Calcutta, now referred to as Kolkata, is a laid back city, loaded with people, rich in culture, and notorious for bandh’s. I spent about a week during the Christmas time last year visiting my sister and her family. They recently relocated from New Delhi to uptown Calcutta, but for me it was more like a visit down the memory lane. I have lived in Calcutta for about 3 years in early 2000’s while pursuing my post graduation and understand the nuances of the city fairly well. The list below is based on my experiences with the city as a student and as a visitor.  

1) Street food - No trip to Calcutta can ever be complete without indulging into the mouth watering treats that are served by the street vendors located all over the city. Seriously, this is not like the gol gappas, kucha chola corners that you see in Delhi or vada pao, sandwich vendors in Mumbai. This is a different league all together. From chicken rolls, puchkas, dosas, idli, biryani to sandwiches, peanuts, chowmien, jhal mudi and momo’s, everything is available on the street at a reasonable price and excellent quality.

2) Tollygunge club - You need to be a member or be a guest of a member to enter this country club.  Located in south Calcutta, it is a one stop shop of entertainment for the elite, socialites, celebrities, corporate leaders and the politicians. The club boast of a complete 18 holes golf course ranked as one of the best in India. There is also a driving range, horse riding, tennis courts, swimming pool and other recreational options. The Christmas eve party on 24th night every year and the Christmas lunch on 25th are some of the well organized and popular events here.  If you are in Calcutta for any reasonable length of time, then get your networking card out to tag along with a member.

3) Park Street - This is about a half a mile stretch of resto bars, ice cream corners and street food joints on each side of the street. Pretty cool place to hang out actually. There is also a book shop where you can spend hours sipping the coffee and flipping through the pages of your favourite book. The park hotel located on this street attract many people to ‘Tantra’ - a disco and ‘Someplace else’ - a live rock music lounge. Also on park street is Saurav’s - a restaurant owned by ex Indian cricketer Saurav Ganguly. Further ahead on Park Street you can find plenty of shopping options.

4) Beaches - Calcutta is not far away from the shores of Bay of Bengal. The quality of the beaches around are nothing much to write home about, but I guess one should never underestimate an ocean shore. The popular one is Digha beach with reasonable number of hotels to choose from. There is also a Bakkhali beach located in the Parganas district on the Sunderban islands. The journey to this particular beach during my college days was a life time experience that will live with me forever. On one 100 cc almost stolen bike, three of us musketeers, started the journey from the porsche locality of Alipore to unknown district of Parganas. The beach is reasonable and is surrounded by local fishermen fishing in the most ancient ways. There are many photography moments around the district. I’d like to believe that our journey inspired a generation of college students to embark on such adventures on a bike.

5) Eden Gardens - Home of cricket in India. This is the best cricket stadium in India and one of the best in the world. What separates it from other stadiums in the world are not the spectator facilities or practice conditions for the players, it is just it’s capacity to hold more that 100,000 spectators with fanaticism and enthusiasm that is unprecedented in cricket. If you are in the city and there is a game on, go for it even if you don’t like cricket. The experience will stun you. I had the privilidge to witness Sachin Tendulkar smash a ton against the West Indies at Eden Gardens.

6) Victoria Memorial - Is a monument in memory of Queen Victoria of the UK. I have never personally been inside the museum itself, but just the setting outside this monument is worth its weight in gold in a city like Calcutta. Broad roads, green belt of trees and flowers, horse chariot rides and peace makes up the serene surroundings of Victoria Memorial. If you are tired of all the chaos in Calcutta, then visit the memorial to rejuvenate yourself.

7) Santiniketan - Is about 200 Kms away from the city of Calcutta. It is the home of Rabindranath Tagore who was one of the greatest poets, philosopher and artist in India. I remember Santiniketan being a small town with a museum that houses Rabindranath tagore paintings and other literature artifacts. A very peaceful town that is richly immersed in literature and culture. Its an ideal get away from the main city of Calcutta to explore and embrace the rich history of this town.

8 ) New Market - Every city has its middle class entertainment hang out. New Market is exactly that and more. I think it is one of the most busiest pin codes in Calcutta with people flocking it all around the year to satisfy their need of food, cinema, dupata’s, shoes and much more. New market depicts the extraordinary extremes in Calcutta where you will see rickshaw’s being pulled by men on their shoulders on one hand and big luxury cars trying to make their way into the narrow lanes on the other.

I would like to wrap up by saying that it is a city that will slowly grow on you. I would not recomend you to visit for 5 days and expect entertainment. But if life takes you there, then I can assure you that slowly but surely you will enjoy the nuances and slow pace life of this city of joy.