NEW YEAR'S EVE BASH

Those interested in spending the first hours of the New Year with the hashers – the party is at my place on New Year’s Eve.
Food and booze at Rs.300.
I’m collecting on Thursday at the British Club so please be there to be persuaded by Nitish, Francois, Saw and me to join us! Address for party Block G 419 New Alipore, Calcutta 700058.

The New Year’s Bash is in Neela’s garden
Food, drinks and music or wine, women and song
Please specify your tipple of choice.
Neela
9830014934
We are expecting about 60 people (hashers, 20 members of the Jazz Club plus visitors from abroad)

RIVER FESTIVAL starts

Dear Hashers and friends,
After our Sunderbans trip here's another opportunity to go with the flow with Bonani:
"Come join the River Festival.
Celebrations begin with a Walk for the River
- December 27, 8.30 am, Prinsep Ghat to Millenium Park.
Organised by the CMDA - it's surprisingly fun."
Season's greetings,
Neela

Last Hash of 2005, picnic and suchlike pandemonium near Park Circus Maidan

Meet: Park Circus Sun 18th December at 7:30am Park cars opp. Lady Brabourne College. By 8:30 in cars to artists Tandra Chandra & Pulak Ghosh’s res. a Sunday School for Art & Crafts @ 7/1 Asgar Mistry Lane. Left past Chittaranjan Hospital. Right turn opp. Ladies’ Park into lane next to Nepal Chandra Sweets. Past level crossing turn right, then left at the Adarsha Sangha Club. When we come to an open field the house is 2nd on left. Picnic breakfast with Tandra and also interaction with the kids.

On the last Sunday Hash of December 2005, we will visit the Park Circus that in our 5 years we have never visited as a hash walk. We will no doubt see lots of early morning walkers but not too sure about the birds.

We then go to visit the Sunday School for Art & Crafts for underprivileged children near Park Circus whose project this year is Rickshaws. Rajesh Nath, Gherdie, Sid, the Dutch and others had visisted the school last year when the theme was boats. Their artwork will be on display and Tandra, their teacher who is a stain glass expert and has renovated Bengali renaissance writer, social activist and educationist Vidyasagar's house will organise a picnic breakfast for us there. Tandra will offer us tea and sandwiches but those who are expert at cakes and cookies, this is your turn to shine. I can still taste Barbara’s delicious star shaped cookies and Sid’s fruit cake! Zoria and others can be counted on to bring fruits. It’s Francois Birthday this Sunday 18th december, and hopefully his mother will join us too so we’ll have one Birthday cake ;-D (Francois you’d better be reading this)

The art school kids get in at 9 and we’ll be able to see the display of their artwork. It was thrown open at the breakfast last Sunday that whatever hash cash is collected that day will be given to the School for art supplies for the kids. They can give us the receipts for our records. Next year when we go to Satragachi or the zoo we could take the Sunday school kids on an outing with us.

Met Peter, Rosie and their son Sam who reached the gate to the Park Circus Maidan opposite the Lady Brabourne college in Doc's car. I reached there with Francois, his mom and Wanja.

We saw the Ajanta Circus Big Top and the elephants. There were hundreds of early morning cricketers. Sam took loads of pictures. We then discovered a Traffic Park where drivers are taught traffic rules. We thought it might be an amusement park with miniature cars going around the tracks stopping at the zebra crossings and all. We took a walk around the perimeter of the park passing Don Bosco school and the statue of Don Bosco with kids in the middle of the road. Doc pointed out the Lady Brabourne college ladies hostel.

Amazingly, we didn't get lost on the way to Tandra's house. Wanja had a blast pulling the Rickshaw in the garden that will find its way to a museum in Scotland. Everyone is welcome to go and see the song of the Rickshaw exhibition before it leaves for Scotland in February. The children's miniature rickshaws painted in vibrant colours are being assembled slowly and beautifully. Peter posed for photographs with the gaily painted umbrellas.

We had lots of sandwiches and Peter had brought a fruitcake for Francois' birthday. Over tea we saw the children's artwork.

We were able to buy some of their craftwork such as Papier Mache masks, bowls, boxes and penstands for around Rs.30. They've made delightful Xmas presents for friends.

A sculptor in clay showed us his tableau of street sleepers of Calcutta - frogs in various reclining positions that can be bought for Rs.500 each.

Francois nearly bought a lovely scultpture for Rs.1500 but didn't have the cash on him.

Tandra then showed us her studio and all her stained glass work and Doc was keen to buy one of her owls or Lakhi Pecha. We also saw the view from the terrace while Tandra took out her paintings. We saw the muslim cemeteries which unfortunately though green and beautiful, is not open to hashers according to the Doc! We saw the leather drying and mistook them for Dhobi Ghats and laundry being hung out. Peter pointed out the new church on the Bypass and Doc pointed out the highrises of Saltlake and the new towns.

By this time, Francois and Wanja were dropping from sleep as we'd had a Saturday Barbecue Hash Bash on Saw's terrace and a late night Birthday party at H2O at The Park poolside where Yvonnick had organised the best chocolate cake ever and Himanshu came finally to finish the last piece and give us a hairraising ride home.

We took our leave and our parcels of handicrafts and promised Tandra that we would take the kids to santragachi or a Picnic.

Central Park

Salt Lake central Park is rather far away and by the time we coordinated to arrive in convoy with Shelley and Andy riding with him, it was around 7:45. Himanshu, a long lost brother of Kartikeyan, zipped me, Francois, Wanja and Pete down from Ranchi, there. We would have made it in record time, but Shelley being from Chandigarh and not familiar with Salt Lake wasn’t able to keep up with us after we took off from rv point at ITC. I was on mobile duty with Andy and Nil who decided to walk across from his house across the road leaving Dev enjoying his birthday sleep! Sid and Tony were also there.

Nil was able to give us a guided tour starting from the map of Central Park marked with every Japanese lamp and Pagoda. We walked over the bridge past the fishermen who have to pay Rs.150 if they catch fish upto 15 kg. We saw them making the bait with ants eggs and sweets! The artificial lake, in which Nil used to swim up till 7 years ago, isn’t too deep. We didn’t see any umbrellas or love birds! There were egrets but there were so many cement pandas and crocs that we nearly mistook them for more artificial animals! We saw an elephant slide in the Children’s park and Wanja and the others were most distressed to see an 8 legged elephant that had been carved in two. Sid and Wanja fled from the topiary dinosaur and Andy took more Jurassic Park pictures. We posed in an evolutionary pyramid where normally flowerpots are placed! By 8:30 Sid was shooing us out of the garden and though we walked under the pergola we couldn’t get out that way. We doubled back and swapped passengers. Andy came in our car and Wanja went with Sid and Tony.

We were 9 for breakfast at the Taj and sat at a smaller table closer to the pool. Zoria, visiting the Taj to take her friends staying there to Chandernagore, brought 3 T shirts from Pradeep. These were given to Tony, Andy and Wanja (Yvonnick’s African bride). Yvonnick wasn’t able to join us on Sunday and on Tuesday he was busy posing for wedding photos with Ruth in a borrowed wedding gown from Mother Teresa’s and orange make up! I’ll leave you with that picture.

Sunderbans Boat Cruise






We were 32 on the Boat to the Sunderbans and 32 waiting for George early in the morning in front of the Parcomat. The Bus was delayed so we flagged a passing newspaper vendor and bought The Telegraph etc. to while away the time early in the morning so as not to spend all our time cursing, complaining and whining for having to be there at 6 and then only leaving just before 7am. I called Hasher Nil and Dev whose picture was in the papers. Why shouldn’t he be awake too at 6:30 to hear that their names and Yvonnick’s was in the Page 3!





