Kolkata, My City of Joy!

Calcutta is more than brick and mortar buildings, it is about feelings

There is more to Calcutta than brick and mortar buildings, landscaped parks and it is possibly India’s dirtiest and poorest metro city. But that does not stop the heart from loving this difficult grand dame of the British colonial empire and the city comes with a lion-sized touchy ego. Places have a way of changing people and believe it or not, most of the changes that Calcutta has brought on its patient residents are good ones. I have heard new residents of Calcutta claiming to be more humane, sociable, and people friendly while getting more culturally active every day.



The city thrives on intellectualism and it is not easy to swim against this tide of thoughts and feelings. To love Calcutta is to understand it and the only way to do so, is to feel the city, let it seep into your blood, take over your brain completely until you start functioning nearly like a Bengali, and finally steal your heart forever. Only then, will the city be truly yours and wherever you go, a part of Calcutta will always go with you. I brought Calcutta with me all over the world and have inadvertently sought its familiarities with many foreign cities.

“No matter wherever you go, a part of Calcutta always goes with you”

It always struck me how the Rhine sunsets in Cologne, Germany were not as gorgeous as the ones in summer in Calcutta. Or how downtown Havana in Cuba with its vintage cars and crumbling mansions was a lesser resemblance to BBD Bag Calcutta with its yellow Ambassador taxis? I loved the feeling of Deja Vu while walking down the streets of Yangon in Myanmar and often get disoriented in parts of Cairo. It finally dawned on me that it was not the cityscape which was familiar but the underlying connecting human emotions like elation at sunset colours, the chaos of Yangon markets, and the fierce pride in the cultural heritage of the Cubans which made me yearn for my city in a foreign soil. This is the magic of Calcutta and needless to say, it is a feeling that will never go away. 

Presenting glimpses of ‘My Calcutta’

One of my favourite memories of Calcutta is of the evening walks which I took in the Southern Avenue part of the city.




West Bengal is puddled with lakes and rice fields and their fish is king. Fish and rice along with noon siesta, are our daily staple and we, Calcuttans would love to have both every day.

Purple is the colour of Calcutta monsoon

Monsoon flowers were in full bloom and wild blackberries were splotching the broken sidewalks with deep purple. In fact, most Calcutta monsoon days are very purple with dark violet clouds crowding a damp sky and twilight which falls in deep lilac tones.



Even the dusk is velvety at that time, with an intense indigo blue lighting up with a slice of soft waxy moon. Coconut leaves rustle in a wet breeze and its only on Saturday evenings that the city murmurs joyously despite the monotony of the tedious rain.



Such scenes rush through my mind like stills from a lovely movie and I can even smell the signature fragrance of autumn “shiuli” flowers in my desert beige Cairo neighbourhood.

The birth of Calcutta from three villages

Settled in the eastern part of India, Calcutta is located on the banks of the river Hooghly (which flows through rest of the country as the Ganges) and is very close to the Bay of Bengal. It is a laid back riverine city, hard to love at first sight, but has a peculiar charm which slowly creeps over and overpowers its visitors completely. A proudly bohemian crumbling city, Calcutta is like a grand dame of the colonial era also known as the British Raj. A long and complicated chain of national and international events spawned its birth on 24th August 1690 and it was founded by a British called Job Charnock. An equal number of conflicting stories exist about its christening, but it had been long proven that the sprawling colonial city was formed out of three villages of Gobindapur, Sutanuti, and Kolikata.

The British capital, a Communist headquarter and the Jack of all trades

It was the capital of the British East Indian empire until 1911, after which Delhi took over the helm of power. Always a fiery city, Calcutta had been a hotbed of controversies, revolutions, and scandals. Numerous rise and fall of regional empires saw the royal exiles roosting in its palatial homes, the opium trade, jute, indigo burst and diminish its coffers in phases and independence and violent Marxist-Maoist movements bringing the city to bloody standstills.



Incidentally, Calcutta, the capital of the state of West Bengal,  was the headquarter of Communist Party of India and it dominated the political scene for more than three decades.

