Calcutta was the first capital of British India. As a result, there is historical glory; As well as the narrow alleys of the north, the old houses and a few untidy roads, those who give the verdict of 'nothing to see' are surprised to find that some of the richest cities in Kolkata are hidden in its layers. I just want to have a sincere desire to discover.
In the previous episode, I wrote about doing some 'must do activities' in Kolkata. For example, visit Victoria Memorial, St. Paul's Cathedral, Howrah Bridge, Dakshineswar, Belur etc., launch tour on Hooghly river (click here to read). But the next one and a half days were allotted to go to the places which are less discussed. Today I will talk about that thrilling experience.
The Esplanade Metro Station is not far from our hotel on Mirza Ghalib Street. I went out at half past seven in the morning. I was walking down the street, but I got to the station before I could finish my work. Tickets for the metro also cost a minimum of Rs 5 and a maximum of Rs 10. I bought a ticket to Central Station for 5 rupees.
Usually you don't have to wait for 2-3 minutes for the metro. Once I saw the time around 7-8 minutes, what annoyance of the people filling the platform! For regular passengers like me on the local train at Kamalapur station, it is a food of laughter. Anyway, the train left, stopped for a second, and left in a minute.
Let's say an experience before the tour destination. Most people travel standing on the metrorail. And the gate of the train is open for 5-7 seconds. As a result, there is a good rush when entering. Boys and girls are on equal footing.
"Master, there are ladies in front, gently" - the same cannot be said of the women commuters in Kolkata. They know how to go through equal collisions!
I went down to Central and wrote the destination on Google Map Fears Lane. I had boarded the launch twice the day before, once on the bus. And on this day I was committed not to take anything except the metro. As a result, the journey started on foot. There is a statue of the famous Maharana Pratap of Mebar here. Mistaking the map, I turned around a bit and got to Tiki in Fears Lane.
It was fine in the beginning. A portrait of Comrade Charu Majumdar, a hammer and sickle and a wall full of leftist slogans. All the old houses built in the style of Bengali architecture on both sides of the narrow alley. To understand ‘Typical North Kolkata’, as the picture floated in my eyes for so long, I found almost the whole match. But what is this! The scene changed after a minute.
From the set of Tollygunge, it immediately became a set of Anurag Kashyap's movie! People are a little different in dress or appearance. The houses are different, there are more slaughterhouses in the grocery store, there are more cows than in the caravan market. Here Mamata Banerjee's political poster is also written in Urdu. It is entirely an area of Muslims in Bihar or Uttar Pradesh.
Damzen Lane is in the belly of this Fears Lane. Non-Bengali Muslims also live in a part of it. The next part of Damjen Lane is the area of the Indian Chinese. Strange as it may sound, they are the descendants of those who came from different districts of South China in the 19th century and settled in Calcutta. Many more came later. They are Hakka Chinese by race, but their passports are Indian.
A large part of these Chinese have now migrated to America, Canada and Singapore. And another part has gone to Tangra's new 'China Town'. This area, the Territory, is the old Chinatown. Damgen Lane Territory 'Territory'! This lane of old Chinatown has the most Hakka Chinese.
Breakfast is served at the Territorial Market, according to food vloggers Trevor James and Mark Owens. Try to come here between 6 am and 6 am. The Chinese sell food here. Our interest is in hot hot chicken momo. I bought two plates for 100 rupees. Each plate is made at 6 o'clock, the seller has given 1 tip. After eating, I ran to visit the traditional Chinese Buddhist temple.
C-Ip Church is close to the food area. The caretaker said he was about 120 years old. Sadly, the location of this traditional place is next to a garbage dump. Hindi almost can not care caretaker gentleman; English is also broken. I understood that he is one of those who hold on to the tradition well, even today he holds Mandarin one-sidedly.
Then I entered Damgen Lane again. I spoke with Paul Naching, the caretaker of an unnamed Buddhist temple. Poor Paul's father married here and gave birth to him and moved to China. If he goes to China to see his father now, he will not be able to return to India, that is the rule! He is happy in Calcutta with his grandchildren.
February 3 was the Chinese New Year according to the lunar month. The New Year is celebrated in the Territorial Market. Some Chinese invited me in advance to stay that day, but I have no plans to stay in India until then. What else to do! I saw Tung On and Nam-Sun Church. Nam-Sun Church is the most beautiful. Got badd speed to find it. Because it was in the gap of two or three Bihari houses.
