The stretch of the Hooghly immediately below the city where the Company's senior servants built their garden houses.
Description
The stretch of the Hooghly immediately below the city where the Company’s senior servants built their garden houses. Lawns run down to the waterline, budgerows are moored at private steps, and the frontages are Palladian.
Every ship coming up to Calcutta passes it, which means the party sailed past Ashworth’s own residence on the morning of their arrival without knowing whose it was.
Notable Features
- Ashworth’s house stands here, and the welcome dinner is held in it. See Scene 06 Ashworth Dinner.
- The houses are built for air. Dining rooms open on both long sides and the shutters stay folded back even in rain, because a closed room in October is unbearable.
- The river is forty seconds from the table. The garden runs straight down to the water and the Hooghly is audible from the dining room all evening.
The Senses
- Smell. Hot wax, river mud, cardamom and wet cut grass off the lawn.
- Sound. A punkah working overhead on a slow count, cutlery, and the river doing nothing audible at all.
- Colour. Gold candlelight and silver against black open windows, and the reach showing as a broad dull sheen whenever the lightning goes.
Connections
- The Hooghly River
- Charles Ashworth
- Calcutta 1814
- Scene: Scene 06 Ashworth Dinner
Appearances
Relationships
- Part of Calcutta 1814 — The river district below the city
- Residence of Charles Ashworth — The Magistrate's house and the welcome dinner