A ROYAL WELL IN A PRETTY ENGLISH VILLAGE: A GIFT FROM HIS HIGHNESS MAHARAJA OF BENARAS

Yesterday, we went to see a friend who lives in another town. We could have gone there by the motorway; it would have been much faster. But as the weather was so nice, we decided to go by the scenic route taking smaller roads.

We were passing through a pretty village called Stoke Row. Suddenly we saw a small signboard which said "Ishree Bagh" and a few yards further there was another sign "Maharajah's Well".  Intriguing eh!  I reversed my car and parked near the sign.

We walked to the Well which looked very impressive with a grand multicoloured gilded dome. Inscribed on the dome was "his highness maharaja of Benares". 

Under the dome there was a mechanized green pulley system to withdraw water from the deep well. On the top of this device was a statue of a golden elephant!

The information board nearby told an amazing story.

There used be severe scarcity of clean water in this hilly area. In 1860 Maharaja of Benares Ishree Pershad came to know about the plight of the poor villagers and decided to donate money to dig a deep well in this village. It took about a year to dig this 368 feet deep well and it was opened on 24th of May,1864 on Queen Victoria's birthday. Adjacent to it an orchard was designed and named as Ishree Bagh after the Maharaja. There was also a Machchli pokhra and Prabhu Teela named after his adopted son and heir Prabhu Narayan.

Prabhu Teela

Maharaja of Benaras also generously paid for the upkeep of the whole complex over many decades.

Of course, the well is not in use anymore but the well and the Bagh are well maintained by the Heritage fund UK.

Maharaja Ishree Pershad was also a great poet-scholar, he established the Sanskrit College in Benaras. He was also the mentor of Babu Bhartendu Harischandra who is known as father of modern Hindi. (From Wikipedia)

Bibha and I immensely enjoyed this tranquil lovely spot and its unique history. We had a cup of nice coffee and tasty cake at the cafe com Farm shop in the village and continued our journey.

GLOSSARY

Benaras:  now known as Varanasi, a holy city in India.

Bagh:  an orchard 

Ishree Pershad: Ishwari Prashad Narayan Singh 

Machchli pokhra: Fishpond

Teela: a mound

Well-Keeper's Hut and Ishree Bagh

LISBON: A TRIP INTO HISTORY

We saw Lisbon for the first time in 2005 when our cruise ship called in the port at the shore of Rio Tejo. It was a very short visit, just for half a day. We only saw a few places along the river bank. The grandeur of Praca do Comercio  and the Belem was very impressive. We spent most of the time there and walked back to the ship.  

We decided to come back again to Lisbon and see it properly. 

We did just that this month. Spent five days in this lovely understated city.  It has all the majesty and splendour but without the commotion and hustle of most of the European capitals. 

I feel that to really see a city one should use its public transport.  It lets you have a peep in to the very soul of the place. You not only see the proscribed touristy places but also get a glimpse of the ordinary, everyday local life and culture. It does need a lot of prior research which has become much easier now due to the internet. I love doing that because it makes the holiday seem much longer. My holiday really begins from the day I start looking up about the city on the web. Besides, it is much cheaper than using the usual commercial holiday and tour providers. 

Lisbon is quite a historical place. It was ruled by the Romans, Visigoths and the Moors and it later colonized Angola, Brazil, Mozambique and Goa, to name a few. All these diverse cultures have left their marks in Lisbon. We saw the narrow pebbled streets of Alfama, weaving through the tiled houses and shops. Moors initially built a castle atop the hill here, reclaimed back after the crusade and now called Castle of São Jorge. We saw the whole Lisbon city from here.

Along the water front one name dominates: Vasco da Gamma. Vasco da Gama Bridge, Vasco da Gama Tower, Vasco da Gama shopping centre and The Jeronimos Monastery where his tomb lies. He discovered the sea route to India in late 15^th century breaking the Arab monopoly on spice trade and heralding the era of European colonization of India.

The other famous name which connects Portugal with India is St Francis Xavier who is described in Encyclopedia Britannica as “the greatest Roman Catholic missionary of modern times, who was instrumental in the establishment of Christianity in India. Though he was Spanish by birth, he came to Lisbon to go to India where he arrived in 1542 on a Portuguese ship. Today there are nearly hundred schools and colleges in India which bear his name.

We visited the Sao Roque Church reputed as being one of the world's most expensive churches. The outside looks rather plane but the chapels inside are dazzling, covered with Brazilian gold leaves and precious stones. There is a chapel here dedicated to St. Francis Xavier. A kind church lady seeing that we were very interested in him, called the security guard to unlock the sacristy where a lot of artifacts associated with St Francis are kept, along with other treasured paintings and objects. This was a real privilege to be allowed in the sacristy.

People in Lisbon are very friendly and even in the souvenir shops the salesmen were very polite. Portuguese wines are really fabulous and the prices are much lower than that in Britain.

This country, which was colonized by others and then colonized others, has now settled back. Though economically not doing well, it seemed more at peace with itself than many other European countries.

All in all, the entire trip was very pleasant and edifying.