North Bengal tourism launches book showcasing heritage bungalows

Monday, March 15, 2021

In the hills of North Bengal, heritage bungalows are full up with stories. We can get to hear the stories of the second flush harvest, of the heavy rain wiping out all ruins, of wild elephant herds visiting well laid out gardens, of cocktail parties stretching into the little hours of the morning, of the magnificent Kanchenjunga in clear moonlight and not to forget the ‘ghosts’ in the burra bungalow.

From burra sahibs we get the word burra bungalows. The managers in the tea gardens were called burra sahib or the big boss by the workers.

In the book, Burra Bangalows of North Bengal: Glimpses of Built Heritage and Lifestyle of Tea Estate in North Bengal, one can find all of these as everything has been documented and photographed. This book is published by Intach, Calcutta with support of West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation Limited. It has covered around 140 bungalows in Darjeeling and the Dooars and the Terai region. This book gives a glance of the extensive residences of the burra sahibs, a total description along with pictures of the compounds, gardens, porticos, master bedrooms, living space, fireplaces, and even furniture. One can also find texts by the members of the tea community, describing the planters’ lives. Also, there’s a travel guide to north Bengal by the state tourism corporation where it has listed the tourist lodges and places that can be explored and also shares tips for the tourists.

“We had done a book on burra bungalows of Assam a few years back. We have done a similar thing with north Bengal. Today, with space being at such a premium, it is important to document these bungalows because one never knows when they will disappear. In Assam, we photographed the only thatched burra bungalow existing. In north Bengal, we documented the bungalow of Makaibari which was devastated in a fire in 2017,” said G.M. Kapur, convener, Intach Calcutta.

“The burra bungalows were more than homes, they were status statements,” said Nandini Chakravorty, principal secretary, tourism department, government of West Bengal. “It has been said that the planters were wedded to their tea estates and built bungalows that were of architectural and historical significance,” she added.

The burra bungalows were characteristically single or double storied. It had a flower garden (Phool Bagan), and a vegetable garden (Maali Bari). Many of them had swimming pools and tennis courts as well. Spacious living rooms were inside. A bar was common to these bungalows. There were attached washrooms for each bedroom which were spacious enough to accommodate a modern day flat. The washrooms had changing rooms. Guest rooms are also common, particularly if the bungalow was two-storied. They also had a Jaali Kamra (room with a net) as the sahib’s smoking area or leisure room complete with a billiard table.

To quote photographer, Nikhil Kapur, “North Bengal has over 500 tea gardens. After much research we were able to shortlist about 140. This was done keeping in mind the gardens that still had colonial bungalows with minimal and no modification and in fair condition. The tea community helped us out in this tremendously.”

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