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22.10.18

My every-morning-ritual got interrupted this morning …. Well, maybe not really, though. Every 6 or 12 hrs or so the generator get changed – one goes off and the other one goes on. In general, this is no big deal and is only noticed for a momentary black out. This morning during this change the air-condition went bust. I did not immediately notice it since I always sleep without AC, but when I left the cabin for breakfast – this is the time when I turn the AC on to cool the cabin during the day – it would not switch back on. Oh well, maybe it was only mine!? – No, it was not. Ship Manager Romeet told me the whole thing went bust along with his CCTV security system and they were working on it. Oh well.

Breakfast was not so quiet this morning, because most everybody was complaining and discussing the AC. As if at home never anything broke down and needed fixing …..

Anyway, we went for our morning excursion and hopefully the problem would be solved by the time we got back. We took the country boat across to the ghat of Kushbagh. Just to clarify – as used in many parts of South Asia, the term ghat refers to a series of steps leading down to a body of water, particularly a holy river. The set of stairs can lead down to something as small as a pond or as large as a major river. Here this ghat was basically situated in the middle of nowhere close to a mango orchard, rice and vegetable fields. There were funny gherkins growing here and we also saw aubergine and bitter gourd fields. But we left the fields and walked along a concrete road for about 1 km to the Garden of Happiness, spotting a Kingfischer – the bird not the beer – on the way.

Khushbagh is in fact the garden cemetery of the family of the Nawabs of Bengal. It lies on the west bank of the Hooghly-Bhagirathi River. It is also reputed to be the resting place of Nawab Siraj ud-Daulah, along with his wife Lutf-un-nisa, Nawab Alivardi Khan, Alivardi Khan’s mother and others. Khushbagh hosts the graves of the Nawabs of Bengal belonging to the Afshar dynasty and their family members.

The garden consists of walled enclosures. The graves of Siraj ud-Daulah and Alivardi Khan are inside a square, flat-roofed mausoleum surrounded by an arcade verandah. There is also a small mosque, built by Nawab Alivardi Khan.

After the death of Nawab Siraj ud-Daulah in the Battle of Plassey in 1757, his wife Lutf-un-nisa refused to join Mir Jafar’s harem and fled. She later returned to Murshidabad and it is said that she  lived in Khushbagh, where she tended the grave and the 108 varieties of roses, which once used to grow in the gardens, for several years. There are also many birds in this garden. This time we saw a woodpecker which however flew off before we could take a photo.

It is blissfully quiet in the well-tended gardens. We walked around for a bit. There were several orchid trees (Bauhinia variegata) here, unfortunately this time of the year they are not flowering. It is a tree growing to 10–12 m tall, deciduous in the dry season. The leaves are 10–20 cm obcordate shaped, long and broad, rounded, and bilobed at the base and apex. The flowers are conspicuous, bright pink or white with five petals. Before, I did this cruise in January and the trees were beautiful.

The short walk back to ghat was uneventful and pleasant. When we got back on board the AC was still not working. It seemed to be a bigger problem than expected. They had fixed one part of the system, though. In some cabins it was working fine, in others it was still off. In the restaurant it was working and who wanted to cool down could sit there for a bit until our next excursion. More complaints! As if – when something breaks down at home – it gets fixed immediately and you did not have to wait for days for the technical service…..

We only had a very short sail to Murshidabad and the ship docked there at the jetty by 10:15. Since we were there we pushed up the next excursion by 15 min and rang the temple bell to announce the start. Mr. Grumpy – later in the cruise he would be dubbed Grumpy Opa by other guests and shop keepers – had a big problem with flexibility and always moaned about changes. That the clocks are ticking somewhat differently in India and flexibility is key, eluded him completely. So I just smiled and let it pass.

Murshidabad used to be a town and district of British India, in the Bengal Presidency. In the Mughal period it was the capital of Bengal. The town of Murshidabad is on the left bank of the Hooghly River or main channel of the Ganges. In 1704, Murshid Quli Khan, the Diwan of Bengal under Aurangzeb transferred the capital from Dacca – now Dhaka in Bangladesh – and renamed the city Murshidabad after his own name –  Murshidabad – City of Murshid. In 1716, he attained the title of Nawab – ruler – of the Subah – province – of Bengal, and Murshidabad became his capital and even after the conquest of Bengal by the British, Murshidabad remained for some time the seat of administration. In 1790, however, the entire revenue were moved to Calcutta. Nowadays Murshidabad has approx 44000 inhabitants.