Why is Calcutta so bohemian?

Its regime was also the world’s longest of democratically elected Communist government and Maoist-Marxist, Communist, bits of Fascist, Calcutta had experimented with them all. The city truly believes in freedom and breaking away from the socially accepted, the mundane. It was this love for experimentation which led to some of the earliest acceptable interracial marriages in Calcutta, so much so that it almost became a fad in the 18th century. Such unions between the Europeans and local women, both Hindu and Muslim created the origin of the city’s substantial Anglo-Indian (or Eurasian) community and the city celebrates one of the classiest Christmas in India.

Mother Teresa, factory lockouts, poverty, and other age-old controversies

Strive for constant freedom, refusal to conform to norms and obstinacy, lead post-independence Calcutta to be extremely volatile and it heralded more than a decade of unions, bandhs (standstills) and economic stagnation. The painful birth of Bangladesh from India brought ceaseless waves of immigrants into the city (active still now) and with that came poverty, squalor and utter lack of hygiene. Epidemics, leprosy and other horrifying illnesses scarred the beautiful city and it turned into a living hell in the early 90’s. Missionaries arrived in swarms, the most famous being Mother Teresa and they brought with them endless aid, changes, and more controversies.

There is beauty in every step in Calcutta, only if you feel it

Poverty still remains in an objectionable amount in Calcutta and it has often been termed as a poor man’s metro. Also known as the “City of Joy”, Calcutta is home to a huge population of migrant workers, especially manual labourers who move into the city for better prospects and the movie featuring Patrick Swayze (also by the name of “City of Joy”) portrays their heart-rending tale beautifully. As mentioned before, straight from the horse’s mouth, Calcutta is hard to love at first sight but its distinction from the rest of the country can be felt from the very beginning. Beauty in Calcutta is scattered at every step with nearly every sight, sound and smell and in spite of the broken, faded facade, its grandeur is apparent and undeniable.

The crumbling grandeur of colonial Calcutta

Calcutta lanes are crowded with architectural jewels which have seen better days and rich British officers, governors, Indian elite, princes in exile, courtesans, traders, artists, rebels have thrived in their winding interiors in phases. They all have loved Calcutta, possessed it with fervour and poured parts of their soul into the city. They lent the city its real beauty, its untamed, bohemian spirit and in spite of a much culturally homogenous population, Calcutta is the proud home of the artistically inclined, wild spirited, beauty-loving Bengalis.

The everlasting Ghoti-Bangal debate

While erstwhile Bengal included the myriad hued and more culturally rich Bangladesh, today it is restricted up to the bank of the Hooghly river. This has given rise to the sharp demarcation of Ghotis (original Indian Bengalis) and Bangals (Bangladeshi immigrant Bengalis), who in spite of being Bengalis to the core, never agree on anything. Strangely enough, even though they have similar cooking styles, their food differs in taste, texture, and consistency just like their dialect. Calcutta too is sharply divided into North and South, and the divisions do not end here.

Calcutta and its love for arguments

A sports-loving city, Calcuttans are eternally divided over football clubs (Mohun Bagan and East Bengal), renowned musicians, writers, just about anything and everything. This attitude stems from the fact that Calcuttans love politics, art and arguments over a few cigarettes and cups of tea and nothing charges a Bengali’s mind more than an aesthetic discussion. Great patrons of idyllic mental pursuits and gentle use of time, Calcuttans can argue over President Trump for days (as if it’s happening in our backyard), spend hours searching for the freshest duck eggs and hunt throughout the length and breadth of the city for the famous tender young goat meat, which we relish as mutton. Passion drives us and Calcuttans can part ways for generations due to falling out over sweets, fish preparation, music, sports, and politics.

