A Silent Beginning...
of the new year. Blame it not on the "busy" life of IIML, but on the holidays (never mind that I was travelling for four days and was at home only for two!)
Wish all the readers of this blog a very Happy New Year. Hope it gives shape to your right dreams despite tsunami and despite everything else that is or could go wrong!
Even within the short span of time spent at my brother's place in a town in Cooch Behar district of W.B. tried to visit the royal palace in Cooch Behar. Unfortunately it was a Friday and the museum remains closed on the day; meaning we could only see the palace from outside, which was sad but unavoidable :( Though, by now, I should know better. Most of such places seem to have Fridays off.
Another realization came very strongly (actually "came back", since I have had this in mind for quite sometime now) that to really appreciate the importance of old buildings and ruins, the knowledge of architectural angle of those are essential. So, should that be something for me to start on in the new year? Let's see. Any suggestions regarding which book to start with?
Anyway, about the Cooch Behar Palace. It was built by King Nripendra Narayana in 19th century. From the small booklet I got near the palace, he appears to be a good king who did a lot for improving civil amenities. The design of the palace is supposed to resemble Buckingham Palace of England and is inspired by some Italian architecture (sorry for this description in layman's term - but as I said I am not conversant with architectural styles).
For a more familiar resemblace, Cooch Behar royal family had produced Maharani Gayatri Devi, the last of the queens of Jaipur ("now modeling for diamond jewelries" in the words of recently oft-cited cousin brother! :-) ).
Categories: Travel
Wish all the readers of this blog a very Happy New Year. Hope it gives shape to your right dreams despite tsunami and despite everything else that is or could go wrong!
Even within the short span of time spent at my brother's place in a town in Cooch Behar district of W.B. tried to visit the royal palace in Cooch Behar. Unfortunately it was a Friday and the museum remains closed on the day; meaning we could only see the palace from outside, which was sad but unavoidable :( Though, by now, I should know better. Most of such places seem to have Fridays off.
Another realization came very strongly (actually "came back", since I have had this in mind for quite sometime now) that to really appreciate the importance of old buildings and ruins, the knowledge of architectural angle of those are essential. So, should that be something for me to start on in the new year? Let's see. Any suggestions regarding which book to start with?
Anyway, about the Cooch Behar Palace. It was built by King Nripendra Narayana in 19th century. From the small booklet I got near the palace, he appears to be a good king who did a lot for improving civil amenities. The design of the palace is supposed to resemble Buckingham Palace of England and is inspired by some Italian architecture (sorry for this description in layman's term - but as I said I am not conversant with architectural styles).
For a more familiar resemblace, Cooch Behar royal family had produced Maharani Gayatri Devi, the last of the queens of Jaipur ("now modeling for diamond jewelries" in the words of recently oft-cited cousin brother! :-) ).
Categories: Travel
posted by Jaya @ 12:21 AM
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1 Comments:
At Tue Feb 22, 06:15:00 PM 2005,
Jaya said…
Since I am removing the Haloscan Comments, I am copy-pasting the comments I got on this post here.
--
A very happy and prosperous new year to you too
Sandeep | 01.03.05 - 9:48 am | #
Gravatar "Any suggestions regarding which book to start with?"
One of the best/most comprehensive/interesting introductory tomes to Indian historical architecture is
"Indian Monuments Through The Ages",
a commemorative publication by ASI and GSI (don't remember exactly what they were commemorating though).
A limited edition was published around 91-92, not sure whether it is still available in general bookstores though good libraries necessarily keep a copy of it. The best thing about the book is that through stunning pictures and lively narratives it makes the reading extremely involving while not compromising on content or detail.
Ayan Bhattacharya | Email | 01.03.05 - 10:24 pm | #
Thanks a lot Ayan. I shall try to grab a copy of the book.
Jaya
Jaya Jha | Homepage | 01.04.05 - 3:01 am | #
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