Chennai Kitchen - The Marble Palace with its Titians, Rembrandts and interesting garden menagerie.
Mr. Mullick a carom partner at the British Club lives at the Marble Palace.
We met in front of Statesman House at 9 again this Sunday. We had breakfast at Chennai Kitchen which is in the cul de sac on the opposite side of the road. That way we could compare the two South Indian restaurants.
We had a lovely breakfast at Chennai Kitchen . We were 11 for breakfast plus Nitish’s kid Nishant who was fascinated by the cascading water on the wall and the tableau of saras cranes (?) behind us. I had an absolutely ambrosial Special Upma made of semai/vermicelli not suji. It came with little katoris/bowls of ghee, gun powder, tomato chutney, dhania/coriander chutney and special coconut chutney along with the sambar. Poor Carl’s cheese Uttapam was quite bland so I gave him most of my chutneys to spicen things up. The South Indian filter coffee was excellent. Barry and Himanshu of HSBC also tried the milk shakes. Francois tried the cheese, onion masala dosa, and Gurbir the idlis. Not sure what Doc and the Dutch at the next table ordered but Dirk and Jaap both voted Chennai Kitchen as better than Anand. Himanshu, up since 5 to play golf at Tolly Club, wasn’t feeling driven enough to drive all the way to the Marble Palace. He and Gurbir, part of my Alipore contingent, enjoyed a full south Indian breakfast and decided to head home.
Ten of us proceeded to the Marble Palace in a convoy and got stuck in a communist rally in the lane leading to the palace. We again had Doc give us a commentary on the Babu culture of North Calcutta and of course once inside the palace, there was a family retainer who explained the various objets d’art he’d been looking after for decades. Barry proclaimed the palace to be better than Versailles ;-D but not as well maintained. Francois was suitably impressed by the chandeliers, Belgian glass, Italian marble and the two statues of Napoleon, the only Indian object being the hookah/shisha with 4 pipes. The Dutch couldn’t get over the Rubens. It was a wall size painting of the marriage of I’ve forgotten who because Doc called it the marriage of Neela, another dig at my single status and now my Rubenesque stature!
The guide showed us the working piano as well as the sitar on which Ravi Shankar played, while Hema Malini danced… Peter missed the tour but Rosie and I could imagine him bemoaning the fact that there are no more nautch girls to entertain British gentlemen. Queen Victoria, as a young lady carved out of a single piece of wood, as well as her bust in later years, did not look amused. There were Chinese vases and marble Venuses galore. But my favourites are of course the sleeping lions that dot the gardens. Each one is different and its really incredible the amount of statuary and paintings lying about the Marble Palace. The Hash group may suggest a catalogue that can be sold to visitors, but since the family is very much in residence, (we saw the oldest member reclining on an enormous divan in the dance hall), I’m not sure if they’ll agree. I can hardly do justice in attempting to catalogue all that we saw, so I’ll stop now. There was even a vendor of daab at the gate so we all enjoyed fresh coconut water and Barry tried the pulp after Doc showed him how.
The Marble Palace is open except on Mondays and Thursdays from 10 am to 4 p.m and photography is prohibited. Don’t forget to tip the guide and the guard at the gate who allows you to park inside.
Sunday, September 25, 2005
Sunday, September 18, 2005
Anand - Kumartuli
My rent a crowd special Kumartuli Hash was a huge success. We were 14 for breakfast and 16 to head to Kumartuli!
I had to personally pick up a Frenchman from Alipore and his banker. Another Frenchman, notice I’m not mentioning names promised me at Shisha that he would try and come but guess he didn’t recover from a late night. Barry on the other hand, an American who also speaks French, had just landed from Barcelona that morning at 5am and managed to join us at Anand. Peter and Rosie brought Mrs. Desai, an NRI based in the US, Tanya brought a lady from New Alipore, who if she joins us regularly solves my transport problems! Shradha, and Amit picked up their friend and was able to give me and Francois a lift to Kumartuli in their Toyota. Ed and Twila Miller, Jaap and Dirk are all back. And Shantanu was there to lead the way to Kumartuli.
Breakfast at Anand was a lot of fun. I had a rava idli for the first time. The paper dosas were so huge, we were sharing it across the table. Shantanu did a pop quiz on Kolkata landmarks as drawn on the paper place mats.
I then led the way to an 18th century palace in whose Thakur Dalan the potters were making the clay idols of Durga, Gasnesh, Laxmi, Saraswati, Kartik and Mahisasur. We took shelter in the covered courtyard, took pictures and listened to doc’s riveting explanations.