From the jetty it was not far to walk to the famous Hazarduari Palace. There were many horse carts on the street. Another special mode of transport here in Murshidabad. We could have gone on those horse carts to the palace entrance, but I opted against it. The carts are rather uncomfortable and the horses look not too happy. Again there was the dilemma of helping them make money or be sorry for the horses. But you cannot help everybody and in order to avoid more complaints from guests I did not even offer it to them.

It was not far to walk to the palace entrance anyway. Food stalls and souvenir sellers lined the walkway. But it was early for them, they were only just setting up.

The magnificent Hazarduari Palace is dating back to 1837. It was built by architect Duncan Macleod, under the reign of Nawab Nazim Humayun Jah of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa (1824–1838). In 1985, the palace was handed over to the Archaeological Survey of India for better preservation.

Formerly the Kila Nizamat or Nizamat Kila – Nizamat Fort – was located here. The fort was demolished to build this grand palace. Now, Kila Nizamat refers to the whole area where the palace is located along with the Nizamat Imambara, Murshidabad Clock Tower, Madina Mosque, Chawk Masjid, Bacchawali Tope, the Shia Complex, Wasif Manzil, the two Zurud Mosques – one on the east of the palace and the other one between the Wasif Manzil and the south gate of the palace – and the Nawab Bahadur’s Institution surrounding it.

The name of the Hazarduari Palace means “a palace with a thousand doors”. Hazar means “thousand” and Duari means “the one with doors”.  It  has been named so as the palace has in all 1000 doors, of which 100 however are false. They were built so that if any predator tried to do something wrong and escape, he would be confused between the false and real doors, and by that time he would be caught by the Nawab’s guards.  And there are a  total of 114 rooms.

The palace is now a museum which houses collections from the Nawabs like priceless paintings, furniture, antiques and so on. The most famous one is the huge crystal chandelier in the Durbar Hall . It is the second largest chandelier in the world, after one in Buckingham Palace. It was given to the Nawab by Queen Victoria.

The Hazarduari Palace Museum is regarded as the biggest site museum of Archaeological Survey of India and has got 20 displayed galleries containing 4742 antiquities out of which 1034 has been displayed for the public. The antiquities include various weapons, oil paintings of Dutch, French and Italian artists, marble statues, metal objects, porcelain and stucco statues, farmans, rare books, old maps, manuscripts, land revenue records,  a bamboo from Assam and so on. There are a total of 20 galleries to be visited.

Not bags, mobile phones or cameras are allowed inside the Palace. So we left everything outside and our Babu watched it for us. The galleries are well maintained and very stunning. I had been here a couple of times before and still strolled through it  admiring  the beautiful art works.

Only a couple of our guests actually stayed with our guide Amit who knew much to tell about the exhibits. The others walked individually through reading the signs at the objects.  Our Swiss express train basically ran through …. Montezuma had apparently taken revenge the night before …. We did not feel too sorry for her since she would have run through in any case. She had not yet arrived in India, where not only the clocks tick differently, but some Indian composure, flexibility  and patience are necessary.

Before I came on this cruise I had only 2 days at home after a 6 months stint  on the river cruise in France – with 140 guests of the same company and style as now. There is much more work, hectic and complaints there and I am regularly totally hyper.  Coming to India I have to force myself to slow down – and I have mastered this beautifully – the ship’s staff might sometimes not think that, but they have not seen me work on the big ship in Europe yet ….

Everybody could walk individually back to the ship after the visit of the palace. There was enough time to even wander through the town a bit on their own before lunch. None did. Everybody was back on board in no time. No adventurers on this cruise …. Most had not truly arrived in India yet, unfortunately ….

The AC could not be fixed completely, though. Technicians with a spare part would only arrive this evening from Kolkata. So we moved 4 of the guests to other cabins where the AC was working. Everybody happy.

