Great Banyan Tree of Kolkata - my chance visit

[Click to enlarge and read the description]

It was a large and heavy pictorial book, "Glimpses of India" published in 1895 [J.H.Furneaux] that served as the 'attraction' in my very young days when mother used to push little morsels of food into a fussy me.  Some of the partly torn and food-stained pages stand testimony to this memory.  During spare time when I grew up also, I used to turn the pages of this beautiful historical, illustrated book containing invaluable information and rare scenes of India.  One particular photograph, out of many, was to induce great wonderment, that of the 'Great Banyan Tree, Calcutta'.  [Read statistics and history here]  See picture from that book above.  It was too huge to be believed because the banyans I had seen here were nothing compared to its sheer volume.  

This Banyan Tree was on Jhansi Lakshmi Bai Road.  The dangling aerial roots close to the footpath was a beautiful and popular play thing for the children and I used to swing a few times while our family passed by on foot. It was great fun.  In 2014, it was sad to see it had fallen down due to high winds.

The Great Banyan at the Botanical Gardens was in distant Calcutta [now Kolkata]. Would I ever see it?  There was no such thing as a 'bucket list' for me way back then.  My employment and being a member of the official cricket team brightened the chances of various tours to different parts of India Kolkata was a possibility, even if remote. For my desire to reach fruition, the tournament had to be in Kolkata or in one of the venues to which we had to pass onward through this big city, which was the capital of India till 1911. 

In 1990, the tournament was in Kolkata, but no time. Again, passing through to Dhanbad [Bihar] via Kolkata, no time.  In 1999, it was in Durgapur [also in West Bengal], on 'knock-out' format.  Undeservedly, our team got knocked out on the first day itself.  It was the most awful feeling for all of us after our arduous journey that took four days, instead of two!!  Floods in the east coast had damaged railway lines and a linking bridge.  We had to reach Vijayawada by road - a long and energy sapping journey - to catch the train rescheduled to start from that point onward.  Losing the first match was like adding salt to the wound!  As if it was not enough, the arrangement for team stay was pathetic to make matters worse.  It was difficult to imagine living there for 3 more days with no further purpose at all.  We could not alter our railway booking in those days as easily as now.  So, me and my team mate Ram Sharma thought of escaping to Kolkata, three and half hours away, which was from where our train back home was to start.  By then the rail track was ready for traffic.  Ram Sharma wanted to see his cousin in Kolkata and agreed to tag me along to the historic city.  We got the tickets from the organizers and the next day we were away from the dreadful place, leaving the others [most of them card-players] behind. 

Ram Sharma's cousin after hosting us overnight, arranged a taxi for us to visit places which we wished.  Both of us found out that we desired to go to the Botanical Gardens particularly to see the Great Banyan! Similar likes, what luck!  Those were still the film camera days.  I had not taken mine along, also Ram.  Would I regret?

Walking through some of the vast spaces in this beautiful 1797- founded, 109 - hectare gardens housing 12,000 perennial species of plants was a great thrill with a sense of fulfillment!  The size of this Great Banyan had been reduced compared to the book image above.  I learnt that a good part of it had been damaged by great cyclones in the past. If you have read the description shown in the old pre-1895 picture, its volume can be vizualized when the tree's coverage was at its maximum before being hit by cyclones.  The authorities have protected it by supporting the hundreds of branches, many precariously weak, appropriately.  

Ram Sharma was as delighted and stunned as I was being dwarfed by the sheer vastness.  Satisfied, we went about the day and the next, visiting a few other places also, including Dakshineshwar, Victoria Memorial, Rabindra Setu and doing a bit of shopping, before joining the team at the railway compartment on our return journey.

[One portion of the 1.89 hectare, 330-metre circumference Great Banyan, image from Wikipedia]

I was lucky to have Ram Sharma along for this unexpected little tour, putting the forgettable loss in the game and preceding journey tensions and troubles behind, to fulfill this little dream of getting under the branches of this Great Banyan Tree.  Superstitions about the Banyan Tree [associated with Yama, the Lord of Death] apart, thousands throng to see this imposing 250+ year old [its exact age has not been clearly known] living object.

In 2010, we played a match in the ground attached to "The Banyan Tree School"!  Wondered why the name as there was no Banyan Tree in the area.

Long later, when digital cameras invaded the world, I was to collect several images of the Banyans in and around our own city. 

See the album here: [Click] 

~o~o~o~