Ballygunge

Ballygunge (Bengali: বালিগঞ্জ) is an upmarket and elite locality in South Kolkata, India. It is flanked by Park Circus in the north, Kasba and the Eastern Railway south suburban line in the east, Dhakuria and the Lakes (now called Rabindra Sarobar) in the south, and the localities of Bhowanipore and Lansdowne in the west. Reference to a hero/heroine staying in Ballygunge in their own houses (not flats/apartments) in Bengali novels implies that he/she belongs to a Bengali aristocratic family. No other place names in Bengal including undivided Bengal evokes such an instantaneous understanding or response.

It is a large area comprising Ballygunge Circular Road, Ritchie Road, Dover Road, Lovelock Place, Gurusaday Dutta Road, Mayfair Road, Ballygunge Park, Queens Park, Sunny Park, Palm Avenue, Ballygunge Place, Merlin Park, Gariahat Road, Garcha Road, Mandeville Gardens, Gol Park, Kankulia Road, Ballygunj Gardens, Hindustan Park, Hindustan Road, Dover Lane and some portions of Rash Behari Avenue, Hazra Road and Bondel Road. Even a part of Southern Avenue and the Lake Area (adjoining Rabindra Sarobar) is often referred to as Ballygunge though technically(by city pin code) it is not so. Though it covers quite a vast expanse of area, the area near Bijon Setu (near the Ballygunge Station) is termed as Ballygunge (as a railway/ bus/ auto/ taxi stop). The pin Code of Ballygunge area is Kolkata 700 019.

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History and Development

The term bâli meaning sand and gônj or village signifies that there used to be a huge deposit of sand here earlier. In fact, it is considered that while the British were digging the Mahratta Ditch as a precautionary measure to fortify the city against invading Maratha warriors, the sand and mud that was dug up used to be piled up in the area currently known as Ballygunge.

The locality started developing with the expansion of Kolkata city beyond the Mahratta Ditch (later the Upper and Lower Circular Roads and now the A.P.C.Road and A.J.C.Bose Road respectively), in the early and mid-20th century. Soon this locality became one of the addresses to have in town, with beautifully laid out areas like Gurusaday Dutta Road, Ballygunge Park, Queens Park, Sunny Park, Hindustan Park, Merlin Park, Ballygunge Circular Road, Ashutosh Chowdhury Avenue, Mayfair Road, Mandeville Gardens. Stately bungalows came up on both sides of the tree-lined avenues and with time, magnificent high rise apartments dotted the skylines.

The Tagore Estate used to have large holdings in the area. Suren Tagore's(Satyendra Nath Tagore ICS's son) house on Gurusaday Dutt Road was later bought by the Birlas, and the house has now become The Birla Industrial & Technological Museum. Others like Sir K G Gupta ICS, Gurusaday Dutt ICS(Founder of the Bratachari Movement - after whom the road was later named), K.K. Birla, B.M. Birla, Raja Anandilal Poddar, H L Somany and Nawab Farooqui also lived on Gurusaday Road. The Maharajah of Tripura built their Calcutta town house on Ballygunge Circular Road. Pramathesh Barua, the famous Bengali film personality, who was the Maharaja of Gouripur(Assam), also lived on Ballygunge Circular Road (now named Pramathesh Barua Sarani). So did the Maharajas of Santosh, Brajendrakishore Raychaudhuri, the zamindar of Gouripore (Bengal), who donated money to the National Council, which later became Jadavpur University, Sir S M Bose, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the first Education Minister of India, Abhay Charan Banerjee (Sir R N Mukherjee's eldest son-in-law), L N Thapar, the industrialist, Suchitra Sen, the actress (she still does live there), Sita and Sachin Chaudhuri, the Finance Minister of India, and the Khaitans of Khaitan & Co, Solicitors. Leila Seth lived with her family on Ballygunge Circular Road. "Maharajah" of Nadia, at present Saumish Chandra Roy of Nadia, has a house on 2, Bright Street. A cantonment area grew between Ballygunge Circular Road and Gurusaday Road, along with several noted colleges and schools. The "Lakes" developed in the inter war years and situated between the Sealdaha - Budge Budge railway tracks and Southern Avenue (Meghnad Saha Sarani)on the North and South and Rabindra Sarobar Stadium and Gol Park on the East and West is a beautiful relaxing place to be in and unwind oneself. The areas near the lakes on its North came to be known as the Rai Sahib-Rai Bahadur's colony because of the number of senior civil servants (bearing those titles) who retired and settled there. Other areas like the serpentine lanes of Fern Road, Kankulia Road(stretches later came to be known as Ballygunj Terrace), Garcha (parts later renamed as Dover Terrace), Motilal Nehru Road, Ballygunge Place East are also a part of Ballygunge.

Although the area reflects the city's problems of over-crowding and pollution, Ballygunge remains a highly sought after residential area. People are prepared to pay fancy prices to own a place there defying economic logic. However, the removal of the "islands" around the tram tracks on Rashbehari Avenue and its trees has reduced its beauty somewhat.

The official residence of the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court(formerly the residence of Justice Kamal Chandra Chunder), is in Ballygunge and the area has provided state Chief Ministers and Union Cabinet Ministers for the last four decades. The traditional burra sahibs - the senior company executives and bureaucrats - continue to be housed in the locality. The Consulates of Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Myanmar, Norway, Thailand and Turkey are located in Ballygunge as also residences of Honorary Consul General of Chile, Japan, Sri Lanka and Australia trade commission office. The "Indo German Chamber of Commerce" and The Calcutta Cricket and Football Club is on Gurusaday Dutta Road.

