Wandering in the Vibrant City... Kolkata... Day 4 Part 4

Day 4 Part 4

Again we had a visual feast with the boat sailing from the Dakshineshwar in Kolkata to Belur Math in Howrah.  Our boat ride was on River Hooghly flowing between the twin cities of Kolkata and Howrah. The eastern bank held the Dakshineshwar and the western bank held the Belur Math, the Head Quarters of the Ramakrishna Mission.

For me, it was a delightful sight…The vista presented was true to the essence of Kolkata. An amalgamation of Classic Architecture, Neo Classic and the Greenery flanked by the Waterfront on either side of the River Hooghly. 

At times when I took the pictures the lens captured images along the wave movements… It was fun too and to keep the hand steady was quite a feat…

To the left and below ...View inside the boat

As we reached Belur Math we realized that we were late by exactly 5 minutes… The doors had shut and we had to wait for 4 more hours for the gates to be opened. But the time was not on our side… Had to attend the wedding reception in the evening for which we had been to Kolkata. So thinking we were not beckoned to visit Belur Math  this time, having a quick bite at a local eatery, we headed towards our Inn and bid adeiu to our young friend who took a train from Howrah station to Farakka …

                                          ~~~ oOo ~~~

On our way back we visited the ancestral home of Swami Vivekananda… It has stood tall since the 18th century. 

It was built by Narendranath’s great-grand father, Ram mohan Datta, is over 300-years-old. Surrounded by a lush garden and a large open space while the young Swami lived there, it is a compound with two buildings a single floored and a double floored.

The 

burgeoning city later caused the area to be crowded and the approach road to the house turned into a lane, known as the Gour Mohan Mukherjee Street.

As it does, time took its toll on the house after Swami Vivekananda’s era. Sinking into a dilapidated condition, the building at one time had around 143 families and small business centres within it. Sadly, the ancestral childhood home of Swami Vivekananda had become a slum.

As the court had given Swami the clear title deed during his time, Ramakrishna Mission decided to make it a museum and painstakingly renovated it to restore it to its original glory… Later, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation declared the house a Grade-1 Heritage Building.

Today, the iconic structure is a research centre, a memorial shrine, a library, an English centre, a computer training centre, and a charitable dispensary and a place where seminars and conventions are regularly organised . Located in the heart of the city it is a  full-fledged cultural centre.           

It is a wonderful feeling to know how Swami Vivekananda lived having heard so much and read a lot on him both during  school days as well as in later years… My curiosity on him had peeked while my kids had taken Ramakrishna Mission exams.... as a part of co-curricular activitiy... Had the satisfaction of seeing this if not Belur Math, the one of the two Maths started by Swami himself to train the youth... Youth who come to embrace the Sanyasa in his fold and work in the fields of spiritualism and social services. With this feeling in our heart...albeit more of consoling oneself... we headed to our Inn.

                                              

                                                                                                                             ~~~ oOo ~~~

“We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far. ”                                

                           

                                  ~ Swami Vivekananda

                                                                                                                              ~~~ oOo ~~~