This post brings an end to our stay in Kolkata. We were happy to leave the city because we were eager to return home and had had enough of living out of a suitcase after traveling for 5 weeks. To be fair, Kolkata new town, with its laid back life, restaurants serving tasty food, easy availability of rickshaws to take us to the community mall, friendly staff at the Marriott and the sumptuous breakfast at the hotel left behind an indelible impression of warmth and hospitality on us.
I now understand why Kolkata provides an easy escape for people living in Bangladesh. Most Bangladeshis visit Kolkata to do their shopping or if they want a quick escape. The distance, common language and similar features makes it easy for Bangladeshis to blend with the Bengalis in India. We, felt more like tourists and outsiders in Kolkata than the Bangladeshis due to our inability to converse in Bengali, the language spoken in Kolkata.

Fairfield by Marriott was located at a comfortable distance from the mall in New Town. A three-storeyed building perfect for the small population of new town, the mall was equipped with a train ride for kids, a train wagon converted into a restaurant, theatre, supermarket, laundry, stalls selling frankies, tea, ice-creams, momos and chairs and tables outside for people to sit on, and have a quick bite. It also happened to be hosting a fashion show for kids while we visited.

We stood a while, pitying the judges and the volunteers as parents dressed their reluctant children in their best attire and signed them up for the competition which required the child to say its name, sing, dance or do both. The judges coaxed, requested, encouraged, waited patiently with a smile as each child came on stage and said their name and tried to sing or dance while the excited parents and the children’s extended families cheered on. Some children jiggled a little, some attempted to sing a line and others said nothing. This was my first experience at witnessing the first round of a reality show. So, this is what happens. People push children to compete even if the child is not interested. Then after several rounds of weeding ( there were atleast 150 kids there when we went), the talent emerges. But, then, this is India. It’s where parents push their children to participate in everything. The race begins early on and children learn to run even before they know what they are running for.

On one of the days while we were in Kolkata, we took a ride to Howrah bridge and saw the Kolkata vegetable market on the way. We tried getting off at the ghat to take pictures but the strong stench of urine and decaying trash sent us scurrying back into the car and as far as possible from the ghats. I believe Princep Ghat is the right place to get a good picture of the famous Howrah bridge. But, we didn’t go there. Maybe next time.

I doubt this is the official vegetable market in Kolkata but our driver pointed out this one when we asked. Again, we did not get off as the roads were wet after the rains and the leafy vegetables that had fallen off the vendor’s carts lay on the ground mixed with rainwater, in a green muck.

We spent the day shopping at South City Mall which is Kolkata’s biggest mall. Shiny floor, bright lights, airy interiors, it has all the international brands like Zara, H&M, Adidas, Nike, Forever New, Mango, furniture, jewellery, cosmetic stores and Indian brands. It’s food court was much better than the foodcourts in any of the malls in Mumbai.
The other malls we paid a visit to during our stay in Kolkata were Quest Mall which is more like South City Mall and City Centre at Salt Lake city which is an older mall with a central courtyard and regular eating places.

Some of the sites we saw during the rest of our days in Kolkata were-

Dakshineshwar Mandir.

It took us an hour to reach Dakshineshwar mandir from the hotel in New Town. It woukd have taken double the time had we stayed in Old Town. We passed a lot of new development on the way – high rise buildings, upcoming malls and hotels that was in complete contrast to all that we had seen so far in Kolkata. This was the part of the city that was growing and that resembled any other metro in India in the early stages.

The temple opens in the morning and then closes for lunch and opens at 4.00 p.m. We reached the temple at 4.00 p.m. and found a crowd already at the gates waiting to enter. There is no concept of a queue. People just crowd around the gate. I realized there’s really no need to rush. because by 5.00 p.m. the crowd dissipates by 5.00 p.m. and also the waiting time inside the temple to enter each shrine is negligible.

There’s a place to keep one’s shoes and belongings (handbag, mobile phone, camera). It’s managed manually but effectively. I was a little concerned about leaving 3 mobile phones in my bag in a shack with so many bags against the guarantee of a chit of paper with a number on it. No lockers, receipts, scanned codes or anything. Yet, it works. Everything was returned to us just as we left it. All I had to do was give the man who was managing the booth, the chit with the number written on it. All this service for a meagre Rs 20.00

Dakshineshwar temple, built in 1855, is located on the eastern banks of the Hooghly river. It has a open courtyard with 12 shrines dedicated to Lord Shiva, built all around it. The main temple is dedicated to Goddess Kali. The Dhakeshwari temple in Dhaka is built on the same lines and is also dedicated to Goddess Kali.

As photographs are not allowed in the temple, this is the best I got from the courtyard outside.

We drove down to Belur Math, which was a five minute drive from the temple. The Math (monastery) is the headquarters of the Ramakrishna Mission and was founded by Swami Vivekananda, known for his 1893 groundbreaking speech in the World’s Parliament of Religions in the US, in which he introduced Hinduism to America.
The Ramakrishna Mission believes in the harmony of all religions. Set in 40 acres of green on the West bank of the Hooghly river, an air of calm welcomes you when you set your foot in.

‘The Ramakrishna Mission is a philanthropic, volunteer organization founded by Sri Ramakrishna’s chief disciple Swami Vivekananda on May 1, 1897. The Mission conducts extensive work in health care, disaster relief, rural management, tribal welfare, elementary and higher education and culture.’ (From the Net).

It is said that the temple looks like a mosque, church and temple from different angles and represents the diversity of religions in India.

Sadly,I don’t have pictures of any more Kolkata doors. So, I’m going to share a door that I had in my archives. It’s a picture I took in Norway. I’m hoping I didn’t share it earlier. But with this, I’m eligible to participate in Dan’s Thursday Doors Challenge. ‘This is a weekly challenge for people who love doors and architecture to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos, drawings, or other images or stories from around the world.‘

I’m also participating in Cee’s photochallenge. The prompt is ‘Any Type of Road’

I found the above picture as I was scouting for pictures of roads. I’ve certainly not shared it earlier.

I end this post with one final picture – this one is ‘one for the road’.

That’s all for today. I hope you enjoyed this post. Bye until next time.

To read the previous post on Kolkata, click here.

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