Historia

    In the year 2012 , a hitherto unknown and priceless collection of 178 plate-glass negatives were discovered in a shoe box in the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) in Edinburgh , wrapped in copies of The Statesman dating back to 1914 . They are said to have been taken in India at the beginning of the 20th century and the negatives are thought to be untouched for almost 100 years . Little else is known about the images and the photographer , prompting a search for clues as to his or her identity . One theory is that the photographer might be a British civil servant in Calcutta or was connected to the jute trade in Bengal , as many Scotts were said to be at that time . Nevertheless , these photos present a rare glimpse of the people and social life in India more than 100 years ago .  Riverbank with bathers and ship , probably from Chandpal Ghat , Kolkata Chotulal's Ghat , Kolkata . Photograph taken probably from the old How

There is a personal feel-good factor in writing this blog as the very place at the centre of this is my own hometown  - Behrampore , the district headquarters of Murshidabad in West Bengal . Being in the close proximity of heritage sites and monuments built by the  Nawabs of Bengal and itself being a prominent centre of Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 , Berhampore has its own unique place in the medieval and colonial history of Bengal . However , there is a historical site in the town which not only has connection with a royal family from beyond the border of India but also is something that even most inhabitants of the town are unaware of . A very rare heritage site , believed to contain the tomb of the last Burmese king , Thibaw Min of the Konbaung dynasty , has existed under the veil of mystery for decades at the outskirt of the town . A ccording to an order of West Bengal Heritage Commission , the burial site has been declared as a protected heritage monument under Clause-II of West Bengal He

For the inhabitants of the City of Joy , pandal hopping during Durga Puja is incomplete without a visit to the Sovabazar Rajbari . Indeed , this royal palace has the perfect rendition of history with heritage . It is famous for the iconic Durga Puja, started way back in the year 1757 - the first Durga Puja celebration held in Kolkata . However , there is a dark history at the flipside of its rich legacy and grandeur .  Imagine Calcutta in 1757 , when it looked like a village with swathes of empty spaces strewn haphazardly . A grandiloquent Durga puja was underway in North Kolkata  . The venue was a newly-built pucca house erected upon a four-acre strip by the yet-to-be crowned Nabakrishna Deb , who named the palatial residence as Shobhabazar Rajbari . An old picture showing Durga Puja at Sovabazar Rajbari Sitting at the centre of a podium was the cynosure of the occasion , an Englishman , colonel Robert Clive of the English East India Company (EEIC) , who had conquered Ben

Can you guess the connection between the Mahabharata , Ajanta and Ellora caves , the Mughal emperor Akbar and the recent COVID lockdown in India ?  To everybody’s amazement its a game – our very own Ludo ! The exact origin of this legendary game is uncertain . The earliest evidence of it is found in the stone carvings in cave no 21 of Ellora where Siva and Parvati are depicted as playing Chaupar or dice . Pachisi , the ancient form of Ludo , was invented around 6th Century AD in India itself . For centuries, people have played similar versions of the game we know as Ludo today . It was played on various mediums like cloth, slate, boards using seeds, shells,  staves or dice. After hundreds of years of evolution , the game can now even be played remotely through android apps .  The game eventually became famous around the world in many popular variations. For example, the Spanish version of the game was known by the name ‘Parcheesi’ and the Chinese called it ‘Chatush pada’ (meaning fou

In Germany, around 1440, goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg , invented the printing press, which started the Printing Revolution . In Renaissance Europe, the arrival of mechanical printing introduced the era of mass communication and is considered a watershed moment in the history of humanity . Over the next two centuries , this new found tool was spread in countries across the world by the European imperial powers .Unsurprisingly , the introduction of printing in India with movable metal types also is attributed to the European colonizers and missionaries . The first printing press in India was established by the Jesuits in the Portuguese colony of Goa in 1556 . According to some records , Bhimjee Parekh , with the aid of the East India Company , established a press at Bombay in 1674-75 but no books from this press survive today . Bartholomew Ziegenbalg , a Danish missionary , established a press at Tranquibar in 1712 , which printed with Tamil types . After the Portuguese consolidated th