Tiger Riding for Beginners

Traveling Poet Philosopher & Occasional Wiseacre

DAILY PHOTO: Ramanagar Hills on a Cloudy Day

Posted on July 13, 2016 by B Gourley

Taken on July 9, 2016 near Ramanagara

DAILY PHOTO: B.B.D. Bagh

Posted on July 11, 2016 by B Gourley

Taken on July 3, 2016 in Kolkata

This square in Kolkata was previously named Dalhousie square for the British Governor General of that name. B.B.D. is short for Benoy-Badal-Dinesh, three gunmen who assassinated the Inspector General of Prisons in a gunfight in a prominent building nearby (i.e. the Writers’ Building.) All three of the men committed suicide rather than be captured (Badal via Potassium Cyanide and the others by self-inflicted gunshot wound.)

DAILY PHOTO: Mallick Ghat Flower Market

Posted on July 10, 2016 by B Gourley

Taken on July 2, 2016 in Kolkata; Taken by Lilla Gourley

DAILY PHOTO: Massive Mammoth Tusks in the Indian Museum

Posted on July 9, 2016 by B Gourley

Taken in Kolkata on July 4, 2016

DAILY PHOTO: Shahid Minar

Posted on July 8, 2016 by B Gourley

Taken on July 2, 2016 in Kolkata

Interestingly, while this monument looks like the minaret of a mosque (and combines elements of Egyptian, Syrian, and Turkish architecture) it was originally a memorial to the commander of the British East India Company, Sir David Ochterlony. Ochterlony was instrumental in the defense of Delhi in 1804 against Marathas and a British victory in the Anglo-Nepalese war.

In 1969, it was re-purposed to serve as a monument for those who died in the Indian independence movement. The current name, Shahid Minar (or Shaheed Minar) means “martyrs’ monument.”

The Shahid Minar dates to 1828 and sits in the north of the Maidan, Kolkata’s central park.