By Guest blogger – Kamalika Basu, Chief Culinary artist at Camelia.artisanal

Instagram – camelia.artisanal

Facebook – camelia.artisanal

Camellia.artisanal is a small home based food company that delivers home-made norom pak sondesh, mishti doi & few other Bengali sweets all over Delhi NCR & select other cities of India, organizes old fashioned sit down Bengali Sunday lunches at Gurugram twice a month & annually co-conducts a tour to experience Kolkata during Durga Pujo.

Stay type – Home stay, in a 244 year old (built CE1780) Heritage property, an erstwhile Indigo Planter’s house (Neel kuthi).

Food: Home cooked, with most ingredients from the farm

Address: Balakhana, P.O. Maheshganj, Nabadwip Ghat Road, District: Nadia. Pin – 741315

Contact details: +9198313 28486, +919831270807. Landline – +913323994994

How to book – Please check the website for details on everything including rates. Please call for booking

OR connect with vana safaris to book a full tour based around this area

We paid through UPI to vana safaris & they paid directly to maheshganj estate

Instagram: balakhana

Facebook: Maheshganj Estate Balakhana

Website: balakhana

In a nutshell:

A stay at Balakhana is not just about the following –

1. A 244 year old indigo planter’s house (Neel kuthi).
2. Abundance of heritage (including antique objects) in almost everything we saw, felt and touched.
3. Stories of the indigo plant, processing, trade and other history.
4. Stories of the members of the family who were stalwarts in their field of work & also getting to see some unique pieces of art & craft made by the members of the family.

But also the following-

1. The current owners of the estate, our hosts, Mr. Ranodhir Palchoudhuri (will mention RPC in the rest of the post) & Mrs. Kalpana (will mention Mrs. K going forward) made us feel like staying at a friend/relative’s home.
2. The endlessly engrossing ‘addas’ (conversations with the hosts and other guests)
3. Simple, home-like, soul satisfying, outstanding food (lot of it made from the produce of the estate).
4. The estate walks, village walk, seeing & understanding Nolen Gur (Date palm jaggery) making.
5. making Camellia norom pak nolen gur sondesh in their kitchen using outstanding chhana made from milk of the cows from the estate & freshly made nolen gur at the estate.

I think there would be some guests like us for whom this stay will be a lifetime memory. However, I can clearly see a kind of traveller who would not enjoy being here –

1. Those who are habitually ‘rebel without a cause’ / think ‘my way or the highway’. Reason – the hosts are strict about the house rules, since they stay here, spend quality time & eat with the guests.
2. No swimming pool, no alcohol, no room-service, everyone (hosts & all guests) dines at a time together.
3. Someone who does not enjoy home like food when eating outside home/ anyone who likes fast food over slow food.
4. Someone who would want to come with friends & play loud music / drink & dance etc. & not respect the sanctity of someone’s house & the other guests.
5. Anyone who has been over-pampered by the Indian 5 star hotels, is used to being treated like royalty & expects that level of customization here in everything from food to drink to the kind of pillows being given etc.

Short Description – in case you are in a hurry:

Our trip to Balakhana was organized by Avijit Sarkhel, founder of Vana Safaris. We would probably not have come across this wonderful property without Avijit.

The brief given by us was to Avijit was ‘We want to understand the nuances of every stage of making of nolen gur & everything related to it’. Avijit reverted that he knows of only one person who has made nolen gur making into the level of an art & is a master of the science of making the best nolen gur. Avijit was talking about RPC, the current owner of Balakhana estate.

RPC & Mrs. K  stay a good part of the year at the estate. They run multiple businesses & the home stay at Balakhana is one of them.

I would request you to read the link to the website above. I am not repeating any of the history of the place as it is documented in a crisp manner in the website. Can’t resist mentioning a small story (in italics) that RPC was mentioning to us on the evening that we were in the estate.

Tipu Sultan had an ailment which was bothering him. The usual treatments did not work. Around that time he met an Italian Doctor, John Angelo Savi, who conducted a surgery & Tipu Sultan recovered. He was very happy & offered the Doctor to stay back & enjoy life. The Doctor, enjoyed his stay for some time & then decided to move out in search of a fortune. The Sultan gave him a lot of riches in gratitude. The doctor, was married to Elizabeth, a French lady (daughter of a general of Napolean). They set out for Calcutta & finally ended up at Maheshganj & built a business of Indigo plantation & manufacturing. After forced indigo plantation was banned by the British crown in mid 1800s, the grandson of John Angelo put up the estate for sale & it was bought by the ancestors of the current owners.

Detailed description – in case you have the time to enjoy reading:

As we reached the main road entrance of the estate, we were transported back to a different era. The two red pillars on both side of the entrance have been there from day 1. As we drove past it, we saw huge walls on both sides.

A little drive later there was the estate gate. The two people who were at the gate visually appeared to be similar to characters in an oil painting from maybe a century or two back.

Once inside the estate, we drove on a path with tall trees on both sides, till we caught a sight of the beautiful mansion.

We were welcomed by the hosts as soon as we alighted from the car. In a little while we joined them for a lively adda that lasted till dinner. The evening addas would happen around the real functioning fireplace built 244 years back!!!!

In the morning RPC took us to the farm area & we saw & understood the whole process of making gur. He also explained in detail the nuances of making the gur, the do s & don’t s, what makes a good gur & what makes it sub optimal etc.

What we understood is that at the price per litre that the market is willing to pay (around Rs. 250-300), it’s not worth selling the pure gur. The selling price has to be around Rs. 1000 per litre to give the best quality gur.

