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We will begin our walk of this historical area
just outside Girish Park.
Girish Park at the crossing of Central or
Chittaranjan Avenue and Vivekanadna Road
is a well-known Kolkata locality as it leads
towards deep north on one hand, and east
Kolkata and Salt Lake, on the other. The
park is named after the great dramatist,
novelist, theatre director and actor, Girish
Chandra Ghosh (1844-1912) who is known
as the Father of Bengali Theatre.
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The house inside belongs to the Jorasanko
Daw family. It is 200-year-old. This is
definitely the most theatrical thakurdalan in
north Kolkata with small balconies rising
above the courtyard on both sides as in an
opera house.
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The three famous sweet shops - Bhim
Chandra Nag, Nepal Chandra Haluikar and
Surendranath De. All, save Nepal Chandra
Haluikar, are famous for various Bengali
sweets, notably sandesh and other chhena or
cottage cheese products for which the city is
famous.
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Vaikunthanath temple was
constructed in early 1960s by the Bangars.
Its facade looks like marble but those
figures on the gopuram were all modelled
with cement by an artisan from Rajasthan.
The surface was later painted white to
resemble marble. The story of Mahabharata
is narrated here.
The buildings behind the sanctum sanctorum
were designed by Fatik Ch Guin (1900-
1985) of N. Guin & Co of Birla Science
Museum fame.
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The Disneyland Tagore Castle at 26
Prasanna Kumar Tagore Street looks like it
was imported from Scotland. All that is left
of the original structure are its turrets, the
tallest one being a clock tower that looks
like it has been skinned.
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Its a historic palace once owned by a prominent local family, with terraces & a huge inner courtyard.
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Mahatma & Co was established
by Radhabinod Roy who served
prescriptions meant for Rabindranath Tagore
till the time of his death on August 4, 1941.
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The Thakurbaris not the most
showy palace in this area of north Calcutta,
but it has a mark of distinction of its own,
even though that is not visible in its entirety
today. This is the family seat of the Tagore
clan. Rabindranath was born here on May 7,
1861 and he died here in 1941. The building
had been taken over by the state government
during Tagore’s birth centenary celebrations
in 1961, but only after the section of the
house (Baithak-khanabari at 5 Dwarkanath
Tagore Lane) in which the two famous
nephews of Rabindranath —
Gaganendranath and Abanindranth —
resided had been pulled down. At the entrance is a lawn where celebrations
are held occasionally. The original building
was founded in 1784. Dwarkanath used to
host his grand dinner parties in Baithak-
khanabari.
Sadly, what was once Rabindranath’s realm
is in a pitiable state now even though the
government has been more than generous
with funds. The museum continues to attract
hundreds of visitors everyday from all over
the country and the world.
