Friday, April 3, 2020

spiritual musing, kolkata


We visited writer's building  in 2008 when my daughter was invited for awad  for her poems in Naya gyaanoday 
The Writers' Building |Matt Stabile / Flickr

last year in Februry 2018 we again visited and now   we plan to visit  shantiniketan 

this is  Writers’ Building, presently the Writers’ (as it’s also known) houses the State Government of West Bengal, it has served multiple functions over the past centuries.
Built in 1777, the Writers’ Building was meant to accommodate junior servants, or ‘writers’ as they were called, of the East India Company. When it was leased to the company in 1780 for this purpose, it was described as looking like a ‘shabby hospital, or poor-house‘. After several structural changes over the next couple of decades, Fort William College set up camp there, training writers in languages such as Hindi and Persian, until around 1830. In the years that succeeded, the dwelling was used by private individuals and officials of the British Raj as living quarters and for shopping.
Extensive remodelling and renovations have occurred most of the times the building was switched between hands. Today, there are 13 blocks; six of which were added after India won independence from British rule. The 150-metre long structure has a distinct Greco-Roman style, with several statues of Greek gods as well as a sculpture of Roman goddess Minerva commanding attention from the pediment.
After knowing so much about it, I feel that I know something about the elderly people there. Last time we went to Calcutta, the old driver had told a lot. This time we will get to know about it here leisurely.

xoxo

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