Calcutta 1893. Note the "old burial ground" next to Lower Circular Road
When Satyajit Ray wrote the Feluda novel, Gorosthane Shabdhan! (গোরস্থানে সাবধান) in 1977, the process of renaming streets and locations in Calcutta had already started. Of course, this reached a frenzied pace in recent years with the renaming of the city itself to Kolkata and the prime location of the novel, Park Street, to Mother Teresa Sarani. Nonetheless, in the story we find signs that change had already started. Dalhousie Square had become B.B.D. Bag in honour of the revolutionaries Binoy, Badal, and Dinesh. Topshe even had difficulty remembering that Ochterlony Monument had been renamed to Shaheed Minar! (Most people born in my generation have no clue who David Ochterlony was and what he did to deserve a monument).
low-res Google Maps view of Park Street Cemetery (2010)
I remember that my grandmother used to refer to places in Calcutta (or Kolkata, if you prefer) by their original names. She would always say Dalhousie Square, “Monument”, Theatre Road, Camac Street, Harrison Street, and Circular Road. Many of these names are still present in Gorosthane Shabdhan! but others are gone. During my lifetime, people started making a shift to the new official names, although there are pre-Independence names that are still common. For example, Chowringhee and Strand Road are still quite popular. In any case, I will not be surprised if Esplanade is also “Indianised” soon.
Park Street Cemetery
Please note my personal opinion: I do not intend to make a political statement, but I do strongly feel that we cannot and should not try to wish away our heritage (whether good or bad). And part of the reason I personally find Gorosthane Shabdhan! to be a fascinating novel is because I see Feluda and Tosphe inquisitively digging away at the colonial history of the city.
Gorosthane shabdhan!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/keep-on-moving/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Calcutta 1924 - Most of the street names have been changed
Of course, Satyajit Ray’s story was written before the internet became a common resource. Today, we have it easy: we can look up many of the clues in the story and even figure out that the main antique, the Perigal repeater is a watch. But Feluda had to dig up the clues the hard way, by doing field-work and consulting Sidhu Jyatha, who unfortunately didn’t know about this priceless type of watch. When I first read the Feluda stories, I didn’t have the luxury of being able to use the internet either. Now reading the story, I feel as nostalgic about Feluda himself as I do about discovering the old-world charm of Victorian Calcutta.
However, since there are many readers like me who are only vaguely familiar with Calcutta (as opposed to Kolkata), I thought it would be proper to take a short virtual walk through the city in Gorosthane Shabdhan! For additional reading on the history of the city, I highly recommend Calcutta: The Living City Volume I edited by Sukanta Chaudhuri and published by Oxford University Press when the city turned 400. Pick it up at College Street before our bureaucrats change the name to Mahabidyalay Janapath!
In the story, Feluda poured over a map of Calcutta and Howrah dated from 1932. However, much of the story deals with Victorian Calcutta, and names didn’t get changed en masse until after India’s Independence from Great Britain in 1947. I’ve painstakingly acquired two maps of the city, one from 1893 and one from 1924 which you may find useful. Please note the names of streets in these two maps. These names have changed over the course of the last sixty years.
Feluda also mentioned Bourne & Shepherd, the oldest photographic studio still in operation. The gang also looked at pictures of Calcutta taken from atop the Ochterlony Monument in 1880. I’ve been able to find some pictures from around that time that will help us walk down the proverbial “Memory Lane.”
An albumen print from 1880 showing the floating Howrah Bridge (Courtesy Bourne & Shepherd)
The view from the Great Eastern Hotel circa 1880
Albumen print - view of Calcutta circa 1870
Albumen print with street view of Calcutta showing Main Post Office, circa 1880
Postcard showing Holwell Monument at the edge of Dalhousie Square. No longer near B.B.D. Bag anymore
Aerial view of Kolkata, circa 1945
Park Street, circa 1940
Please note that I have collected many of these antique photographs and postcards through eBay. You can find gems yourself by searching for Calcutta (“Kolkata” won’t work here). The photos can be freely used since they are not subject to copyright. If you can help me find the names of the photographers, please let me know so that I can attribute properly. The text is, however, subject to copyright and cannot be used without permission of Feluda.net.
©2010-2012 Feluda.net.
EXCELLENT ,IF YOU HAVE MORE KINDLY EMAIL ME,TKS,REGARDS
DILIP NANAVATI,MUMBAI
Hi Dilip. Thanks for reading. As I mentioned the best place to view or buy old photographs and postcards is eBay. It is amazing what you will find there.
