Calcutta has to be one of my favourite cities in India. Of course it is a busy bustling place, all of India’s cities are but there is a gentleness to it. I have always said, it is a city with the heart of a village. The gentle atmosphere and verdant nature reminds me of Kerala, the first place I visited in India and yet Calcutta was the home of Imperial India and still has a plethora of (sadly) dilapidated colonial architecture to show for it. Yet Kolkata remains grounded to its Indian roots and is one city where one can truly still find old India.
It is the only city in India to have a China Town! and it is also a city of firsts; the first ever tram, Asia’s oldest medical school, the first newspaper of India was published here in 1780, the first Indian subway, and in 1898 was the first Indian city to get electricity. The Kathi roll was also invented here. So many facts, so many facets, Kolkata’s streets house stories, thousands of them, words can’t do them all justice and so I decided to show them in a series of not so ordinary images, hope you enjoy…..
A kathi roll from Nizam’s where they were invented in 1900
Park Street Cemetery, opened in 1767, closed in 1790
Man with a biosphere outside the Kali Temple
Early morning ablutions.
For only the finest tea
Could almost have been 100 years ago, almost….
The monsoon arrives over Victoria Memorial.
Street chai is the best chai
HQ at the Chinese Temple
Gariahat Fish Market
Deliveries at India’s most famous flower market
Riding the trams
Selling horse hair for shaving brushes.
Imperial India at its most imposing
When a jeweller builds a Jain Temple…
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6 Comments
arv!
July 27, 2016 at 10:24 amKolkata is every photographers dream come true and also for a history and culture lover!
marinamarangos
August 1, 2016 at 12:22 amLove that record player contraption. Are they all your own pics PK ? Wonderful stuff x m
Philippa Kaye
August 1, 2016 at 2:57 amYes, all my own pictures, thank you for the kind comments.
pegasus
August 1, 2016 at 4:22 amAbsolutely beautiful post. Firstly, I thank you for addressing the city with its original name, Calcutta. It is so nice to see the old name still coming up in 2016.
Amazing pictures. To be honest with you, being a native of Calcutta myself, I’ve never been to many of those places like the Jain temple, Park Street Cemetery and the Howrah Flower Market. You seemed to have explored the city quite extensively 🙂
Also, just to clarify, the first town to get Electricity in India was Darjeeling, a hill station in Bengal, few hundred Kms from Calcutta. An hydroelectric plant was commissioned in 1897.
Thanks for visiting my city and I hope you will visit again.
Best regards
Philippa Kaye
August 1, 2016 at 6:02 amThank you so much, I love Calcutta, a fascinating place and so friendly.
claire young
August 1, 2016 at 9:10 amGreat blog! Looks a bit different to Wakefield….