The Howrah Bridge in Calcutta - spans the Hoogli River. I crossed it to get tickets for my travels. The bridge (and the city) don't look anything like I remember it. Again, thank you Jane Carter for the picture of the modern bridge.
History:
The end of the 17th Century witnessed the gradual emergence of the city of Kolkata brought about by the merger of three villages - Kolkata, Sutanati & Gobindapur, on the eastern bank of the river Hooghly, the other name of River 'Ganga.' On the western bank, Howrah came up as a bustling site of commerce.
The twin cities of Calcutta (re-named as Kolkata in the year 2001), and Howrah , were separated by the River Hooghly, and shared a common historical linkage towards the eventual construction of the Rabindra Setu, more commonly known as Howrah bridge. While Kolkata, from a small sleeping hamlet of artisans and mercantile community eventually developed, as a commercial hub of a modern metropolitan city, Howrah (virtually the store house of raw material resources) became its industrial satellite.
From my journal:
Wednesday, May 6, 1853: In the morning I crossed the river Hoakgly, to get a passage to Dinapore. I visited Fort William. There are 999 mounted cannon in the fort and 2,000 that are not mounted. The fort is hard to describe…It is a beautiful sight, one of the strongest forts in the world.
Thursday, May 5 (really 7), 1853: We had a meeting a few besides our own people met; we had a good meeting. Brothers Jones and Woolley preached. I traveled up the river to see the natives wash themselves and worship their idols. Thousands go to the river (each) morning to worship. All the natives that have a caste, burn their dead. They have a place fixed to burn them. All the low-castes, when their friends get sick and they think they will die, they take them to the river, lay half their bodies in the river, fill the mouth with mud and leave them to wash down the river, and if they should happen to recover, they lose their caste and can never get it again, and are disowned by their connections. They tell them that they were afraid to die. If they die before they get to the river, they throw them into the river. There are men employed to sink them when they arise in the water.
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| Calcutta in 1852 |
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| Calcutta about 1850 |
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| Fort William in Calcutta |
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| Indians bathing in the Hooghly at Calcutta |
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| Howrah Bridge in 1850 as William saw it |
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| The Howrah Bridge today |
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