Lakes and Taj Bengal
26th March The Lakes Southern Avenue near Calcutta Rowing Club 7:30 am. Breakfast at Taj. The Poddars, Pradeep & Bonani, Siddiqui and Carl, Zoria and Madhuri and newcomer Nidhi were all there.
Sunday, March 26, 2006
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Niti has become a member of the Hash group
She joined Carl, Siddiqui, Zoria and Ed Miller at The Statesman House.
They went to the abandoned, haunted warehouses in Howrah and it was a
cool visit in every sense. They strongly recommend that we schedule
another walk there sometime so more hashers can visit the ghats on the
Howrah side. They walked around and went for breakfast at around 9:30
to the Food Plaza at Howrah station.
I was enjoying breakfast at Alcha restaurant and lifestyle store in
Shantiniketan.
She joined Carl, Siddiqui, Zoria and Ed Miller at The Statesman House.
They went to the abandoned, haunted warehouses in Howrah and it was a
cool visit in every sense. They strongly recommend that we schedule
another walk there sometime so more hashers can visit the ghats on the
Howrah side. They walked around and went for breakfast at around 9:30
to the Food Plaza at Howrah station.
I was enjoying breakfast at Alcha restaurant and lifestyle store in
Shantiniketan.
Sunday, March 12, 2006
Botanics and Taj
We met at the Banyan tree as hashers Bonani and the Poddars had already got in. Madhuri picked up Carl, Sid, Lilly, me and Sunita. Zoria was waiting for us and had parked inside against Rs.50 parking fee. Madhuri's car was parked opposite.
There was some confusion at the gate when the fee collector wasn't around to take the tickets. Next time as it will be summer, we will reach Botanics at 7 am and there shouldn't be any problem about buying the tickets.
We had a long walk and a long chat at the Taj over breakfast. Sunita who had spoken with Bonani was able to meet her for the first time and everyone congratulated Bonani on her victory over the Wetlands. All the construction there will be razed.
The next schedule has been put up. We will do Zoria and Carl's Howrah expedition although there was a little trepidation regarding snakes in the abandoned lots in Howrah.
We saw a gentleman in a blue collared T shirt with red piping on the collars and sleeves and we have decided that we shall make T shirts for the Bengali New Year.
Regular hashers and newcomers will receive the Tshirts. Absentee hashers (depending on attendance)can buy them. Some T shirts will be available to The Taj for Sale as our Orange T shirts have caused much interest at The Taj Breakfasts.
We met at the Banyan tree as hashers Bonani and the Poddars had already got in. Madhuri picked up Carl, Sid, Lilly, me and Sunita. Zoria was waiting for us and had parked inside against Rs.50 parking fee. Madhuri's car was parked opposite.
There was some confusion at the gate when the fee collector wasn't around to take the tickets. Next time as it will be summer, we will reach Botanics at 7 am and there shouldn't be any problem about buying the tickets.
We had a long walk and a long chat at the Taj over breakfast. Sunita who had spoken with Bonani was able to meet her for the first time and everyone congratulated Bonani on her victory over the Wetlands. All the construction there will be razed.
The next schedule has been put up. We will do Zoria and Carl's Howrah expedition although there was a little trepidation regarding snakes in the abandoned lots in Howrah.
We saw a gentleman in a blue collared T shirt with red piping on the collars and sleeves and we have decided that we shall make T shirts for the Bengali New Year.
Regular hashers and newcomers will receive the Tshirts. Absentee hashers (depending on attendance)can buy them. Some T shirts will be available to The Taj for Sale as our Orange T shirts have caused much interest at The Taj Breakfasts.
Sunday, March 05, 2006
Gadiara on the Ganges
21 picnickers went to Gadiara on Sunday 5th March on a dolphin sighting expedition. The size of the group ensured that all expenses were covered. The weather was beautiful and balmy breezes accompanied us all day.
We took George, who was on time, but hasher from Chennai missed his wake up alarm. After my call at 7:45, Anurag managed to reach us in twenty minutes. In the meantime, Patrick gave us details of Gadiara, which is the confluence of the Hoogly, Haldi and Rupnarayan rivers where three different species of dolphins have been spotted – gangetic, irawady and hump back dolphin. Chips, apples, newspapers and crosswords had been brought along for the bus journey. We took a 1 km detour to have brunch at the Azad Hind dhaba recommended by Rajesh Nath. There we sat at 3 long tables and everyone went Dutch for a brunch of naans, paranthas, tarka, dahi, and egg bhurji. Rakhi's son Deep who was starving by ten when we pulled into the Bharat Petroleum station beside the large and airy Azad Hind dhaba even had his chicken butter masala! Emmanuelle de Corse who has joined the French Association had her first Kabuli Naan. Our table had the Telegraph Sunday papers and we laughed over Patrick Pringle's account of his first 60 days in Calcutta. After polishing off the paranthas and posing for a picture and making various pit stops, we got back in the bus to continue to the riverside.