We still reached at 9 after stopping for our traditional Bengali sweet “nikhuti” and tea on the run. Lots of fruits and chicken sandwiches were also passed around. Andy and I were having intensive Spanish lessons and driving Afroz, Manish and their friends from last Thursday at the British Club quite crazy with our giggle fest. Francois became the butt of all the Spanish insults and Yvonnick or el queso grande or Big cheese got all the compliments. Although they wanted to stop and take pictures of the prawn farms and other scenery, we drove right through just stopping for the pit stop to refuel with mineral water! No one hid Doc’s pillow on this trip. However our traditional game of scoop the hat out of the Ganga happened when my bamboo and batik hat that Zoria was using to cover her face while sunbathing near the prow of the boat fell into the water. Pradeep managed to keep his cap on and Aditi managed to keep her hat on too. The poles were taken out and the hat retrieved and flung on my head giving me an even worse hair day.









I spent the rest of the journey covering up my spiky hair with a Bibi Russell scarf tied like a turban by Tony being called sardarni and Negrita Neela when Andy tied it on me like in the Caribbean. Uppal, Tony and Shelley’s friend gave me his detachable turban to pose in as Shelley was with camera taking loads of pictures of the hashers considering that that was the extent of all the wild animals we spotted. We saw a monitor lizard, deer and monkeys, and crocs in the reserves. We visited the museum and took pictures of a real bat that was part of the diorama. Some bought bottles of honey for Rs.50 and Rs.100. and Breakfast was lutchis, pickles and chhola, omelettes, and fruit. Lunch was chicken curry, kurkure alu bhaja, papad, tomato chutney, etc. Tea was some sort of fried snacks and salad. Kevin and Sana were thrilled with the visit in the creeks where we saw Kingfishers and sand pipers, parakeets and butterflies! Andy was convinced it was the same kingfisher following us around! So we were happy to just enjoy the cruise and the scrabble and crossword. I got stuck on the clue fish but Aditi came up with sardine and we were able to complete the crossword. The singing was disappointing as The French contingent only sang one song and tho’ Andy comes from Puerto Rico, the land of Ricky Martin, he really can’t carry a tune to save his life. But hey nobody’s perfect. Carl and The sardars had a bar on the side of the boat and Pradeep enjoyed his Kingfishers. The cruise back was cold and luckily I had extra shawls for the guys. We nearly had a titanic experience as there were sand bars too but we reached without incident. We got back before ten to Cal. Juned hatched an Indo Bangaldesh Hash on the Saraswati Puja weekend but more on that later!

Check List for Sunderbans

We leave at 6 am from the Parcomat on the corner of Park Street and Loudon street opposite the Assembley of God Church to make the most of the precious daylight hours. Look out for a yellow bus called George!

Foreigners don't forget to bring along your permit from WB Toursim office in Dalhousie. We have to write a list of all those going so I will ask you to fill out your name and age on the Bus. The details of the boat are MV Bholanath. Mr. Mrinal 9339830280

Attached below is the list for Sunderbans trip.
Siddiqui Carl Bonani Pradeep Madhuri Zoria Doc Rajesh Nath Payal Gherdie Shelley Tony Neela Andy Francois Yvonnick Mark Ashish Mehta Avo Afroz Manish Najju Luthra Ms. Luthra Uppal Aditi Rita Alok Arif Mr & Mrs. Niladri Saw. Some of the names on the list are tentative so please confirm

Hashers bring Rs.100 Guests bring Rs.500 Bring booze, drinks, water, snacks, cake, biscuits.

We’ll stop on the way if we can’t last out till we reach the boat at 9 to have Indian breakfast with eggs and fruit. There will be non veg lunch and snacks at tea time.

Bring caps, warm clothes for the evening, mosquito repellent, torch, cameras and whatever other jungle safari item you require. Am counting on the Hash flashes for some nice photos.

Botanical Garden- The Atrium-Craft Village







The Botanical Garden hash walk was brought forward to the 27th, the last Sunday of November, 2005 as we leave for the Sunderbans on 4th Dec. Zoria, Carl, Madhuri and Sid were early birds and set off to catch the worms inside. Wanja (who changed from slippers into sneakers at my insistence and was thus responsible for our late arrival), François and I got a lift in Paurosh and Vineet’s car at Turf View. We caught up with Nitish, Jolly and Nishant in front of the Banyan tree. New Hashers Andy and Nil reached the main gate and caught up with us at the center. Pradeep and Bonani who brought lawyer Vikramjit on false pretences saying that they were going to the Wetlands, caught up with us at the lily pool.

The Ficus bengalensis was fascinating for François and Wanja as this was their first visit and they kept asking which was the original tree trunk. Bonani and Nil are birds of a feather and were bouncing birds and flowers off each other! To confuse me further Nil pointed out the Bird of Paradise which is a flower! The white bird or bok I keep confusing is the egret. The pond heron is actually brown with a white underside to the wing when flying. There was something called a Jacanna but I’ve quite forgotten whether it was a bird or flower! Andy who is now an active member of the hash group, having set up the website and the pictures, took lots of pictures of cobwebs on a bush as we walked towards the riverside. We walked up to the old colonial building and then turned around as I was getting frantic calls from Doc that I kept passing on to Bonani.






Yvonnick was told that 20 of us were reaching The Park. We set off in cars and motorbike back to The Park by 8:45. A long table was set up for the hashers and I sat at the alcove table with Yvonnick, Wanja and other new hashers and was able to convince all 4 to join the Hash Group as we needed their multiple talents. Andy is Hash Flash like Yvonnick, our gourmet chef and chief contact with The Park and Flury’s. Nil is Bonani’s spiritual son (as Andy put it) and we are all invited to his design studio d next to the Toll Bridge for their first anniversary on 1st December at 7 p.m., as well as for a barbecue after one of the Botanical Garden visits this winter. He was full of anecdotes on Michael Madhushudan Dutt who lived near the Botanics and came to the gardens for literary inspiration. I was inspired to recite Simple Simon met a pieman as François has come to the conclusion that I need mnemonic help to remember names of birds so I’m to think of lemon pie and I’ll remember that it’s a magpie with a forked tail! Need hardly say that I remember the Atrium menu quite easily, even Akuri which is a sort of Indian scrambled egg and not a Japanese businessman…

After breakfast, Yvonnick invted us to the Business Center to watch the Durga Puja, Bisarjan boat trip, Kali Puja, Cemetery, and Hallowe’en pictures taken by him, Andy, and François. After the photo session, we headed to the Craft Village with Sid on Yvonnick’s bike with Nil’s extra helmet, and Wanja, François and I following in a cab. Wanja bought a wedding present for a friend from the Bastar stall and Yvonnick bought a hanging wrought iron lamp which we are negotiating the price of. If anyone is interested in buying the giant tortoise made of bamboo, leaves and jute it can be bought for Rs.5000. Nothing to beat François “Monstrosity” as dad puts it though the rest of us refer to her as his fiancée standing sentry by my stairs. Wanja who was living upstairs from her has left Cal but will be back to spend December with us. She will miss the Sunderbans trip but I think we can set up some interesting hash trails for her return.
Neela
9830014934

Horticultural Gardens & Parineeta - Pasteur Laboratories Pvt. Ltd. Tour

We had 11 and a half hashers on Sunday morning. Nitish brought his three year old son Nishant who walked and was carried alternatively. Gherdie returned after ages and enjoyed chatting with newcomers Lilly working with The Statesman and her friend Patrick from Delhi who was in Cal for the weekend and were delighted to join us for a walk around the Horticultural Gardens on Sunday 20th November. I was able to point out to them the Mad tree, the cannon ball tree, Elephant Foot tree, and Camel Foot tree!

Zoria, Patrick and Lilly and I went to Francois house to watch the film of Parineeta. It probably took us half an hour to get the subtitles and not the director’s comments version of the movie. The movie was good tho’ I don’t know whether Zoria cried at the end like Lilly because I went home to shower and pick up Josette a French lady staying at my house and cake for our host.

