City of Joy

A cliche' title. What else would you call a city which is nothing but a place for joy. Aptly enunciated. Calcutta is the east-est I have traveled in India. The city is historically very important to our nation. When Britishers first landed in India, they made Calcutta their capital. And so started the evolution of British India - the customs, the speech, the architecture, and the mannerisms. Building in this city are magnificant, awe-inspiring, very colonial. But the way they are integrated into city's fabric, by citizens, by culture, is nothing but truly Indian. For instance the grounds in front of Victoria memorial. In good old days, the Queen must have made them with the purpose of strolling or brunches (I suppose), but today they are affectionately utilised by boys and urchins as cricket grounds, or football is it?

Architecture of Calcutta is much talked about - both Indian and colonial, and I will not delve into it much. What we can list here is some of the places which one should be visiting when in Calcutta - Victoria memorial for sure, Ramakrishna Ashram, Dakshineshwar temple, Belur Math, Kalighat temple, Townhall. Ramakrishna ashram has intricate carving and silence all around it. The location is strategic - its on the river bank. Across the river stands the elegant Dakshineshwar temple, which reminds me of the white and red border sarees commonly worn by Bengali women. The ghat (man-made) at the Ramakrishna Ashram must be really popular with young couples or peace-seeking people, for obvious reasons. We were there during the day and even the harsh sun couldn’t discourage many visitors from occupying the ghats. The two bridges, Howrah bridge and the New Hoogly bridge (Vidyasagar Setu) are also worth a ride.

We stayed at Hotel Big Boss, which was at Rawdon Street, now called Sarojini Naidu Sarani. Its claim to fame is its vicinity to La’Martinere’s School. Keeping with the national trend, Calcutta too has rechristened many of its streets from English to Indian. There is a Shakespere Sarini (sarini would mean street or road), which is the cultural street as they say. Many a theatres and art houses are located on this street. What is particularly amazing about Calcutta is that almost all the streets or roads, even lanes are mini markets. The “shopping zone” has indefinite boundaries in Calcutta. And on these streets, one finds the true spirit of Calcutta – people…..loads of them, smoking people…something that we totally detest in Delhi, yellow taxis…. nerve-racking callous drivers, traffic…chaos….jams…diversions, hand-pulled rickshaws…a sickening site, trams…. true heritage.

The first time I went to Calcutta, I was recommended to do the Heritage Tram Tour. http://www.calcuttatramways.com/events.htm. Its an enthralling experience. As the tram makes its way into the lanes and bylanes of the city, one sees old and dilapidated buildings, encroachers on pavements, house of Tagore, careless people walking right in front of tram, and the tram driver braking hard making the wheels squeek and roll with a grinding sound!! But the bumps and old ragged seats of the tram doesn’t dampen the spirits, at least I felt enriched by experiencing this alternative edifice of this city. I suppose the steamer ride on hoogly will offer an equally exciting experience.

Talking about streets and markets, Gariahat market is one of the biggest and richest (in terms of choice and variety) in Calcutta. There are upscale shops like Kanishka where you can treat your eyes (and pocket) to very classy and trendy Bengali sarees. They have traditional stuff too. Right next to similar upscale shops are the small makeshift shops, where you can pick good cotton stuff at very reasonable (and highly negotiable) prices. Swabhumi, a crafts bazaar kind of place has been recently opened in New town to cater to the growing need of art loving urban citizens.


Food and sweets make up for what the Bengalis really are. Flurry’s, an old colonial type coffee house is supposedly the must-visit, must-have-breakfast joint in Calcutta. There is 6 Ballygunge Place which is an old house transformed into a hotel. Here one must try the Luchi, Radhabhalobhi and baked Sandesh. Equally famous is the night life in Calcutta. Walk on the Park Street to take a plunge in one of the busiest pubs / clubs / restaurants scene in India. There is the famous but not so satisfying “Saurav’s”. Mukambo and Tangra rate high in Chinese cuisine. AND for the world famous, mouth-watering sweet delicacies of Bengal, visit Balaram Mallick in Bhawanipur (its most authentic).

Once touted as the most polluted city in India (i am not sure of the status now), Calcutta has lots on offer. If one is looking for real relaxation then this would be the place. It is a city which one would want to visit again and again. Not only to buy the beautiful cotton sarees, but also to absorb the "culture". Much is said about the artistic inclination of Bengalis, their flare for long and tardy political discussions and their always-growing fascination with theatre. It is an organic city. Ofcourse, there is salt lake and all the new townships with sky-touching residential towers, which make up for the new face of the city. I spotted huge malls on my way to the airport and i was wondering whether this should be the future of all our cities. Or whether we would love to remember Calcutta as what we saw through the Tram ride. For sure its a question of heritage versus development. And i would rather people have better living conditions than sticking to their heritage houses. But i do hope that 5years from now, if i visit Calcutta again, i still get to ride in the Tram and see those old colonial buildings which makes up for the most of character in Calcutta. (I am sure the Bengalis will differ here and say Calcutta is much more than just trams!!!). To which i would say, yess yess lets explore that too :)

