Boston

In pictures: Streetcar, Fall colours and pizza with pulled pork & mango topping give Kolkata boy his fill in Boston

600-year-old Latin Bible, stunning reading room and artwork at universities enthuse globetrotter

By Arnab Nandy | Published 21.02.24, 01:51 PM

More than the things I see and the activities I do, a place becomes memorable to me for the people I meet. I had a lovely time in Boston, where I caught up with friends, after many years with some of them. Navigating public transport is a breeze. It is also the city where I’ve had my best pizza yet — with pulled pork and mango topping! A streetcar in Boston. A great network of buses, trains and streetcars ensure you can reach almost anywhere without a private car or a taxi

All photographs by the author

View of the Charles River Esplanade in Boston. The skyline across the water is that of Cambridge, where most of the Harvard University campus is located

The famous Make Way for Ducklings sculpture in Boston’s Public Garden. I found out that these ducks are quite famous (and each has a name — Mallard, Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack, and Quack)

Before we approached The Embrace at the Boston Common, which is a public park in downtown, my local friend Ankita, who was taking me around, warned me it might look weird. When I saw it, I understood why it is controversial. The Embrace is a bronze sculpture commemorating Martin Luther King Junior and Coretta Scott King and depicts four intertwined arms, representing the hug they shared after he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. But from certain angles, it appears phallic — no wonder it has inspired scores of memes

Boston Public Library. I didn’t get a chance to step inside but only saw it on the way to a train station

I took a train to see another friend who I hadn’t met in decades. I saw lovely Fall colours from the train, even though my phone camera didn’t do them justice

I came across a few tours — guided by students — at the Cambridge campus of Harvard University. Here, is a group by the steps while on the right is a statue of John Harvard, the first major benefactor of the university

Even though I didn’t manage to enter the Boston Public Library, I did get inside the Harvard Library, thanks to my friend Satyaki, who is a scientist working at the university

The Harvard copy of the Latin Bible printed by Johann Gutenberg in the mid-1400s. It is one of the 23 known complete copies. It is bound in two volumes, one of which is on display at the Harvard Library

The reading room at Harvard Library is astonishingly beautiful

I found several people chilling on the lawns in front of Harvard Medical School — and why not, summer was on its way out and it was one of the last bright sunny days

This wall depicting zebrafish is at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The zebrafish, a freshwater fish native to India and South Asia, has several attributes that make it a suitable model for investigating human cancer biology and metastasis. Many of the factors involved in tumour progression are highly conserved between zebrafish and humans. Zebrafish experiments by Harvard University researchers yielded new chemicals that prod stem cells to make muscle tissue, an advance that may lead to treatments for muscular dystrophy and related disorders. This Zebrafish Display features 477 personal inscriptions and on-screen messages honouring patients, caregivers and loved ones

A picture from a top-floor window inside the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. An art collector and philanthropist who died a hundred years ago, Isabella built an art museum at her lavish home. The museum houses columns, statues, windows, and other decorative details from Roman, Byzantine, Gothic and Renaissance periods. It also showcases paintings and personal correspondence with authors and poets. Even though I missed it, I later heard there’s also a letter from Rabindranath Tagore on display

Satyaki took me to a cafe where, he tells me, Facebook’s Zuckerberg comes down for hot chocolate when he visits Harvard

Sayak (right), friend and ex-colleague, is doing a master’s in fine arts at Boston University. I requested him to give me a tour of his department and he took me around to many of his classmates’ studios at the university where I saw some amazing artwork. This is the studio of Ellen Weitkamp (left)

Ankita took this picture of me beside City Hall

Sayak and I share a pizza with pulled pork and mango topping

Tags: Boston wanderlust Tourism Harvard University Charles River Esplanade Boston Public Garden Martin Luther King Jr Boston Public Library Johann Gutenberg travel Rabindranath Tagore