Kolkata Yatra

I have been fortunate enough to visit Kolkata last weekend. It was a sort of a dream for me to see what this city looks like as I had heard a lot about it. This metropolitan city is in a peculiar state where Left govt is ruling, though leftist ideology in Bengal is declining now. I was eager to see the old capital of India which was the base of Indian national movement and which has perhaps the oldest and the most enriched history of literature, art, industry, science and people life in general. Calcutta as it was called earlier is an historical place from where major socio-economic movements and revolutions for betterment of people’s lives have arisen.

The major aspects of experience of this visit are- people’s lives, religion, historical places and entertainment. Taking the first aspect, people I came across seemed busy in their lives irrespective of their standard or class except some couples who like to express their love in public sitting on the benches of parks (I think we need one branch of Bajrang Dal here for moral policing!). Kolkata is a major hub of industries where people from nearby places travel daily to earn their livelihood. It was a typical of a city where one can see the most well to-do person as well as the most poor at the same place. Bengali people have a very special kind of face-built especially women. Women here have Durga like face with broad and big eyes ending near the ear, big lips, round face coupled with untied hair. This place seemed to me women dominated in terms of their visibility and appearance at public places.

Another major theme here is religion. Durga puja is the most celebrated festival here which renders the city “more” overcrowded. Big Durga idols were travelling in the city with people rejoicing at loud voices. Banners and hoardings displayed festivity of the environment with attractive product offers. People were too excited and busy for their festival of the year.

Historical places I visited are- Dakshineshwar Temple, Howrah Bridge and Victoria Palace. Dakshineshwar temple is old Kali temple where Swami Vivekananda and Ramakrishna Paramhansh used to visit. There was huge crowd there as it were starting days of Navratra. For Howrah Bridge, we did not need to go far away as it could be seen from Howrah railway station. It is a giant old bridge connecting Howrah to main city. Visit to Victoria Palace was the most memorable one. It is a great place having great historical significance. It was built in the memory of Queen Victoria of England. It was a giant whitish palace which really looked like a palace of a King or Queen. There was a gallery displaying painting and idols of old English viceroys, commanders in India, paintings of past people and their way of lives under colonial rule, paintings of old historical temples and different places of India, exhibition of weapons of English times, pictures and description about Bengali cities, lives, people, literature, music, art, science, industry and what not. It was a full show of Bengal history under colonial rule. I was mesmerized by the beauty of the park area surrounding the palace with pond, lush green grass and trees.

For entertainment, I went to Aquatica, a water park. It was full of fun with water gliding, swimming and different water challenges. The rain was also on time with people in full mood for joy and delirium.

On the whole, it was a one day and two night trip (two nights for travelling!). This is too short a time to fully experience such a lovely city. But for a first time visitor, it was a day of excitement and bewilderment.