Day 49 Calcutta and overnight to Delhi

Day 49                        Thursday 13^th October 2011               Calcutta to Delhi

With the information from Ranabir whom we met in the State Archives yesterday, we headed for the National Library (housed in a magnificent old house in large gardens) to see whether we could find anything more on properties owned by Dr Macwhirter in Calcutta.

When I signed the register I noticed the entry above mine was a P T Nair. I didn’t think much more about it as it would be too much of a co-incidence to have the author of “History of Calcutta’s Streets” in the Library at the same time.

We proceed to frustratingly look at catalogues & cabinets of card index without much success. Whilst waiting to collect a book, Phil also noticed “P T Nair” and didn’t hesitate to speak with him (there were only 4 of us in this section of the library). It was indeed the same man whom we tried to contact when we were in Calcutta in 2000. He took us in hand, marched us down the stairs & told the staff to unlock certain cupboards & get “his” 2 books of references. In these he was able to tell us what volumes of Bengal Past & Present we needed to use to find some early history of Calcutta streets. Apparently Mr Nair comes to the Library every morning.

Back upstairs & we were able to consult the volumes. We read Volumes 1-3 but these only went to about 1805 with a few later entries. These Volumes had been produced by the Asiatic Society in 1907 and gave the ownership of properties & when they were purchased & sold. Disappointingly we then read that the Society did not have the funds to continue this work on later years. Both Ranabir & Mr Nair told us that land records are held by Municipal Councils and are very, very difficult to research.

Back to the hotel to collect our luggage & head for Sealdah train station to catch the 18:40 Duronto Express to Delhi. Sitting on the platform waiting for our train to come in made me realise just how many people use trains in India. The platforms are very long & each train seems to be crowded.  Porters rush to meet each train & it is common to see these men carry 2 or 3 heavy suitcases on their heads. Another thought came to my head as we watched & waited. Women were passing by in beautiful saris, very colourfully co-ordinated. I realised that I had never seen two women in an identical sari. How could this be in such a huge population.

Our train came in & we found ourselves sharing with a Muslim family, husband, wife  & young son who were heading for Saudia Arabia from Delhi & a young Indian chap.

Waiters came around for dinner orders (veg or non-veg thali) which we discovered was included in the price of the ticket.  Water & ice-creams were also provided. Travelling on Indian trains has certainly changed since we did it as backpackers.

Once the food trays were taken away we all settled down for the night and we’re due to arrive in Delhi at 11am.

Laurette wanted to set up her folding middle bunk and go to sleep, but bedding times are from 9.00 PM so she had to wait till close to that time.  In any event we waited till our Muslim compartment mates had finished their lenghty prayers in front of us, then off to sleep.