#Bari Kothi #Sheherwali #Experience #RareIndia
Posted: 20th February 2020
This photo essay on my tour to Murshidabad over the weekend I dedicate to Bari Kothi and it’s team for immaculately executing this road trip to Paradise & back. It’s a warm note of gratitude and love to owner proprietor #DarshanDudhoria for being the most exceptional host at this venue of #RareIndia where #heritage comes alive each morning.
#TheBariKothiexperience will stay with me for a very long time... embedded like a pearl in an ocean bed, deep, resilient, magnificent, untouched by milling crowds and waves of crashing tourists. This one is for the connoisseurs.
From the elegant red and white Sare’e clad, impeccably trained, ever
smiling ladies who greet you on the redrafted steps to the
extraordinarily delicious vegetarian *Jain meals* hand crafted by the
in-house master chef Maharaj from the most Puritan of Jain Kitchens in
India...
This almost fantasmorgically transformed property of the Dudhoria’s lets you live a night of dreams in their palace, their home of centuries, that has seen a glorious time of plenty, in gold and stone, a forgotten past, when this erstwhile capital of Bengal alone, accounted for 5% of the World’s GDP through trade in silks and spices.
Thanks Darshan for the delightful and dreamy stories ... the hand-me-downs from an oral history, that you shared so seamlessly over your resplendent beard and moustache, chasing one ghost to the next to the many untold tales of loot and midnight robberies, of underground tunnels and cursed nobilities like #JagatSeth and his lost fortunes...all shared over raised glasses of dry and delicious red wine sitting alongside the perfectly curated labeled lunches and dinners held within a hall the size you possibly stared at in awe during the screening of The King & I, in your childhood!
You exclaim in utter glee as you enter the bedrooms, all clad in muted shades and silken drapes and arches ins tone, skylights made of painted glasswork and four poster beds inlaid with Mother of Pearl...each with its own fairytale name, like my very own “Chota Kiran Mahal”.
This night I assure you my friends is set right out of the film sets of #shatranjkekhiladi ... every single detail about Bari Kothi is so uniquely designed, so exquisitely restored, upscaled, reused and delicately managed, but for me most importantly, so well secured for modern times and with such clockwork precision, that one heaves a sigh of relief for old built heritage in private hands.
The Sheherwali’s have a lot to thank
You for, Darshan, for not simply bringing back such a nostalgic tryst
with the bygones but for restoring faith in a riverine economy and its
simple agrarian people, who have so much to gain from such initiatives
of young landlords like you and the very determined, erudite and
charming Mr #SandipNowlakha who have taken the road less travelled. Your home on the river Bhagirathi made the journey up the river to #Hazarduari #BadaImambara #phutimasjid #KatraMosque and the #Kathgolapalace a trip of a lifetime.
It was perhaps the closest to a #SatyajitRay
film one can get when one steps on your thickly paddled, wooden,
cushioned steam and serviced Barge, to follow the currents of a wily
river that sees villagers, boatmen and fishermen, tourist and
trespassers all play their parts to perfection, against the most
furiously angry orange setting sun.
I must confess the name #MaghanlalMeghraj did creep into my head more than once going upstream!!
And the early morning heritage walk, down your trail to the terracotta ruins along the banks... with Jain, Bengali, Mughal, and British influences was simply spectacular and I can safely say, the high point of the trip.
This is my note of thanks, in the hope that such reconstructed heritage projects keep finding fresh leases of life through you, your dedicated footsoldiers, your silk story team and initiatives like those being taken by the Department of Tourism GoWB.
Until the time we meet again, you have our memories on digital. Au revoir my friend.
Warmly,
Anjita
Posted: 20th February 2020This photo essay on my tour to Murshidabad over the weekend I dedicate to Bari Kothi and it’s team for immaculately executing this road trip to Paradise & back. It’s a warm note of gratitude and love to owner proprietor #DarshanDudhoria for being the most exceptional host at this venue of #RareIndia where #heritage comes alive each morning.
#TheBariKothiexperience will stay with me for a very long time... embedded like a pearl in an ocean bed, deep, resilient, magnificent, untouched by milling crowds and waves of crashing tourists. This one is for the connoisseurs.
From the elegant red and white Sare’e clad, impeccably trained, ever
smiling ladies who greet you on the redrafted steps to the
extraordinarily delicious vegetarian *Jain meals* hand crafted by the
in-house master chef Maharaj from the most Puritan of Jain Kitchens in
India...
This almost fantasmorgically transformed property of the Dudhoria’s lets you live a night of dreams in their palace, their home of centuries, that has seen a glorious time of plenty, in gold and stone, a forgotten past, when this erstwhile capital of Bengal alone, accounted for 5% of the World’s GDP through trade in silks and spices.
Thanks Darshan for the delightful and dreamy stories ... the hand-me-downs from an oral history, that you shared so seamlessly over your resplendent beard and moustache, chasing one ghost to the next to the many untold tales of loot and midnight robberies, of underground tunnels and cursed nobilities like #JagatSeth and his lost fortunes...all shared over raised glasses of dry and delicious red wine sitting alongside the perfectly curated labeled lunches and dinners held within a hall the size you possibly stared at in awe during the screening of The King & I, in your childhood!
You exclaim in utter glee as you enter the bedrooms, all clad in muted shades and silken drapes and arches ins tone, skylights made of painted glasswork and four poster beds inlaid with Mother of Pearl...each with its own fairytale name, like my very own “Chota Kiran Mahal”.
This night I assure you my friends is set right out of the film sets of #shatranjkekhiladi ... every single detail about Bari Kothi is so uniquely designed, so exquisitely restored, upscaled, reused and delicately managed, but for me most importantly, so well secured for modern times and with such clockwork precision, that one heaves a sigh of relief for old built heritage in private hands.
It was perhaps the closest to a #SatyajitRay
film one can get when one steps on your thickly paddled, wooden,
cushioned steam and serviced Barge, to follow the currents of a wily
river that sees villagers, boatmen and fishermen, tourist and
trespassers all play their parts to perfection, against the most
furiously angry orange setting sun.I must confess the name #MaghanlalMeghraj did creep into my head more than once going upstream!!
And the early morning heritage walk, down your trail to the terracotta ruins along the banks... with Jain, Bengali, Mughal, and British influences was simply spectacular and I can safely say, the high point of the trip.
This is my note of thanks, in the hope that such reconstructed heritage projects keep finding fresh leases of life through you, your dedicated footsoldiers, your silk story team and initiatives like those being taken by the Department of Tourism GoWB.
Until the time we meet again, you have our memories on digital. Au revoir my friend.
Warmly,
Anjita
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