The Calcutta pride in all things Bengali

In Calcutta, we take pride in our women, fish, sweets, and music. An abundance of fish and the Great Bengal Famine of 1943 lead to clever fish-based dishes, indigenous to only this part of the country and we are proudly fishy people. Much to our fellow countrymen and visitors’ surprise, we devour every part of a fish, including the tail, bones, head, eyes and even the intestines and happily pick them clean. Fries rule our palates and we fry just about anything we get our hands on. From regular potatoes, onions, okra, and eggplant fritters churned out for every meal, our festivities call for exotic ingredients like marigold, pumpkin flowers, coral jasmine leaves, lamb fat etc. Sweets according to us are divine gifts to mankind and we have the most famous sweet tooth in the country. We add sugar to our cooking, take insult to our taste in fish and sweets very personally and heartily keep a tab on the number of deserts consumed (by self and others only to excel the last count) at wedding reception parties.

Calcutta is such a culture vulture

With all that energy which goes into artistic and sensual pursuits, it is needless to say that Calcutta is an intelligent city. Every nook and corner of Calcutta have either well-constructed concrete shacks or hole in the wall rooms called clubs, where boys of that locality gather to gossip, play carom, cards, chess and watch cricket or football matches. These clubs also hold the yearly discussions and proceedings of the grand Durga Puja festivities and lots of heated arguments over them. Art and culture play major roles in the lives of Calcuttans and every residential lane has an art, dance, recitation etc school. Plays and concerts draw major crowds and some of India’s most prominent artists, musicians, filmmakers, writers, and models are/were Bengalis or hailed from Calcutta.

The last but not the least, the Calcutta women

Calcutta women are deemed the most beautiful in the country and more fiery and independent-spirited than the rest of their counterparts. From the very childhood we are bred as equals to men, if not more and are trained, pushed and encouraged to excel. Our sharp as nails, wily ways of talking, making pretty eyes, confidence and “intellect” help people not see that reality and we get away carrying those major chips on our shoulders. This spirit, however, changes subtly with different parts of the city and while the sedate ( but no less fiery) north Calcutta is definitely more architecturally beautiful and historically important (being the nerve center of the old moneyed), it is the racy, fast, nouveau rich South which prides itself on its vibrant spirit.

Sports, food, siesta, culture, politics, and repeat..presenting the soul of Calcutta

Cabaret, music, food, Dada art movement, and sports, almost every aspect of Calcutta still drips with a charmingly severe (British) Raj hangover and these make life there very pleasant. So as I sit here on a lonely Cairo winter day and yearn for my family, let me lead you to Calcutta, the city of artists, rebels, Ambassador taxis, trams, dreamers and big talkers. Let me lead you home.

1. Celebrate the Durga Puja – No Calcutta topic can be complete without a mention of its grand Durga Puja festival, its mouth watering deserts and its endearingly sweet words like “dada” (brother), “didi” (sister), “adda” (gossip) etc. Held every year in autumn (Oct/Nov), Durga Puja is equivalent to the Navratri festival, which is celebrated throughout the rest of India at that time. The entire city and state deck up with lights, larger than life temporary pandals (decorative tents) and idols of the 10 armed Goddess Durga and her entourage fill nearly every lane. The festival goes on for approximately 5 days, the last day culminating in the photogenic sindoor khela (playing with bridal vermilion), Dhunuchi naach (dance with pots of fragrant smoking coconut husks accompanied with rhythmic drum beats of dhaak) and immersion of the idol. Pandal hopping is one of the must do things in Calcutta during Durga Puja and the dazzle and magnitude of the celebrations are jaw dropping.

