Kolkata

 

Kolkata

 

Capital of British India.

Best time to visit: October to February

Popular attractions: Howrah Bridge, Botanical Gardens, Victoria Hall, Fort William, Sundarban Safari

 

Overview

The city of Kolkata can be defined as an archive colonial heritage; a birthplace of great ideas, great minds, revolutionaries, and revolutions; a dense, convergent flux of diverse ethnicities. This city holds numerous nicknames. Some call it the ‘City of Joy’, some other name it as the ‘City of Culture’. Heritage and modern manners are merged together to give this city a unified trance of colours.

In the early years of the Indian Independence Struggle, being the capital of the British Raj, Calcutta was almost the ideological centre of the freedom movement and nationalist thought.

The Indian city of Kolkata is one such landscape that holds an old worldly charm of its own. A wonderful mix of modernity seeping in through the roots of the traditional defines the opulence in the commonplace of this part of West Bengal.

 

Festivals

Durga Puja is the biggest festival in Bengal and is the most vibrant festival throughout the state. Temporary pandals are raised everywhere to worship Goddess Durga. The devotion, the joy and gaiety, the frolic in the festivities that celebrate the spirit of the Goddess is to be seen for you to believe it.

 

Arts & Craft

Kolkata is famous for its wall painting, floor painting, painted pots, fancy dolls, tattooing and other body painting. The terracotta slabs and metal works are superior in this state. The ornaments with precious stones are the sample for its unique craft work. Kolkata is also well known for its bamboo crafts and cane products.

 

Cuisine

Boiled rice and roti constitute the staple Bengali food, and is served with a variety of vegetables, fried as well with curry, thick lentil soups, and fish, egg and meat preparations of mutton and chicken, and more rarely pork, duck, lamb and beef by certain groups.

Sweet dishes are mostly milk-based, and consist of several delights including roshgulla, doi, sandesh, rasamalai, amriti, kalo jamun, pantua, rajbhog, gaja, bonde, pithe, mihidana, laddu, and chom-chom.