Calcutta or Kolkata – an old capital city of INDIA.

'Kolkata' an old capital city of INDIA.

Yamaha nagari Calcutta puri..

namaho hugli howrah varadhi….

Kolkata - the old capital of India, this city has its glory of been the capital..British East India company's capital of India, with Victoria Fort built for the Queen, Writer's Building for Administration, Howrah Bridge for transportation, Tramcars in the road for heritage look, it is still the capital of British Raj in India.

The roads are just wonderful and well-laid without potholes and the entire life in Kolkata, as you will see from a few of the pictures below, revolves around the footpath. Places like New Market (called Burrabazar-is a marketplace, people say it’s a Heart of Kolkata City), which is a very crowded market area that is very old like old city market near Charminar area in Hyderabad.

busy traffic areas on kolkata roads

The crowd and the temperature in this city are so special that it is always high compared to all the other cities in India. The people are friendly, speak Hindi like Bengali.. Polite and courageous, Water flows freely in the streets during the morning and evening which cleans the people, people clothes and also their vehicles! 

streets are busy in the market area

busy market area

It is a wonderful city constantly buzzing with activity. Street food seems to be extremely popular here and at any time of the day one can see people gorging on the puchkas, bhel puris, puri-alu and everything else that are available to eat. People specially recommended tasting puchkas & bhelpuri on the road-side and this was one thing that came as an anti-climax. The Puchka of Kolkata is just the Pani-Puri of Hyderabad and Golgappa as it is called in some other places. The discovery of this was particularly comical in the way I indulged in an animated conversation with the pani-puri fellow on the nomenclature of the dish in various parts of the country.

Them Famous BHEL PURI in kolkata city..

I am confident that Kolkata single handedly allows the Ambassador car to remain in production in India. There are no autos and the taxis (yellow Ambassador Taxies) are affordable and honest. Two wheeler s on the roads are a rare sight.

Yellow Ambassador Taxies in Kolkata city

All in all, I fell in love with Kolkata. I walked great distances in the city on foot and when inevitable I took the metro rail, buses et al. The metro rail of Kolkata is definitely of international standards and super punctual. The TVs fixed on the platforms constantly show either Mithun or Charlie Chaplin stuff. Don't know what they have in common.. wink Wink.