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I am born
u003cimg class=u0022aligncenter size-full wp-image-4853u0022 src=u0022http://chandanlahiri.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/family.jpgu0022 alt=u0022u0022 width=u0022501u0022 height=u0022720u0022 /u003e u003cpu003eI have been born a few times in my life. First of course, when I made my physical presence felt by pushing relentlessly for many an hour against my mother’s resisting body to finally emerge one evening in a Calcutta (Kolkata, the current name, to me…
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Find your solitude
Being alone is not the same thing as being lonely. I think I read this somewhere many years ago and I have entirely forgotten who said it, or in what context. However, having internalised the thought behind the statement, I have almost attributed the saying to myself, and constantly repeat it to whoever is willing…
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Jan 10, The Final Push Down the Ganges
Slow Boat Down the Ganges Update 63 Today was a watershed day. The final push to Calcutta to end what has been a fantastic journey. The excitement was coursing through my body through the night, sleep was sketchy, and when I woke up it was still dark outside. I was up and ready to hit…
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Jan 08, Jewel in the British Crown
Slow Boat Down the Ganges Update 62 Murshid Quli Khan, the Diwan of Bengal under Aurangzeb transferred the capital from Dhaka, Bangladesh, and renamed the city Murshidabad after his own name, after getting Aurangzeb’s consent. Murshidabad became the capital of the Nawabs of Bengal, and even remained the seat of administration for the British. Murshid…
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Jan 07, Goodbye Holy Ganges
Slow Boat Down the Ganges Update 61 One extra day at Farakka was called for. I have been to Farakka before, many years back, when I was motorbiking to Sikkim and Bhutan, and apart from the horrendous condition of the roads, I do not remember much of anything else. The Farakka Barrage was a must…
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Jan 05, Paddling to the land of my birth
Slow Boat Down the Ganges Update 60 We were in what is unkindly called the badlands of Bihar. Yes, these lands were made of legends, of stories of local gangsters, of complete lawlessness. Here lived people who had virtually no sense of worth of life and could and would kill for no other reason than…
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Dec 31, 2018, In search of enlightenment
Slow Boat Down the Ganges Update 57 After many years of being partial to the teachings of the Lord Buddha, I finally managed to walk the path that he walked two thousand five hundred years ago. Well, it is impossible for a person like me to walk on the Buddha’s figurative footsteps, but I did…
