Trip to Kolkata:-
When I came to know that I have to go to Kolkata for 6 days for company’s work. I was having mixed reactions; not too excited either to go to Kolkata because of huge pile of pending works that I have to take care of once I’m back.
Still nonetheless I wish to go to the so called “Red State” once which was also called the cultural capital of India.
The perceived image of Kolkata before going was that of Howrah Bridge, Hand pulled rickshaws and ladies wearing white Bengali Sarees.
.jpg)
The first thing that hit me after landing in Kolkata was the traffic. Having been to Delhi so many times that it almost feels like second home and an alternate trip to Mumbai every three months. I was assuming that I have seen the worst of metropolitan traffic.But the traffic scene in Kolkata changed all my assumptions, more than the number of vehicle; it was the state of chaos and absence of law and order that stuck me.
For communist ruled state I expected it to be anything but un-disciplined. But obviously I was totally wrong.
The first encounter as in the case of any newcomer to a state was with the taxi – drivers. Even thought that should not be the case of judging a state because then almost all Indian state will fail miserably. The experience with them was different in two senses. First majority of them belong to one state (Bihar), second more than the newcomers; they were having clashes with local there. I have this feeling after staying there a major communal tension is in the coming in this particular state. This particular right wing ideology is totally at odds with left ideology prevalent there, but there are ample signs of building tension between natives and outsiders.
Leaving this regular tension of searching for taxi in the morning and evening apart; the second major worry was regarding the food. For vegetarian by choice like me, this was the wrong place to be.
Staying at the outskirts of city, good vegetarian food was next to impossible to find (only “vegetarian” word should be sufficient here, “good” is a luxury)
I landed in Kolkata on 16th of November 2010 by train and left on 23rd of November 2010 by flight. (The airport was more crowded than the railway station!!!!)
Due to a hectic schedule and lethargy on my end also, I did not move out much. However courtesy to the taxi-drivers of Kolkata; I had enough chances to roam in the roads and the streets.
The only sight-seeing place I did visit was the Victoria Memorial. Ironically the main museum was closed on the day I chose to visit (Monday), hence I has to be content with only outside garden of the memorial.
The garden was for a haven for a love stuck couples and a definite no – no for families with children to go to. You could see the couples sitting hidden in corners everywhere pretending oblivious to people around them.
I’m not a huge advocate of moral policing, but the scenes of couples freely hugging each other in streets even kissing somehow adds to the chaos already prevailing in the city.
Still the architecture was pretty good from outside, the statue outside was very impressive along-with a full picture carved out of brass.
Most of the city that I had to chance to visit was progressing towards ruins, underlining the basic attitude of us towards preserving our old heritage. There were some odd scattered drops of prosperity in the huge sea that Kolkata is, and this disappoints me the most. For an old city like Kolkata you can ignore the lack of robust growth, provide whatever little growth is there is mutually inclusive, with long rule of communism also the economic divide was as stark as like say Delhi or Mumbai if not more.
It seems like this city has absorbed all the negatives of both capitalism as well as socialism leaving positives of both the ideologies.
As I left Kolkata, the picture that stays with me for this city was that of Hand-held rickshaws, Tram moving on the same road with all taxies, buses and cars in its lane and roadside vendors selling books at every corner of park-street
When I came to know that I have to go to Kolkata for 6 days for company’s work. I was having mixed reactions; not too excited either to go to Kolkata because of huge pile of pending works that I have to take care of once I’m back.
Still nonetheless I wish to go to the so called “Red State” once which was also called the cultural capital of India.
The perceived image of Kolkata before going was that of Howrah Bridge, Hand pulled rickshaws and ladies wearing white Bengali Sarees.
.jpg)
The first thing that hit me after landing in Kolkata was the traffic. Having been to Delhi so many times that it almost feels like second home and an alternate trip to Mumbai every three months. I was assuming that I have seen the worst of metropolitan traffic.But the traffic scene in Kolkata changed all my assumptions, more than the number of vehicle; it was the state of chaos and absence of law and order that stuck me.
For communist ruled state I expected it to be anything but un-disciplined. But obviously I was totally wrong.
The first encounter as in the case of any newcomer to a state was with the taxi – drivers. Even thought that should not be the case of judging a state because then almost all Indian state will fail miserably. The experience with them was different in two senses. First majority of them belong to one state (Bihar), second more than the newcomers; they were having clashes with local there. I have this feeling after staying there a major communal tension is in the coming in this particular state. This particular right wing ideology is totally at odds with left ideology prevalent there, but there are ample signs of building tension between natives and outsiders.
Leaving this regular tension of searching for taxi in the morning and evening apart; the second major worry was regarding the food. For vegetarian by choice like me, this was the wrong place to be.
Staying at the outskirts of city, good vegetarian food was next to impossible to find (only “vegetarian” word should be sufficient here, “good” is a luxury)
I landed in Kolkata on 16th of November 2010 by train and left on 23rd of November 2010 by flight. (The airport was more crowded than the railway station!!!!)
Due to a hectic schedule and lethargy on my end also, I did not move out much. However courtesy to the taxi-drivers of Kolkata; I had enough chances to roam in the roads and the streets.
The only sight-seeing place I did visit was the Victoria Memorial. Ironically the main museum was closed on the day I chose to visit (Monday), hence I has to be content with only outside garden of the memorial.
The garden was for a haven for a love stuck couples and a definite no – no for families with children to go to. You could see the couples sitting hidden in corners everywhere pretending oblivious to people around them.
I’m not a huge advocate of moral policing, but the scenes of couples freely hugging each other in streets even kissing somehow adds to the chaos already prevailing in the city.
Still the architecture was pretty good from outside, the statue outside was very impressive along-with a full picture carved out of brass.
Most of the city that I had to chance to visit was progressing towards ruins, underlining the basic attitude of us towards preserving our old heritage. There were some odd scattered drops of prosperity in the huge sea that Kolkata is, and this disappoints me the most. For an old city like Kolkata you can ignore the lack of robust growth, provide whatever little growth is there is mutually inclusive, with long rule of communism also the economic divide was as stark as like say Delhi or Mumbai if not more.
It seems like this city has absorbed all the negatives of both capitalism as well as socialism leaving positives of both the ideologies.
As I left Kolkata, the picture that stays with me for this city was that of Hand-held rickshaws, Tram moving on the same road with all taxies, buses and cars in its lane and roadside vendors selling books at every corner of park-street
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