Nazirpur, Malda, West Bengal - A trip to my Ancestral home

Our Ancentral house in Nazirpur, Malda

This was one nostalgic trip for me. Most of our summer vacations, when we were at school, were spent in our ancestral home in a village by the name of Nazirpur in Malda,West Bengal.It used to be great fun! Meeting up cousins, chatting whole night long, getting spoilt by my grandmother, long walks to the mango orchards...Malda is best known for its mangoes, during summers, I remember surviving mostly on mangoes (did not want to dilute that pleasure with any other substitute!)

I have not been to the village in ages. After my grandmother passed away, there was no one to visit, and slowly our visits stopped.

My father who feels the vacuum the most, visits now and then. But he is now getting on in years and can't make these trips that often. The house is no longer lived in and it now stands desolate, badly in need of repairs, and in need of love and care. (it is easily over hundred years!)

We took an overnight train, Gour express, to Malda. Malda town is extremely crowded, most of the people from the villages have settled in here because of education, work etc. So the villages are getting empty and the towns overcrowded...

We hired a car, Nazirpur is around 35 kms from Malda town, It was nice to escape the humdrum of the town. The drive was a visual delight, once we got out of the town, we could see mango orchards, green and beautiful. There were occassional interruptions in the form of concrete jungles of course! This area has developed a lot since I last visited.

Mango tree

 Mango orchard near Malda

We reached Nazirpur within an hour. I remember when I was very small, we used to walk through the mango orchards to reach the house, I used to love to hold the mangoes, and my father would tell us the name of the mangoes. The mangoes would be hanging so low that you could reach them even if you were crawling!

This time we drove straight to the house. I was very curious and excited to get inside it but my father wanted to get it cleaned up since it has been in a locked up for almost a year!

Here are some snaps of the house as it stands today; the area around the house is so fertile that it takes no time for a jungle to grow all around the house.

Entrance to the house

View of the main building from the courtyard

On the left is the baithakkhana, where my grandfather used to meet guests. On the right is the view of the main house, on the left is what used to be known as the "Gola ghar", that's where the grains were stored. The right concerete wall is what used to be the kitchen. It is no longer functional.

Well	View from the terrace

Just after entering, there is a well, which now lies unused, the water from this well used to be so very cold (i still remember every time i took a bath my teeth used to start clattering)The picture on the right has been taken from the terrace, the left roof is that of the kitchen, behind that the baithakkhana's roof can be seen, a bit of the well can be seen after that, the structure after the well, is the bath room, right behind it is the place where our cows used to be kept, there used to be a shelter for them, then. The roof on the right is the roof of the "gola ghar".

Terrace of the house

More on my trip to Nazirpur Malda, in my next post.