Then we walked in the narrow alleyways of Kumartuli peeping in to see the large and smaller idols. The others came back after the walk to buy some Shola/pith ornamental items. We saw the Biswakarma Puja Bisarjan / immersion. Biswakarma is the God of labour, standing with different tools in his hand beside an elephant. Every office and factory has this puja every year on 17th Sept. The bisarjan party arrives in trucks and they posed for us while descending the steps to immerse the idol. Doc then gave us his talk on symbolism.
My rent a crowd special Kumartuli Hash was a huge success. We were 14 for breakfast and 16 to head to Kumartuli!
I had to personally pick up a Frenchman from Alipore and his banker. Another Frenchman, notice I’m not mentioning names promised me at Shisha that he would try and come but guess he didn’t recover from a late night. Barry on the other hand, an American who also speaks French, had just landed from Barcelona that morning at 5am and managed to join us at Anand. Peter and Rosie brought Mrs. Desai, an NRI based in the US, Tanya brought a lady from New Alipore, who if she joins us regularly solves my transport problems! Shradha, and Amit picked up their friend and was able to give me and Francois a lift to Kumartuli in their Toyota. Ed and Twila Miller, Jaap and Dirk are all back. And Shantanu was there to lead the way to Kumartuli.
Breakfast at Anand was a lot of fun. I had a rava idli for the first time. The paper dosas were so huge, we were sharing it across the table. Shantanu did a pop quiz on Kolkata landmarks as drawn on the paper place mats.
I then led the way to an 18th century palace in whose Thakur Dalan the potters were making the clay idols of Durga, Gasnesh, Laxmi, Saraswati, Kartik and Mahisasur. We took shelter in the covered courtyard, took pictures and listened to doc’s riveting explanations.
Then we walked in the narrow alleyways of Kumartuli peeping in to see the large and smaller idols. The others came back after the walk to buy some Shola/pith ornamental items. We saw the Biswakarma Puja Bisarjan / immersion. Biswakarma is the God of labour, standing with different tools in his hand beside an elephant. Every office and factory has this puja every year on 17th Sept. The bisarjan party arrives in trucks and they posed for us while descending the steps to immerse the idol. Doc then gave us his talk on symbolism.
Sunday, September 11, 2005
Wet Wetlands
Sunday around 7am it was wet and cold so only Jaap (back from his travels) and Zoria (waiting to go on holiday) made it to the ITC to go to the Wetlands. So they walked around the wetlands and had breakfast à deux at The Taj.
Considering the dismal turnout, given that regular hashers are still on holiday –traveling in the Amazons like Pradeep and Bonani, still in Europe like Siddiqui – I’ve organized a rent a crowd (as Zoria would put it) for this Sunday’s visit to Kumartuli the neighbourhood of the Potters of Calcutta! And as most are allergic to early mornings, we can meet at Anand South Indian Restaurant on Central Avenue a little after Statesman House at 9 am on Sunday 18th September, 2005. After breakfast we will proceed to Kumartulli hoping that it is a nice sunny day with blue skies and white fluffy clouds that herald the coming of Sharat, the festive season of Bengal. The mornings have been wet and rainy and so if we start the day a little later, we may get blue skies and we’ll definitely get more people. To name some –
Saw, Tanya, Shradha, Amit, Manas, and friends of Rosie & Peter who are themselves back from Nepal. Doc will be around to give us his wise explanations of the religious, sociological, cultural aspects of the Durga Puja celebrations.
For newcomers the Sunday Hash Group is a group of people who discover different neighbourhoods of Calcutta by foot on Sunday mornings. We’ll be happy if you’ll join us this Sunday. We will collect funds (Min. Rs.100) towards the breakfast at Anand. All are welcome to join us.
Bring camera, umbrellas or sunscreen ;-D
See you there Sunday morning.
Neela
9830014934
Sunday around 7am it was wet and cold so only Jaap (back from his travels) and Zoria (waiting to go on holiday) made it to the ITC to go to the Wetlands. So they walked around the wetlands and had breakfast à deux at The Taj.
Considering the dismal turnout, given that regular hashers are still on holiday –traveling in the Amazons like Pradeep and Bonani, still in Europe like Siddiqui – I’ve organized a rent a crowd (as Zoria would put it) for this Sunday’s visit to Kumartuli the neighbourhood of the Potters of Calcutta! And as most are allergic to early mornings, we can meet at Anand South Indian Restaurant on Central Avenue a little after Statesman House at 9 am on Sunday 18th September, 2005. After breakfast we will proceed to Kumartulli hoping that it is a nice sunny day with blue skies and white fluffy clouds that herald the coming of Sharat, the festive season of Bengal. The mornings have been wet and rainy and so if we start the day a little later, we may get blue skies and we’ll definitely get more people. To name some –
Saw, Tanya, Shradha, Amit, Manas, and friends of Rosie & Peter who are themselves back from Nepal. Doc will be around to give us his wise explanations of the religious, sociological, cultural aspects of the Durga Puja celebrations.