Ten is still not fully played. We crossed the Territory market and went further ahead. Walk 10-15 minutes to Pollock Street. Many call it the Jewish area. But in my opinion the appropriate word is ‘synagogue belt’. There are several synagogues in the vicinity. 20-30 Jews, who live permanently in different parts of Kolkata, visit these synagogues. Although the Jews of Calcutta are called Baghdadi Jews, they are of Syrian descent.
At the beginning I found Beth-el Synagogue. I thought, the synagogue will not be seen in this birth with a green passport! Wrong broken. I was allowed to enter after showing my passport. Upon entering, the receptionist put on our Jiu hat. When you take a selfie after that hat, there is nothing in your head, it is not understood, that hat is so small! But the inner court is huge, and aesthetic.
I touched and saw their scripture Torah. The synagogue was founded by David Joseph Ezra, and Ezekiel Judah. It was established in 1856. Even older is the Naveh Shalom Synagogue (1831). The location is on Pollock Street. But sadly the visitor's entry was closed that day.
Going a little further to Maghen David Synagogue on Brabourne Street was the same experience. Non-Jewish entrances are temporarily closed due to preparations for an upcoming event. It is newer than the other two (1881) but larger in size and beauty. You can go if you want. Every day, you will not burn your forehead like us! But you must be respectful of culture and diversity.
I was returning rejected, thinking - Bengali, non-Bengali, Chinese, Syrian, what's not here! I read in an article, "It is customary to live in harmony in this city"! Exactly.
Cross Brabourne and head straight along Canning Street. If you enter the destination 'Zakaria Street' on Google Map, you can reach it in ten minutes on foot. I recognized this street by watching the video of 'Fudka'. You have to come here once in the month of Ramadan. Bahari Mughlai, Turkish, Arab, Persian, Nawabi food is available. What a flavor in this city! The famous Nakhoda Mosque is also located here, very beautiful to look at.
I will walk down the alley and see the underrated place, cheaply - I couldn't avoid Victoria Memorial or Jorasanko. After coming to Calcutta, the hobby of visiting Thakurbari also came to life. I walked a long way in the hot sun of twelve to fulfill my hobby. About a quarter of an hour.
My heart was broken when I found out that "Visva-Bharati University is closed today on the occasion of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's birth anniversary"!
Synagogue closed on Friday, Saturday, College Street closed on Sunday, Jorasanko closed on Tuesday. So I came on Wednesday. Even after doing so much research, I got caught! I consoled myself when I saw a group of Russian tourists returning from the gate with a whole car. The next destination is College Street.
College Street is like our Dhaka Nilkhet, the book market. Nilkhet has grown in the shadow of Dhaka University. And College Street grew up in the shadow of the 200-year-old Presidency College. On the occasion of Netaji's birthday, all the shutters were taken down in the book store! Only Deez's publication was open. How many books have I bought?
You will find the famous Paramount sherbet in College Street. Peace in the scorching sun, the price may seem a bit high. The centennial Dilkhusha Cabin was allotted for lunch. If you come in the afternoon or evening, you must try the fish or chicken kabiraji here, it will cost 100 rupees. However, we were very hungry and bought prawn fried rice (1: 1) for 105 rupees and chili chicken (1: 2) for 95 rupees.
Mahatma Gandhi Road (MG Road) Metro Station is a walking road from there. I rented a metro for 5 rupees and went to Shyambazar. There is a statue of Netaji at the five heads of Shyambazar. When he accidentally came to his town on his birthday and suffered so much, he wanted to take a little longer to say ‘Happy Birthday’. Netaji on horseback was adorned with a garland of marigold flowers.
I came to Shyambazar for another reason. Old Kolkata is the name of the place that comes to mind most of the time. The day before and the day before, no tram was seen on the road. Only the tramline is in sight. When I came to Shyambazar, I first saw the tram. It is moving slowly without passengers. If the bird, where to go - the tram went through this oscillation!
From here I got on the bus to Belgachia. I heard there is a Jain shrine. I wanted to go there out of curiosity about Jains. At 10 rupees I got down from Belgachhia and walked for a few minutes to reach the Jain temple. But fortune is bad again!