Travelator

travelling - i can say i like travelling. like most of us, i too have experienced my share of travelling with parents, as kids. or in school and colleges. but after taking up my present job, my touring graph has gone up and high. not only within India, but outside too. so i say, i like travelling. some people have excellent memory and they can throw names of places, restaurants, dates even related to their travel. i am not so gifted. i sometimes have flashes of images in my mind and then i sit and think for hours, damn, which place is this???? or when a friend or a relative is visiting a city which i have already set my foot on, then i struggle to think of nice restaurants or the bazaars which i had been to, or the famous chaatwala. at times, this is really frustrating. most of the times, its embarrassing.

the year 2010 has been quite extravagant in terms of travelling. if i recall correctly, then from May up till November, i have been on move each month. this is not regular for a person like me, with a profile which doesn't ask for compulsive travelling to projects or partners. another factor is sasural being situated in another city. that makes up for at least twice a year outing, and visit to new towns.

being an architect and planner (not having put it to practice though), i am an avid collector of maps and guides. makes my life easier in cities. i like to explore cities on my own. its kind of suffocating for me to be in a city and not knowing how am i placed geographically . for almost all the cities i have been to, i have a map, a collection of tickets for temples and museum etc., SIM cards of various nations!!!, general touristy info, magazines and other stuff. they say the best way to recall is to write. so, i will write about cities, i have been to. a compilation of my experiences, situations, food habits, people's behaviour, fashion trends. this will require lot of scratching of my brain cells, i will also cheat and look up google for erased memories and poke my co-travellors for finer details.. i think this the least i can do for myself. "i would love to read these when i get old. it will bring back fond memories".

step one in this direction would be to compile a list of places i have visited. second would be to select destinations for reporting. this will not include places which i have frequented most in my lifetime, unless there is a stupendously exciting experience attached to it. otherwise the whole series will amount to a book. third is to review all memorabilia attached to this destination and file them in a scrapbook. last would be to rewind and write. let us begin by listing the places, with some categories for easy sorting:

a) foreign destinations:
- bonn -berlin-freiburg- frankfurt-stuttgart-paris-koln 2007
-new jersey - new york-chicago-philadelphia 2008
-bangkok 2008, 2009
-jakarta 2006
-singapore 2008
-shanghai 2010
-colombo 2006
-manila 2010

b) in India (touring)
-jammu
-manali
-dehradun-mussorie
-ambala -kasauli-chandigarh
-mathura-agra-vrindavan
-gwalior
-meerut
-bareilly
-chhibramau
-kanpur - lucknow-gorakhpur
-nainital
-bharuch-ahmedabad-ankleshwar
-jaipur-amber-udaipur-nathdwara - chittorgarh
-bikaner
-mumbai -pune -goa
-solapur-hampi
-bhopal - khajuraho-jhansi-orchchha
-ooty -bangalore-madurai -chennai
-hyderabad
-calcutta

c) in india (piligrimage)
-gangotri-kedarnath-badrinath
-haridwar-rishikesh –neelkanth
-katra-vaishnodevi
-ajmer
-dwarka-somnath

CWG Fiasco

i will pull no punches here, and it will be a long comment column and some would think i have gone insane...but man...do i care!!i too have had enough of CWG - blatant media reporting, blogs, lunch room discussions, corruption cases, misuse of power and resources, general inconvenience blah blah blah। I totally accept things are not happening the way they should be and as a nation we are not putting up a good picture. Too bad. Full Stop.

This was for the agencies involved who are doing things wrongly or not doing anything. what are WE doing, except for criticing. Nothing.

i have debated this with friends, colleagues, relatives. I understand the general apathy. and i am totally with it. BUT what i dont like is remarks like "the games should be a flop..tab maza aayega inko", "we dont deserve these games", "indians are good for nothing" "india has been too ambitious to take on something like this" or what mani shankar aiyar said..insensitive!! i hate these comments and hate every person who is making these comments. and i also have stopped liking these frequent blogs and writeup on "sharamnaak" performance. whats the harm in being ambitious, a country which is just 60years old is trying to match international level, whats the harm???? ya, like all of us, i too have list of things that could be done, ideally. but too bad, i am not in games OC!!should i even start with what indians are capable of doing??? dont we have other things to talk about????why repeat and repeat and repeat our dissent.why?and btw, let me also tell you, that nobody other than delhities are so charged about CWG.the rest of india isnt even bothered.

i have two more problems, one im a patriot (and i have all reason to be, i love my country) and two, im a positive person (sorry, i cant help it). my contention is, so ok, things are bad, much has been said, but now that the games are nearing, lets atleast keep our spirits high, stop making long faces, see the positive effects (ok, we have to take a magnifying glass to do so, but why not). when u have a wedding at home and preparation go awry, do you feel good about the sinking prestige of the hosts or do you rise and help?? i am not comparing the events, i am comparing the emotions. people, guests are coming to my city, and i want to see them go back happy. i can even imagine people chating with tourists on the poor state of india and the works. bcoz they want to earn brownie points with goras and they feel its totally cool to bad-mouth one's country.

i want to appeal to people, somethings are not in our hands like OC, but a lot of other things are. why dont we work on that. lets be smiling hosts so that people dont go back to their countries and say, “you know..delhities ARE very rude people”, or offer help for directions, information, whatever!!

i am not sure how many of us know what went behind munich olympics or beijing olympics, but if you know i bet you'll thank god - for the least we are going through.

this maybe my last discussion, comment, read on anything related to CWG. unless something profusely instigating comes up. from now on, i will groom myself to become a "wonderful and a proud host".