The Pasteur Laboratories Pvt. Ltd., Mr. Subhendu Law’s house was where certain scenes of Parineeta was filmed. Peter and Rosie, Emma and Olivier Urman who did the "the-no-music room", 13 images in Plexiglas met us on College Street. Subhendu gave us a guided tour of his ancestral home built in 1906. We saw the nautchghar, the various blue rooms, rose rooms, green rooms so called by me according to the colour of the chandeliers and the ceilings! Zoria’s favourite was a picture of our host’s father as a child beside a Shetland Pony. Peter preferred the pictures of his great grandfather, consul of Haiti in his regimental gear with cavalry sword. Olivier felt humiliated when he saw all the chandeliers some covered in dustsheets that were more resplendent than his images in Plexiglas. Emma took pictures. Patrick was delighted to find amongst the medallions a key chain of Montreal 1976 his hometown and birth year. I was most impressed with the wall lights with coat of arms etchings in the dining room that according to Peter sheds a whole new light on “come and see my etchings”. Rosie who has been to the loos of Buckingham palace was delighted with the bathroom there. Francois must have been happy to see a bust of Napoleon till Peter pointed out he was Corsican. Peter would gladly give up his holidays to catalogue the library which had a very interesting book called Popular Delusions! I guess we all left there with delusions of grandeur after seeing the Daimler that may be restored in time for the Statesman Vintage Car rally in January 2006. We had cold drinks with our host at their grand dining table where the 14 members of the joint family who still live there dine every evening. Not to worry it’s a huge house with enough rooms and antechambers though we didn’t get to see the private chambers. We even took a long tram ride back to Esplanade.

Shantiniketan Field Trip

While Peter and Rosie were enjoying Darjeeling, 6 of us took the Shantiniketan Exress on Sunday, 13th November. We spent an hour at the Tagore museum and saw an international photo exhibition, an hour in the Boner Pukur Santal village where Yvonnick took tons of photos, and an hour at Amar Kutir buying knick-knacks and having chai in bhanrs – clay pots. Yvonnick is now in Darjeeling and will probably bump into Peter and Rosie and they can buy chocolates and Sikkimese Paan Liqueur!

Hashers you are cordially invited for the following programmes :

CONTEMPORARY DANCE PERFORMANCE
"le temps du repli", choreography by Josef Nadj
on Wednesday 16 November, 7 pm
@ Gorky Sadan

CONTEMPORARY ART EXHIBITION
"the-no-music room", 13 images in plexiglas by Olivier Urman
opening on 17 November, 7 pm - refreshments will be served
Guests of Honour: Soumitra Chatterjee & Vijaya Mulay
@ Akar Prakar, p 238 hindustan park, Kolkata 29
exhibition on 17 & 18 November

Madur at 6 p.m. Friday 18Th November at Oxford Bookstore
or today Wednesday 16th November at 4 p.m. at Nandan III
A TARA Telefilm (with subtitles in English) about a mastercraftsman from a village of weavers of madur or mats.

Versedance 19th November Gyan Manch on Pretoria street opposite Astor off Theatre Road. Tickets available at venue.

And finally on Sunday 20th November, Meet at 7:30 at Horticultural Gardens for a walk. Watch Parineeta at Francois's house and then go to the Laha bari where the film was shot.

6th November 2005

6th November Botanical Gardens Breakfast at Taj

The Botanical Garden walk was pleasant. It was Tony’s first time to the Botanics and Rajesh Poddar’s guest was coming there after many years. The Amazonian lilies were in full bloom but we couldn’t see any lotus. We saw Kingfisher and egrets (!) which in Bonani’s absence I’ve been passing off as storks. We were 13 for breakfast at the Taj. It was decided that we endeavor to have two green space hashes every month, one being the Botanical Gardens.

HAPPY HALLOWE'EN
Monday 31st October
Gals and ghouls get ready for Hallowe'en
Fly to my rooftop at 8 p.m. tonight
For a moonlit Party
The original Elvis Presley Heartbreak Hotel
@ Block G 419 New Alipore
The Bride of Frankenstein will greet you at the door
If you're lost, call gypsy girl Mobila on 9830014934
She'll consult her crystal ball and foresee a good time for all
Cross her palms with silver (Rs.100)
And abandon hope all ye enter!
Beware of dolls and rum punches!
Wear a disguise or we'll make you a costume!

The Hallowe’en Hash Bash was a real hoot as you can see in the pictures taken by Andy on http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/
ph/gwuandresm/album?.dir=/8b38&.src=ph&.tok=phQZJ4DBypZI7C3z

A big thanks to June Tomkyn’s son in law Rodney for organizing the karaoke and music system and for keeping us entertained. Everyone got into the spirit of things and Madhuri made her favourite rum punch. To set the mood was Francois fiancée or rather the Bride of Frankenstein on the staircase and the babies that were hung on the terrace. Nitish came as a gorilla, Rachna as a skull and bones, Afroz and Nil came as pirates, Andy as a drive-by shoot-out victim, Peter came back to front like in Exorcist and Tony and his friends came as terrorists. There were carnival dancers and gypsies and guys in golden shoes! We were 42 people on the terrace and everyone enjoyed the chopped finger dips, pull-ow, and dinner prepared by mom, the bobbing for rasogollas and the Kookie Jar cake brought by Tony and friends.

Park Street cemetery and Scottish Cemetery - Breakfast at The Tea Table
The Sunday on the eve of Hallowe’en, Siddique took us to the Park Street cemetery and the Scottish cemetery. So hashers met at 7:30 in front of our Hash sign outside the gate of the Park Street cemetery situated near Assembly of God Church.
The visit to the Park Street cemetery had us looking for bleeding graves and at snail bushes and giant bee hives. We then went for breakfast to T3. We passed the small joints selling halim for Eid. At breakfast at T3 Andy was sad that he would miss celebrating Hallowe’en this year so we decided to have an impromptu Hallowe’en Hash Bash at my place with Halim ordered by Siddique. We bumped into Jhuma Basak also having breakfast there and she told us about her coming dance theatre Verse Dance.

Millennium Park to Park Street breakfast at T3 The Tea Table (the old Flury’s)
13 hashers met at the Millennium Park and walked down to Park Street to have breakfast at another old worlde eatery, the old Flury’s which has shifted across the road to Park Mansions and is now called T3 The Tea Table I think. Shaun Kenworthy is leaving Flury’s at the end of this month.

Durga Puja Triumph of Good over Evil
It was decided to do Breakfast first at Taj Bengal at 7:30 then do the pandals in New Alipore and Behala as I was not sure how long that would take with everyone wanting to take lots of photographs... but the mutiny at the breakfast table by the Demonic Doc left me mutinous. We could have easily visited the pandals I had in mind, as dismantling a whole fort in the middle of New Alipore takes time. Wanja and I had stumbled upon this Lal Quila on one of our pandal hopping jags and we’ve been back to it 4 times including last Sunday Lakhi Purnima /full moon night(just to prove that the pandal was very much there) and in place of the large scale Durga Protima/idol we saw a small Lakshmi thakur and the solitary priest softly reciting his mantras late into the night. Leila and Mark Elliott have taken loads of pictures.
The Group decided at the breakfast table to go instead to a garden. The Maha Doc decreed The Botanics, the others mooted the horticultural gardens on Peter’s doorstep. I was sitting at another table with Himanshu, Leila and Wanja. We were delayed getting to the Taj because I wanted to show Himanshu the 10 foot tall African doll in the stairwell of my house, that Francois had bought from the Bose Pukur Sitala Mandir pandal which was a recreation of a South African Ndebele village. We had visited it in Tony’s car with Wanja, Francois, Yvonnick, and Chiru on the Tuesday morning when we met once again in front of the HSBC on Rash Behari Crossing to take hashers to the pandals in North Calcutta. We negotiated a bride price for the giant putul/doll and Francois was transported with delight, while I had to organize the thankless task of transporting the thing to my house on Bisarjan day.
Wanja, who wouldn’t miss a hash in Cal as she enjoys reading all about it while rotting in Ranchi, was late surfacing on Sunday morning. We’d had a hectic day in Shantiniketan on Saturday with the crowd from the Bisarjan boat cruise on Thursday -Tony, Siddiqui, Mayank, Chiru, Mark McLean, Leila, Wanja and others who were ready to make the Saturday return trip to Shantiniketan by train. Wanja, Leila and I had gone with Rahul in his car, listening to lovely Spanish, Arabic, and even Swahili lounge music that thrilled Wanja no end. Therefore we were in the mood to dance into the early hours at Roxy with half French Half Tunisian Leila showing us the belly dance followed by late supper at Jai Hind dhaba.
The reason I’m writing all these details is because I never got to the Hash on Sunday as after a hurried and harried breakfast, no one told me that we weren’t going to the Botanical but to the Horticultural Gardens!
Having persuaded Himanshu to drive all the way to the Botanic Gardens on the promise that Leila would hold his hand and point out the names of all the flowers (did you know that the “Mother” in Pondicherry has given her own spiritual names to special flowers?), something that I should also do as despite numerous hashes with Bonani, I have still to master any botanical names! After taking him for a ride last Sunday, now I’ll probably never be able to con-vince Himanshu to come to a hash. So if you’d seen my face at the Botanics after asking the guards whether the foreigners in orange had come and gone, and been told they’d never arrived, you’d have seen the wrath of Durga!

