Sunday, May 29, 2005

Central Park at 7 am - Stadel

8 of us met at Central Park. Doc brought Peter, Zoria brought Sid, Barbara and Munnu gave me a lift. We walked around the lake and listened to the laughing club and watched people doing yoga on blue mats. There are now quite a few young Nepali security guards in blue. Umbrellas are no longer allowed in the notorious Central Park as shady things were going on there in the evenings. Rajesh Nath and others discovered the children’s park and petting zoo where there are rabbits and all.

We then decided to try out The Stadel hotel beside the stadium for breakfast and followed Rajesh there. The driveway with columns and ivy on the walls makes it look very Mediterranean. We had the First Innings dining hall all to ourselves and we had quite a laughing club there with Peter as Hash Jester. The rooms in the Stadel are mostly all related to cricket – for eg.the ladies toilet is called maiden. We could understand why the various halls were called Lords, and Oval, but we had to ask the waiter why the Bar was called Heka, an Egyption deity. Poor Zoria was hexed throughout the breakfast. She asked for sliced mangoes, and it was served to Barbara who happily tucked into it. Zoria’s plain omelet took quite some time coming as the same person who was making the eggs was also probably slicing the mangoes. She was convinced her omelet went to Munnu too but it had tomatoes and onions so she had to wait in the wings some more. I was bowled over by the alu parantha and the fresh yoghurt. The waiters were on a sticky wicket and their batting was a bit slow but we enjoyed the breakfast and will be over to the Taj after the Botanical Gardens next Sunday.

Thanks Ed and Twila for your email-“Thanks for the great story…. I miss and appreciate HASH even more when I am outside of India. Our Indian work permits were just delivered for the coming year and we look forward to HASH when we get back to Kolkata.” Bhaskar too is traveling in Europe and our numbers are low in the hot summer season.

Sunday, May 22, 2005

Tala Park - Putiram - Indian Coffee House

9 of us met in front of Statesman House at 7am to go to Tala Park and sample a typical North Calcutta breakfast of Kochuri, cholar daal and chanar jalebi!! Luckily one of them was returning hasher Shantanu who was able to guide us on this excursion to North Calcutta to find the mythic Tala Park that Carl had read about, somewhere near the Tala pumping station beyond Shyam Bazaar crossing and the Sunday morning bird market.

We not only found the Park which is actually the North Calcutta Sporting Centre and the Swimming Club and Angler's Club to boot, but Zoria seeing trees in the distance made us walk over to another secret mango orchard where there were only buffalos and crows. Though we didn't really see a fountain, we saw the bridge that we weren't allowed to cross as it had yet to be inaugurated! We saw lots of swimmers even a few girls and a few fisherboys. We saw a catch and subsequent whacking of the fish. Patricia took lots of pictures of the street children and Manu admired the cannon ball tree or Naga Shiva whachamacallit flowers.

Doc then lead the 3 car convoy down Bidhan Sarani's tram tracks to Putiram's off college square. There 6 of us had a delicious breakfast of Daal Kochuri, alu, shingara, jalebi and shorbhaja sandesh. Manus mouth had been watering all morning at the prospect of this typical Bengali breakfast. Zoria however had trepidations and she took Siddiqui and Carl off to a private breakfast. The rest of us dug into the Kochuris and sweetstuff. Shantanu who must have been missing all this kept asking for 2nds, 3rds, 4ths... but no matter all that he consumed the bill only came to Rs. 50. We then bought lots of elephant and duck shaped sandesh as a carry home dessert to be much admired. Since Putiram neither serves tea nor coffee we went over to the Coffee House for some hot cafe au lait and "infusion" (black coffee).

