Kolkata Nostalgia & Romance

jyotirmoy

December is the best time to be in Kolkata... don't miss X-Mas eve celebration in Park street

neeleem

Thanks Jyotirmoy! I know what you mean, even when I was in School in Ooty, my parents, brother and me would visit Kolkata during December as that was the school holiday time. And then ofourse the years that I lived in Kolkata. So I have been in Kolkata during December/Jan many times.

Park Street on Christmas Eve is really !! What a fantastic atmosphere... I am an alumnus of 30 Park Street (I guess you know the place... the green benches for adda etc...)

jyotirmoy

Last year saw me visiting my Kolkata quite a few times. Salt Lake, the area where my house is located seems so different than the real Kolkata that still exists in the central & northern parts. Walking along the city centre in Salt Lake & looking at the new inhabitants while waiting for Somnath made me feel like a stranger in a strange city. So the next day always saw me walking in Hathibagan, Kumartuli, Baghbazar. Small tea shops, tele bhaja outlets, hawkers on the pavement.... wonderful kurtas in the kurta shops in Fariyapukur, Sandesh at Nakur's... miles of second hand book shops in College street...the Ganga flowing quitely..a ride on the ferry sucking on Chutney Lozense...every time felt sad on my way to airport for my return to Delhi.

robotvoice

thanks for the incredible post, jyotirmoy.
Reading these words makes Kolkata all come rushing back. I have been missing India quite a bit lately and now it's much worse!

sirensongs

My five weeks in Kolkata/Calcutta left me with the feeling that, perhaps like Varanasi and Rome, Cal is one of the "eternal cities" - the ones where you feel the past is omnipresent. Everything it lacks in infrastructure is compensated by its immense soul. Such people, so warm and cultured. They have such a passion for their literature, cinema and all the arts, and such vibrant intellectual life. It's almost as though the tattered external conditions forced them to look inward, to emphasize and develop the life of the mind.

To stand on Howrah Bridge at twilight and feel it groaning under the immoveable traffic, with the immense burden of so much life in so many forms (human, animal, buses, rickshaws, cars, taxis, hawkers, beggars, old and young, rich poor and intermediate) is a quintessential Cal experience. Sunrise and mangal arati at Dakshineswar is also not to be missed.

I also felt a great deal of respect for women in Calcutta, and never felt overly scrutinized or ogled despite the very crowded sidewalk traffic.

Somebody, can't remember who, said you don't know India if you don't know Calcutta.

__________________
"Why do people go to India to find themselves? India is where you go to lose yourself."
Feringhee: The India Diaries

jyotirmoy

Thanks robotvoice. Its a pity that many travelers give Kolkata a miss. In my opinion Kolkata is the friendliest & safe city. The old parts of Kolkata still retain the old world charm.

jyotirmoy

Yes sirensongs, women are very much respected in Kolkata. Eve teasing is almost non-existant. Commuters in buses,trams & metros are not silent spectators as in Delhi. Any one showing any disrespect towards ladies is severely punished by the mob.

robotvoice

It is a pity. I am lucky because from the west coast it is as close for me to fly west to kolkata as to fly east to delhi. At any rate it seems few tourist choose kolkata as their place of entry. I am so glad i did, Kolkata made me instantly at home in india.

capt_mahajan

In a public bus, travelling back from school years ago in then Calcutta, a lady standing behind me lost her balance and bumped into me, leaving a bright red lipstick mark on my white shirt.

I got very dirty looks all the way home. Good I didn't get beaten up.

__________________
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Outside the machine

jyotirmoy

You had been lucky Capt. BTW how was the reception at home up on your return?

capt_mahajan

I was 14 years old; My folks still had some faith in me.

Khak

dicovered this post from list of similar posts while reading kolkata nostalgia and gastronomy.....

jyoti-da you write excellent..........thanks for the wonderful post

__________________
~Khak~

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

jyotirmoy

Jokhon porbey na mor charon chinho ei bate takhon nai ba....

hakimnama

"jyotirmoy da, mritunjoy ta lansdown-e exactly kothay??? khuje pachi na!....." Where is mritunjoy in lansdowne?
I was recently chatting with my dad about his old days..and he came up with a wonderful similar story. (now i know what he was upto in basanta cabin during his presi days ) I recently went to chung-wah (one of the last remaining cabins). the staff has become so bad and terrible...extremely discorteous and always peeeping (totally unlike as you described). the other branch of basanta cabin (in purna cinema, bhowanipore)is closing down. in fact purna is going to be torn down for a mall by himadri chemicals. jyotirmoy da , where is new cathay exactly? is the staff still like that? "ami ekhon prem korchi", you see .
...and again, where is the lovers lane suhel seths article touches upon.
is it still open

hakimnama

and isn't new cathay the bar under the grand portico?...did they have the cabins in the 1st floor?i do not think they have them now.