Calcutta - The City of Joy

Calcutta - aptly called as City of Joy, I could feel that joy when I visited the city sometime back. Even now, when I talk to my friends about Calcutta they tell me that it is an over-crowded place, with dirty streets. While my friends keep cribbing about the place, I keep wondering which city in our country so clean that they can vouch on.

Calcutta, the city has something in the air and I really get charged up. It is only city in our country, which has soul that compels you to think about it. A trip to Calcutta provides you a rich experience and the whole city overwhelms you. In Calcutta, you can find some very familiar names that resemble the names from the English country - England. You will find the names and architecture, old and the city has an over powering effect on you and you feel that you have stepped into some 17th or 18th century period.

In other words we can say that Calcutta still has the old world charm and we felt that we are watching a story from PG Woodhouse series. This is the one city in India, where people follow football as a religion as they would do for cricket. We still remember this incident that took place while we were eating in a small roadside restaurant. All of a sudden we found that the waiter who amidst of adding katchori to our plate, his hand stopped mid-way and we looked up to find him staring at the TV screen that was placed at one end of the corner of the room. In a spur of the moment the guy just put everything on our table and started clapping. We were surprised that all the local people in the room were doing the same. We realized what was going on and watched the TV for sometime and to our surprise local people were watching the highlights of the Women cricket match between India and New Zealand that took place long time back. Amazing…

It is a town, which moves on its own pace, in other words it is most laid-back city in the world. People have all the time in the world to explain. You may have asked a small doubt or for that matter a route to some place, and am sure will explain each and every road that you would cross to reach your destination. Even though it is laid-back city, but still you will find people up, walking, jogging, stretching and catching up with each other in a sprawling maiden – that too as early as 5 in the morning…

Our days in Calcutta started with a cuppa of chai served in the mud cups, aloo kachori, and top it all with gulab jamuns or rasogullas. We had hogged so much on the first day that we were thinking it would cost us a bomb, but it came as a pleasant surprise to us when we paid the bill for the breakfast. We found that everything in Calcutta cost so less.

As a traveler we enjoyed Calcutta in many ways. We could actually strike up a conversation with a perfect stranger and talk about …Politics, sports, religion, books, art, films, music, the news, food… just about everything under the sun is worth talking about for the Calcuttan. While talking to a Calcuttan, we found that they are passionate about everything that they discuss and we did have some heated arguments but these arguments never go out of hand.

We had plethora of places to see in Calcutta... Museums, galleries, heritage buildings, amusement parks, temples, churches, synagogues – there was something for every one of us in Calcutta. We went sightseeing and took the ferry across the Hoogly and while ferrying the Hoogly, my mind was playing the song - 'Oh Majhi Re' at the back of my mind.

We enjoyed Calcutta to the hilt; we had wide range of public transport facilities to get around the city. We avoided the local buses as they were quite crowded, but we used Metro extensively. We felt that our trip would not be complete if we did not travel in Metro and the Trams.

Trams reminded us of the bygone era of Raj, where people did not have to hurry around to reach their destination. The tram ride is worth each penny that you pay…and the feeling of tram ride is heady. Frankly speaking, I still feel that I did not enough of tram ride…. Tram adds character and charm to this city and I cannot dream of Calcutta without trams.

Calcutta is the only place in the world where we found all modes of transportation from cycle-rickshaw pulled by the rickshawallah on his foot to the ultra-modern metro station.

Calcutta - home for volatile poets, sensitive artists, and romantic men and women and it is city, where every house has a singer in making. Our friends in Calcutta ensured that we soak into their culture, and soaked we were in the arts, the alluring and intellectually crafted books and movies. In this place only we can find the spirits of Rabindranath Tagore, Uday Shankar, Jamini Roy and Satyajit Ray, to soak us all.

Apart from soaking us with their Bengal culture, we indulged our self with food. A visit to Calcutta is ever complete without indulging yourself with wide range of sweets and junk food. The range of sweets left us baffled. We just had to name the sweet and there it was for us to eat. We came to know that each town or district has a sweet for which it is famous for…rasgullas, mishti doi, sandesh and so many of them.

Though we did not have a chance to enjoy Durga Pooja, but we could imagine the city coming alive during that time. We could visualize Kolkatta decked as a new bride during the festive season – the doors decorated with bright red, yellow, and white flowers against the green mango leaves. The air renting up with the sounds of conch shells, excited sounds of people, and with the smell of camphor, vermilion, and aromas of dishes that would be cooked in the kitchen.

Back home our trip to Calcutta was envy of all our friends. I found that Calcutta is a city which is full of surprises, and I had the thrill of discovering new places, people, culture, and of course food…

Though we do not know when we would get a chance to go back to Calcutta and enjoy the old-world charm, but during this trip we knew why it was/is called City of Joy...