<p>There are several ways of travelling. You have the accidental tourist or the armchair tourist. And then you have the footloose. But have you ever wondered how you can become a traveller in your own city, when you wish for a break, but cannot leave the city for various reasons?</p>.<p>Well, let me start with a personal story. A much-planned holiday of mine did not materialise for some reason, making me most unhappy. And then suddenly I became a part of a city tour. Yes in my own city! It was a birthday present and nothing could be better than discovering nuggets about your city that you were totally unaware of.</p>.<p>It is early October but the weather is yet to turn balmy. Even at six in the morning, it is slightly steamy. We leave home and reach an area from which this unique heritage walk, the inaugural one in the series, will commence. I hurriedly finish an open air breakfast in Kolkata Chinatown, which is much written about. A bowl of fish balls soup and a sticky rice sweet. There are other delicacies but I have to assemble at a nearby landmark for our heritage walk to begin at sharp 7.30 am.</p>.<p>The walk is titled ‘Murder and mayhem’. It promises to take us to some spots of famous murders and heists which happened during colonial India. Ours is a motley crowd, members who are really interested in history and anthropology. Dr Tathagata Neogy of Heritage Walk Calcutta is at the helm. He is a serious academic and researcher but now he is simply a story teller, leading us through the maze of lanes in the central business parts of the city, holding us enthralled with his stories of murder and mayhem.</p>.<p class="CrossHead"><strong>Bygone era</strong></p>.<p>We are restricted to a locality that was and is truly cosmopolitan. It is the central business district that holds the main trading centres, offices and the main government administrative building known as <span class="italic">Writers</span>, now under renovation. The imposing red-brick police headquarters of Lal Bazaar is next door, screaming history of a bygone era but told in whispers for which, you have to have the power of imagination.</p>.<p>We are standing opposite Harin Lane within a stone’s throw from old Chinatown. The lane in which native crime offenders were put in cages while the fair-skinned Europeans could build their own shacks and toilets. It is here that the father of Indian journalism, James Hickey, was also a prisoner once on charges of writing against the British government.</p>.<p>As we move towards Lal Bazaar, the story unfolds how it was once an area of notorious pubs and taverns in which pirates (not just the Portuguese but Indians too) divided their booty robbed off ships belonging to European merchants.</p>.<p>Slowly a police department evolved dealing with crime cases and Sir Stuart Hogg, after which the most famous New Market is named, was its first commissioner.</p>.<p>He also founded the detective department within the police.</p>.<p class="CrossHead"><strong>Unsolved crimes</strong></p>.<p>The detective department was baffled by several crimes which remained unsolved. Today many of these reek of racism as the whites were always given the benefit of doubt. Also, patriarchy played its role in cases of crimes of passion, in turning the lens onto the femme fatale, for all things evil. The house in which a Jewish lady Lee Judhah was murdered still exists. So does the decaying boarding house in which Nasim Shalom Gubboy, implicated in the murder, lived. Or the different localities in which a serial murderer Trilokya, a sex worker, hid. She killed many unsuspecting women and robbed them of their jewellery. Between Pollock Street, Ezra Street and Armenian Street, the stories of blood, gore and heist echo.</p>.<p>Today our cities are spoilt for choice when it comes to acquainting visitors to the sights and smells of a city not through air-conditioned coaches but by taking them through the colour and chaos of lanes and by-lanes. Culture, food, history, religion, and much more are on offer in these niche walks and trails. Delhi has its museums and monuments walks; Chennai its story trails, and in Mumbai, walks to know more about its art deco architecture. I am reminded of my random walks through Chinatown and Little Italy in New York, the location of several iconic Hollywood films. I wanted to know more.</p>.<p>So my walk is not just about crime and murders, but an important chronicle of a time gone by.</p>
<p>There are several ways of travelling. You have the accidental tourist or the armchair tourist. And then you have the footloose. But have you ever wondered how you can become a traveller in your own city, when you wish for a break, but cannot leave the city for various reasons?</p>.<p>Well, let me start with a personal story. A much-planned holiday of mine did not materialise for some reason, making me most unhappy. And then suddenly I became a part of a city tour. Yes in my own city! It was a birthday present and nothing could be better than discovering nuggets about your city that you were totally unaware of.</p>.<p>It is early October but the weather is yet to turn balmy. Even at six in the morning, it is slightly steamy. We leave home and reach an area from which this unique heritage walk, the inaugural one in the series, will commence. I hurriedly finish an open air breakfast in Kolkata Chinatown, which is much written about. A bowl of fish balls soup and a sticky rice sweet. There are other delicacies but I have to assemble at a nearby landmark for our heritage walk to begin at sharp 7.30 am.</p>.<p>The walk is titled ‘Murder and mayhem’. It promises to take us to some spots of famous murders and heists which happened during colonial India. Ours is a motley crowd, members who are really interested in history and anthropology. Dr Tathagata Neogy of Heritage Walk Calcutta is at the helm. He is a serious academic and researcher but now he is simply a story teller, leading us through the maze of lanes in the central business parts of the city, holding us enthralled with his stories of murder and mayhem.</p>.<p class="CrossHead"><strong>Bygone era</strong></p>.<p>We are restricted to a locality that was and is truly cosmopolitan. It is the central business district that holds the main trading centres, offices and the main government administrative building known as <span class="italic">Writers</span>, now under renovation. The imposing red-brick police headquarters of Lal Bazaar is next door, screaming history of a bygone era but told in whispers for which, you have to have the power of imagination.</p>.<p>We are standing opposite Harin Lane within a stone’s throw from old Chinatown. The lane in which native crime offenders were put in cages while the fair-skinned Europeans could build their own shacks and toilets. It is here that the father of Indian journalism, James Hickey, was also a prisoner once on charges of writing against the British government.</p>.<p>As we move towards Lal Bazaar, the story unfolds how it was once an area of notorious pubs and taverns in which pirates (not just the Portuguese but Indians too) divided their booty robbed off ships belonging to European merchants.</p>.<p>Slowly a police department evolved dealing with crime cases and Sir Stuart Hogg, after which the most famous New Market is named, was its first commissioner.</p>.<p>He also founded the detective department within the police.</p>.<p class="CrossHead"><strong>Unsolved crimes</strong></p>.<p>The detective department was baffled by several crimes which remained unsolved. Today many of these reek of racism as the whites were always given the benefit of doubt. Also, patriarchy played its role in cases of crimes of passion, in turning the lens onto the femme fatale, for all things evil. The house in which a Jewish lady Lee Judhah was murdered still exists. So does the decaying boarding house in which Nasim Shalom Gubboy, implicated in the murder, lived. Or the different localities in which a serial murderer Trilokya, a sex worker, hid. She killed many unsuspecting women and robbed them of their jewellery. Between Pollock Street, Ezra Street and Armenian Street, the stories of blood, gore and heist echo.</p>.<p>Today our cities are spoilt for choice when it comes to acquainting visitors to the sights and smells of a city not through air-conditioned coaches but by taking them through the colour and chaos of lanes and by-lanes. Culture, food, history, religion, and much more are on offer in these niche walks and trails. Delhi has its museums and monuments walks; Chennai its story trails, and in Mumbai, walks to know more about its art deco architecture. I am reminded of my random walks through Chinatown and Little Italy in New York, the location of several iconic Hollywood films. I wanted to know more.</p>.<p>So my walk is not just about crime and murders, but an important chronicle of a time gone by.</p>
