India’s second-biggest city is a daily festival of human existence, simultaneously noble and squalid, cultured and desperate, decidedly futuristic while splendid in decay. By its old spelling, Calcutta readily conjures images of human suffering to most Westerners – although that's not a complete picture of this 350-year-old metropolis. Locally, Kolkata is regarded as India’s intellectual, artistic and cultural capital. Although poverty is certainly apparent, the self-made middle class drives the city's core machinery, a nascent hipster culture thrives among its millennial residents and its dapper Bengali gentry frequent grand, old colonial-era clubs.
Kolkata has been at the centre of activity of various civilizations at different points in time. Large populations of Chinese, Armenian, Jewish, and other immigrant communities have all called Kolkata home, and the city’s stunning architecture pays testament to its social, political, and cultural richness. These six colonial-era buildings are striking reminders of a Calcutta (present-day Kolkata) that served as capital to British India.
The Grand Hotel is, as its name suggests, the grande dame of the Calcutta hospitality scene. Located, as it was and still is, on Chowringhee Road, it is situated right in the centre of the city’s social and entertainment scene.
The site on which the hotel presently sits originally played host to private residences as well as a theatre. In 1911, Armenian businessman, Arathoon Stephen, bought the site and developed it into the Grand Hotel.
Located at the very heart of city, the 158-foot high Ochterlony Monument, pristine white Shaheed Minar has remained a landmark monument for over a century and a half. Its characteristic design and size has drawn the attention of many, including Mark Twain who dubbed it the ‘cloud kissing monument.’ However, the structure’s history remains just as interesting as its architecture. The tall structure displays a blend of various architectural styles, including a Turkish-style rounded dome, an Egyptian foundation and a column inspired by those seen in Syria.
While the Shaheed Minar is today considered to be a tribute to the Indian independence struggle, the surrounding ground was also once a hotspot of political activity. Known as Shaheed Minar Maidan or the Brigade Ground, the vast fields have played host to a variety of political rallies and fairs, including a meeting by Rabindranath Tagore in 1931 over the killing of two unarmed young men by the British in a nearby detention camp.
A vast expanse of green in the heart of the city's brick-and-mortar matrix, the Maidan is where Kolkata's residents congregate for walks, spirited cricket and football matches, family outings, dates, tonga rides and general idling.
The end of the 17th Century Kolkata witnessed the gradual emergence of the city of Kolkata brought about by the merger of three villages - Kolkata, Sutanati & Gobindapur, on the eastern bank of the river Hooghly, the other name of River 'Ganga'. On the western bank, Howrah came up as a bustling site of commerce.
The twin cities of Calcutta, and Howrah , were separated by the River Hooghly, and shared a common historical linkage towards the eventual construction of the Rabindra Setu, more commonly known as Howrah bridge. While Kolkata, from a small sleeping hamlet of artisans and mercantile community eventually developed , as a commercial hub of a modern metropolitan city , Howrah (virtually the store house of raw material resources) became its industrial satellite
The bridge also has sister bridge over the river at different points, namely Vidyasagar Setu
Vidyasagar Setu (commonly known as the Second Hooghly Bridge), is a bridge over the Hooghly River in West Bengal, India. It links the city of Howrah to its twin city of Calcutta. The bridge is a toll bridge for vehicles, but is free for bicycles. It is one of the longest bridges of its type in India and one of the longest in Asia.
Calcutta’s Hand-Pulled Rickshaws are British Heritage in India’s Colonial Treasure. Since the end of the 19th century, hand-pulled rickshaws have been plying the streets of Calcutta. They have witnessed to and remained an integral part of Calcutta’s socio-economic evolution for over 100 years.
Tourists will see replicas of Calcutta’s hand-pulled rickshaws among the exhibits of museums in India and abroad in the next few years. Hand-pulled rickshaws will soon be replaced with batter-operated modern vehicles from the streets of Kolkata as the Government of West Bengal is up with a rehabilitation plan for 6,000 rickshaw pullers, and activists as well as social critics have been calling for the ban of these rickshaws. Calcutta is the only Indian city to keep up with the hand-pulled rickshaw, while this mode of transport pulled by one human being for the other has been rolled back from the rest of Asia.
A nouka (boat) ride is an absolute must. Sailing below the Howrah Bridge is an experience in itself. A sailor with an oar, hood of the boat and a hanging lantern are bound to give a “Chingari koi bhadke” (from the movie Amar Prem) feel. Inhale a fresh breath of air, detach from life’s worries and de-stress at least for sometime staring at the high and low tides. A heavy mind is transformed into a free one in an atmosphere of tranquility.
Kumartuli, a neighborhood in Kolkata, India holds an important place in history which has a long tradition of clay idol-making along with a strong association with the most important festival of Bengal – Durga Puja. Located in north Kolkata along the river of Hooghly. It has grown into a trade and contributing towards the livelihood of many people. Apart from this occupation, there are services which support this industry to a large extent. With the rapid expansion of the city of Kolkata, this area has undergone a huge transformation – mainly due to urbanization. The artists or Karigars who are involved so passionately in crafting idols from raw clay to an idol of a god and goddess, work in their ‘workshops’. These workshops as they are called actually comprises of working space, storage space for idols, storage space of raw materials, eating, cooking and sleeping space of karigars. It is a place where Karigars or labours work and live in the same space. The built environment of this place is majorly the workshops linearly planned along the narrow lanes as well as the shops where accessories for idols are sold and residences of artists.
Coffee House has always been the hub of intellectuals, the very place where stalwarts such as Satyajit Ray, Amartya Sen, Mrinal Sen and Aparna Sen have visited and spent time in. The walls of the Coffee House have been witness to numerous unorganized musical evenings to origin of ideas of maybe some the greatest creations from great minds that had once considered this to be their haven of bliss.Today as the building stands in all its glory and prowess,irrespective of its age, any admirer would proudly accept the fact that over centuries this building, formerly the Albert Hall, during days Kolkata was the capital of East India ruled India has aged gracefully enough. This is one of the few examples where a heritage site has seen a transformation and evolved itself perfectly with the age it has been existing in.
The quiet demise of the world’s oldest photo studio. Bourne and Shepherd, the 176 year-old photo studio in Calcutta had shut down which was the world’s oldest functioning studio of its kind, until it quietly stopped functioning on April 20, 2016. Established in 1863, Bourne and Shepherd was one of India’s most successful commercial studios in 19th and 20th centuries, with cultural, political icons, celebrities and ordinary citizens thronging its elegant colonial building for their signature portraits. It had a branch in Shimla, though its photographers travelled widely through the subcontinent.
At one time Hindustan Motors, this was the largest car manufacturer in India, the proud makers of the Ambassador. But on May 24,2014 the last Hindustan Motors in Uttarpara, a suburb of Kolkata, finally ceased operations.
In 1690, Job Charnok, an agent of the East India Company chose this place for a British trade settlement. The site was carefully selected, being protected by the Hooghly River on the west, a creek to the north, and by salt lakes about two and a half miles to the east. There were three large villages along the east bank of the river Ganges, named, Sutanuti, Gobindapur and Kalikata. These three villages were bought by the British from the local land lords. The Mughal emperor granted East India Company freedom of trade in return for a yearly payment of 3,000 rupees.
