We didn't necessarily want to go inside the Museum but I knew the building itself was lovely and hoped to get some photos. Unfortunately, you need to buy tickets and go through the main gates before you can see the building so ..... I've cheated and added this stock picture just to show what it looks like
New Market is practically next door to the museum so we walked there instead to have a look. It was built in the style of London's St. Pancras railway station.
I'd read the following about it:.
In the1850s British colonists held sway in Calcutta and displayed increasing contempt for the "natives" and an aversion to brushing shoulders with them at the bazaars. In 1871 a committee of the 'Calcutta Corporation' started planning a market area which would serve only Calcutta's British residents. The Corporation purchased Lindsay Street and razed the old Fenwick's Bazaar located there. They commissioned an architect of the East Indian Railway Company to design the Victorian Gothic market complex which would take its place.
Sir Stuart Hogg, then the Chairman of Calcutta Corporation, had shown tenacious support for the plans to build the New Market. So, 28 years later, on 2 December 1903, the market was officially named Sir Stuart Hogg Market and later shortened to Hogg Market
The shopping arcade was opened to the British populace on 1 January 1874 and news spread rapidly. Affluent colonials from all over India came to shop and there were some upmarket exclusive retail shops there.
It was expanded over the years and in the 1930s the historic clock tower on the southern end of the market was shipped over from Huddersfield and installed.
New Market has survived two devastating fires and regular flooding but remains at the core of the shopping experience in the city. Over 2000 stalls under its roof sell a huge range of produce including shoes/clothes & accessories, flowers, different food items including raw meat, fish, vegetables, fruits and spices.
We started to look around but got severely hassled by touts/hawkers. Normally we can brush them off but I think we were a bit hot & tired and as we didn't actually want to buy anything we gave up on taking photos in favour of returning to our room for a rest. We will buy spices but will get them in Mumbai so they don't spend longer in our suitcases than necessary.
Just a few photos before we admitted defeat. They're a bit boring but I liked the story about the 'sniffy' Brits not wanting to rub shoulders with the natives!
Mother House:
After an hour's rest we set off to walk to Mother House which, according to the hand-drawn map in our room was almost on a straight road from our apartment and just 15 minutes walk away.
In the event we went wrong somewhere but managed to get on track again in time to arrive at 5pm - it closes at 6pm
Mother House (or Missionaries of Charity) is a religious community established by Mother Teresa in 1950. The Sisters devote their lives to serve poor, needy people and adhere to vows of obedience, poverty and chastity. They provide free services to people in need regardless of their religion, helping the sick, the poor, the disabled, former prostitutes and addicts, the homeless and victims of natural disasters and epidemics, orphans and street children. They run soup kitchens and schools to educate poor street children.
There is a staircase from the courtyard leading to Mother Teresa's room which we viewed through a metal door screen. It was tiny and very basic (as you'd expect).
The museum, though small was very interesting and housed some of her belongings, sarees, sandals, rosary and crucifix, her food bowl, pen and her bag amongst other things. There were also syringes used to take blood samples from Mother Teresa before her death, together with stethoscope and other medical items.
What I found most interesting were the stories, letters and photographs from her early life. We're so used to the iconic images of her as a wizened old lady that its easy to forget she started on this charitable route as a young girl.
She was from Macedonia of Albanian descent and her name was Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu. When she was 18 she went to Ireland to join a religious order and changed her name to Sister Mary Teresa.
She went from Ireland to India in 1929 and became a teacher in a High School for girls in Calcutta (now Kolkata) and took her final vows in 1937 when she adopted the title 'Mother'
She died aged 87 following a few years of ill health and she was canonised in 2016.
Because of the late hour when we got there, a service was in progress (including visitors to the House) so we were restricted as to what we could do/see. No photos were allowed in the small museum or anywhere except the tomb. But the tomb is really just a token marker in a room where the Sisters were about to hold a prayer meeting so I didn't like to approach too closely (even though one of the Sisters said it was OK) and just took a photo (without flash) from a distance.
The Tomb room
The Tomb room
Interesting stories as usual Sue, certainly opens your eyes to how things were in the days of the Raj.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly does!
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