|
 Calcutta
- State Capital of West Bengal. At the beginning of this
century, Calcutta was the capital of British India. The city
is famous for its culture; films, poetry, art and dance. The
Victoria Memorial is a splendid architectural monument in,
white marble, modelled after the Taj Mahal, was built in the
memory of Queen Victoria. Victoria Memorial houses a
fantastic collection of rare memorabilia from colonial days.
Brass cannons, wrought iron streetlamps and imposing statues
recreate history.
With an overwhelming 10 million people, Calcutta is busy and
bustling. Something is always happening - whether it is
soccer, religious celebrations, concerts, theatre or a
political demonstration, Calcutta is always on the move.
A city of love and warmth, sorrow and despair, dreams and
hopes, poverty and squalor, grandeur and glory, Calcutta is
compelling, effervescent, teeming with life and traditions a
medley of moods, styles, cultures, politics, industry and
commerce.
More than 300 years ago, Job Charnock, an English tradesman
set up a trading post on the banks of the Ganga along the
three-village nucleus. Gradually Europeans started setting
up business and trade establishments, the moneyed class
taking interest in banking and usury. The East India Company
steadily encroached into matters of state.
The fate of the Nawabi rule was sealed in the Battle of
Plassey and the English went ahead to seize power, a grip
which loosened only 250 years later when power was
transferred from the British Empire to the Indians.
Independent India has crossed 50 years and these five
decades have seen many miracles. Calcutta has grown, remains
a city of contrasts, a mix-up of light and shade, a strange
medley of ancient and modern, skyscrapers and Victorian
edifices, heaven of the rich and the poor as seldom found
anywhere in the world.
There is so much to see in this incredible city. A million
people from every corner of India stream across the massive
Howrah Bridge, swarm around the Hooghly river, flock along
the busy avenues, through its narrow lanes. Then you arrive
at the great expanse of the Maidan, the heart of Calcutta.
Fort William, Victoria Memorial, Raj Bhavan, Palladian
villas and the Botanical Gardens, the busy streets of
Shyambazar, College Street and Kalighat, bookshops, art
galleries, coffee houses all are part of Calcutta's varied
and vibrant shades, the birthplace of Rabindranath Tagore
and cradle of the Indian Renaissance.
Calcutta's fascination defies analysis. It is an addiction,
an affair of the mind and heart. Anyone who has lived here
can never be happy anywhere else in the world...
|