2. Indulge in some delicious food – Since Calcutta and good food are synonymous, I have tried listing down some of Calcutta’s unmissable cheap culinary experiences. Although the street food is for the strong gutted, phucka, rolls, momos, cutlets, kobirajis, fish/chicken fingers, jhal muri and telebhaja are not to be missed by any foodie. Calcutta streets especially around Dalhousie toss up some mean noodles (both vegetarian and non vegetarian) and although not most hygienically made, they are super delicious and pocket friendly. Shingara (samosa/ deep fried rectangular pockets stuffed with spiced vegetables), luchi alur dom or cholar dal (fried corn bread served with spiced baby potatoes or bengal gram dal with chunks of coconut), kachoris (traditional asafoetida flavoured north Indian deep fried spiced snacks) etc are some of Kolkata’s wholesome snacks and these are easily found at nearly every sweet sellers shop in the city. Calcutta’s sweet shops double up as snacks centers and they serve only vegetarian finger food. Apart from the street food galore, there are countless Bengali restaurants in the city and the super delicious daab chingri (prawns cooked inside tender coconut), Chingri Macher Malaikari (prawns cooked in creamy coconut sauce), different fish preparations and interesting vegetarian dishes make them worthwhile trials.

3. You can never go wrong with Kolkata’s food fixtures – Calcutta is a huge hodgepodge of too many people, cultures and communities and each have left their mark on the city’s foodscape. The Muslim culinary influence can be keenly felt in the biriyanis served by the city eateries, the most famous ones being Shiraz, Arsalan, Zeeshan etc. Fragrant and light Calcutta biryanis are very different from the ones served anywhere else in the country and they come with the signature boiled egg and baked potato. Mughlai cuisine can be enjoyed at nearly every restaurant of Kolkata, but the best ones can be found at small shops in and around New Market. The huge sprawling market and its adjoining lanes like Sudder Street and Freeschool Street have some excellent Bangladeshi restaurants too which have been serving big platters of authentic pocket friendly Bangal food (and great fried chicken) for ages.

The north, east and central Calcutta too have their own share of awesome grub and the legendary Indian Chinese at Tangra, especially the pink tipped prawn chips are to die for. The quasi authentic Chinese breakfast at Tiretti Bazaar, super succulent momos at Rabindra sadan Tibetan eateries, pork dishes at Sikikim House near Camac Street and kosha mangsho (dry spiced mutton) of Golbari, Shyambazar (and now near Freeschool Street) are just a few of the city’s delicious culinary stars. Dhabas or originally simple truck drivers pit stops are also famous food fixtures of Kolkata and Balwant Singh Dhaba serves awesome North Indian dishes.

4. Try out some of India’s most famous sweets – Sweets of Calcutta are legendary and the most famous ones are rossogolla (spongy, syrupy, sweet cheese balls), mishti doi (delicious, creamy sweet flavoured yogurt) and sandesh (drier cottage cheese based sweets). While rossogolla is reputedly hijacked from neighbouring Odisha, sandesh, mishti doi etc are absolutely authentically Bengali. A few sweets bear interesting British legacies, the most famous of them being Lady Kenny.

5. Liven up evenings at Park Street – The lively Park Street deserves a separate mention and its food and entertainment history is legendary. Cabaret performances and exciting night life have made their presence felt in the lively taverns of Park Street since the 40s, 50s and 60s and Calcutta is a city which loves to party. It is always game for good music, food and parties and Someplace Else, at the Park Hotel sees awesome live music performances on every Saturday evening. Mocambo (deviled crabs), Oly Pub (steaks and cheap beer), Peter Cat (liver fries, Chelo Kebab and liveried waiting staff) and Trincas are legendary for their food and entertainment and many renowned musicians of India have started off as performers at these iconic places. Dance bars are an unfortunate part of Calcutta’s entertainment scene as well and these seedy cubby holes are scattered all around Esplanade and New Market area.

6. Experience one of India’s liveliest Christmas celebrations – Christmas in Calcutta is celebrated with much fervour and gaiety and the city gears up beautifully with hundreds of lights. Yuletide logs, rum and fruit cakes, turkey specialties etc take the city by storm and serpentine queues wait patiently at the oh so proper Flurys tea room for their share of Christmas goodies. Though many parts of Kolkata glitter on Christmas until New Year, it is the quaint residential pocket of Bow Barracks which is the city’s prime festive location. Inhabited by a friendly cluster of Anglo Indian families, Bow Barracks beams up with thousands of smiles, carnival like spirit and lights for Christmas. A very photogenic experience, Santa arrives at the Christmas party there on a rickshaw and hands out goodies to the lesser privileged children of the area.

