Katra Masjid
Friday, October 10 . Khushbagh , Katra Masjid. Katgola. Baranagar
We had an 8 am departure from the ship for Khushbagh to the tomb of the last independent Nawab of of Bengal and 17 of his dependents who were poisoned to make sure that a successor could not appear. This was a very peaceful place and quite well kept.
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We returned to the boat by 09.30 by which time it moved 15 minutes up river for the next excursion. Katra Masjid was really impressive and had been built in a May 3 years around 1750 but it had been affected by an earthquake in 1897 and again in the 19th 30s so was no longer in use as a mask but it was really quite huge and in fairly good condition still.
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We then proceeded in the same tuk tuks to a Jain Temple in a huge palace that was still owned by the family. There were crowds of people here as we were driving , presumably because it was a Friday. We walked round the ground floor of the Katgola have this and then up several flights of stairs to apparently just the third floor but it seemed much further: all was very dusty and seemingly un-cared for. But there were great views from the top floor and workmen repairing the upholstery of period jazz there. Then on in the tuk tuk to visit an ATM so that we could get more rupees for the rest of our holidays.
To get a larger photo, click on a thumbnail below
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So we were back at the ship by about 1 pm for lunch and then I had a siesta until five minutes before they suddenly announced we were off again. This time we visited Baranagar where there were two Jain temples. They were in a Village which had won an award fairly recently and we were shown where various houses were built by parents for their children and heard about what the government contributed. The outstanding memory from this village was visiting a non-governmental school room where a passionate young man, probably about 40, had taught himself to learn English by listening to guide talking to their tours back from about 2007, and then passed on his knowledge to future generations. We sat in a classroom with about 40 desks and four of his students whilst he talked about his career the: he was just so inspiring. I then talked to one of the students a 16-year-old who is very shy but her English such as she had, was pronounced very well.
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We then went back to the ship for a quarter of an hour as it was it moved further upstream before going ashore again and visiting another Jain temple and then a hotel which had been created out of an Adonis luxurious house, talking to the manager about how they had accomplished this.
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| Hazarduari Palace by night |
The ship boat picked us up from their mooring site and we then got changed and ready for another dance show, this time from a Calcutta dance school. It comprised six dancers, but unfortunately they were half an hour late in starting and then there were so many midges everywhere on deck that it was just too unpleasant to survive. The show lasted for about 45 minutes and then they wanted us to participate in dancing with them, Bollywood style. This was the final straw and we retired into the closed lounge area ready for supper. It was Titu’s birthday so there was a birthday cake and the meal itself was really quite nice, but Chris just did not feel in the mood to enjoy it.
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Saturday, October 11 Hazarduari Palace Museum
Chris has had a really difficult night due to the cold was stopping her breathing: she thinks this might be due to the air-conditioning that we encounter on every holiday we go on. Anyway, I limped into breakfast but decided not to go to visit the Hazarduari Palace Museum and I was told later that this have been a good decision as there was little to see inside. The Hazarduari Palace is a former palace and now a national monument and public cultural museum. It is situated near the bank of river Ganges. Based on designs by Colonel Duncan McLeod, the palace was built in the nineteenth-century by Nawab Nazim Humayun Jah, the Nawab of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa between 1824 and 1838.
Chris spent some time on the front deck and then retreated to the room until 3 pm when there was a talk on the culture and religion of India. The actual talk was difficult to understand that there was a good discussion afterwards. Then back to bed until cocktails at 6 pm, although by dinner we sat separately on a table of two.
A magician entertained us in the afternoon. An "amateur" who had high hopes of breaking into the big time. There was another film after this which took a long time coming but I managed to survive until 20.30. This was an overview of many places in India. There was a really bad problem with the midges outside our door, attracted there because of the bright fluorescent light that I had asked one of the crew to extinguish maybe this was not possible. Anyway, the room was absolutely infested with black flies by the time we managed to get into it and we used up a hold of a fly spray in getting rid of the majority of them. We will have to see how to prevent the problem for the next few nights
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