I still needed to find an ATM, though. Yesterday at the ISCKON there were actually 2 ATM, but one was out of cash and the other one was broken …. Welcome to India!  Now was my chance since Murshidabad is the biggest town we would pass on this cruise – other than Kolkata. There should be enough ATM around and at least one must be working. The Assistant Manager Arnap needed to go to the ATM as well and we took an e-rickshaw to the bazaar street. There was a line up at the State Bank of India ATM, but fortunately there were more machines and everybody else used the other machine. Not all ATM are good for foreign cards. Anyway, I did not have to wait more than 2 min and then the procedure was quick. It is always a relief when the sound of banknotes being sorted inside the machine is to be heard, because then you know it is going to spit money out in a jiffy.  Finally, I had money again! I did have rupees in cash from my last visit, but not enough to pay my own and the company bill on board in a few days and then shell out all the baksheesh for the group on the land program after.

After lunch we had our afternoon excursion to some of the sights of the town. We took our mini bus and the first stop were the ruins of the Katra Mosque.

The Katra Masjid is a mosque built between 1723 and 1724. It is located in the north-eastern side of the city of Murshidabad. It’s importance lies not only as a great centre of Islamic learning but also for the tomb of Murshid Quli Khan, who is buried under the entrance staircase. Murshid Quli Khan on reaching old age, expressed his desire to construct his tomb adjacent to a mosque. He entrusted the responsibility for constructing the mosque to his trusted follower who was an architect, Murad Farash Khan.

The mosque stands on a square plinth. It is a brick built mosque and is surrounded by double storied domed cells, which were built for those who read the Quran in those days.

4 big minars stand at the 4 corners. These are octagonal in plan and taper upwards. The most striking features are the 2 large corner towers having loopholes for musketry.

The mosque has been destroyed in the 1897 earthquake. Ironically, it is the destruction – collapsed domes and archways  – which gives the place much of its current beauty. In 1780, a traveller named William Hodges wrote that 700 Quran readers lived there in the mosque. In his book “Select Views of India” he described it as “a grand seminary of Musalman learning, adorned by a mosque which rises high above all the surrounding buildings”.

It was very hot this afternoon and not much shade there. I treated myself to a coconut from a stall in the parking lot. Rs 40 for one and it is a healthy and delicious source of hydration in the tropics. Coconuts grow on large palm trees known scientifically as Cocos nucifera. Despite the name, the coconut is botanically considered a fruit rather than a nut. Coconut water is the juice found in the center of a young, green coconut typically about 6–7 months of age and contains 94% water and very little fat – not to be confused with coconut milk which is made by adding water to grated coconut meat. The seller just chose a coconut from his cart by knocking on it, then used his huge machete like sword to cut the top open, stuck a straw in it and handed it to me. I love it!

Our next point of visit was the Kathgola Palace in the Kathgola Gardens which was built by Lakshmipat Singh Dugar,  a Jain businessman, in the 18th century. It is said that black roses were cultivated here but now only mango trees and a small rose garden can be seen here.

The Kathgola Bagan Bari – or Kathgola Palace –  is a stunning 4-storied palatial palace in the Kathgola Gardens. It has an ornamented facade with valuable paintings, mirrors and priceless furniture inside. Beside the palace is a small pond. Here William Watts and Walsh met Mir Jafar, 3 days after the Battle of Plassey in 1757 and conferred concerning payment of the amounts stipulated by them before the battle was fought.

Taking photos was not – officially – allowed inside the palace museum, but it was nevertheless very interesting. There were bedrooms in each corner room with very high beds – and the matching – climb-into-the-bed-stair attached to it. In the center of the first floor was the huge Durbar Hall with many mirrors and chandeliers. On the upper floor was the room furnished with beautiful sofas and chairs and intricate English wallpaper.

Discussions came up on why there was no kitchen or bathrooms inside the palace. Those were traditionally located in side buildings, because toilets were not proper inside the living quarters. The supposedly former kitchen and staff building was rather crumbling and situated next door.

