Kolkata, the City of Joy

2nd Hoogly Bridge (Vidyasagar Setu)

VICTORIA MEMORIAL : A beautiful memorial in honour of Queen Victoria of England, was constructed at a cost of Rs. One crore and five lakhs and opened to public in the year 1921. Lord Curzon, then Viceroy of India, wanted that the most suitable memorial would be a "stately", spacious, monumental and grand building surrounded by an exquisite garden. The memorial is not less in any manner than what he thought. It is surrounded by sprawling lawns, exquisite gardens, fountains.

BRIEF HISTORY : Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) - the city of joy, city of Rabindranath Tagore, city of Satyajit Ray, city of Mother Teresa, city of intellectuals, city of football, city of procession, city of political movements, city of Bundhs (strike) , city of arts and culture (cultural capital of India), city of festivals and at last but not the least it is also known as city of best sweets and cuisine. Kolkata is the Capital of the Indian state of “West Bengal” ("East Bengal" is not in existence, its now a separate country, known as "Bangladesh"). Kolkata city is located in the eastern part of India on the east bank the river Hoogly. The city is the 4th largest city in India.

More than 300 years ago, the city (as a village then) started its journey. What we see today, has been built up slowly and reached to today’s state. The brief history goes like this - In 1690, Job Charnok, an agent of the East India Company landed on the eastern bank of river Hoogly for British trade settlement and he purchased the three large villages along the eastern bank of Hoogly, namely Sutanuti, Gobindapur & Kalikata. Gradually, over the years, the “village Kalikata” was developed into a city “Calcutta” by the then rulers of the land.

Calcutta served as the capital of India during the British Rule until 1911. Once the city Calcutta was center of modern education, science, culture and political movements in India. The Bengal as a whole was much developed those days in all sectors including politics, which gave birth of a proverb - “what Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow”.

Hand pulled rickshaw to Tube rail : This city is unique in many ways. This city having many transportation systems which other metro don’t have. There is primitive transportation system of hand pulled rickshaw which is a black spot of the city from humanity point of view but on other side Electric Tram, completely pollution free, are still pride of the city. Initially the tram was horse driven and later Electric tram came on the roads and the same is still running in the city. Being a slow moving transportation system, may not be popular but due non pollutant, environmental friendly the citizen like it to stay. Electric Tram is seen only in Kolkata (Calcutta) in India. The city has many transportation systems starting from hand pulled rickshaws to underground tube rail, slow moving tram to Volvo bus.

Most intellectual city of India : Most Nobel laureates of India have been associated with Calcutta University or Calcutta at some point of time. The city has produced six Nobel Laureates so far. They are:

1. Sir Ronald Ross (1902 Medicine)
2. Rabindranath Tagore (1913 Literature)
3. CV Raman (1930 Physics)
4. Mother Teresa (1979 Peace)
5. Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (1983 Physics)
6. Amartya Sen (1998 Economics)

Calcutta to Kolkata : In 2001, the name of Calcutta was changed to Kolkata. The names Kolkata and Calcutta were probably derived from Kalikata, the name of one of the three villages (Kalikata, Sutanati & Gobindapur). While the city was always pronounced either “Kolkata” or “Kolikata”, in Bengali, its official English name was only changed from “Calcutta” to “Kolkata” in 2001, reflecting the Bengali pronunciation and to end the legacy of the British.

Festivals : There is a Bengali proverb - “Baro Maase tero Paarban”, which means in twelve months, thirteen festivals. Durga Puja is the most notable festival of Bengalis which celebrated every year like a carnival. It’s a religious and social festival of Kolkata. Other notable festivals include Deepavali, Eid, Christmas, Holi, Poila Baishakh (Bengali new Year), Saraswati Puja, Rath Yatra. Among the cultural festivals “Kolkata Book Fair” is the most popular and its now a yearly event which takes place in the month of January every year.

Indulgence to foods & sweets: As already mentioned about Kolkata that it is a city of best sweets and cuisines. Food and sweet are the two greatest indulgence of Kolkata people. Kolkatans love to eat and also they re great hosts. Every meal, ends with choicest sweets and Misty doi (sweetened curd). The unique range, quality, taste, variety and cheap rates of sweets can leave you amazed. The kolkata sweets are best sweets in India and unparallel in quality. Misty doi (sweetened curd) and confectionery of Patali Gur (date palm jaggery) are two delicacies of Bengal.

Besides Mughlai (tandoori, kebabs, biriyani etc.) Continental, Thai, Tibetian cuisines, Chinese cuisines are also very popular in Kolkata. Authentic quality Chinese cuisine is available in the eating houses/ Restaurants in Old China Town run by the Chinese people. Kolkata is also having varieties of quality foods on the streets. These foods are cheaper and there are some reputed points in the Dalhousie and Esplanade area. These points are only open during day time for the office goers and visitors to the city. We can proudly say that this kind quality foods are not available out side this city. Non-Indian food outlets like KFC, Macdonalds are present in the city. Junk foods are too available in every corner of the city. The Phuchka of Kolkata (Pani Puri in Bombay, Gol gappe in Delhi) is the best and nowhere this quality of Pani puri is available in India.

Dakshineshwar Temple

Places of Interests :

Besides Victoria Memorial which is land mark of Kolkata, other places of interests are Science City, Indian Museum, Birla Planetorium, Nicco Park, Botanical garden, Iskcon Temple, Belur Math, Kalighat, Dakshineswar kali Temple, Tagore House, Swabhumi, City Centre and South City Malls.

Belur Math

Nicco Park, Salt Lake, Kolkata

Mani Square Mall, Kolkata

City Centre-II & Swiss Hotel, Newtown, Kolkata

 Road to Airport through Newtown