7. Relax at India’s legendary tea room – Flurys with its unique shocking pink signage is legendary and it is perhaps the oldest, still surviving tea room in India. Its scones, cucumber sandwiches and afternoon tea are absolutely like a walk down the British era and Flurys attracts leisure seekers, who love to enjoy its old school charm, in hordes. Founded in 1927 by Mr and Mrs J Flurys, this tea room at Park Street represent fine European traditional confections and Calcuttans have been flocking there through generations for its authentic Swiss and International delicacies. Reputed for serving the prosperous Britisher and the affluent Indian alike, Flurys became famous for its exotic cakes, creamy pastries, rich puddings and perhaps the best Swiss chocolates outside the European continent.

8. Watch a cricket match at Eden Gardens – The beautiful cricket ground of Eden Garden is a legend in its own right and it is acknowledged as “one of the most iconic cricket stadiums in the world”. Watching an exciting game of cricket at Eden Garden is an unforgettable experience for the lovers of the game and a  cricket crazy Aussie friend of mine had actually traveled to India all the way from Melbourne to enjoy a crackling India-Pakistan match there. However not many are aware of the lovely, nearly hidden park which is tucked away behind the colossal ground and is the original Eden Garden.

9. Take in some iconic Calcutta sights and experiences – Apart from taking in the sights and sounds of a time warped metropolis through various walks organized in the city, the National Museum, St Paul’s Cathedral, Victoria Memorial and the adjoining Race Course, controversial Mother House etc are a few places which provide different aspects and shades of Calcutta. A tram ride through leafy Maidan, especially around Fort William area is very romantic and so is an evening boat ride down the Hooghly. A pretty promenade now borders the river and many ghats line the area. It specially comes alive at sunsets with families, lovers, street food sellers and youngsters flocking the area for some fresh air. Although the loveliest, it is not the only refreshing spot of Calcutta and the city now has a few spruced up parks and gardens dotting its landscape. The Citizen park, Millenium Park and one of world’s most historically important herbariums, the Indian Botanical Garden (famous for the widest 250 years old banyan tree) make lovely places to catch a breather and the evening buggy ride in and around Victoria Memorial is pretty interesting too.

Photography lovers can choose between idol making at Kumartoli or the Mullick Ghat flower market. Take a break from book hunting at College Street with adda (gossip), bad coffee and lazing away time at Indian Coffee House and second hand books are also sold at Gariahat. Opt for one of the organized city walks to discover Kolkata’s history, heritage, traditional or bonedi Bengali homes etc. For those seeking religious salvation, the horrendously crowded Kalighat and the lovely Dakshineshwar temples make perfect day trips and while Kalighat can be really trying on the nerves, an evening at Dakshineshwar is quite pleasant. Come winter the city hosts some very interesting festivals and the Calcutta Book Fair, Sufi music festival in the park, Handicrafts Mela, flower shows, dog shows etc are some of the biggest crowd pullers.

10. Shop till you drop – Kolkata is a great place for cool bargains and street vendors, local designers and beautiful hand loom culture make it a shopper’s paradise. While New Market is the most popular one stop destination for most shopping needs, the best buys are usually found at Dakshinapan Shopping Complex, Gariahat and small local designer outlets. Jamdani, taant, kantha stitch, Darjeeling tea etc are the city’s pride and New Market has some nice silver jewelery stores. Souvenir hunters may like the Bankura terracotta horses, shola pith decorative idols, Chau masks etc. Numerous seasonal fairs held in Kolkata are also great place for shopping and the city surprises its visitors with its gorgeous array of handicrafts.

A lot of people complain about Calcutta’s lack of things to do and while it is a difficult city to love at first sight, the erstwhile British capital is equally hard to leave. People make this city thrive and as long as its free bohemian spirit remains alive, Calcutta will never have a problem in garnering admirers.

This is a love story, a wistful longing, an ode to home, a beautiful, unfortunate city called Calcutta.