For old books, I recommend searching Google Books. That is a treasure-chest.
Hi
Anirban, right. It felt so nostalgic reading ur blog. I quite concur with you on the name-changing syndrome. I dun really care whether you call me a defiant bong but I like my city as ‘Calcutta’. Many of my pro-Bong friends accuse me of lingering on my colonial hangover but trust me I am more bengali than atleast more than a half of them. I have had the best moments of my childhood in the city with my grand-dad who grew-up in the city- in which was once 111 Park Street. Owing to the place where he was brought up or for some other reason I have always heard from him about the best times of the city. I have spent the first 25 years of my life in the city before moving out but still cant get over the charm of what I left behind. I still love walking down the old streets of new market and hunt for old records. I also have a small collection of old sketches of Calcutta and some beautiful black and white pics which my Dadu clicked in the 1940s. An incredibly emotional possession. Would like to share them some time if you wish to. Meanwhile keep blogging.
Cheers
Padma
Hi Padma,
Thanks for reading and commenting on this post. Your post brought back a lot of memories for me as well!
Thanks also for your extremely generous offer to share something that is rare and of great value to you. I’d love to get in touch and will be contacting you shortly.
Best wishes,
Anirban
I loved the post! yes, love is the word. Gorosthaney Sabdhan remains very special to me out of all the Feluda stories because of its strong Cal connect. I remember reading it for the first time as a child and then very recently on a flight while leaving home. Everytime it makes me nostalgic. Needless to say I fall more in love with the city of life called “Calcutta”. Kolkata, though nice and all, still misses the old world charm.
Gorosthane Sabdhan is one of those classics of Ray-Feluda outing which makes me fall in love with Calcutta again and again.There are places in the whodunit where the city and its history are interlinked through time and space,making me feel one with the essence of Calcutta.
For example at the climax where felu,topshe and jatayu wait for the mischivious night visitors at the cemetry , a breeze sweeps the already errie atmosphere which makes topshe wonder which direction it is from,since as he remembers a wind from a partiular way helps the residents of Rajani Sen road( where topshe and feluda lived) hear the lion roar fporm alipur zoo.
A fantastic expression of unison which has time and again made me travel a virtual voyage throughout the city,connecting from the banks of the ganges to the swanky sky scarppers of south city,from the early expiditions of job charnok to the present upheavels of budhdha-mamata, a dyanamic span of a couple of centuries,centuries that have seen the rise and fall of an empire,a community and a city that was is still and will remain, despite being a khoka sohor against delhi and agra.
Thank you Sudipto, for your well-thought out comment. It was a pleasure to read.
Hi Anirban,
It was pleasure going through your blog and looking at those fabulous photos. I have to admit that I couldn’t resist saving them to my machine. I am an avid searcher of old Calcutta photos but never saw the older ones-1880s that you have posted so this was a great find for me! You have queried who Ochterlony was- he was a general who defeated the Gurkhas in 1816 and the monument commemorated that victory.
I belong to the merchant family who first settled in Calcutta and made it into the commercial centre that the British saw in late 1600s so feel a very strong bond to the city in spite of the hardships it offers. If possible get the book”European Calcutta: Images and Recollections of a Bygone Era” by Dhrubajyoti Banerjea which will give you a deep insight into the old Calcutta streets/names.
Cheers,
Mitendra
Hi Mitendra,
Many thanks to you for stopping by and commenting. I’ve been an avid collector myself. Ironically, due to financial reasons I’ve only been able to seriously collect after leaving Kolkata (and India).
I will definitely look for the book that you mentioned.
Best wishes,
Anirban
Anirban
Nice reading and as mentioned by several others, truely nostalgic. Thanks a lot!
The 1940′s photos which you have attached, I believe, were taken by the US Military photographer Clyde Waddell. Around 60 of his photographs on Calcutta during the War years are freely available on the net. Also available on the net are several photos on Calcutta during 1860′s taken by Samuel Bourne himself and few taken by Felice Beato around the same time.
Regards
Subhasis
Subhasis,
That is excellent information! Thanks for sharing.
Regards,
Anirban
That was an excellent piece of text….
Ochterlony Monument was erected in order to commemorate his victory in Anglo-Nepalese …..David Ochterlony was the British general who won the war….
Hi Anirban,
Though I have never been to Calcutta but still I have very deep connection with the city especially Park Street, when I was searching the picture of it,I was amazed to see your text, its really appreciable one.
