Kolkata

After a hair raising, armrest clutching drive down the mountain from Darjeeling, we flew to Kolkata, our next destination. Kolkata used to be called Calcutta, and was the capital of the British Empire in India until 1911. It is regarded as the cultural capital of India and is often called the 'City of Joy'. It is also one of the most populated cities in the world, and one of the poorest.

Suburban street near our hotel in Swiss Park, Kolkata

We arrived at our hotel, the Bodhi Tree, which is in the suburban residential area of Swiss Park, Kolkata. While it’s not near restaurants or key sights, it did give us a small peek at suburban living in Kolkata, as opposed to being in the bigness of the city centre.

But we were definitely the only firangi (white foreigners) in Swiss Park.

Initially we were disappointed with the hotel, as our room didn’t match what we had booked. However, after to speaking with the owner, it was changed.

The Bodhi Tree is very close to the metro. The Kolkata metro was the first underground rail system built in India and now-days, it is one of the fastest ways to get around. 

Family near the metro

We'd heard it was also an easy metro to navigate, so the next morning we used it to get into the centre of Kolkata.

When our train arrived, it was super-crowded, with hundreds more people trying to board at the same time as us (it felt like the total population of 4.75 million was there!).

So we were sort of ‘carried’ onto the train in a massive crush. Leigh wasn’t sure whether her feet touched the ground as she boarded! Efficient air-con and a pole to cling to, were our saviours. You learn to ignore the crush of bodies as you swing and sway as one congealed mass. 

Area when getting off the metro

After talking with a chappie on the train, he recommended we get off the train in Park Street, two stops before the city centre, for lunch. He said that the Park St restaurants were easier to find and of better quality, and that from there we could walk into the city centre seeing some of the main sights on the way.

So we did get off at Park Street, and found a most amazing Thali restaurant. Thali is a traditional Rajasthan way of cooking with various curries and pickles, special breads and desserts, all in little dishes on a large platter. Very yummy!

Colonial architecture of the India Museum

After lunch, we walked up the road to the fascinating Indian Museum. It houses a huge collection of varied displays, and is located in a grand old colonial building that has definitely seen better days. It was impressive nonetheless.

The Museum was founded in 1814 and is the largest multi-purpose museum in the Asia-Pacific region. As this museum developed, it fostered the development of 400 further museums throughout India. That's a pretty impressive achievement.

Then we walked to and through the huge park called the Maidan, and at the other end of it, we visited the Victoria Memorial Museum.

The imposing Victorian Memorial Museum

This is a very imposing building, containing a vast collection of exhibits from the time of British colonisation and earlier. 

Again, as far as we could see, we were the only firangis in the large crowd of Indian families there.

Next, we caught a taxi to Fort William, known for the infamous 'Black Hole of Calcutta' (a jail). Unfortunately, we couldn't get in as it's now an Army base and not open to the general public without a pass.

In the end, we wandered the streets for several very hot but interesting hours, getting up into the central and northern parts of the city.

Once grand architecture-now terrible living conditions 

It was fascinating. We noticed that the streets were very dusty with lots of rubbish; buildings once grand, were now ramshackle; and the people appeared to be very poor, especially in the northern parts of the city.

Overall, conditions were squalid. But, the colours, smells, architecture and dirt were memorable.

The next day, we metro'd back into the centre again, but this time, on a slightly less crowded train as it was Sunday.

An endless supply of street vendors and vegetables

We wandered through narrow streets in areas we had missed the day before. Near the port area, we came across a street lined with people selling absolutely every vegetable you can imagine. Their produce was laid out on cloths on the pavement. The place buzzed, with plenty of bargaining and lots of colour.

As we walked around the day was becoming much hotter, and the streets and buildings seemed much dirtier. 

Then we came upon a huge procession making its way through the city, with much music and singing.

Huge spring festival procession

There seemed to be hundreds of people participating, all dressed in saffron and yellow. Then we learned that it is the Basanta Utsav (Spring festival), as today is the 1st of March, which is the traditional day for the festival. 

An hour or so later of walking the dire, dusty and hot streets of Kolkata, we found our way to the cooler area alongside the Hooghly River.

Then we saw the festival procession again, crossing the famous Howrah Bridge which spans the Hooghly. It was a distant view, and what we could see was like a golden wave moving across this long bridge. The tail of the procession had not entered the Bridge by the time the head had moved off it.

Memorable Kolkata

That means the procession must have been over 1 km long. Participants would have had to walk 5 or 6 km in the heat to get there - whew!

Nearby, was a riverfront park that was much cleaner than the streets, so we stopped there to eat our picnic lunch. As we sat there enjoying the shade and river breezes, we noticed a very diverse range of boats moving up and down the Hooghly River. It was a nice way to spend our lunch time.

Leaving there, we found the Mallick ghat flower market. This is apparently the largest flower market in Asia and is over 160 years old.

Mallick ghat flower market

It was noisy, and so very colourful, with millions of orange marigold chains, yellow sunflowers, pink lotus flowers, red roses, and much more. We watched, fascinated by the sights and hustle and bustle, before moving on.

Then we passed a tent town, with many lean-tos built up against a huge brick wall - one of many such colonies in Kolkata.

Tent town in Kolkata

After a very long but interesting day, we headed back to our hotel. Close to the hotel, we stopped at the very interesting Kalighat Kali Temple.

The streets surrounding the Temple, like most of the places we have been to in India, were full of groups of men, and we hesitated to venture there. It was ok in the end, but quite intimidating initially.

Kolkata has a range of transport styles, including oxen, trams, ferries, buses, cars, bikes, tuktuks and of course, taxis.

Kolkata transport

The taxis are mostly old yellow, or slightly better white ones - all are cheap to hire, but dirty inside.

Overall, we found Kolkata big and dirty, and quite a hard city to walk and get around as foreigners, but oh so interesting. Surprisingly though, it did not seem as smoggy as Delhi or Varanasi. 

After 4 days in Kolkata, it's time to move on. Our next stop will be Chennai, in southern India.

The above blog is part of our 2 month tour of India. The first blog on this tour is called "Off to Delhi".