Strolling through the garden we reached the Adinath Temple also known as Paresh Nath Temple or Kathgola Temple. The Mulnayak – the main deity – of this temple is a white colored idol of Bhagawan Adishva in the Padmasana – Lotus – posture. The idol of Bhagwan Adinatha is very ancient and considered to be around 900 years old. This temple was built in 1933 by Lakshmipat Singh Dugar due to inspiration from his mother. The architecture of the temple is unique of its kind.  Inside the temple there are no photos allowed and the shoes had to removed as well.

Jainism – traditionally known as Jain Dharma – is an ancient Indian religion. The main religious premises of Jainism are ahiṃsā  – non-violence, anekāntavāda – many-sidedness, aparigraha – non-attachment and asceticism. These principles have impacted Jain culture in many ways, such as leading to a predominantly vegetarian lifestyle that avoids harm to animals and their life cycles. Parasparopagraho Jīvānām – the function of souls is to help one another – is the motto of Jainism. Jainism has two major ancient sub-traditions – Digambaras –  the “sky-clad” and Śvētāmbaras  – the “white-clad” – which have different views on ascetic practices, gender and which Jain texts can be considered canonical.  Jainism has between 4 – 5 mio followers, with most Jains residing in India.

There were many local tourists in the garden today. Walking along we got many times ask to take photos with whole families. Selfie time! Again we were the exotics here and as we take photos of the Indians in their colorful sarees, they take photos of the foreigners. Most everybody has a smart phone in India nowadays. Often guests were totally stunned that even in the smallest villages almost everybody had a mobile phone. This is rather simple to explain – before mobile phones, there were of course no land lines in remote areas. But with the internet and mobiles phones progress came also to remote areas. The mobile phone companies just had to set up antenna masts. Mobile phones are getting more and more affordable and mobile SIM with data are readily available. I usually buy an Indian SIM in the airport, but this time due to the Durga Festival everything was closed. So a crew member lent me his extra SIM for the duration of the cruise and I paid all of Rs 149 for a daily data allowance of 1.5 GB for 4 weeks! On my German prepaid SIM I pay € 2,95 for 100 MB per month …. Think about that ….

Along the garden path leading from the palace to the temple were also statues of many Hindu gods. My favorite is Lord Ganesha. Ganesha is one of the most important gods in Hindu mythology and he is also worshipped in Jainism and Buddhism. He is easily recognized by his elephant head and human body. Ganesha is widely revered to as the remover of obstacles, the patron of arts and sciences and the deva of intellect and wisdom. As the god of beginnings, he is honored at the start of ceremonies. Ganesha is also the patron of travellers, writers, students, commerce and is rather fond of sweets, to the slight detriment of his figure.

Ganesha is the son of Shiva and Parvati. He was created by his mother using earth which she moulded into the shape of a boy. As Shiva was away on his meditative wanderings, Parvati set her new son as guard while she bathed. Unexpectedly, Shiva returned home and, on finding the boy, was outraged at his impudence in claiming he was Parvati’s son. Shiva and his demons fought ferociously with the boy and eventually lopped off his head. Parvati ran from her bath and remonstrated with Shiva for killing their son. Therefore, Shiva ordered a new head to be found for the boy and, as the first animal available was an elephant, Ganesha gained a new head and became the most distinctive of the Hindu gods.

The Nashipara Palace  – our last stop this afternoon – was built before 1800 and features Georgian architecture that definitively shows the change in rulers after the Battle of Plassey.  The palace is in desperate need of restoration, but maybe that is the special charm. Like so much of colonial India, the splendid elegance of times gone by is here not very hard to imagine.  We did not look into the museum – the rooms had been set as a museum, but not much was to see, unfortunately. We rather went through to the courtyard which boasts a temple. Today the altar was closed, but I remember from previous visits the interesting variety of deities.

There was also a shrine for Hanuman. Hanuman is in Hindu mythology the monkey commander of the monkey army. His exploits are narrated in the great Hindu Sanskrit poem the Ramayana – “Rama’s Journey”. While still a baby, Hanuman, the child of a nymph by the wind god, tried to fly up and grab the Sun, which he mistook for a fruit. Indra, the king of the gods, struck Hanuman with a thunderbolt on the jaw – hanu – thus inspiring the name. When Hanuman continued to misbehave, powerful sages cursed him to forget his magic powers, such as the ability to fly or to become infinitely large, until he was reminded of them.