For newcomers the Sunday Hash Group is a group of people who discover different neighbourhoods of Calcutta by foot on Sunday mornings. We’ll be happy if you’ll join us this Sunday. We will collect funds (Min. Rs.100) towards the breakfast at Anand. All are welcome to join us.
Bring camera, umbrellas or sunscreen ;-D
See you there Sunday morning.
Neela
9830014934
Sunday, September 04, 2005
Botanical Gardens at 7 am.
On 4th September, I reached Turf View (meeting point to carpool or follow the convoy) late but Madhuri and Carl were yet to reach, somewhere behind Zoria’s car. I got into Zoria’s car and waved nonchalantly at a car behind us and then when we didn’t see the Mahindra behind us at the Toll gate we waited and wondered whether Madhuri and her new driver were still waiting for me near the Race Course or were lost in the spaghetti junctions off the new Howrah bridge. I always manage to get lost on the way to designer duo Nil and Dev’s studio which is apparently only 100 metres from the New Howrah Bridge! But they weren’t lost, they’d just nearly lost a hubcap!
The 4 of us, not expecting any other hashers to arrive, set off on forest paths or pug dundis as they are called up in the hills. Just as we were coming out of the bundu we serendipitously bumped into Gherda who had also arrived late. The Botanical Garden is so huge we would have easily missed him if it weren’t for the happy coincidence of taking the pug dundi path. According to Zoria, Serendipity was the name of a Sri Lankan princess whose life was full of happy coincidences. We continued down more such paths, disturbing clouds of yellow butterflies, and even took a pebble path around the center. We saw lots of early morning contortionists and some white balks which in Bonani’s absence are the slim white birds that are either storks, herons or cranes. We passed the large palm house and the lily pools and the mangrove trees and found ourselves somehow back at the entrance.
Back at the Taj we took a corner table by the pool in the smokers’ section near the buffet and enjoyed our adda and breakfast. We found out what happened on the un-panihati hash. Zoria and Carl also described a wonderful hash venue near the Howrah station. Gherda taught us satta a betting game with numbers.
The Ibiza resort (beyond Taratala crossing and Diamond Harbour) idea has fallen through. We are instead doing another stretch of the Wetlands. So meet in front of the ITC at 7 am. We will double back and breakfast at the Taj. Jaap is back so he will join us.
On 4th September, I reached Turf View (meeting point to carpool or follow the convoy) late but Madhuri and Carl were yet to reach, somewhere behind Zoria’s car. I got into Zoria’s car and waved nonchalantly at a car behind us and then when we didn’t see the Mahindra behind us at the Toll gate we waited and wondered whether Madhuri and her new driver were still waiting for me near the Race Course or were lost in the spaghetti junctions off the new Howrah bridge. I always manage to get lost on the way to designer duo Nil and Dev’s studio which is apparently only 100 metres from the New Howrah Bridge! But they weren’t lost, they’d just nearly lost a hubcap!
The 4 of us, not expecting any other hashers to arrive, set off on forest paths or pug dundis as they are called up in the hills. Just as we were coming out of the bundu we serendipitously bumped into Gherda who had also arrived late. The Botanical Garden is so huge we would have easily missed him if it weren’t for the happy coincidence of taking the pug dundi path. According to Zoria, Serendipity was the name of a Sri Lankan princess whose life was full of happy coincidences. We continued down more such paths, disturbing clouds of yellow butterflies, and even took a pebble path around the center. We saw lots of early morning contortionists and some white balks which in Bonani’s absence are the slim white birds that are either storks, herons or cranes. We passed the large palm house and the lily pools and the mangrove trees and found ourselves somehow back at the entrance.
Back at the Taj we took a corner table by the pool in the smokers’ section near the buffet and enjoyed our adda and breakfast. We found out what happened on the un-panihati hash. Zoria and Carl also described a wonderful hash venue near the Howrah station. Gherda taught us satta a betting game with numbers.
The Ibiza resort (beyond Taratala crossing and Diamond Harbour) idea has fallen through. We are instead doing another stretch of the Wetlands. So meet in front of the ITC at 7 am. We will double back and breakfast at the Taj. Jaap is back so he will join us.
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