My visit to the famous 'Beauty Boarding.'
This hotel cum restaurant is part of our heritage, it's connected to the history of Bangladesh. It is a historical center of intellectual gathering back in the 40s. Many famous authors, poets, musicians, artists, and politicians used to live in beauty boarding.
Not only that this place is well known for its traditional Bengali food.
The architecture of the building is not something too significant in terms of subtlety. But it has a very ordinary touch in every corner. And that's what makes it significant in today's time. They didn't make any reconstruction or touch up. So the place seems to hold the same old moments. The tourists can go back in time, and inhale the same surroundings from the 40s.
We visited the place a few days ago and it was a tremendous trip.
The boarding was established in 1949 and is located in Old Dhaka of Bangladesh. Over time it became a tourists place more than just a boarding or a restaurant. It's all because of its attachment to our history and culture.
This, two-floor-based yellow-painted old building gives a sharp idea about the excellence of the architectural skills of old period people. The windows and the doors are made of wood and the building is made with Brick powder, an alternative to modern construction. The process is most probably called drywalling. The half wall on the balcony was a very common design back then.
A Brief History.
The building was originally a zamindar house and belonged to a zamindar named Shudheer Das. Before the Partition of India in 1947. When the newspaper left, the building was rented by a local neighbor Nalini Mohon Saha and he started a restaurant and boarding house there. The boarding house was named after Nalini Mohan Saha's eldest daughter, Beauty.
Soon Beauty Boarding became a popular place to book traders from all over the country used to come to Banglabazar, the center of the book publishing, printing, and stationery wholesale market in Dhaka.
Source
I have read it somewhere that this boarding is a reflection of urban inconvenience for the disruption of the relationship between people and infrastructure of old times. The overcrowded alleys, the old building with diverse architectural designs and details, and the archeological relics are bearing the history and culture of our nation.
The old Dhaka was ruled by the British, followed by the Mughals also have influence over the architecture. But I would say, the building was pretty modern compared to the building of that time. As it was kind of the rearing place of intellectuals so the building kind of reflects their modern thoughts. It's my personal concept after visiting the place.
There's a brief history board about the place. The best thing is, you can still rent some rooms to stay in the hotel and order food from the restaurant. Their 'lassi' (milk-based sweet drink) is so very famous that people from all over the world or if I say precisely, the famous food vloggers usually come here to give it a try. And the taste really worth it.
This place is far from where I live but I would definitely visit the place again if I get the chance. Because it felt like going through a history book in real time.