Komagata Maru Memorial, Budge Budge, 24 Parganas (South)

Komagata Maru Memorial

Budge Budge, 24 Parganas (South)

Komagata Maru Memorial, Budge Budge, 24 Parganas (South)

Just next to the docks of Budge Budge, about 30 km south of Calcutta (Kolkata), lies a strange memorial. Popularly known as the “Punjabi Monument” it is modelled as the Sikh kirpan (dagger), the white and green cement structure rises in a magnificent arch to touch the sky.

The memorial is dedicated to victims of the notorious Komagata Maru Incident that happened almost a century ago.

“The visions of men are widened by travel and contacts with citizens of a free country will infuse a spirit of independence and foster yearnings for freedom in the minds of the emasculated subjects of alien rule.”

~ Gurdit Singh

In 1914, a wealthy Indian fisherman settled in Singapore, Gurdit Singh Sandhu, did quite the unthinkable. He chartered a Japanese steamship of 3,000-odd gross register tonnage to transport a large number of his Punjabi brethren from India to Canada in a bid to outsmart the tough immigration laws the northern American country had imposed to keep Asians out.

North Park Street Cemetery, Calcutta (Kolkata)

~ The Lone Surviving Tomb ~

Robertson Monument, North Park Street Cemetery, Calcutta (Kolkata)

Tucked away in the South – Eastern corner of the the Assembly of God Church Tower (AG Tower) complex is a strange circular structure. Supported by six Ionic pillar and crowned with a dome. It is often used for drying clothes and even as a storage space.

The structure known as the Roberson Monument is the lone surviving grave of the demolished North Park Street Cemetery.

The Mallick Bazar entrance of the Mother Teresa Sarani (formally Park Street and even formally Burial Ground Street) once housed cemeteries on its both side.

Today the cemetery only on the southern side exists and is called the South Park Street Cemetery, but the cemeteries on the north side have been demolished decades ago to give room to the expanding city.

The North Park Street Cemetery gave room to the AG Towers while the Apeejay School was built over the French Cemetery.

Opened in 1797 the huge North Park Street Cemetery once housed the graves of several well known British citizens of Calcutta, including Richmond Thackeray, the farther of novelist William Makepeace Thackeray.

Asad Uj Jaman’s Collection of Chandraketugarh Artifact

Boxes Full of History

Asad Uj Jaman’s Collection of Chandraketugarh Artifact

See Also: My blog post on Chandraketugarh and Khana Mihirer Dhipi

One by one the boxes came, ordinary plastic boxes with extraordinary content!!!!! small terracotta piece few wrapped in cotton wool and few others in newspapers but most of them bare, but strangely these pieces dates back far beyond the days of Christ.

Asad uj Jaman’s collection of Chandraketugarh Artifacts

Armenian Christmas Celebration, Calcutta (Kolkata)

Armenian Christmas Celebration

6 January 2013, Armenian Church, Calcutta (Kolkata)

Also see my blog post on Armenians of Calcutta (Kolkata)

Armenian Christmas Celebration, Armenian Church, Calcutta (Kolkata)

Yes you have read it right “Christmas on 6 January !!!!!” It is the Armenian Christmas. The Armenian Orthodox Church  celebrates the birth of Christ on January 6 (also known as Old Christmas).

2012 in review

WordPress Annual Report

2012

Also see: WordPress Review for previous years

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.