Delving into Kolkata!

What I thought I would find was a black and white city, with slum dwellings here and there and hand pulled rickshaws, an image I had of Kolkata from the 70s movies.

On my trip I witnessed the unexpected and well unfortunately it wasn’t one of my best trips. Even though, Kolkata is a city everyone needs to explore. And by explore I mean see the sights not the metropolis arcades.

It all started when my friends and I at IIMC packed our bags and took a bus from Cuttack to Kolkata for a 3 day trip.

The bus halted at Babu Ghat bus terminus near Eden Gardens and the view was not at all black and white. It was 5 in the morning and I was wide awake taking in the beautiful vista. From there it was dumping our bags at our abodes and exploring the bustling streets of New Market and Park Street.

Day 1, we couldn’t explore too much and that dampened our spirits and we all became grumpy and cranky because of our unplanned spree. But the day had not ended and we feasted our eyes at the photogenic yet distinctly seedy vantage point, the Princep Ghat. The Hooghly River, a distributary of the Ganges, below the impressive elegant Vidyasagar Setu suspension bridge was a spectacle in the evening. We were lucky enough to witness the day of kali Visarjan where devotees plunged the divine puja images into Hooghly waters. From there it was an evening well spent with a boat ride down the river, which washed away all the tautness we had from earlier.

Vidyasagar Setu, also known as the Second Hooghly Bridge.

Dinner at KFC was longed-for as we are the famished souls from Dhenkanal, who crave for fast food day after day.

So, you see, it was something of a relief for me to be delivered from the clutter, filth, and dilapidation to the relative urbanity of Calcutta. As my trip was urban focused I missed out on the exploring part, which by the way no passionate traveller should do.

The second day started on a good note, with Science City on the agenda. We boarded a traditional tram from Park Street to Park Circus to get the feel of the heritage rich city and then took a cab to reach Science City which is at the crossing of Eastern Metropolitan Bypass and J B S Haldane avenue. It indeed was a city in itself. We took the ropeway to go inside which was an exhilarating experience. The earth exploration hall and the evolution park were a feast to the eyes and food for the brain. The artificial dinosaurs and the evolution of humans were worth admiring. In the science park we played and had fun like a bunch of kids enjoying each minute in Kolkata, the City of Joy.

Science City, Kolkata-the largest science centre in the Indian subcontinent

One of the main hurdles in Kolkata was lack of transportation. We had a hard time commuting and since we were on a tight budget we couldn’t book a cab for the whole day. This meant that we couldn’t explore the whole city which extends from North to south Kolkata in such a short time.

Day 3 came and we marched our way to the famous and beautiful Victoria Memorial Hall, a memorial building dedicated to Victoria, Queen of the UK. Oh yes, a tourist attraction it was. With extravagant gardens spread around the vicinity and a museum containing a large collection of memorabilia relating to Queen Victoria and the British presence in India and other work of arts, The Victoria Memorial with its royal gallery was a sight to behold.

The magnificent gardens that surround the Memorial Hall

The façade standing tall containing major collection of paintings, sculptures and manuscripts from the British period and made with White Makrana marbles was inaugurated in the year 1921 and certain additions were made in the later years.

Mesmerizing Beauty Of Victoria Memorial 

Exhausted from roaming the great halls inside, we looked forward to the tanga ride (horse cart ride) on the busy roads near Victoria memorial which was a royal feeling in itself. Enjoying the refreshing breeze in our faces and drinking the lemonade, we had a priceless time and some of us wanted another go on the tanga.

Riding on traditional Tanga (Horse cart)

But our hungry stomachs goaded us towards a food joint, Arsalan, on Park Street which is famous for its Calcutta Biryani.  It was the first time I tasted this kind of Biryani, which uses Potato along with meat and is much lighter on spices than compared to other Biryani's.  I was not disappointed as everything we ordered, including kebabs and chicken, was delicious. The restaurant was moderately priced and is the perfect place to savour one of the best biryanis in the city, according to my Bong friends.

After wandering around the city more, we went to the Xavier’s college which had a great infrastructure and since one of my friends completed her graduation from here, it was imperative that we went there and honestly we didn’t regret visiting the place as it was one of the most beautiful colleges I have ever seen.

Dropping in at a café to please our urban needs we chit chatted and relaxed a bit.

After that it was time to say goodbye to the culturally rich city and so we boarded a bus from Babu Ghat bus terminus and slept our way to Cuttack.

It was an enjoyable experience what with the company of friends and the travelling binge but honestly we needed to delve into the city a bit more. 

Actually, a lot more.