DURGA PUJA Parikrama /Pandal Hopping - Maha Bhog at Kewpie's
www.anandautsav.com
Here’s a website to consult to find out all you’ve ever wanted to know about Durga Puja. You’ll get the music, puja clippings, pictures of Kumartulli and the legend of Durga… You can even send e cards saying Shubho Bijoya…

We started the Pujas early on Sunday morning. We met at 7:30 in front of HSBC Kalighat crossing and proceeded to see some Pujas in South Calcutta - Shiv Mandir to Mudiali. The real Puja experts, Martin and Mark also joined us. Doc was away at his family Puja on Sunday. Himanshu was in Delhi. On the bandwagon was Peter, Rosie, Sid, Tony, Francois and Yvonnick. We then had breakfast at Taj Bengal and then did some more Pujas in Kidderpore and Behala and the TARA best Musical Para Puja at Kudghat where we saw Santal dancing and a Bengali Band. Yvonnick, Howard & Shanti, Peter & Rosie, Francois, Siddique, Tony, George and Wanja went to Kewpie's after pandal hopping to have the Maha Bhog.

This is Shaun’s review of Kewpie’s that he wrote for a magazine probably. Have made a few corrections – Shaun, I prefer clay pot to mud cup and it’s betel not beetle! After Francois’s description of the ampora green mango sarbat no one was keen to try it but everyone enjoyed whatever I’d ordered of vegetarian dishes mostly preparations of Mocha or banana trunk and posto/poppy seeds and all kinds of fish.

"This restaurant is every Bengalis dream when it comes to good hearty, wholesome Bengali khanna. Situated just off one of the small roads on Elgin road, this home-style restaurant never looks the same twice. There are 3 dining rooms that can all be hired for group bookings. Uneven white washed walls, a good private collection of paintings, simple linen covered tables, blood red napkins, a hand carved wooden upright cabinet, full of glass ware and even a sideboard in the corner. It’s got charm coming out of its ears……. You could almost be walking into a small chateau dining room somewhere. A hotch potch of mismatched tables and chairs. Add the finishing touches. So anyway, you sit down, you get your menu with all the Bengali favourites, kosha mangsho, deshi chicken, paturi, daab chingri, begun posto, enchor kalia to name but a few. We ordered a basic platter, consisting of gobindobhog bhaat with ghee, a couple of fresh luchi, alur dom, dal and bhaja. I also ordered the dab chingri, deshi chicken, kasha mangso, paturi, palang chaanar kofta, doi potol and a couple of ampora sharbot. All the preparations are simply served and homely. Clay glasses, plates and bowls, all add to the effect. Which is what makes this place so wonderful. So out comes the food, I ordered far too much. The basic plate of food comes on a clay plate, draped with a banana leaf with a couple of small bowls, one filled with the alur dom and another with dal. Then, all the other food came out, one after the other in small dishes to make this huge array of temptation. Well cooked rice, a nice large round piece of fried brinjal, 2 light and crisp freshly cooked luchi, a tasty alur dom and a good not too thick or thin dal. A good mustardy style preparation of dab chingri, a few knuckles of well cooked mutton, an excellent home style chicken curry, the best preparation, I’ve had of doi potol and finally superb kofta in a rich cinnamon tasting gravy. Couldn’t eat it all. My eyes are obviously bigger than my belly as my mother would have said. To finish with and also in with the basic platter, there was the inevitable papad with chutney, a clay pot of not too rich mishti doi, a little piece of sandesh and a betel leaf of misti paan. In fact, I ate both paans, as I couldn’t resist. Doesn’t seem that long ago since I ate my first paan and thought it tasted like mouthwash……..yet three and a half years in India, how times change…… So, just to sum up the whole thing. for me personally, it’s the jewel in the crown when it comes to Bengali restaurants in Kolkata. Everything about it oozes warmth and homeliness. A refreshing change from all the modernity that surrounds us. Great aromas and friendly service, all add to the whole experience."
– Shaun Kenworthy shaunchef@yahoo.co.uk

Indian Coffee House - Buddhist temple - Thakurdalans
This Sunday, we decided we should continue our cultural rambles in the North during this festive season. No point unnecessarily courting Dengue in the Botanic gardens. We met at 9am in front of Statesman House to have breakfast at the Indian Coffee House in order to visit the Buddhist temple and library off College Street as well as several thakur dalans, one with winged mercurys in the courtyard…

We joined three of the square tables at the Indian Coffee House to seat the hashers. It was Barry, Twila, Rosie, Paurush, Francois, Himanshu’s first time to the coffee house. The Indian Coffee House, that doesn’t serve tea, opens its portals at 9 am. I phoned in advance to see if they’d be open on 2nd October, a National Holiday because of Gandhiji’s B’day. Having missed the entrance to College Street between the School of Tropical Medicine and School of Hygiene we took an illegal u turn at the Mahatma Gandhi Metro station with tiled Mural of Gandhiji. It was my serendipitous Sunday hash homage to Gandhiji!

The Indian Coffee House originally known as Albert Hall is now a cooperative and the bearers in turbans had me write down our complicated breakfast orders of scrambled egg on toast, mutton omelettes, the very popular adda snack of pakoras, bread, toast, chicken sandwiches, egg sandwiches and trays of coffee and black coffee called Infusion.

There was some confusion about Moghlai parathas and fans of these olde worlde eateries may have to go back to sample that another afternoon as well as the cheap paratha kasha Mangsho along with the Kochuri and Daal or luchi aludam at Putiram beside the Calcutta Corporation building behind the College Square tank.

The pandal around the water body is huge by any standards and Francois hared off to take a look at the bamboo scaffolding and swimming area. Overlooking it is the Mahabodhi Society with its Buddhist Vihara where we admired the statues, gongs and other relics. We then walked to the Radha Nath Mullick Lane to see residences of the Basu Mullick family with their typical Thakurdalans. The bonedi bari pujas are always open house so anyone can walk into the courtyards during morning anjali and evening aarti. We then made our way back to the cars past Hare school aka Hindu College or Presidency College which this year celebrated 150 years.

The main days of the Puja are Shashti –Monday 10th, Saptami Tuesday 11th. Ashtami/ Nabami Wednesday 12th, Dashami Thursday 13th.

The hash group will also organize pandal hopping with a Bengali lunch and a bisarjan cruise organised by Chiru, his yearly boatride to see the Belur Math immersion.

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.

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.

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

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.

Taratala Environment Park or the Mudiali Fisherman’s cooperative - Taj

On 28th August 7 of us met in front of Taratala Environment Park or the Mudiali Fisherman’s cooperative as it’s also called. The gate keepers let us in and Pradeep set off on his run while the rest of us decided to take a long hike through the trees following a forest trail by the lake “bunder” whacking as Zoria put it as she took the lead blazing a trail getting cobwebs in her face.
Bonani bringing up the rear got caught by the people in the office who probably couldn’t understand what the orange Taj T shirt hash group was doing there so early on a Sunday morning. A call was put through to their office head who was woken up and made to speak to Bonani who explained in Bengali that we were a bird watching group who had come for a walk and to see the fishermen!