Now I am more eager to visit the city which still has its own charm treasured.Your post really drew me more close to visit Calautta soon…
Thank You,
Regards,
Roopa.
Thanks, Roopa for your comments.
I’ll post a follow-up to this initial survey shortly.
Best wishes,
Anirban
hi anirban sir
Your blog is just fabulous.I have read about the old calcutta but never seen it before & I felt so nostalgic reading your blog.
Many many thanks for this kind of valuable pictures giving in your blog which give me such excellent pleasure
Cheers
Subhamita
Thanks you very much, Subhamita.
Please do continue to visit the website and I’ll have many new posts here.
hi Anirban sir
Your valuable pictures giving me and my family an execellent pleasure.It make My grandpa so nostalgic.thank you very much sir for reading my blog & comment on it.
Thank you once again sir,and Wish You and your family a Very Very Happy New Year in advance.
Hello,
I have just seen all these and i am overwhelmed with joy for such valuable and precious information. Looking forward for more.
Jaydip
Thanks, Jaydip. I promise to be more regular with updating this site in 2011. Best wishes, Anirban
Repeater as told in Gorosthane Saabdhan was very interesting. Repeater means Watch, Pistol. But the term uses by the sailor of ship to designate A marine compass also.
I AM A VERY FAN OF FELU DA. I HAVE BEEN READ THIS BOOK BEFORE. BUT WHEN I AND MY COUSIN ( SUBHA RANJAN GHOSHAL ) SAW THE MOVIE, I WAS SO EXCITED. A LOT OF THANKS TO SANDIP RAY & SABYASACHI CHAKRABORTY TO GET THE SUCCESS OF THE FILM.
Thanks for commenting
Hi Anirban,
It was a pleasure reading your blog. To me Calcutta holds a very important place and to top it up with Satyajit Ray’s classic Feluda “Gorosthane Saabdhan” story makes it more exciting. I have traveled all across the world but Calcutta is the best city in the world, through rain, winds,hot summers the warmth of this place amazes me.
I still remember when i first got an experience of feluda when i was in school, though we were living outside Calcutta my father made it a point that we should learn to how to read and write bengali and during those days Feluda and Shuktara used to be our favourite books. Whenever i used to be in Calcutta i used to figure out how does Feluda’s house look like from outside the famous address after all ” 27 Rajani Sen Road”.
Kudos to you that you have taken the pain to do such a lengthy research and and made it such an interesting read.
Like the famous Sherlock Holmes 221B Baker Street converted into a Museum we should probably do the same for our own Feluda and pay respect to the great master “Satyajit Ray”.
Jiyo Guru chaliye jao!!!!
Debashis
Thanks for sharing your experiences with Feluda, Debashis.
Some great ideas about the museum. I know there was an endeavor a few years ago to get it started, but don’t know what happened.
Anek dhanyabad
Anirban
To everybody – I started the Feluda museum project and it is still very much on. Logistics is difficult as I live in England but my team is active in Calcutta and we will be there. Visit the virtual museum on felumuseum.tripod.net or google it.
Thanks. If you look at the sidebar I’ve had it linked ever since I started this forum. You may actually be getting some traffic from here as well.
Very glad to hear the project is ongoing
Superlative effort, Anirban! Though this comment section is specific to this post, I digress to congratulate you for building and maintaining this website. Truly commendable.
I happened to watch the film – Gorosthaney Shabdhan – last time I was at Kolkata. It seemed strange that the film showed Felu and Topshe walking down a stairwell from what apparently was Felu’s residence. My friend observed that like all old Calcutta, “shatash nombor Rajani Sen” where Mukul’s father came and rang a door bell from the street, also may have been handed over to a promoter. Felu’s living room does continue to have the aquarium and a Jamini Roy style painting though.
Years back when I was still living in the city, I remember walking down Bishop Lefroy Road when I discovered a small house, on the left sidewalk as one is going towards J.N. Road, with an old nameplate with the words “Mitter” engraved on them. I don’t know if Felu’s name came from that which Ray could have seen during a walk around his house but the closeup of Felu’s nameplate in Sonar Kella and this had close resemblance. I don’t know if the house still exists (and my stupid laziness prevented me from going over to check and photograph the nameplate).
Sorry for the rambling – excellent work, once again, Anirban
Regards
Subrata
hi i am also majumder
colcata was beautiful then but now it is not so as beautiful as it was then british architecture really proved to be strong then but now since the british empire is no more and gone
now that british empire is gone the city dose not look nice at all the city is spoiled and looks not well
Wow! Just discovered your blog and I really love this post!