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| encroached Babu ghat, Kolkata /upload.wikimedia.org/ image.Biswarup Ganguly |
The river Hooghly of Calcutta (Kolkata),west Bengal has many ghats for the convenience of common people. There is a marble tablet beneath the pediment according to which the credit for the erection of such ghat goes to senior British official Lord William Bentinck. He encouraged such acts of public participation aiming at improving public amenities. It is the second oldest ghat of Kolkata.
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| Babu Ghat double-dolphin.blogspot.com |
One of the prominent ghats among the 80 ghats in this area during the British Raj was Babu ghat (also Baboo Raj Chandra Ghat). In those colonial days it was a busy one along the bank of Hooghly River on Strand Road, Kolkata at B. B. D. Bagh, Kolkata. Baby in Bengali means means Sahib or gentleman.
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| Hooghly river from the Babu Ghat,Kolkata en.wikipedia.org image credit.Susovan2001 |
It was built in 1830 Babu Raj Chandra Das, zamindar of Janbazarand his wife Rani Rashmoni named it in memory of him after her husband Babu Raj Chandra Das It is the second oldest ghat of Kolkata. She was quite popular, particularly among the fishing communities in that area as she had the British withdraw the fishing tax imposed by them. She is still remembered for building the Sri Dakshineswar Kali Temple
The ghat can be be easily noticed by the presence of an impressive colonial structure which is the landing berth of the ghat. What is unique about this structure is its design style. It is a fine Doric-Greek style pavilion with huge pillars. It was meant for religious activities, ferry services to Howrah and recreation
As one can see across India here also no serious attention is given to old heritage structures that connect us with the past. Owing to official apathy, the ghat is not well protected now and consequently, vendors and others have encroached many areas. Official negligence had impacted this old structure and the stairs leading to the river. They are facing degradation due to human carelessness.
The ghat originally built for the ladies are not spared. It faces decay and is tuned into garbage dump. Many ghats along the Hooghly river face similar problems and the old structures and stairs are slowly dying. The ghats that serve the people, would have silently witnessed the transient nature of life - the journey of life and death and of joy and celebration. If such ghats that are part of common people are not repaired soon, they may turn into mounds of broken debris in the near future. In their death, we also see the loss of our past history. ''The ghats along the Hooghly, once important centers of trade, religion and society, are dying an unlamented death'', according to a Metro report.
Despite the mess and decay all around the place the people patiently carry on their activities in the ghat from late dawn to early dusk. In the evening time people use the ghat for for bathing, puja, religious ceremonies, massage, etc. During Saraswati and Durga Puja festivities, the ghat is over crowded because of immersion of idols takes place here. In the city during the festivitie as many as 4000 idols are ceremoniously immersed. It means lots of water pollution. About the present condition of the ghat, despite vast transitions take place across city, it has not changed for centuries.
What Brian Paul Bach in his book Calcutta’s Edifice has mentioned is true “Babus are very sophisticated people. Babughat is n very sophisticated” The impressive tall structure with big Doris columns is behind a clutter of hoardings and illegally parked vehicles. The government must enforce strict laws to allow small percentage of immersion of idols at specified ghats that are free from pollution causing color chemicals.
Unlike other ghats like Natherbagan ghat in the north and Telkal ghat in Howrah that have proper infrastructure for immersion, this Baby Chandra ghat does not have proper facilities for immersion ceremonies.
The Kolkata City Council must take serious steps to repair all major ghats and restore them back to old glory.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babu_Ghat
https://double-dolphin.blogspot.com/2015/11/babughat-strand-road-calcutta-kolkata.html