No wonder, younger members of the family of traditional gur makers are taking to other professions. No wonder many gur makers & shopkeepers are mixing caramelized sugar to meet price targets.

RPC also gave us a tour of the estate.

During the walk he showed us an indigo plant (shrub) that is still there He told us the following about indigo:

• There are more than 530 varieties of indigo
• In 90 days, the plant is ready
• To make indigo dye, the whole plant used to be boiled in the indigo factory.
• It was then kept in drum for 18-20 hours. While submerged, all blue colour would be extracted. Workers used go inside the tub & oxygenate
• The plant remains would then be removed, dried & made into fuel.
• The British planters initially persuaded, later forced farmers to grow indigo in place of food grains. They used to tell the local farmers ‘if u stop growing indigo, then you will not be able to plant anything else’, which was of course a lie.
• In 1852 there was a huge protest against forceful cultivation of indigo
• In 1860 high court said that one can’t force any farmer to grow indigo
• Immediately, the farmers in Bengal refused to grow indigo. The British then shifted production to Bihar.
• It was only after Bayer introduced synthetic dye that the demand for indigo went down.
• Levi’s got famous after they started dipping canvas in indigo
• Later the Royal Navy adopted this colour. That’s why the dark blue started being called navy blue.

You can read about the history of indigo in a book by Jenny Balfour Paul – Deeper than Indigo

The house & what it housed

Period furniture

Lamp shades made from real horse cart wheels, ship anchor etc.

Furniture made by RPC (he is a trained, certified woodwork specialist). Picture below is of his carpenter

guests can also buy products made at balakhana, 100% made in-house. Examples below.

Extraordinary Fish-scale Art, fine embroidery made by RPC’s mother.

Trophies of shikar (hunting)

Antique instruments & pieces of art.

The non human residents – these 3 really enjoy playing with the guests. Any guest averse to pets might have a problem. .

Food

Each morning during our stay we had the fresh sap of date palm (that is used to make nolen gur). Realized during this stay that we have probably never had such pure sap ever.

Our morning teas were served in the beautiful veranda in beautiful colonial style tea cutlery.

Food was cooked by ladies from the nearby villages under strict supervision by Mrs. K.

Food was served by an 85 year old man, Mr. Dharma (Dharma kaku going forward) , who is a trained cook par excellence & an excellent butler. He reminded us of characters in Satyajit Ray’s feluda series novels.

Breakfast

At breakfast two items were common on all the days & we could not get over them – home-made (at the estate, using produce of the estate) lemon marmalade & mulberry jam.

There was option to have eggs in different forms – water poached, sunny side up, scrambled & omelette. Tried different options on different days. The water poach had the perfect texture. The scrambled eggs were creamy & soft & simply irresistible. The masala omelettes were juicy, had a great balance of textures & tasted better than any masala omelette in any 5 star hotel in India in my memory.

We totally enjoyed having luchi & simple aloo subzi on one of the days at breakfast.

We got reminded of Bandel cheese served at one of the breakfasts & we later went to New Market in Kolkata & got Bandel cheese for us.

We also got to taste aam satwa (mango leather / aam papad) made at the estate last year using mango that grew in the estate.

Evening

Soon after we reached, we were offered Tal er bora – crisp, sweet but not so sweet, flavourful, perfectly browned, slightly juicy, no hint of bitter. As good as it could get.

All meals were set out in a buffet in the dining room.

Lunch

In one of the lunches we had dal – er bora (vada of daal). Could not stop eating this crisp, juicy, flavourful bora.

The sheem (sem vegetable) with mustard paste, dhania leaf paste & other spices was memorable.

Borboti bata (beans paste curry), doi potol (parwal cooked with curd) & chuno machher bati chorchori (tiny fish) were the highlights.

Dinners

Daal was simple, textured, not too thin, not too thick, perfectly seasoned every single time, in all the meals.

The vegetable curries were always good. Simple, made using few whole spices.

Special mention to the kumro r torkari (pumpkin curry), begun pora (roasted aubergine), dhokar dalna for their simultaneous simplicity & profoundness.

Joaner patar bora (fritters of ajwain leaf) was a beautiful visual art form in addition to being crisp, flavourful & juicy.

Loved the chicken curry, rather jhol (thin flavourful gravy) – texture of meat, flavours of the meat & spices complimenting each other in the jhol, everything just right.

The mutton curry was par excellence with locally sourced meat. The pieces had optimum texture (soft yet had a bite, falling off the bones but only after a nudge). The gravy was robust & rustic in flavours.

Loved the Chingri (jumbo prawn curry) malay curry. It stood out due to it having less coconut milk & hence more enhanced flavours of the spices.

Chalta chatni had an enjoyable balance of sweet & sour. So did the raw tamarind chatni

There would always be a bowl of nolen gur to enjoy with roti. Must tell you, that is a fabulous combination

Camellia Norom pak nolen gur sondesh

When a chat with RPC led us to attempt making Camellia norom pak nolen gur sondesh at the estate kitchen, we were slightly unsure. As planned, Dharma kaku had made chhana (curdled milk) from the cow milk of the estate. We had the in-house made nolen gur (best we have ever had in our life, by a large margin).

The moment we touched the chhana, we knew it was different. Smooth, creamy & simply magical. The sondesh making activity was fun & was shared next morning with all the guests. They loved it. See the video here – sondesh

This activity made us realize what magic great ingredients can do to our food. How food can improve not only in terms of quality but also in terms of sheer taste, texture & flavours.