Walking over the mulch and trying not to step on the turds we finally came to a factory where the trail ended. After spotting some dahu fowl we walked back to the entrance following the Taratala main road, passing the giant logs brought from Malaysia according to Bonani. We walked into another abandoned textile factory and Zoria and Carl would have gone on but they were called back.

We came back to the entrance of the park to find Pradeep sopping wet after his run. We made him walk around the main park with us again as Zoria and Carl had hared off to see the deer and pigs, while Peter went to show Rosie the small fish etc. Bonani and I did it at a much slower pace stopping to talk to the keeper of the sheep and turkeys. Pradeep wrung his T shirt dry and Bonani said he should have done it near the deer for they love salt water… We admired the brakt mushrooms on the tree stumps that were growing all around the trail looking like brown clouds in Tibetan art. After doing a full round of the Park and noticing all the bins there for the picnickers and chow mein vendors.

Back at the Taj after a long gap, the waiters were extra attentive to us and we enjoyed our breakfast and adda session.

Pradeep and Bonani are off to the Amazon jungles for 5 weeks. Zoria will be going on holiday soon. Howard and Shanti will be back in October. Delphi who enjoyed the Nottinghill Carnival in London will be back with us in November.We hope to welcome some new hashers into the group like Francesco from Unicef and Henry from the US consulate.

Central Park - Mishra's

9 of us walked around the Central Park Salt Lake and the children’s park beside it with the rabbits in the cage. Zoria was in an adventurous mood and took us across the wet grass as the garden paths were very slippery. We climbed up to the slide or look out point and as there were millions of millipedes only Peter slid down while Carl attempted to walk down the slide and may have done it on his hands and legs… Zoria’s adventurousness didn’t extend to sliding down with creepy crawlies and we walked back the ramp instead. We were later joined by Bishwajit whose suggestion it was to try out Mishra’s for breakfast.

We had an adequate breakfast of dosas, uttapams, idlis, cheese omelets and toast washed down with a coffee so light we had to add more. Though it couldn’t compare to a Hyatt breakfast that Zoria was advocating, Peter’s comment was “The breakfast was um, but the company was excellent.”

Peter and Rosie were full of details about the Monsoon Ball and it was quite something with Opera Singer, Viennese waltzes etc. etc. Congratulations to the organizers. It was Parsi new year so we wished Gherdie and wished there could be a Parsi restaurant in Cal. Tangerine has been having a Parsi food Festival. Gherda, Doc, Peter, Rosie and I are quite keen now to start a sort of Diner’s Club or Culinary Calcutta where we’ll meet in the evenings to sample Calcutta specialties that we locals can help the foreigners discover. As Doc is an expert on food as well as everything under the sun, I suggest we start with Bengali cuisine at the Bhajo Hari Manna on Hindustan Road come September.

Independence Weekend Mysore Nash Hash/ Horticultural Gardens & Ahalya hilsa luncheon cruise

We were 6 from Calcutta amongst the 164, but we certainly made our presence felt at the Independence Weekend Mysore Nash Hash. Check out some of the pictures on www.hasher.net/india

The Calcutta Hash Group met on 14th August and went to the Horticultural Gardens. Then some of the hashers went on the Ahalya that had organised a Hilsa luncheon cruise.

So, now that we’ve had a taste of hashing in distant lands, I’m all for Carl and Zoria’s idea of moving further a field for our hash mornings. They suggest a hash at Central Park, Salt Lake. Meet there at 7 am. Have breakfast at Stadel or Hyatt then move on towards Panihati to discover an outlying area. Who’s on?

Botanical Gardens

Dear Hashers,

It was a small crowd at the Botanical Gardens onSunday with Pradeep, Bonani, Zoria, Carl, Rajesh Poddar and co. I was partying with Patricia Saturday night so we didn’t manage the early morning walk on Friendship Day. Did meet up with Nitish and Rachna for their son’s birthday party in the afternoon to see the magician and his magic tricks!

I met up with Peter and Rosie at Cocoon lifestyle store last evening and after a few calls to Zoria and Carl, it was decided that the hash would meet in front of the Horticultural Gardens at 7am on 14th August. Since Peter and Rosie don’t have the doc to give them a lift, they preferred a venue that’s practically on their doorstep. As it was their 30+ wedding anniversary this week, please make sure they are happy to walk hand in hand amongst the flowers like Pradeep and Bonani did in Darjeeling according to Nayana who accompanied them. As it was also the venue for Nitish and Jolly’s wedding reception, I’m sure everyone will have a very romantic monsoon walk followed by breakfast at the Taj. Please order some of the heart shaped waffles with maple syrup…

This weekend I’m off to Mysore for the Nash Hash to uphold the Calcutta Hash Group standard in my floppy hat!

Carl will ask Mr. Mullick at the British Club if we can do Marble Palace the weekend of 21st August which is just after the Monsoon Ball on Saturday for those who are going. Suggested meeting time 7:30 in front of the Statesman House as we don’t want to disturb the family too early in the morning. Breakfast in North Calcutta.

See you when I get back from the Nash Hash.
Neela 9830014934

Sea Ip Chinese Church - Tiretti Bazaar Chinese brakfast

Hi Hashers,

We all met at the Statesman building but parked only briefly as Police were very much in evidence as they awaited the arrival of officials to pay their respects to the Editor who had died the previous day.

We then made our way to Sea Ip Chinese church and some Hash members lit incense and burnt offerings. Unbeknown to us we had chosen a very auspicious day as it was the centenial celebration of the church's inauguration and festivities were planned complete with the dragon which we were told would arrive in 30 minutes! So we rushed off to eat the various steamed delicacies in the street market around the corner finishing off with fish ball soup for the daring-photos to prove it!

We watched the brisk sale of fish,including catfish,one of which met a swift and brutal end as it attemped to make its getaway! Urgent lunch plans were changed as Santanu spotted some fresh crabs and live purchases accompanied us on the rest of our travels-to the hotel (previously restruant) where Tibetan refugees used to stay, then back to the church to await the arrival of the dragon. Unfortunately no show but the local children enjoyed their ride on the mobile carousel and photo session courtesy of Santanu.

Realising the dragon was obviously working on a different timescale we made our way back to the cars passing a street theatre where a young female contortionist was busily balancing a bottle and glass of water on her head whilst she twisted herself into unbelievable shapes-oh to be supple again!

Rosie

Prinsep Monument down Strand Road to Eden Garden stadium - Taj

After due deliberation with fellow hashers, we decided to change the venue from the mossy paths at the Taratala Environment Park where we risk going for a toss to Prinsep Monument on Strand Road to walk down the riverfront and visit Eden Gardens. I wonder if our owls and parrots are still there...
Breakfast at the Taj.
Bring an umbrella!
See you Sunday come rain or shine,
Neela

Here's Patricia excuse for missing Sunday's Hash:
"Sorry everybody for last sunday...I was sleeping because my wake up alarm clock was sleeping also, without battery!!! So when I woke up around 8:30am, is too late!.. I was very sad but... What can I do?See you when we come back from Malaysia with NeelaThe best for everybodyPatricia"

This is what she missed :
Last Sunday, a beautifully sunny morning with blue skies, we set off from Prinsep Monument down the river front towards Eden Gardens in our Calcutta Hash floppy cricket hats made by Carl. (many thanks). There was a padlock on the gate as the army like God has turned us out of Eden Garden. Calcutta’s tourist spot is no longer accessible to the public until further notice. We therefore walked into the Eden Garden stadium that can hold 90,000 spectators or should I say frenzied cricket fans. We saw the gardeners working on the pitch and taking our seats on the bleachers swapped stories about why the Ashes are called Ashes. Of course Bonani’s version was ornitho-logical! (Something far fetched about a sparrow who died on being hit by a cricket ball).

