Chinese Moon Cake ~ Tiretta Bazar, Old Chinatown Calcutta

Chinese Moon Cake

Tiretta Bazar, Old Chinatown, Calcutta

Also see: My blog post on Calcutta (Kolkata) Chinatown

Its early Sunday morning and sun is yet to come out, but the stoves are already fired up and the morning silence is broken by the sound of the knife hitting the chopping plate.

Moon Cakes being sold at Tiretta Bazar (Old Chinatown) Calcutta (Kolkata)

Night owls crawl out of their late night parties and call centre night shifts to rejuvenate themselves with bowls of hot fish ball soups from the road side vendors. Hungry soles huddle around makeshift stall, jostling with each other to grab the day’s first meal.

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Chinese Breakfast, Old Chinatown (Tiretta Bazar), Calcutta (Kolkata)

Chinese Breakfast

Old Chinatown (Tiretta Bazar), Calcutta (Kolkata)

Also see: My blog post on Calcutta (Kolkata) Chinatown

Chinese Breakfast, Old Chinatown (Tiretta Bazar), Calcutta (Kolkata)

Its early Sunday morning and sun is yet to come out, but the stoves are already fired up and the morning silence is broken by the sound of the knife hitting the chopping plate.

Toong On Church, Rebirth of a Chinese Temple

Toong On Church, Calcutta (Kolkata)

Rebirth of a Chinese Temple

Also see: My blog post on Calcutta (Kolkata) Chinatown

Changing Story ~ Nanking Restaurant and Toong On Church (Top to bottom: March 2008, 10 Feb, 2011, 13 Oct, 2012, 20 Jan, 2013)

March 2008: A beautiful two storied brick red building stood in the shadows of the multi storied office of Kolkata Telephones. The entrance was not easily approachable and the door perennially locked. Above the door in beautiful Chinese calligraphy was written Toong On Church.  The building once housed the Toong On Church at the first floor and the Nanking Restaurant on the ground floor. A decade long court case have kept the building under lock and key and the Toong On caligraphy was all that remained of the buildings glorious history.

Feb 10, 2011: I was out to explore the Chinese Temples of Tiretta Bazar, with fellow photographer Amitabha Gupta. We made our way past the garbage dump to the entrance of the beautiful two storied red coloured building only to find the Chinese calligraphy being replaced by a temporary banner of Nanking Restaurant.

Oct 13, 2012: It was the Calcutta edition of the Scott Kelby Photowalk 2012. I took a detour past the garbage dump and made my way to the entrance of the Nanking Restaurant. To my utter surprise I found the Nanking Restaurant banner replaced by the Toong On Church banner. Strangely the door was open and I made my way up to the first floor, straight in front was the alter housing the strange idol of the warrior God Kwan Ti. Sadly apart from the alter the room was totally empty and lacked the ambiance and glamor of the surrounding Chinese Temples.

Jan 20, 2013: It was the Footsteps Photowalk and again I made my way to the entrance of the Nanking Resturant and Toong On Church only to find that the temporary banner of Toong On Church have been replaced by a permanent beautiful bright red Chinese calligraphy.

Scott Kelby’s Worldwide Photowalk

13 October 2012, Calcutta (Kolkata)

See Also: My blog post on Scott Kelby’s Photowalk 2013, Calcutta (Kolkata)

About Scott Kelby:

Kelby is editor and publisher of Photoshop User and Layers magazines, president and co-founder of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) and is president of Kelby Media Group, an Oldsmar, Florida-based software training, education, and publishing firm.

Scott Kelby’s Photowalk, Calcutta (Kolkata) Group Photo (Photo Courtsey: Manjit Singh Hoonjan)

Kelby is a photographer, designer, and the award-winning author of more than 50 books, including Photoshop Down & Dirty Tricks, The Photoshop CS3 Book for Digital Photographers, The Photoshop Channels Book, Photoshop Classic Effects, The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book for Digital Photographers, The iPod Book, The Digital Photography Book, and The iPhone Book.

Achipur ~ Birth Place of Calcutta Chinatown

Achipur

~ Birth Place of Calcutta Chinatown ~

In the late 18^th century a Chinese tea trader by the name of Tong Achew landed on the banks of Hooghly, somewhere near present day Budge – Budge, never to return again. The then Governor General Warren Hasting granted land to Achew to set up a sugar cane plantation and sugar factory.  According to records to British East India Company “Achew was granted 650 bighas of land about 6 miles south of Budge – Budge for an annual rent of Rs 45.”

Chinese Devotees light candles, Achipur Chinese Temple

After acquiring the land Achew set up a sugar – cane plantation along with a sugar mill. He brought in a band of Chinese workers to work in his plantation and factory and thus forming the first Chinese settlement in India. But Achew died soon after and his sugar factory was abandoned. His workers left for the city of Calcutta, where their descendents still continue to live.