catherine
Joined: 10 Mar 2005
Posts: 21
|
| Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2005 1:41 pm Post subject: Calcuutta, West Bengal Literally the most exciting place on |
|
|
Calcutta, simply does not jump out as one of the most exciting places, to visit for a holiday, It has had a rotten press because of its over crowding problems and its pollution. However it is my favourite place on the Planet, and I have visited six continents and spent seven years over the last thirty doing so.
It is situated on the North East coast of India in the Bay of Bengal, and as the old capital of India, it is definately the Jewl in the Crown, as Paul Scott, once said. Her people are warm and friendly, with a tremendous sense of humour and fun, they are educated and erudite.
Despite the wonderful architecture to be seen in Dalhousie Suare, the fabulous Maiden, a great expanse, of parkland, right in the cetre of the city, which houses the racecourse. Also the Victoria memorial, which is now a museum. Despite all there is to see and there is plaenty, the real benefit are the people. Today Calcutta is a modern city, but it still retains very much a village.
Here are some of the things you can see:
The Maiden is the centre of all life in the City a huge sprawling Park, that as well as holding, the racecourse, it is a centre for political rallies, as well as holding the Asia's largest book Fair. It seems as though there are more book stores, here in the City, than the rest of India put together.
The people of Calcutta, love their sport, and their is always an impromptu
game of football, and cricket, and anything else going on, as well as the irrepressible sound of Bengali laughter.
Here is a list of some of the delights to be seen in Calcutta:
SHIHAD MINAR
After you have climbed the 2oo hundred and odd steps you have a breath taking view of the city's skyline. It is situated at the heart of the Esplanade.
BIRLA PLANETARIUM
This is a relatively new addition, it was the first in India, and is the largest Planetarium in South East Asia, and the second biggest in the World.
VICTORIA MONUMENT.
This is now a museum, and at night it is lit up with spectacular blue lighting like a Christmas tree and provides a landmark for everything. By day it is a white marble biulding, that shines out like a beacon.
THE BOTANICAL GARDENS
One of the many many surprising things about the City is the plethoria of parklands, and gardens, and little quiet places, that you can retreat to when the hustle and bustle of 16 million people gets a bit much. It seems every half a mile there is a little retreat. However as this garden is set in nearly three hundred acres, it is hardly little. It is well worth a visit, I have spent many many days here wiht a biryani, the best food of Calcutta, a meal in itself wrapped up in a banana leaf, and tied for easy tranportation. Apart from its magnificent acient trees, it has a collection of nearly three million dried flowers.
CHOWRINGHEE
This is where most of the British lived when the City was part of the Empire. It houses Park Street, one of the most sought after and expensive residential areas. Behind it is Free School Street, which still houses every facet of Calcutta's multi faceted population. Srangely enough despite the wonderful architecture, that is still abundant, one of my happiest memories of Cacutta was a huge hoarding, at the top of Park Strret, that said "doctor Gupta's poder cures, headaches, back aches, sore throats," it then went on to list virtually every ailment known to man except being HIV positive, and at the very end, it saidAND ALSO FARTULENCE"
For over twenty years I laughed at that every time I past it, but then laughter is never more than a Second away in Calcutta.
There are now two bridges over the River Hooghley, I remember the first time I saw the first one, within a week I was in Sydney looking at the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. Whilst I thought that the Opera House was the 10th Wonder of the World, I remember saying to my husband that the Sydney Harbour Bridge, was not a patch on the the one over the Hooghley, but you can rest assured I said it very Sotto voce, the people of Sydney would have taken that rather like "The Grand Canyon is rather like a big hole in the ground"
Last but not least I am going to talk about the Metro. Now please do not e mail me all once and ask me why am I reccomended a Metro as a tourist site? It certainly does not have the fabulous murals that can be seen in Moscow, it does not have the length of the London underground. In fact it is very short, from memory it is either 17 miles, or 17 kilometres, neither is important. What is vital is that much of it was built by hand. It was started in the early 70's and had a lot of problems. I remeber spending three weeks in the early 80's literally digging out the tunnels by hand, alonf with hundreds of other Begali's, we worked side by side in back breaking and unpaid work, because we loved the city, and wanted to solve some of its pollution problems.
It represents the best of the City, its irrepresible people, it is truly the City of Joy, a factual book written about life in Calcutta after the City's population swelled from one million to seventeen million vurtually overnight, as a direct result of drought in surrounding areas. I would like to ask you to consider, whethwer any place on earth could cope with such a huge strain on its infrastructure before you judge the problems of Calutta, imagine the place you live, and how the quality of life would detiorate, if its population went up 1700 times in less than a year.
I sincerely hope that my article conveys, some of the passion I feel for that irrepresible place, and I would like to thank David for creating such a wonderful site, where I can record my thoughts. I hope that this article has inspired at least one person to visit Calcutta, you will not be dissapointed, and if you have questions please e mail me.
I will try later today, to post some thoughts on other interesting places, but first I am off to read some more of your wonderful travel anecdotes.
Thanks,
Catherine |
|