We walked by the Maidan and returned to the cars and breakfast at the Taj. I'll convey your best to Alice in Singapore when I meet her. I'll take the Floppy Calcutta Hash Hat and maybe Malaysian hashers (Malasia being birthplace of the Hash) will recognise a kindred spirit.

Botanical Gardens George’s farewell hash

Around 20 hashers met at the Botanic Gardens on a wet Monsoon morning. This was George’s farewell hash. As there was a slight drizzle, we’d brought along umbrellas, even lilac ones. Patricia who’d hashed with us in the muggy heat of May, was back from her trek in the snowy peaks near Dharmsala where she saw the Dalai Lama. She’s delighted with the drizzle of the Monsoons and the lower temperatures.

We followed a muddy path to the ferry ghat that Zoria had discovered last month; we passed a beautiful dilapidated old colonial building that was the old office of the Botanic Gardens. For the last 3 years George has been saying that someone should make a restaurant by the waterside and looking at that lovely old house Ruth and I wished it could be turned into a café-restaurant. We all took the ferry across the river to Garden Reach and back, rubbing shoulders with the milkmen with their cycles and the other daily commuters.

We got off to find Pradeep and Bonani who had arrived late but had discovered a very good chaiwalla selling hot cha in a clay pot for 1 rupee. We all stopped for a tea break beside the white temple near the ghat and passed each other little bhars of tea - even to the coy cops who are part of George’s Security whom we will also miss henceforth on our walks. We really regretted that none of us had remembered to bring a camera, so it was decided that Shantanu would go by Peter’s house on the way back and collect the camera.

Back at the cars, we found Manu from the Taj, who had also arrived late and must have jogged all around the gardens looking for us. Siddiqui and Carl gave out our new hash collared T shirts, a bright orange colour to match The Hub logo with Taj Bengal Kolkata printed on the back. There was much ribbing about it being BJP colours and a spiritual hash, but it actually looked very bright and cheerful once we’d all changed into them back at the Taj. The two Rajeshes were there and Taj had organized a delicious chocolate cake for George which he cut after breakfast.

Peter has now been designated Hash Flash and Siddiqui dragged George for a picture by The Hub podium which could be captioned in the dock. We all trooped outside for the farewell Hash photos on the steps and Peter playing the fool nearly made it into the pool. We also took a picture with our backs to the camera looking over um, our right shoulder. While we crowded around the cake table and took more pictures, in walked Gaby and her husband who are also leaving Calcutta. Our fond farewells to them, to George, to Delphi (away till October).

Happy 4th of July, Lee and George. All the very best!

VEDIC VILLAGE

Around 20 hashers met in front of ITC to car pool. Gherda wasn’t keen to take his motor bike on the 30 min dirt track, potholed drive up to the Vedic Village once past the Rajherhat flyover.

Fortuitously, we had timed our outing there between the hot days of summer and the rains of the Monsoons. Everyone was delighted to be able to get away from the city on such a beautiful day. Quite a few of the hashers were on the Rajherhat flyover for the first time and were impressed by the new techno parks, the high rises and then the greenery of the villages.

We were able to view the various facilities and have a walk around the gardens and estates. The Dutch even managed a tour of the sewage treatment while we got a guided tour of the health spa treatments! Madhuri and French physiotherapist volunteering at an NGO for disabled children in Uluberia had a blood test on a new fangled machine and were quite scared that their blood sample didn’t make the wellness quotient. Guess we really needed the healthy breakfast on offer.

I believe some of the organic fruits and vegetables grown there were also served to us at our “wellness breakfast” – yoghurt with aloe vera, mango, and pomegranate, mint and cucumber juice, hibiscus tea!

Zoria, Siddiqui and Delphi stayed back and enjoyed a swim and lunch along with other treatments. Zoria even went horse back riding and had a reflexology foot massage. Delphi, who had organized an AIDS benefit concert the evening before, really needed the relaxing Ayurvedic massage to which she treated herself. It was a family outing for some of the hashers such as Rajesh and Payal. Two of Payal’s contemporary designs from ART BUNKER were in the hall of Vedic Village. She is participating in an exhibition called AKARSHAN at Stall No: 16- ICE SKATING RINK from 5 to 7 July 10.30 a.m to 8 p.m with creations to do up your homes in natural materials by craftsmen in the rural belts of East and North India.

Paurush was unable to come early in the morning with his baby girl, but the family enjoyed a day’s stay, with the 3 Hasher aunts doing a spot of babysitting till the evening.

All the hashers enjoyed the green and quiet of Vedic Village. It was a very unique Hash visit and the chance to bask in a relaxing environment.

Mr. Mike Robertson and Mr. Ravi Mahapatra have been thanked by e-mail for extending their hospitality towards the Calcutta Hash Group last Sunday at Vedic Village.

Dear Hashers,
On the Municipal Elections Sunday, with the streets looking very colourful with party flags and bunting blowing in the breeze, we met at the Lakes at 7 am, to find the Buddhist Temple. We had two guests with lovely names - Wanja (Delphi’s guest) from Kenya via Ranchi which she finds very dull compared to Calcutta, and a French English dog belonging to Nicolas of The French Association, called Kiboko which means Hippopotamus in Swahili.

While we wanjared around the Lakes we noted that the wall had been heightened to prevent bathers washing their clothes in the Lakes. Peter was pleasantly surprised as he’d been there in March and hadn’t enjoyed the walk half as much. Having someone from Nairobi with us, it was quite a safari as I pointed out the hidden elephants, giraffe and dolphin (slide). There was even a man in a Ganesh mask promoting a painting exhibition of Ganeshes at Sikka Palace. For most of us it was our first visit to the Buddhist temple. George and I were surprised to find artifacts from Buddhist sites. There were pictures of other Buddhist temples all over the world and even a letter from Milton Keynes inviting us there to offer flowers, incense and prayers on their 25th anniversary celebration!

The prayers are held here every morning around 6 am and in the evenings around 6 p.m. We saw the huge drum, which is beaten during prayers I imagine. We even climbed up to the first floor where we were joined by latecomers Pradeep and Bonani who left Kiboko with Shantanu waiting downstairs. We continued our walks around the lakes but as we had stopped a while at the temple and again to see the idols under the trees by the lake of Sitola devi on a donkey who is never immersed but left to the elements, we were quite late getting back to the starting point.

Peter and Cees insisted also on going up to the mosque. I was delighted with the beautiful suspension bridge of Burn &Co Ltd dated 1926 leading up to in the middle of the lake the mosque that was unfortunately shut. From the bridge we saw the rowers practicing on the rowing machines of the Lake Club. The regatta may be this week.

Back at the Taj, we enjoyed our breakfast - even Kiboko who got some fried chicken liver and sausages that Bonani smuggled out to her during breakfast. Unfortunately dogs aren’t allowed in the Taj. Except for the sniffer dog we saw afterward when some of us visited the banquet room, which was being decorated for the lavish engagement party of the children of two industrial families. Delphi had insisted on showing this to us as she thought it was a horticultural show! Baishaki, the decorator who had organised the flower and landscape arrangements, had transformed the banquet hall into something easily mistaken for a garden show.

Citizen's Park - Flury's - Hash Fan Mail

Sunday, 12th June, we met at the Citizen's Park with the musical and dancing fountains behind Victoria Memorial. Entrance opp. Academy of Fine Arts beyond Rabindra Sadan. There are a number of entrances as the Park is quite large.

We were a Baker’s Dozen at the new Citizen’s Park. George turned up as a surprise to some of the Hashers. Jaap and Cees are back. Christyne joined us as Alain is holidaying in Bangkok. Zoria drove over with her driver in the pilot seat. I gave Carl the Nash Hash in Mysore 13-15 August teaser t shirt Will you be a treat for My-sore Eyes?

