Doors & Windows Under The Street Lights In I I E S T-howrah, India.
Taking a walk around the vast campus of the Indian Institute of Engineering Science & Technology (IIEST/ formerly BESU), Howrah is an exceptionally pleasant experience especially at night, owing to the cool breeze that blows into the campus from the adjacent Ganges river. The campus of this famous Indian university is quite safe for walks even at night when compared to other university campuses as it is well-lighted in most of the places and thanks to the security personnels who wait on the students day in and day out.
Most of the time we overlook the little things that make our life easier and beautiful. Imagine our houses and buildings without doors and windows….. Won’t it be suffocating? Well, let us look around at the doors and windows of some of the old buildings in IIEST-Howrah campus. Some pictures may look dreary but lets appreciate their utility and admire their beauty under the street lights.
Entry to the Workshop
This is an entrance door into the Engineering Workshop Building, one of the many buildings in the IIEST campus built during the era of the British Raj.The light casts a majestic aura on the intricately carved wooden arched door.
The twin doors
Two mighty arched doorways looms over the visitor as if gaurding a secret.
Neglected yet still beautiful
Two doors give way to a balcony on the first storey of a neglected building behind the VC’s Bungalow.Observe the venetian blinds on both the doors. A venetian blind on one of the door is not there anymore. I can’t help but notice the bricks in the broken parts of the plastered wall, the way in which the bricks have been laid so beautifully to form an arch above the door.
Window by the staircase
A staircase spiralling up its way next to a window near Madhusadan Bhavan.Venetian blinds can be seen in most of the windows of the buildings built during the British Raj.
Shadows on the door
The shadow of a leaveless tree falls on a locked door at the rear end of Madhusadan Bhavan.
VC’s bungalow
During the day, the VC’s Bungalow is an imposing building in the IIEST (BESU) campus with its white-washed walls and windows. At night, the well-lighted doorway and windows emit a different ambience to the building.
This is the rear view of the VC’s Bungalow in all its spendour at night. This face of the building faces south towards the Ganges river. I have seen quite a few paintings of this old building which were painted way back during the times of the British Raj which gave an impression that about a hundred years ago, the course of the Ganges river was much closer to this building than it is now.
Deceptive banking window
I mistook this window for a door in the first instance I saw it. After having a good look at it, I realised that it is the ventilation (venetian blinds) below the proper window, which gave it a striking resemblance to a door.
These two doors look like they are on top of each other. But the one on top is in fact the window photographed above. This colonial era building has been transformed into a multi-utility building housing a kindergarten in the ground floor and a bank on the first storey.
Imperfect
Take a peek into the ventilation….. This photograph came out pretty good I guess. Funny as it might sound, but as a matter of fact, these are the ventilations of a bathroom. I made sure no one was inside those bathrooms when I clicked it.
Unnoticed
I walk past by this building everyday, rarely noticing the beauty on these walls. The designs on the wall,the pipelines, the ventilations and the windows look sublime under the glow of the streetlight.
Bluish brilliance
I loved the bluish flush emitted from the room through the clear window panes.
The dingy window on the top
A light illuminates the dingy window and wall of a small tower in one of the old colonial building situated near Madhusadhan Bhavan.
An open window
I found this window particularly beautiful. Is it because of the green shade of the window,the glow of the streetlights on the wall, the grills or the well-lighted room inside? I shall leave it on you to decide.
Welcome!
I was welcomed into this building by an open door. Well, at first I assumed that it might be deserted and dark inside the building. But quite contrary to what I assumed from the darkness shrouding the building outside, it was well-lighted inside and inhabited by people.
Three is better than none
A ventilation, a window and a door adorns the wall of a building near the Department of Mechanical Engineering.When I saw this, I wondered how empty the wall would look if these three entities were not there. Indeed, three is better than none.
Unnoticed
I bet that many people would rarely noticed these two casements if they happen to walk pass by the wall of the Department of Civil Engineering which faces the Ramanujan Library.
Ramanujan Library
The library of IIEST, Howrah is open for all IIEST students and faculty till 8 PM in the night. The lights inside the library reflects the green colour of the walls inside while the street lights imparts a reddish hue to the walls outside.
Who says lattice is only seen in crystals?
Intricate latticework can be seen in the ventilation of the kitchen of the University Guest House.I have read in some books that in olden days, “jalis” or lattice screens were usually found in the houses of the rich or nobles. Today, we can observe that “jalis” or lattice screens are not confined only to the homes of the upper class but it has found its way into the houses of many commoners as well.
The University Guest House is run by this man and his family. People fondly call him Ashish Da (Da means elder brother in Hindi/Bengali). In this photograph, Ashish Da and his wife smiles on as I click a photograph of them through an open window of the guest house.
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