Hanuman is worshipped as a subsidiary figure in temples dedicated to Rama or directly in shrines dedicated to Hanuman himself. The latter are generally thronged by monkeys, who know that they cannot be mistreated there. In temples throughout India, he appears in the form of a monkey with a red face who stands erect like a human. For his service to Rama, Hanuman is upheld as a model for all human devotion.

We walked around the premises which gave great photo opportunities. Unfortunately, our guests were not too impressed with the palace and wanted to leave soon.

Our minibus brought us back to the ship where most guests got off.  Only 3 guests took the offer for a quick trip for a walk in the market street. It was not far away, only like 5 min by bus. They dropped us off at the market junction and even though we gave them 30 min free time, they all stuck to me. Oh well, not problem, I have been here before, let’s take a walk.

It is not a huge or very interesting market street, but it is still compelling to walk around looking at crumbling buildings of former splendor and local shops.

We walked once around the block, basically. I like those off-the-program walks around with only a few guests, because we can go and do whatever and do not have to follow a special outline. This is travelling.

There was a car cemetery which was almost completely grown over and looked much deserted. Mr. Grumpy found a sign that stated those were cars once confiscated by the police and never redeemed by the owners thus being completely forgotten.

Further down the road I spotted a well hidden wine shop.  Drinking alcohol is perfectly legal in India – except in the States of Bihar, Gujarat and Nagaland.  Sitting on the beach over a chilled beer or in a biergarten in the late-hot afternoon? You can forget that. Drinking alcohol in India is restricted – but not at all unusual. Licensed upmarket hotels and restaurants of course serve alcohol to guests same as the bar on our ship. Having a sundowner on the sundeck of the ship is absolutely no problem and a drink on a bamboo chair in front of the ocean is still possible in Goa. At unlicensed restaurants, however, beer comes – when requested secretly – in a teapot and is served as “special tea”. I have encountered that numerous times when travelling on a shoestring in Varanasi or Hampi. Feels a bit like being an alcoholic … if you get your beer in a teapot, though.

Buying beer is a totally different story, though. To find a hole-in-the-wall wine shop is not at all easy. Usually they are well hidden and a bit off the beaten track. You recognize them by some posters of beer or whiskey brands . “When we say wine, we generally mean whisky.” – is what they say – most of the time there is indeed no wine sold in those wine shops. If you are lucky they sell beer – and with more luck it even comes well-chilled out of a freezer.

The shop we found was only selling Indian spirits – vodka and whiskey as well as rum. No beer here, therefore the posters outside were those of whiskey. For the guests it was a big adventure to check it out. The Magic Moments Vodka bottles were a big hit. The guys behind the barred window – yes the sales windows are always barred – were absolutely astonished – maybe shocked – to have foreigners shop with him. Good thing we had 2 men with us, otherwise the guys would have had a heart attack. Women do not shop for alcohol in India! And we did buy from them – a medium bottle of Mischief Vodka for RS 272 each. Bargain!

We also passed a small bazar where a lot of Lakshmi statues were sold. Diwali – the Hindu festival of lights – is coming up beginning of November. It symbolizes the spiritual victory of light over darkness, good over evil and knowledge over ignorance. In the lead-up to Diwali, celebrants will prepare by cleaning, renovating, and decorating their homes and workplaces. During the climax, revellers adorn themselves in their finest clothes, illuminate the interior and exterior of their homes with diyas – oil lamps or candles – and offer puja to Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity and wealth, light fireworks, and partake in family feasts, where sweets and gifts are shared. Therefore also here – same as we saw in Kolkata already – many Lakshmi statues are for sale at the moment.