As there were few trees to take shelter under, we walked from one end of the garden to the other noting the bins in the form of dolphin, kangaroo, chimp, koala bear hugging bamboo tree etc. There is still construction underway. The Dutch were startled to see people filling up cans of water from pipes for the water used for the musical and dancing fountains that are on only after dark and attract a lot of spectators. We continued on around a lake in the Victoria memorial Gardens noting that they have a sound and light show there all June at 7:30 p.m. but not during the monsoons. Guess we’re still waiting for the Monsoons to start.

We then went on to Flury’s for a complimentary breakfast organised by Shaun who is now responsible for the Flury’s chain of patisseries. Most hashers ordered an All Day Breakfast with rashers of bacon, sausages, fried egg, hash browns, and toast. Rajesh Nath ordered an intriguing dish of paneer and Mexican beans. George ordered beans on toast and as usual was the last to be served. However, Bonani noted that the service at Flury’s had definitely improved, but something had to be done about the flies that must have been attracted by the large chocolate, meringue decorative pieces all around of ships and wedding cakes. I had the fans switched on and the flies were no longer around us. I ordered the Flury’s Special Viennese Coffee that I love. Christyne enjoyed the coffee, as did George, which means that the coffee is perfect for North American sensibilities.

Here’s Christyne’s message to the Sunday Hash:
"It was nice to join the popular group of Sunday Hash. As much as I have to admit it, I didn't see much resemblance with the Worldwide Hashes, but I loved my experience. Waking up early was not too fun, but meeting all these new friendly people was nice. It was also a great experience to have a good breakfast (thanks to Flury’s) and getting to know the people I didn't know before or just enjoying the company of the ones I already knew. I hope to join you, once in a while... maybe with my husband next time (if I can make him wake up! hehe).

I have been receiving more hash fan mail if I can call it that. Here’s one from my French flatmate Patricia.

Dear Hash friends,Im so happy to know all of you ... I come back to Kolkata in july until middle of august 2005 and, of course, I want absolutely to continue to walk near detritus and everything like that !!!For the moment, Im with my french friend Isabelle in the marvellous indian moutains. Last week in Sikkim, this week in Darjeeling and next week (for 2 weeks) in Darhamsala.Wonderful temperature, wonderful weather, wonderful country and ... wonderful people. I met and spoke with a lot of people from Kolkata and perhaps, i propose you new members for Hash Club when I come back in July !I wish for everybody the best in life (only love it's enough...) and see you again in julyTake care and warmest regardsPatricia

Botanical Gardens - Ferry - Taj

There were 9.5 hashers at the Botanical Gardens as Peter put it.

Rajesh Nath brought his daughter.

Peter brought his wife.

They, Zoria and Delphi took the ferry at the Botanical Garden ghat and went across the river and back.

Then back to the Taj for breakfast.

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.

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.

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"

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.

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.

Taratala Environment Park/ TARA Kolkata Drive Press Club Maidan - Taj

People car pooled from the Taj at 7 am. Others met in front of the Taratala Environment Park at 7:30.

Madhuri and Delphi came to the Flag off of the TARA Kolkata Drive a 100 km rally around Calcutta at 7:30 am at the Press Club, Maidan near Mayo Road. First flag off by celebrities was at 8 am. They then went to breakfast at the Taj with the others at 9 am.

I am all ON ON for the Tara rally....VrooM! VroooooM! - manosh - :) brought Delphi back and we followed the cars to the Passage Control Point where the rallyists stopped for a refreshment break and musical performance by Tritha at City Centre 10 -10:30am approx and I interviewed Delphi on TARA about her Isle of Mann rally experience. At Rash Behari, another Rally Point, there was quizz competitions with prizes for Manosh. There was Music performance at Press Club in the afternoon by Orient Express before the Prize distribution ceremony and Delphi and I enjoyed beers on the lawns.

We'll be missing Howard and Shanti till October as they are off to the States after this Sunday till October. We are still missing Rajesh Nath who is in Germany. His wife's life style products at Art Bunker (of Delhi Haus Khas Village) at the Parampara exhibition has been selling like hot cakes and I can wax eloquent about her candles....

Keep connecting with the city,
GM Neela 9830014934

Horticultural Gardens, Taj Hash Sign Park Street Cemetery unveiled by Mayor

Hashers met at the Horticultural gardens entrance on Belvedere Road at 7 am. After breakfast at the Taj, hashers gathered at Park Street Cemetery for the unveiling of our landmark in Calcutta! Lee had brought the Hash banner. I had brought scissors and we stopped at Jaggu Bazaar on the way to buy cloth for the unveiling. The Mayor of Calcutta officially unveiled the Hash sign at Park Street cemetery after 10 am. There was press coverage too. The Hash picture is in the Telegraph, Times of India and Ananda Bazar Patrika.

The sign is in English and Bengali:

The South Park Street Cemetery was opened on August 25, 1767. Then a marshy and forested terrain, the ground was approached by a bund called the Burial Ground Road. The first person to be buried here was John Wood, a writer in the Customs House. Burials took place after dark with torchlights except military funerals that were accompanied by rolling guns. The cemetery hosts some colossal pyramids, catafalques, pavilions and obelisks and is one of the finest repositories of neo-classical funerary sculpture outside Europe. Famous people lie buried here: Eurasian poet, teacher and reformer, Henry Louis Vivian Derozio, who died in 1831 at the age of 22. He taught at the Hindu College (renamed Presidency College); Sir William Jones, judge, Indologist and a major figure in the establishment of the Asiatic Society, whose monument stands the tallest here; Rose Aylmer, niece of Lady Russell, dead within a year of arrival at the tender age of 17, who continued to inspire her friend the poet Landor. His famous Ode to Rose was inscribed on her tomb, the Spiral Monument, in 1910. Also buried there are Major General John Garstin, architect of Calcutta's Town Hall and the Patna Gola; Major General Charles (Hindu) Stuart, a devout Hindu, who bathed in the Hooghly every morning, worshipped Hindu dieties and even took images to England when he went on leave -- the Hindu images on his grave stand testimony to his faith; Lt Col Robery Kyd, distinguished botanist and founder of the East India Company's Botanical Gardens. Other famous Calcutta personalities here are the Impeys, the Princeps and the Vansittarts -- Henry Vansittart and his wife, a descendant of Oliver Cromwell. The graves tell a story of the many people and their occupations -- breeder of cattle, shipwright, keeper of jail, silversmith, school teachers, architect, translator, livery stablekeeper, printer, head tide-waiter, steward to the Governors-General, park superintendent, cooper, postmaster, surgeon, not to mention the undertaker -- who in their lifetime made British Calcutta the first city of the Raj.

Thanks and congratulations everyone for the joint effort.

Tolly’s Nala - Taj

One hour visit of the canals with the Dutch. Jaap confirmed the starting point:

Dear all,
As announced, the venue next Sunday will at the Kudghat bus stand at 7.00 am. I enclose a map: on screen it is difficult to read but when you print it outit becomes clearer. I did not want to send you an attachment of more than 1MB.So follow the Deshpran Shaswal road. At a certain moment you have, comingfrom the city, on your right hand the Tollygunge Metro station. I have supposed that is a landmark everyone can find, it is near the Calcutta Golfclub. Just after the metro station, turn left into the Baburam Gosh road.(Not the Netaji Subhas Bose road).At T-crossing keep left into the Chandi Ghosh road. At the end you will see the works of the new metro line (Tollygunge-Garia) and you arrive at the busstand. If this is not clear, I will be at the British club Thursday evening or please phone my mobile 9830735776.