As a result, Ballygunge is today one of the most exclusive & posh locales of Kolkata, with land prices among the highest in the city. Since the 1970s colonial bungalows and detached houses have been giving place to multi-storied flats. In the seventies and eighties these were largely "co-operative" initiatives for the Bengali middle class ("Saptaparni", "Parijaat", "Ananda", "Naba Kailash", "Meghamallar" etc.); during the '90s, the developments became increasingly more swank as marble clad high rises were targeted at Calcutta's business communities; and finally the new millennium has seen plush condominiums with swimming pools and other star facilities for the seriously affluent. Recent road development undertaken at the Posh Ballygunge side, Rashbehari-Deshapriya park and Gariahat have improved the infrastructure in the Ballygunge area, although traffic snarls are still quite common along major arteries like Rash Behari Avenue, Gariahat Road, Ashutosh Chowdhury Avenue and Syed Amir Ali Avenue during peak hours.

Shopping and Entertainment

The southern part of the locality consists of the Gariahat - Gol Park area and Rash behari Avenue, renowned for clothes, jewellery, and a fresh food market including fish. It is in Gariahat Market that one can get all varieties of fish of the shelf throughout the year. A number of established retail brands have opened shop in this area and shopping malls are opening up rapidly. Some renowned Multi brand outlets, departmental stores, shops, retailers and wholesellers has set the trends of South Calcutta to becoming exclusively independent. Some of the best addresses are:

The Ballygunge area is also a veritable gourmet's delight: A few references -

Restaurants

Cafe & Fast Food

Ice Cream Parlours

Confectionery & Patisseries

Dhabas

"Junk" - "Phuchka" stalls on the eastern boundary of Vivekananda Park and outside along with "Jhaal Muri" stalls. The best phuckas are obtainable in front of "Kola Villa" in Gol Park and "Jhal Muri on the footpath just before (South of) the DCM showroom. Junior Brothers on Rashbehari Avenue near Triangular Park has the best "Dahi Kachauris".

The area between Gariahat and Gol Park has several used-book stores lining the footpaths. At their best, they are nearly equal to the more-renowned College Street and Free School Street (Mirza Ghalib Street) booksellers. From disposable chart-topping thrillers to arcane magazines, they stock a large variety of titles. However, this market faces periodic fits of 'hawker evictions'by the police whenever elections are far away.

Sports and Culture

Further south is the Lake area, open green spaces and water bodies which act as lungs to the city. The Lake Stadium (Rabindra Sarobar Stadium) is here, and swimming and rowing institutions are dotted around the area. Of note are the Indian Life Saving Society (founded 1922 but known to one and all as Anderson Club), the Calcutta Rowing Club (established in 1858) and the Bengal Rowing Club (founded 1929 as the Marwari Rowing Club).

Ballygunge is also noted for several established [Durga Puja] pandals - Ekdalia Park (on Ekdalia Road), Singhi Park (on Dover lane), Adi Ballygunge Sarbojonin, Ballygunge Cultural, Deshapriya Park, Gol Park, Jagarani, Adi Kankulia etc. (during the Puja season in September/October).

Ballygunge is also home to the Dover Lane Music Festival, held annually, which is noted for its participants who hail from the best of Indian classical music. Noted dancer and choreographer, Uday Shankar (elder brother of Ravi Shankar) used to live in the area. His wife Amala Shankar, their son: Ananda Shankar, and their daughter: Mamata Shankar continue to reside and run teaching establishments in Ballygunge. Rabindrasangeet is taught at a number of institutions in the locality, of which, Dakshini is perhaps the most celebrated.

Transport

Ballygunge Railway Station is an important junction on the Kolkata suburban railway (Sealdah South Section) of the Eastern Railway suburban service. It is here that the lines to Lakhsmikantapur, Canning and Diamond Harbour on the one hand and Budge Budge on the other fork out. The Calcutta Tramways Company has a depot in the locality on Gariahat Road; the government bus services also maintains a depot next to Ballygunj Station. The underground Metro railway skirts Ballygunge, the closest station being "Kalighat" being about 2 km away from Gariahat-Rashbehari Avenue Crossing.

Educational institutions

Ballygunge is home to some of the better educational institutions in Kolkata:

  1. Army Public School, Kolkata, Ballygunge maidan camp
  2. Ballygunge Govt. High School, Beltala
  3. Ballygunge Shiksha Sadan, Gariahat Road
  4. Ballygunge Science College, Ballygunge Circular Road
  5. Basanti Devi College, 147B Rash Behari Avenue, Kolkata-700029
  6. Jagadbandhu Institution, 25, Fern Road, Kolkata. PIN 700019
  7. Kamala Girls School, Lake Road (Kavi Bharati Sarani)
  8. Kendriya Vidyalaya Ballygunge, Kolkata, Ballygunge maidan camp
  9. Lake Girls' School, Lake Terrace, Kolkata
  10. Modern High School for Girls, Syed Amir Ali Avenue
  11. Patha Bhavan (Montessory, Primary, High and Higher Secondary Schools), Swinhoe Street, Ekdalia Road, Palm Avenue, Ballygunge Place and Merlin Park
  12. South City College, Golpark
  13. South Point School, Mandeville Gardens
  14. St. Lawrence High School, Ballygunge Circular Road
  15. Tirthapati Institution, Rash Behari Avenue
  16. University Law College, Hazra Road
  17. South Calcutta Law College, Swinhoe Street

Places of interest

Famous persons

See also

Sheel Saket, illustrious politician from Bihar. Widely tipped to be the next Chief Minister, Saket has great skills with the art of pfaffing and patangbaazi.

References