We reached the sprawling Roop Narayan Tourist Lodge at 12. Carl had booked a room and we left our bags there and after refreshing ourselves took the ferry to the opposite shore to Nupur. We spotted dolphins from the belly of the ferry on the way in and back. Rakhi and her friends, Anirudh, Margarette and Sohini stayed on board with Stan and Anurag while 7 of us got off the gangplank and visited Nupur which has a Missionaries of Charity Brothers center. We thought we'd be able to visit the gardens but the watchman at the asylum prevaricated or "quibbled". We ended up having tea at a stall overlooking the waters killing time until the ferry returned. Emmanuelle showed us all the pictures she'd taken of the villagers and the fishing boats. Though we'd imagined that the others were toing and froing on the ferry catching glimpses of the dolphins, unable to walk the rickety gangplank, they had got off on the mainland. Some had taken a smaller nouko but rather than majhi songs were inflicted with horrible hindi songs.
We caught up with them back in room 103 overlooking the palm trees where a poker game was in progress with matchsticks as stakes. The real tournament was to be the Scrabble competition and we took the board down to the lawn in front of the lodge. Deep single-handedly lugged the plastic tables and chairs out and then sat to play with us with Sohini/Lilly/Rakhi helping him. Anirudh won the first match and Margarette turned the tables in the second. By then we'd ordered onion bhajis and tea. Rakhi who runs Kewpie was horrified at the sloppy tea service and sent the waiter back to get clean cups and a teapot. We were all set to leave at 5 when we learnt that 6 of the group had missed the 5:10 ferry and would be taking the 6:10 ferry back to us. This created much consternation as evening plans had to be cancelled and Sohini had much explaining to do to her parents. Luckily, I had brought Odomos against the mosquito attack in the dark. We continued to play a crazy game of Crazy 8 while Lilly and Rakhi went to buy fresh galda chingri (crawfish) at Rs.400 a kilo. This was rapidly put into the now empty beer cooler. When the others finally arrived around 6:30 we hurried them into the bus and we took off at 6:45. It took us 2 hours to get back into town.
We had such a wonderful time on this excursion that we decided to plan a return with the hashers who missed the opportunity. We could also take children, of the art school we visited, on this outing. The children had done a project on the river and this could be an opportunity for the hashers to take the kids on a picnic. A 50 seater bus could be organized along with a picnic lunch from hash cash. Tentative date could be 1 month from now on April 9 th.
Let's not miss spring at the Botanics on the Sunday before Holi. Meet at the Botanics at 7:30 am. We can decide then decide the hash schedule until Bengali New Year mid April.
21 picnickers went to Gadiara on Sunday 5th March on a dolphin sighting expedition. The size of the group ensured that all expenses were covered. The weather was beautiful and balmy breezes accompanied us all day.
We took George, who was on time, but hasher from Chennai missed his wake up alarm. After my call at 7:45, Anurag managed to reach us in twenty minutes. In the meantime, Patrick gave us details of Gadiara, which is the confluence of the Hoogly, Haldi and Rupnarayan rivers where three different species of dolphins have been spotted – gangetic, irawady and hump back dolphin. Chips, apples, newspapers and crosswords had been brought along for the bus journey. We took a 1 km detour to have brunch at the Azad Hind dhaba recommended by Rajesh Nath. There we sat at 3 long tables and everyone went Dutch for a brunch of naans, paranthas, tarka, dahi, and egg bhurji. Rakhi's son Deep who was starving by ten when we pulled into the Bharat Petroleum station beside the large and airy Azad Hind dhaba even had his chicken butter masala! Emmanuelle de Corse who has joined the French Association had her first Kabuli Naan. Our table had the Telegraph Sunday papers and we laughed over Patrick Pringle's account of his first 60 days in Calcutta. After polishing off the paranthas and posing for a picture and making various pit stops, we got back in the bus to continue to the riverside.
