Trip to Kolkata

During my good old bachelor days, I got a chance to visit the one and only ‘City of Joy’. It was a pleasant journey as we started from Warangal, where my friend and I studied, to Kolkata by train. A good 28 hours later we reached Orissa and then to Kharagpur. The Kharagpur station is believed to have the longest platform.We were served curds in small mud pots when in the Kharagpur station. After living on hostel curds for 3 years, the taste of this curd was heaven on earth for us.

We reached Howrah. It is situated on the shore of the river Hoogly. The city of Kolkata is on the other side i.e. on the eastern side of the shore (Check out the photograph below). Local transport is never a problem as plenty of taxis are available for the users as is the tram and the metro rail.

 

Some interesting information about the city:

Kolkata has the distinction of being the fourth largest city in India with its urban population alone crossing over 14 million. Kolkata was chosen to be the nation’s capital until the year 1911. The East India Company (the pretense used by the British to spread discord and later rule India) was set up in Bengal.

Kolkata has the largest cricket stadium often compared to the Lords, Eden Garden. It has the capacity to seat 100,000 people. Two bridges connect Kolkata with Howrah- Howrah Bridge and Vidya Sagar Sethu. The Howrah Bridge can be called an ancient one when compared to the Vidya Sagar Sethu as the latter is an extremely well built cable bridge. The sight is one to behold especially at night as the lights are lit as the bridge looks magnificent.

My friend and I were to stay in his grandparents’ place. It is a place south of Kolkata called Naktala.

Local travel and food:

We mostly used the Kolkata metro rail. It is said to be one of the first metros to come to India. The rail itself is very neat and tidy and has reasonable fares. Also, as against the usual local language announcements, the announcements were made in three different languages- English, Hindi and Bengali. This helped me pick some Bengali words that were quite useful to converse with my friend’s grandparents when he wasn’t around.

We also traveled by the local bus where, thanks to the communist government, the ticket prices are said to be the lowest. Also it was sad to see the rickshaws that were pulled by men usually frail ones. I still am not able to get over the thought of one man pulling the other to help him commute for a meager fare.

Fish being the staple food of the Bengalis it was quite difficult for us to find a pure vegetarian hotel. All food is cooked with mustard oil which makes them taste quite nice. I especially enjoyed Sondesh( milk sweet) and mishti doi(sweet curd).We also visited the vegetable market where I found as many fish meat vendors as that of vegetables.

Three day trip summary

Day 1: Victoria memorial hall

On the first day of my 3 day trip to Kolkata we went to the Victoria Memorial Hall.

It is a formidable building which was opened in 1921. This Hall is the largest storehouse in India for a visual tour of the history of Kolkata. It also has a major collection of paintings, sculptures and manuscripts from the British Period. It is also a museum where one can see the pictures and statues of great men who played a vital role in the history of India. It was an idea developed by Lord Curzon who opened this museum to make people proud of their past and to help them (us) understand the culture of our great nation.

There are many sections in the Victoria Memorial Hall wherein almost a whole section is specially contributed to Queen Victoria, her childhood, her marriage and also articles used by the Queen in childhood and adulthood. The library is one section that is highly recommended as here one can find a truly rare collection of books ranging from Shakespeare, to Rubaiyat’s Omar Khayyam. It is also said that this place is often visited by costume designers to get a feel of the dresses that were used in Shakespeare’s plays, as they are also illustrated.

We can also see the arms and ammunition used in the British era, also displayed in the museum. There are many manuscripts that are displayed in the Portrait gallery of the museum. They are masterpieces of the time. Some examples are – a volume of copies of letters of Tipu Sultan, a notebook he maintained in his own handwriting, the writings of Abul Fazal a court historian during Emperor Akbar’s reign etc. For display are also some historical relics that include the ink pot used by Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidya sagar, pistols used by Lord Warren Hastings in a duel etc.

Victoria Memorial has a huge collection of sculptures that are displayed in their garden. Some Indian collection has been recently added. The garden is an area of about 64 acres which has a bronze statue of Queen Victoria at one of its entrances. It is said that there are as many as 21 gardeners who maintain this garden. It is also open for morning walkers for which one has to belong to any of the many clubs exclusively into this activity. Most members of the morning walkers association are usually the rich and the famous of Kolkata.

With this amount of history and beauty stored in my head we returned home recollecting every bit of all the relics, paintings, sculptures etc.. Reeling in our heads. A visit to the Victoria Memorial Hall is a must as the collection of historical data and artifacts is enormous and fun to go through and remember.

Day 2 : Belur and Dakshineshwar

Located on the banks of river Hoogly is the Kali Temple situated at Dakshineshwar. It was built by a lady called Rani Rasmani. She was said to be a great devotee of Goddess Kali and a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was the priest of the Kali Temple and also a spiritual guru of the 19^th century. One of his famous disciples was Swami Vivekananda. The Paramahamsa also lived within the temple premises and his room and prayer hall are available for public view. The spiritual sadhanas that the Guru went through in his stay at the temple can be felt from the moment one enters the temple.

The panchavati grove which was so lovingly planted by the Paramahamsa is still there and people can sit and meditate in that place. The disciples of Paramahamsa are divided into two: householders and monks. The monks under the tutelage of Swami Vivekananda established the Belur Mutt. It is said that Swami Vivekananda took the sacred ashes of the Paramahamsa in a copper casket and deposited at the Mutt.

The Mutt is situated on the other side of the Hoogly River. The travel to get to the Belur Mutt is by way of a ferry (boat). The headquarters of Ramakrishna Mission and Mutt is situated at Belur. (Check out the photographs below)

 

 

 

The birthdays of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Swami Vivekananda and Sarada Devi (spiritual consort of Sri Ramakrishna) are celebrated here. The monks stay at the Belur Mutt where the house holder disciples and monks get together for bhajans and the vesper ceremony. The bhajans were going on when we went to visit the Belur Mutt. The monks who wear saffron robes and shave their heads, indicating detachment were so absorbed in prayers that I could only stare in wonder at their commitment to a cause and the Tejas in their faces which is of course the result of years of strict austerities and meditation.

Completely stirred by their spirituality and with the effects of such a divine environment we returned home.

Day3: Shopping in Kolkata

This day we completely devoted to shopping. What was the most exciting thing was I could get lots of clothes- shirts and others at such a low cost that I spent well within my meager budget. We did all our shopping at the Dakshinapan shopping complex.

I still feel sad that having devoted 3 complete days to different activities didn’t allow me to cover many parts of the city.

I very much wanted to see the Aurobindo Ashram, missionaries of Charity started by Mother Teresa, Shantiniketan; I would also have enjoyed going to watch some plays. I have heard and seen a lot about the Cultural heritage of the Kolkattans, which mainly has to do with art and theatre. It would really have been wonderful if could experience it first hand.

My friend and I started from Kolkata by the East Coast Express to Warangal. It took us approximately 36 hours to reach our college at Warangal. The journey was very enjoyable though it was sad to leave behind granma and grandpa. All that I could carry with me were memories and photographs and hopes to visit the place at leisure so that I can explore some more of the city and increase my Bengali vocabulary too.

 

Kolkata