Kolkata: City with a Charm

Most often people say Kolkata is one of the most ‘Overrated’ cities that have an edge towards imperfection.

When I was pursuing a diploma in the tourism sector at Travind Institute, I was given a topic for presentation. It was the Indian States: West Bengal. From that day, I fell in love with this city, its culture and foods. Soon I came to know that my father luckily had a conference at Kolkata. Kolkata is one of the best cities I have ever been to and madly in love with it after my first visit itself.

We had only 3 days for the tour and I wanted to cover entire Kolkata along with Sundarbans National Park too. But owing to time constraints, I had to settle for city roaming only.

So, finally it all began. On day one, my father was engaged at his official conference and thus I decided to go shopping at Gariahat with my mother and sister.

We spent the afternoon there and then we headed towards Rabindra Sarobar Lake which is a very peaceful and calm place.

Later, we went to Patuli Floating Market, one of the lesser known places among tourists. When I was designing our itinerary, I wanted to visit at least one unfamiliar place. And trust me there is nothing better than this place. Floating market is one of the most amazing places I have visited till date. There is everything in this market like barber, Tea stalls, Fruits and vegetables etc.

Next day we planned to check out the local transport soo by a local bus we went to visit Babu Ghat, Eden Garden. After that we took a ferry so as to reach Howrah Railway Station. We also visited Millennium Park, from there you get Fascinating view of Howrah bridge. Later we had to rush for Victoria Memorial because it closes by 5pm itself. It is the most famous masterpiece of modern British gothic style architecture. It was built between 1906 and 1921 dedicated in the memory of Queen Victoria and is now a museum and tourist destination. In the evening, we visited Kali Mata Temple.

On the 3rd day, as it was our last day, we decided to cover all the remaining destinations. We booked a local Cab for a day and started our journey by visiting Howrah Bridge. It is the sixth longest cantilever bridge in the world connecting Kolkata & Howrah. Another unfamiliar place we visited was the Rail Museum, which features historic rail cars and local railroad and history. Now it was time for lunch and what better place can there be than Indian Coffee House. It serves the most delicious Cold Coffee. Also if you are non-vegetarian, then do not miss to try its chicken cutlet.

Kolkata has a lot more to offer, for a spiritual or historic journey through Bengali Culture. Dakshineswar Kali Temple is its epitome. Now let me tell you one thing that must be remembered. Nobody's gonna believe you have returned from Bengal unless and until you mentioned your experience of the sweetness of Rasshogullah you tasted there!! And of course brought some gift boxes for them too..So in the evening we went to buy some sweets at famous shop K.C.Das. Kolkata is famous for its sweet dishes, so go inside any local sweets shop and ask for sondesh, rasgulla, mishti doi and many other delicacies to satisfy the taste buds. Honestly, I loved the Mishti Doi the most.

And this is how our tour ends with full of joy and lifelong memories. At those last moments, I was a bit emotional because I didn’t know when I would get a chance to come back here again. But I know someday I am gonna make it. I shall re-explore this beautiful city with another perspective. Vibes of Kolkata are way too different. Now I realize why it is called the City of Joy!!

Here are some tips:

Try using public transport; it is the cheapest and the fastest way to travel.

Do not miss the TRAM. Take a walk on the streets and see how old the houses are.

Do taste the street foods. It is good, relatively hygienic and costs much less