This valentine’s day, let’s explore romance in various episodes in exclusives places on bank of river Hooghly

In Ruskin Bond’s novel ‘Susanna’s Seven Husbands’ was Susanna Anna Maria experimenting love? If you have not read the story then you might have seen or at least heard about the movie ‘7 Khoon Maaf´ by Vishal Bhardwaj, which was based on Bond’s story. Was it an utter coincidence that a decade ago, Bhardwaj chooses the month of February (read the month of romance) to release this movie, where Susanna is exploring love in her seven husbands? For the unintended Susanna kills all her seven husbands and the fact is Bond was inspired by the 18th-century Dutch lady Susanna Anna Maria, whose grave lies on G T Road, Chinsurah, and this February we visited her tomb. But if February is the month of love and valentine’s day then why talk about hate or murders? So not only Susanna or Dutch culture, we will be exploring philanthropist Haji Muhammad Mohsin who was in love with humanity and many such magnificent men, whose pomp in various places on the bank of river Hooghly, reflects romance in various versions. Trailing through places like Chinsurah, Bandel, Serampore -one can see behind being the historical trade-towns, these places are brimming with beauty of riverbank and centuries-old connoisseurs from certain cultures, who can cajole any contemporary explorer. This Valentine’s Day, we take the readers of Suvidhaa Aapki Tours & Travels on the bank of river Hooghly to find out love in many moods and in many forms and this travel oeuvre quite fits with the pandemic, as if you are heading from Kolkata then an entire day should be enough to cover the places (so no need for night stays in hotels).

Loving hu-man & history

Coming back to Susanna’s grave from where we started our journey and even if you are not an enthusiastic appreciator of literature or Susanna, you will at least surely love the architect of the Dutch grave. But before I bid adieu to Susanna, let me introduce you to my co-traveler & photographer- Neeldiganta Saha(Credit for All the picture you are seeing in this article goes to Mr Neeldiganta Saha), who raised a question on Susanna and that was whether Susanna believed in polygamy? That question let’s keep it for Ruskin Bond and from a polygamist, we move on to philanthropist Haji Muhammad’s mosque aka Hooghly Imambarah; which is an epicenter of all beautiful sentiments related to Islamic architecture, river & religion. Dedicated to Haji Muhammad, whose love for the welfare of people is well known in Hooghly; this mosque is a thrill of surprise with the sundial, beautiful scenic view behind the mosque and most importantly the clock tower bell. There are actually two clock dials on two sides of the 150 feet tall tower, located at the entrance of the Imambara, and rewinding of the clock machine requires two people as the rewinding key is 20 kgs; however, the joy of climbing lies at the top of the tower- and that’s the blissful view of the famous Jubilee bridge on the river Hooghly. But please keep in mind men and women are not allowed to climb the tower together (bad news for valentine's day’s couples). However, my soul, conscious of new strength, came out of the bondage of any particular religion at the milieu of a mosque dedicated to a humanitarian and bucked up to pray for the covid hit tourism industry, we started rambling exploration in centuries-old churches in Chinsurah. Chinsurah Church (located near the historical gari more), famous Bandel church, Armenian church- Chinsurah surely will set you on fire with eagerness to harmonize with history and heritage. After spending our happiest hours in Chinsurah & Bandel and to see a Danish church we finally move on to Serampore- to see St. Olav’s church.

Fleeting intimacy & Rendezvous with the French

On your way from Chinsurah to Serampore one can stop at Chandannagar, which was once the French colony, and if the French were criticized to be chauvinist, Joseph Marquis Duplex- the then Governor-General of French India, would surely be coined as the master of such chauvinism. With unflagging interest, I saw the Duplex Palace- a single-storied structured building that frames the evanescent fleeting images of the French era and one man’s flaming passion for colonizing. French sentiment in terms of its language is still there in the airs of Chandannagar, which is palpable in the spelling of the names written on heritage buildings. These all including Patal Bari where Tagore visited as well are all located on the bank of river Hooghly and wayfaring through the blissful strand is like a sort of tangible kaleidoscope – a nationalist lover Duplex and his French colony of Bengal. Everything will fascinate you here, especially the French architect, they were so lifelike but then the angel visions reminded us of our promise to take you to St.Olav’s church; destination – Serampore!

St.Olav’s church is more than 200 years old and was initiated by the then Danish Governor Ole Bie and the church today is a major landmark of Serampore, appearing at all the early depictions of the town. Located in the heart of the city, the church’s surrounding areas are always crowded so to avoid the crowd we made our way to the century-old Goswami Rajbari & Goswami Thakurbari. This palace is an example of an Indian European influenced of courtyard evincing the bygone era which evolved from the culture of Danish to Bengal feudal lords. To harmonize more with history and to interact with strangers that inculcates a fleeting intimacy (remember the book ‘When Strangers meet’), we made our way to a 250-year-old Danish Tavern and our rendezvous was with Mrs. Chandra Sinha Chowdhury, History teacher & heritage enthusiast. The tavern has been renovated by the National Museum of Denmark and the cool breeze from the river Hooghly, the indulgence on a cup of coffee and a history expert- the ideal milieu to know the cultural oeuvre in Serampore. “But the name of the place was officially changed to Frederksanagore in the honor of the Danish King Frederick V and all though it was aimed to be a Danish colony the British and to that matter, the indigenous Indian influence also worked in making Sermapore by prominent place in history,” professes Mrs. Chandra Sinha Chowdhury. This is far from being a hollow boast as the tavern was managed by a British Innkeeper and it won’t be an exaggeration to say that the entire Sermapore’s educational world flourished under the hegemony of the famous educationist – William Carey (a British). Mr. Dwaipay Ghosh, present manager of the tavern, while briefing us about this riverside beautiful restaurant also conveyed William Carey’s connection to the tavern.

Apart from being a missionary William Carey certainly was a connoisseur who was cajoled by the scenic beauty of this riverbank and he took a lot of initiative, which includes the establishment of Serampore College and the Serampore University, the first degree-awarding university in India. His passion & strife and pity make the Serampore College Building, its adjacent Carey House – the entire William Carey Road on the bank of Hooghly so gracious.

How easy it is to fly on wings of time! From 17th century to 19th century’s Susanna and to that matter 20th century’s freedom fighters & their romancing with patriotism on the bank of Hooghly – we covered all in a day’s journey. It was altogether pleasant traveling and romancing with so many aspects surrounding the mighty river Hooghly and the omnipotent fantastic weather of February sets the ideal frame. ( May-June, these areas are not quite suggested to travel due to extreme summer). Having nothing else left to explore while returning towards Kolkata through GT Road we halted for a while to see the legendary Mahesh Rath (Chariot) in Mahesh. However, even if your journey ends you still cannot stop fantasizing about river Hooghly and maybe in your fantasy you can see us also- waiting to greet you Happy Valentine’s day.

And also wanted to inform you that from today, which is from this Valentine’s Day, every weekend West Bengal Transportation Corporation in collaboration with Danish Cultural Institute and Oxford Book stores will start European Settlements on a boat ride that takes you to Serampore and Chandannagar from Kolkata.

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