Now what are these Dutchmen doing?We provide the KMC and the IWD (Irrigation and Waterways DepartmentWest-Bengal) technical assistance in a project called Kolkata EnvironmentalImprovement Project (KEIP). This is a project funded by the AsianDevelopment Bank, with a total value of around $230 million as which has amajor component Sewerage and Drainage.In total, it is foreseen to construct around 450 km of underground sewersfor wastewater and stormwater (we call stormwater the water that runs offthe roofs and the streets when it rains). Major objective is to collect thewastewater and pump it to wastewater treatment plants to purify it andconvey the stormwater, without flooding, towards the drainage canals ofCalcutta and finally to Hoogly or Kulti river. So rehabilitation (cleaning,reshaping) of 100 km of canals is also part of the project. You should knowthat the underground sewers are KMC property and the open canals IWDproperty: that is why the project has two clients.So in the areas where the project will intervene, we aim at a situation thatno untreated wastewater is dumped during dry weather in the open canals (asis now the case, but that you will see). And that flooding and stagnantwater during rainfall will be less. The project areas are the so-called 'added areas" of KMC, the means not the city centre but just around, likeborough XI and XIII, XIV, XII (around EM bypass), I (up north) and XV(Garden reach). If you are interested, I can tell you if your residence area is concerned by the project.Tolly's Nulah has a long history and was once a Ganges branch. Now it isused as a drainage canal and it ends up in the Hoogly near the Taj. I remember smelling the bad odours once we were in the swimming pool of theTaj but I know I have a special nose for waste water.

At the spot we will visit, the first thing you will see is the constructionof the metro line and the Kudghat metro station. That has nothing to do withour project, but somebody decided that that metro line should be constructed over Tolly's Nulah. (No place elsewhere and probably cheaper than underground). The only thing that intervenes with our project is that at that spot the Nulah is actually almost totally blocked during the metro construction. But Metro promised that they will clean up their mess when the construction is finished. A little downstream you will see the Tolly's Nulah without that Metro business. At the spot where we will be, you will also see an existing sewage pumping station, which is supposed to pump the sewage towards an existing wastewater treatment plant in the Keorapukur area, but that does not function and actually the pumping station pumps the wastewater into Tolly's Nulah. The project will repair this.

We will also walk a little bit along the Keorapukur canal, a branch of Tolly's Nulah and I will show you a defunct sluice and a defunct pumping station. The water level in Tolly's Nulah goes up and down with the tidal movement at Hoogly. So all you will see is the actual situation, which does not make one happy, but underlines the need of improvement. The execution of the new works will start very soon now, in about two months. Until now, we have been mainly occupied in design, preparation of tender documents and choice of the contractors.

The project will last atleast until 2007 (? May be 2009). So when in a year or two from now you will have a romantic walk in themoonshine across for instance the Alipur bridge or the bridge near the Tajacross the Tolly's Nulah, just open your nostrils and we hope that the specific wastewater odours will have gone. And if you become an addict of visiting dirty canals, flooded areas, wastewater flowing in the streets etc as my wife says I am, I have another 95 km of canals and lots of dirty streets to show you.
See you on Sunday,
Jaap

Dear hashers,

We had a very interesting walk with Jaap along the Kudghat bazaar and canals where he explained all the Sewerage and Drainage problems of the area. After the Kaal Baishakhi lightning and thunder storm on Sunday night, those of us who went on the Hash will be wondering what the winds and stormwater (rainwater) did to the area we visited.
The major objective of the Kolkata Environmental Improvement Project (KEIP) is to collect the wastewater and pump it to wastewater treatment plants to purify it and convey the stormwater, without flooding, towards the drainage canals ofCalcutta and finally to Hoogly or Kulti river. So rehabilitation (cleaning, reshaping) of 100 km of canals (now being used as dumping ground by the locals) is part of the project. We wish the Dutch every luck with the Kolkata Environmental Improvement Project (KEIP). Thanks Jaap for a very interesting and informative hash walk.

Joining us on our walk was an American Consulate guest from Washington as well as Alison an American lady working in Calcutta for the last 6 yrs in an NGO teaching computer skills to deaf and underprivileged youth.

Next week, there is a change in schedule as the Mayor of Calcutta will be officially unveiling the Hash sign at Park Street cemetery at 10 am. There will be press coverage too. Hashers should meet at the Horticultural gardens entrance on Belvedere Road at 7 am. After breakfast at the Taj, hashers will then go to Park Street Cemetery for the unveiling of our landmark in Calcutta! Thanks and congratulations everyone for the joint effort.

17th April Sun 7 am Horticultural Gardens, 10 am Park Street Cemetery
Patricia, (French lady from Marseilles who has seen Louise Atttaque perform), and I look forward to seeing the hashers at Bow Barracks to enjoy this French concert in Calcutta.

French Embassy in India, Alliance Francaise de Calcutta and The Telegraph in collaboration with Bow United Organisation present:"LOUISE ATTAQUE attacks Bow Barracks"Tuesday 12 April, 7 pm@ Bow Barracks, next to Bow Bazar Police Station (behind Indian Airlines onCentral Avenue)
Opening performance by NEEL & NEEL
LOUISE ATTAQUE, "One of the best young French rock n'roll band"The accompaniment is excellent folk-rock offset by violin pieces that fit invery effectively. This Musical Group of the Year 1999,and theperform at festivals, delighting the public. Their success is phenomenal and is sooncrowned by the title, in extraordinary sale of 2.5 million albums sold since 1997.
ALL ARE WELCOME

Botanical Gardens

We had a good turnout at the Botanical Gardens on April 3, 2005. Madhuri brought Ruth who was there after a long time as well as another girl from Austria. Rajesh and his wife were there along with Rajesh Nath who will be traveling for the next 4 weeks. We must have been nearly 25 people. I brought along a French lady, Patricia, staying with me and she was delighted with the greenery and calm of the Botanical gardens and at the prospect of joining our hash and discovering Calcutta with such a wonderful group of people.

We bumped into Mr. Peter Nuttall from Goal and he may also want to join the Hash Group. You’re welcome anytime. New hashers who want to be in the group are requested to pay Rs.400 for 2 Calcutta Hash T shirts to wear to the walks. Hash cash for the walk: Rs.100

Each time we go to the Botanical Gardens we learn some new details from Bonani. The group split up and the slow walkers followed Shantanu towards the waterside where something had died and was fouling the air with a horrible smell. The yellow flowers in full bloom last month were no longer flowering. We saw instead huge trees with a canopy of pink powder puffs. We finally got a description of the palms. The palms that bifurcate in two are the Zanzibar palms. We learnt to differentiate between the betel nut trees and the tall Taal trees whose fruit make interesting fritters called taal bara. These home recipes may soon die out and Shantanu will have to be prevailed upon to bring some taal bara for our next outing. We even saw date palms and the prehistoric cycas trees one of the most primitive living seed plants with their yellow bullet cones. We saw trees from Honduras and dozens of canon balls on the canon ball tree. We even approached a keora tree that is supposed to be a favourite place for snakes as it grows on swampy ground and since we saw a mongoose in the branches, the story may be true. We saw a Kingfisher, a Golden Oriole and a crow pheasant. We saw a lot of still ponds covered in green duck weed but no ducks!
Our group as you can understand was late getting back to the Taj, but we managed to convince Jaap, walking with us, to do the canal trip next Sunday. He will let us know a venue to meet and where to park to visit the Tolly’s Nala.

The Park Street Cemetery sign has been put up and the mayor would like to inaugurate it before the Bengali New Year on 15th April, 2005. Whatever time suits him, not necessarily during Hash hours, some of us should go for the unveiling, although according to Carl, someone has already run off with the jute sack cloth covering the sign.

Here is the schedule for the next few Hashes:
April 10 Tolly’s Nala at 7 am. One hour visit of the canals with the Dutch. Jaap to confirm starting point
April 17 Park Street Cemetery 7 am To go see the sign and find all the tombs mentioned on the sign such as Rose Aylmer, De Rozio etc.
April 24 Taratala Environment Park 7 am
TARA channel is organizing the TARA Drive Kolkata Motor Rally also on 24th April. If you think the Sunday Hash group could sponsor a car, you could.
Entry fee Rs.500. Course length 100 km. Prize money Rs.1 lakh.
The TARA Drive Kolkata Motor rally will be covered on TARA NEWZ so here's a chance for hashers to be on TV.
Look out for more details before next Sunday.
GM Neela 9830014934