Recollections of Calcutta for over Half a Century — John Shaqi
Recollections of Calcutta for over Half a CenturyMassey, Montague
History
Recollections of Calcutta for over Half a Century
Massey, Montague
Calcutta (India) -- Description and travel; Massey, Montague -- Travel -- India -- Calcutta
Formerly covered the site of the Treasury and Imperial Secretariat
Buildings, and was considered a first-class residence for old
Calcuttaites as well as for casual visitors. It possessed many
attractions and conveniences, being centrally and pleasantly situated
within easy distance of the maidan and Eden Gardens and business
quarters. The entrance was from the east, facing Government House.
There was a large, old-fashioned wooden gate and a lofty porch of
considerable dimensions arched over by a passage running across the
first floor from north to south, and affording complete protection
from sun and rain and leading into a spacious, open quadrangular
courtyard, where carriages and other conveyances used to stand. The
portico was flanked on either side by two or three steps, those on the
right giving direct and immediate access to the dining-room which ran
parallel to it in its entire length, the billiard and other public
rooms branching off from them. On the left was the principal entrance
to the residential quarters. The passage above referred to, I think,
is a clear indication that at some time or other the hotel was divided
into two sections and the porch was an open gateway. I once lived
there myself for a time and many well-known Calcutta people made it
their permanent home. In those days any number of people lived in
town, over their offices, or in residential flats, and it was then as
now noted for its extreme healthiness and salubrity.
THE GREAT EASTERN HOTEL, LTD.
Was originally styled Wilson's Hotel, and as such it is known even at
the present day to gharriwallahs, coolies, and certain others of the
lower orders. It was started long before my arrival in Calcutta as a
bakery by Mr. Wilson, a well-known resident of Calcutta, and converted
into a hotel at a later period. In the early sixties it was floated
into a limited liability company by a few prominent businessmen,
amongst whom was my old Burra Sahib. It was an entirely different
place in appearance, both inside and out, from what it is now; it had
only two storeys and no verandah or balconies; a large portion of the
ground floor was occupied by shops, selling all sorts of goods, and
owned by the hotel. The whole of the central portion from one end to
the other was a sort of emporium lined on both sides with a continuous
row of stalls on which were displayed the most miscellaneous
assortment of articles it was possible to conceive. In addition to all
this they kept for many years a farm at Entally which they eventually
closed down, and the produce which they then sold is now vended by
Liptons in exactly the same place at the north end of the building.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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