Coming up to our meeting point there was one of the little kiosks which sell all kinds of things. I spotted PassPass, my favorite mouthfreshener in India. Eating in a local restaurant you will always get a plate of mouthfreshener in the end of the meal. You spoon some of it on your hand and throw it in your mouth. In addition to sweetening the breath and cleansing the palate, this is also helpful in digestion. Essentially, It is sort of combining the effects of a shot of Becherovka and a few slivers of pickled ginger into seed form. It is called Mukhwas and it can be made of various seeds and nuts, but often with fennel seeds, anise seeds, coconut or sesame seeds. It is sweet in flavor and highly aromatic due to added sugar and the addition of various essential oils like peppermint. You could say, it is eaten for medicinal purposes – to aid digestion – the fennel seed herb is traditionally known to relieve gas. PassPass is such a mouthfreshener-to-go and comes in tiny packages each costing Rs 1. It contains fennel, cardamom, dry dates and coriander. You just chew it.

I bought a bunch of packages and it was another adventure for the guests to try this. They would never buy anything at such a kiosk, mainly they just do not know what it is. Let alone trying anything here by themselves. But together we did it. Another story to talk about when back home.

So, our short market visit was highly adventurous and we had much to tell the others when getting back to the ship.

In the meantime the AC technicians had arrived and had found that there is an even bigger problem and that they did not bring the right spare parts. Well, c’est la vie – the French would say! At least everybody had moved to a cabin with working AC. Good thing we had so few guests on this cruise and had the possibility to move them. Even I changed to the next door cabin because my AC was off as well – basically the boat staff made me move. I do not use the AC much and could not be bothered to move, but they already had taken the sheets of the bed and taken all the towels when I returned … Better I moved next door then!

This evening there was a special dinner prepared for us – BBQ on the sun deck. The Captain moved the ship from the jetty to a spot at anchor right off the Hazarduari Palace which was beautifully lit in the evening.

For the BBQ the galley staff had brought the Tandoori oven up and prepared a feast. The term tandoor refers to a variety of ovens, the most commonly known is a cylindrical clay or metal oven used in cooking and baking in Northern India. The heat for a tandoor was traditionally generated by a charcoal or wood fire, burning within the tandoor itself, thus exposing the food to live-fire, radiant heat cooking, and hot-air, convection cooking, and smoking by the fat and food juices that drip on to the charcoal.  The modern – and probably more suitable on board a ship – version is heated by gas.

Sitting on the sundeck with the backdrop of the lit up palace was wonderful … until the muezzin of a nearby mosque started the call to prayer and worship in the mosque …  he had loudspeakers mounted on the top of the minaret and used a microphone or it simply was a recording which was played, allowing the call to prayer to be heard at great distance … all the way across the river.

Notwithstanding, we thoroughly enjoyed our special dinner. There were no defined courses, but we got served many different little delicious bits constantly. Slow eating, drinking, chatting, enjoying. The Swiss express train was apparently still fighting with Montezuma, but finally accepted the special lemon-salt-soda-cure. Mrs & Mr R  had apparently also Delhi Belly or just found it too spicy or just showed solidarity with their fellow countrywoman and left as well. Oh well. – But I do my duty and when tot check on them! They did not want or need anything.

The food was really delicious if a little touch to spicy – and I am not talking about myself. I can eat everything – I just modify it with plain curd or raita, if it is too much for me. Feels like, I am turning into a wuss when accompanying groups … When Indians say, they cook extra mild for the tourists and say it is not spicy, then often it is still a bit too much for the sensible Western tongue and stomach. Not spicy in our terms is not necessarily what is not spicy in Indian terms. I always show the guests in the first days, that there is always plain curd on the buffet – along with chutney and spicy pickles for those who think it is not spicy enough. Plain curd – white yoghurt – is better than drinking water, if something was too spicy. Mixing plain curd into the curry in the first place takes the edge off it right in the beginning.

The chef even baked naan – a leavened flatbread – for us in the oven. “Naan” is Persian and means “bread”. Naan in parts of the Indian subcontinent usually refers to a specific kind of thick flatbread. Generally, it resembles pita and, like pita bread, is usually leavened with yeast or with bread starter. Typically, it is served hot and brushed with some water or butter. It is often used to scoop other foods or served stuffed with a filling.

We had much fun that evening and lucky for us, there were no mosquitoes or much other flying insects around and the temperatures were very pleasant. A wonderful evening! A great day!