It's the most laid-back city in the world. Yet, if you start your trip
to Calcutta with a walk down the "lungs of the city" - the sprawling
Maidan - as early as 5 in the morning, you'll find people walking,
jogging, stretching, and catching up with one another.
It's the home of a mind-boggling array of sweets and dishes. Yet, it isn't out of place to find a Bengali enjoying his morning cuppa with a handful of humble puffed rice.
It's difficult to
define the culturescape of Calcutta to a tourist, because it begins with
the first sip of early-morning tea, poured out into a saucer and sipped
noisily, with raucous exclamations of delight. Kolkata is a wonderful
mirror of the Bengalis who call it home - volatile poets, sensitive
artists and romantic men and women. It's the city of the artsy, the
quaint, the intellectual - indeed, of anyone with an enormous zest for
life.
For the traveler in Calcutta, the best way to enjoy the culture of the
city is to find a friend there and sit down for an adda - local parlance
for a chat session. This chat is conducted, not on dinky online
messengers, but in the comfort of someone's living room, in the smoky
confines of a coffee house,
on the steps of a college, at the bus stop, at the corner of the daily
market… just about anywhere two or more people can get together. And
what do they 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. Don't be stunned by arguments - though
Calcuttans are passionate about most things, addas never end on an ugly
note.
If you're traveling to Calcutta for the first time and want to
experience the music here, you might find an aspiring singer in every
home. A good evening of culture should see you soak in the spirit of
Rabindranath Tagore, Uday Shankar, Jamini Roy and Satyajit Ray.
Food is Calcutta's greatest indulgence. Bengalis love to eat, and their great hosts. Every meal ends with the choicest of dessert, and Calcutta's range of sweets can leave you quite winded! Every district in the state has a sweet that is unique to it! Calcutta is also great for junk-food lovers, though a tourist in Calcutta would do well to avoid these.
Festivals are an intrinsic part of the city - more a socio-cultural phenomenon than a religious one. Besides these, Calcutta is also home to a variety of fairs, film fests, music conferences and folk fairs. It's also home to a cosmopolitan crowd - Marwaris, Parsis, Anglo Indians, Jews, a smattering of Armenians and the merry people of China Town all call Kolkata their city of joy.
For the tourist, Kolkata holds a plethora of places to see. Museums, galleries, heritage buildings, amusement parks, temples, churches, synagogues - there's something for every kind of tourist in Kolkata.
It's the home of a mind-boggling array of sweets and dishes. Yet, it isn't out of place to find a Bengali enjoying his morning cuppa with a handful of humble puffed rice.
Food is Calcutta's greatest indulgence. Bengalis love to eat, and their great hosts. Every meal ends with the choicest of dessert, and Calcutta's range of sweets can leave you quite winded! Every district in the state has a sweet that is unique to it! Calcutta is also great for junk-food lovers, though a tourist in Calcutta would do well to avoid these.
Festivals are an intrinsic part of the city - more a socio-cultural phenomenon than a religious one. Besides these, Calcutta is also home to a variety of fairs, film fests, music conferences and folk fairs. It's also home to a cosmopolitan crowd - Marwaris, Parsis, Anglo Indians, Jews, a smattering of Armenians and the merry people of China Town all call Kolkata their city of joy.
For the tourist, Kolkata holds a plethora of places to see. Museums, galleries, heritage buildings, amusement parks, temples, churches, synagogues - there's something for every kind of tourist in Kolkata.
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