who gives,
A little love and some food perhaps…
The birds fly to their nests...
Now is the time, for insects and pests….
This was the first sight that met my eyes, as I neared the banks of the river Hoogly...
A complete retro feel- the tethered boats await their customers at the banks of the river ‘Hoogly’. The boat rides cost Rs.200/- for Just half an hour… !!
A complete retro feel- the tethered boats await their customers at the banks of the river ‘Hoogly’. The boat rides cost Rs.200/- for Just half an hour… !!
The rippling calm of the water was broken only the undulating glide of the boat...
An oarsman on the boat… it’s a tough job & needs a lot of strength to pull it through…especially when the currents are very strong....
This is a beautiful bridge and photographs really well...
The triangular half of the bridge…this bridge is one of the largest cable stayed bridge in the country..
This gives the feel of age-old, faded, sepia photograph, that would have definitely found a place in our grandparents album...
The boats on the gently flowing river…. Floating iron buoys…. Anchored barges in the distance with the bridge in the background…a lone kite flies over the rippling expanse of water.
These Buoys must have weathered lots of storms, yet they still exist... This is why it is said 'to be made of cast iron'...
These have been floating in these waters since the British era, when Kolkata was a flourishing Port !!!
Twin peaks of the Vidyasagar Setu, rise like the Kanchanjunga... contrasting agains the pallor of the beautiful blue sky...
Fast gathering cloud cover…. A storm brewing… There are so many colours... I wish I was an artist and could capture the Almighty's splendourous nature with a palette of coulors....
Colourful boats Floating on the lazy river ...
A classic close up of a floating boat, the oars lie in the front…
A boatman waiting for customers
The humungous chains... a remnant of the ‘British Raj’ … this was used to tether merchant ships to the banks of the river Hoogly
A colourful boat in the distance carrying joy-riders…
‘Kwality SCOOP’... a very old establishment.. brings back a high dose of nostalgia
The train is Coming!!! … Circular rail…
Beating the heat with a black current ice-cream cone, while contemplating the sky…waiting for the heavens to pour..
The Far-way Horizon….
A commemorating monument
A perfect symmetry ... A fishing boat carrying fishermen and their catch…
The Howrah Bridge can bee seen at a distance, beyond the veil of smog… with the barges huddled together in the forefront.
Flowing river … cool breeze … easy access makes it a popular lovers spot…
The Howrah Bridge (Rabindra Setu) at the background.... A landmark from the British Past... which even the tides of time has not been able to change... it remains a poignant , popular connecting thorough-fare...
A very wind blown lady…
Barges at the anchor...just a way of life...
The riverside walkway… Couldn't believe how clean it looked....
Whoa….!!! That’s quite a balancing act… sitting on the buoy so non-chalently...
Beauty in serenity.. a picturesque scene...
A banyan tree with prop roots…a very old tree… it must have lots of stories to tell…
A gangplank... bearing a desolate look
A launch… ferrying people from across the river
A stranded boat... note the accumulated silt... I almost gagged at the stench... YUCK!!!
The Eden Gardens station of the circular rail… aptly reflects the state of Eden Gardens!!
‘Babu Ghat’… bearing a deserted look… transforms itself on ‘Maha Dashami’ …as the last rituals of the ‘Duga Puja’ … ‘Bhashan’ – the immersion, takes place… People from different parts of the city, coming from all walks of life, gather together to participate or witness the event and bid a tearful adieu to their beloved Mother Goddess.
A busy bus depot… people milling about getting ready for travel… luggage being loaded a-top buses… a tobacco seller sits idle at the side, mulling over the day’s earnings…
A cobbler and a fruit-seller sits waiting for customers… the day for them, is not over yet...
The sodium Street lamps light up the Babu Ghat building…
Samriddhi Bhawan… The State Bank of India’s Local Head Office (LHO), looks nothing less than a 5 star hotel… this previously housed the Imperial Bank during the British Raj!! As we neared Millenium Park.. which was supposed to be our final stop... a sudden squall blew out of nowhere, spraying us with dirt & probably other things... which I dont even want to think about...completely blinding us in the process...
I somehow managed to hail a passing taxi and we made a run for it... once inside the cab... we decided that we had enough adventure for the day and called it quits...
Personally however, I was still brimming with enthusiasm and leaned out of the taxi to capture these last two photos....
The powerful flood lights of the Eden Garden Stadium as seen through a stormy haze, while the smaller sodium lamps , light up Red Road!
A hydraulic message board of the Kolkata Traffic Police… taken on the move from a taxi…
3 comments:
Excellent stuff! it took me right back to days of wandering in Kolkata when from some exam or the other I will stroll at a leisurely pace and cut across Eden Gardens and Maidan to reach the Esplanade bus stand to catch the elusive L14A or L9. The Ls indicates limited stoppages but what they came too was limited numbers and one had all the time to kill. These were mostly solitary trips from either competitive exams or entrance exams so I always had my own company and thoroughly enjoyed them. The shots of stray lovers walking by the river is again a tell-tale Kolkata feature where there was never any dirth of places for young and old lovers to find privacy very unlike Delhi that way. Here you can see lovers sitting in the cars and cooing most of the time, but Kolkata had that spirit of being public and I can recall various friends lamenting over the fact that they have been spotted at the other end of the town by some family member or the other. These are incidents which remain etched in my mind and was brought back to them thanks to your blog and definitely scoop...
For someone who always wallows in nostalgia for good ol' Kolkata this post (excellent) came with a deluge of emotions. Got so much carried away that had it not been for the fact that my recent trip to Kolkata was made just a month back, i would have jumped at this opportunity to go "home". Not that i need any excuse though :P
This wonderful collage brought back a gamut of emotions. For a true-blue bangali like me, who has spent most of the time negotiating identities outside the homestate, images such as these get embossed in the very psyche itself. Had it not been for the fact that my last trip to Kolkata was as recent as a month back, i'd have booked the first available passage "home".
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