We reached the sprawling Roop Narayan Tourist Lodge at 12. Carl had booked a room and we left our bags there and after refreshing ourselves took the ferry to the opposite shore to Nupur. We spotted dolphins from the belly of the ferry on the way in and back. Rakhi and her friends, Anirudh, Margarette and Sohini stayed on board with Stan and Anurag while 7 of us got off the gangplank and visited Nupur which has a Missionaries of Charity Brothers center. We thought we'd be able to visit the gardens but the watchman at the asylum prevaricated or "quibbled". We ended up having tea at a stall overlooking the waters killing time until the ferry returned. Emmanuelle showed us all the pictures she'd taken of the villagers and the fishing boats. Though we'd imagined that the others were toing and froing on the ferry catching glimpses of the dolphins, unable to walk the rickety gangplank, they had got off on the mainland. Some had taken a smaller nouko but rather than majhi songs were inflicted with horrible hindi songs.
We caught up with them back in room 103 overlooking the palm trees where a poker game was in progress with matchsticks as stakes. The real tournament was to be the Scrabble competition and we took the board down to the lawn in front of the lodge. Deep single-handedly lugged the plastic tables and chairs out and then sat to play with us with Sohini/Lilly/Rakhi helping him. Anirudh won the first match and Margarette turned the tables in the second. By then we'd ordered onion bhajis and tea. Rakhi who runs Kewpie was horrified at the sloppy tea service and sent the waiter back to get clean cups and a teapot. We were all set to leave at 5 when we learnt that 6 of the group had missed the 5:10 ferry and would be taking the 6:10 ferry back to us. This created much consternation as evening plans had to be cancelled and Sohini had much explaining to do to her parents. Luckily, I had brought Odomos against the mosquito attack in the dark. We continued to play a crazy game of Crazy 8 while Lilly and Rakhi went to buy fresh galda chingri (crawfish) at Rs.400 a kilo. This was rapidly put into the now empty beer cooler. When the others finally arrived around 6:30 we hurried them into the bus and we took off at 6:45. It took us 2 hours to get back into town.
We had such a wonderful time on this excursion that we decided to plan a return with the hashers who missed the opportunity. We could also take children, of the art school we visited, on this outing. The children had done a project on the river and this could be an opportunity for the hashers to take the kids on a picnic. A 50 seater bus could be organized along with a picnic lunch from hash cash. Tentative date could be 1 month from now on April 9 th.
Let's not miss spring at the Botanics on the Sunday before Holi. Meet at the Botanics at 7:30 am. We can decide then decide the hash schedule until Bengali New Year mid April.
Rendez vous with the River Dolphins
On to Gadhiara this Sunday for an out of town picnic.
This was decided last Sunday in order to make the most of the weather before the heat of summer!
Rajesh Nath was there last week and he took a boatride on the river and saw more than 40 dolphins in the space of a few hours. He even had a Majhi-fisherman who sang songs! The boat ride was Rs.60 but they were so delighted with the experience they gave him 100.
Meet in front of the Parcomatat 7:30 am for a picnic to Gadhiara
We'll take a bus and stop en route for breakfast at the Dhaba on the Bombay highway to have paranthas.It will be a two hour bus ride.
Take a picnic lunch along and drinking water.
We can set off again in the afternoon after spending the day there.
Bring your friends, badminton rackets, cards, Frisbees, scrabble other board games!
Hash cash Rs.100
Guests Rs.200
Please book your seat at the earliest. Will accept entries at the British Club on Thursday.
Botanics postponed to 12th March
RSVP
Neela 9830014934
On to Gadhiara this Sunday for an out of town picnic.
This was decided last Sunday in order to make the most of the weather before the heat of summer!
Rajesh Nath was there last week and he took a boatride on the river and saw more than 40 dolphins in the space of a few hours. He even had a Majhi-fisherman who sang songs! The boat ride was Rs.60 but they were so delighted with the experience they gave him 100.
Meet in front of the Parcomatat 7:30 am for a picnic to Gadhiara
We'll take a bus and stop en route for breakfast at the Dhaba on the Bombay highway to have paranthas.It will be a two hour bus ride.
Take a picnic lunch along and drinking water.
We can set off again in the afternoon after spending the day there.
Bring your friends, badminton rackets, cards, Frisbees, scrabble other board games!
Hash cash Rs.100
Guests Rs.200
Please book your seat at the earliest. Will accept entries at the British Club on Thursday.
Botanics postponed to 12th March
RSVP
Neela 9830014934
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