This was of course Patricia's and Barbara's first visit to the Coffee House which they much admired. The next day there was a fire and 4 book stores in the area were gutted so we're glad we visited the coffee house last Sunday. Delphi, who has an office in the area, now knows what to order at the sweetshops there. Everyone at the tables were delighted with the breakfast though we neither had napkins nor soap. It was declared one of the best hashes from the Connect with the City perspective -similar in ethos to our visit to the Chinese Church near Nan King near BBD Bag. Mohit, you would have loved it! The drive back past the Star Theatre was fun and Delphi learnt that Barbara and Munnu who behave like young lovers were married in 1964. Well Barbara, after all those years in Calcutta, you've finally visited the Calcutta Coffee House.

Sunday, May 15, 2005

Taratolla Environment Park Taj - Lee's last hash

It's the end of a Hash chapter this Sunday 15th May, 2005. George and Lee are leaving Calcutta for their next posting in Madagascar.

We were 21 at the Taratola Environment Park last Sunday for Lee's farewell. Madhuri brought Ruth who managed to bring albums of old photos of the hash. Indranil one of the early hashers picked up Delphi. Zoria brought Sid and Carl as usual. Barbara, Munnu, Patricia and I were the first to reach. As I had managed to get a print out of a whacky photo taken at Mohit's farewell, that he sent me by email, I wanted everyone to sign it as they arrived for a souvenir for Lee and George. (I'm sure you all want copies and we'll organise postcard sizes along with copies of the Collage Ruth's making). Bhaskar brought Peter who is now practically the official Hash photographer as he made the Group pose for "before (fresh)and after (sweaty)" pictures at the entrance to the Park which showed late comers Paurosh, Rajesh Poddar and his wife. We all took our different routes inside the park. Alka even tried out the swings there and we swung by to admire the spotted deer and other animals.

Back at the Taj, we spilled over from the big table to two more. There was much hubbub at The Hub. After breakfast we gathered around George and Lee to bid our farewells and give them a small token of our appreciation and good wishes. Zoria had chosen a lithograph from Khazana in telephonic consultation with me - a banyan tree which will remind them of their favourite Sunday hash walks in the Botanical Gardens. Truly the banyan tree is a symbol of their roots in Calcutta and all the friends they leave behind. It's the end of another hash chapter of 3 memorable years. Lee, Hash Mistress, was moved to tears as she thanked the Hash Group and spoke of her pride to belong to the group. George will be back!

" Hi Everyone, Wow! What a great send-off yesterday at the Nature Park and then the Taj. I was overwhelmed, truly. Thanks for making me feel appreciated and also for the super present -- a lithograph of a banyan tree is just perfect for George and me since the Botanical Gardens was our favorite hash spot (even though I used to get lost)!I'll miss all of you and really do hope to come back and share a Sunday morning with everyone again. You all know I love the Calcutta Hash Group and feel proud to be a member. Thanks for making the effort to come to my final hash.with love,Lee"

Sunday, May 08, 2005

Swabhumi Lakes - Taj

We were 10 of us at the Swabhumi Lakes at 7 am. and most of the hashers were able to go round the lake twice in an hour. After one round, Patricia and I were taking pictures of the various small temples and shrines around the Lake and of the idols that had been immersed in the lake and then removed.

Sunday, May 01, 2005

Botanical Gardens - Hash Meeting

After our walk we had a good meeting on hash issues at the Botanical Gardens attended by about 17 of us.

We agreed on the following:
The Hash believes in simplicity-fun and the motto connect with the city. Entry fee of Rs. 500 will be charged to new members. We've recently welcomed Delphi, Manosh and Peter in the group.We will keep approx. Rs.25000 for hash use and beyond that, use the money immediately on ideas generated by the management committee. The present committee comprises of Neela, Bonani, Zoria and Carl. It is subject to rotation. Others will please contribute ideas to the committee members who are also responsible for implementation after discussion with the group. The projects that have been immediately agreed upon are T shirts - v neck, and a bamboo bridge across to the wetlands instead of the rusty bridge there is at present. Nitish and Carl are looking into T shirts and Bonani will look into the bridge.