Snippets from the cosmopolitan world of the Second City of the British Empire.
It was an uncomfortably warm morning in central London. The thick black fog that had hung like a pall early in the morning had moved away and a muggy, hot morning followed. The newspapers wrote of an impending storm over Europe that was causing the unusually warm weather. Notwithstanding the heat, the capital of the … [Read more…]
On the 30th of May 1867, a worried father walked into the Entally police station. No name, leave alone an image, of the paternal figure has survived. But it is not impossible to imagine the deep disquiet that would have hung heavily, like the mid-summer sweat, upon his aged brow. The prospect of having to … [Read more…]
“I am extremely disappointed to have to report ill of this officer”, wrote the Magistrate of Saran in 1868 about his young Deputy Magistrate E.E. Fisher. Fisher had had a history of getting into trouble and his superior officers were tired of him. What was most vexing for them was that the lad was exceptionally … [Read more…]
Moksad Ali got off the SS St. Louis at New York City on the 18th of June 1897. He and eleven other Bengali Muslim men from Hughli and Calcutta had taken the ship first to Southampton and thence to the Big Apple. On board they had travelled, crammed into the cheapest quarters with a German butcher, … [Read more…]
William Martin Sarkies was seventeen years old and fond of flying kites. Urban kite flying had been popularized under the muslim monarchs of northern and eastern South Asia, including old Bengali cities such as Dhaka, Murshidabad, etc. Calcutta, though it was a colonial city lacking in the rich pedigree of cities like Dhaka and Murshidabad, … [Read more…]
The Victorian world was one of clear contrasts and sharp hierarchies. White and black, good and evil, saints and sinners were all clearly distinguished and neatly stacked up. Or so the Victorians told themselves. But gaslights are not conducive to such clear lines. Shadows lurked, confusion prevailed and clarity was much more an aspiration than … [Read more…]
The last serious challenge to British power in Hindustan had ended with the Battle of Buxar in 1764. While the Peshwas, the Nizam and, above all, the Sultans of Mysore would continue to resist the Pax Brittanica in the Deccan for many more decades, in the fertile Gangetic valley of Hindustan no one any longer … [Read more…]
Courtrooms are places of striking contrasts. The stern formality of the law, the stark walls of the buildings, the austere attire of the officers of the law – everything gestures towards predictability, formality, and cynicism. Yet what frequently unfolds in these steely courtrooms are tales of tenderness, love, unpredictability, passion and much more. Be it … [Read more…]
It was the 5th of May, 1899 – one of those stifling summer days in Panjorbhanga, Rajshahi that breathed only after sundown. As the cool evening breeze lulled the parched eyes of Pramathanath Mustafi, he welcomed the open arms of Somnus. But alas, the soothing nightly embrace was shortlived. At some point during the course of the night, Mr … [Read more…]
Gaslight and railway communication with Gaya, claimed the reporter who communicated the following incidents to the public, had greatly attenuated the ability of spirits to interfere with the domestic affairs of the inhabitants of the City of Palaces. Gaya, as will be familiar to many, is a site of pilgrimage. Many Hindus, particularly in eastern … [Read more…]
Recent Comments