He returned from the gate, the request did not work, only Jains can come, also on a special occasion. There is another temple in Gauribari, the doorman advised us to go there. Or everyone can go there. But what is the difference between the two? I also found out back in the country.
There are two sects of Jains. One is Digambar, the other is Shwetambar. The Digambar saints are naked, the white saints wear white sheets. The Belgachhiya temple is said to be Digambar Sadhus and is closed to the public.
The pronunciation of the local people and Google will hurt you a lot. Both the temples will be called 'Pareshnath Temple'. Popularly one is 'Pareshnath of Belgachhiya', another is 'Pareshnath of Maniktala (Gauribari)'. In fact, the name of the temple in Belgachhi is not Pareshnath, but Parshvanath Jain Temple. Pareshnath is only in Maniktala.
However, as the evening approached, I did not go to Maniktala. I got on the bus from Belgachhia and returned to Shyambazar. From there the metro becomes the Esplanade. There will be some good sweet shops on the other side of Shyambazar. You must try Nalen molasses sandesh, rabri, langcha. Kolkata is a sweet paradise!
Arriving at Dharmatala, I did some light shopping and sat down at Petpujo. Hearing that cheap Nehari and Nanruti are available, I entered a Bihari hotel. It fell like seventy rupees. I calculated that excluding the purchase of soft drinks, sweets and books, the whole day cost only 340 rupees. It is better to say, keep a budget of at least 100 rupees for sweets separately.
I heard the names of the Oberoi brothers in Anjan's song 'Mala' and saw their hotel 'The Oberoi Grand'. In the song 'The Last Day of the Month', Anjan spoke about Ashoka Bar at the corner of Dharmatala. I went past it. The huge Ambassador cars, the Sahebiketa building in the Metropolitan Building, the lampposts - all combined to make the evening a different love.
Shik kebabs of Rs. 80 to provide a little more love in love,
And I bought Chanachur-Bhujia and Lime-Soda and returned to the hotel.
It was too late to get up the next morning. The destination is the Pareshnath Jain Temple at Maniktala. I had to go to the Salt Lake Karunamayi International Bus Terminal to buy a bus ticket back home. So I decided to buy a ticket and go to Maniktala.
There is no access to Salt Lake via the Esplanade subway route. Again, the yellow taxi will not be at all, that was not acceptable. So I thought let's put another tick in the bucket list. It is better to say that the rent in Uber-Ola was more than 290 rupees! Instead, I took a taxi for a contract of 250 rupees.
The beauty of South Kolkata also caught my eye while leaving. I bought a ticket and went around Yuvbharati Stadium Para and saw Kolkata Derby on January 27 - Mohun Bagan and East Bengal! Yet these two clubs are in a frenzy for the people of Kolkata. What a battle between 'Lota' and 'Macha'!
I got on the bus from Salt Lake to Khanna. The rent doesn’t feel right. Not more than 20 rupees. Hotel to Salt Lake and Salt Lake to Khanna - I saw so many sculptures on these two routes, there is no counting! There are many legendary sculptures of Bengal and India. However, the dominance of Netaji, Vivekananda, Rabindranath is a little more.
I got down from the bus stop, turned on Google Map and walked for about 15 minutes. Destination Pareshnath Jain Temple. The whole Bihari area is around. The temple is not a single structure, it is a complex of several temples. However, the main temple is made of glass. This is what attracts more tourists. As seen in the picture, the temple is more beautiful than that.
I can't show you the inner court because it is forbidden to take pictures inside. I thought I would at least learn about the gods by talking to the servants. That did not happen. They didn't think we were Indians. They were busy accompanying a group of tourists from Germany and Spain! I saw the whole temple area by myself. Inside the temple is also a wonderful work of glass.
The temple is over. Meanwhile, 'Lunch Hour' started. I mean, it's time to taste Arsalan's biryani in Hatibagan. Fifteen-twenty minutes walk again looking at the map.
Upon arrival, I ordered 1: 1 mutton biryani for 240 rupees. Not disappointed this time like Aminatia of Dharmatala, it's great to eat. I heard Hyderabadi biryani differently. I will come and eat it next time.
We walked a little further to Sutanuti metro station in Shobhabazar. Esplanade again from there at 5 rupees. I did some shopping, I became a friend's shopping partner. Good dosa is available near New Market. A game fills the stomach a lot. It will cost 60-70 rupees to eat.
At the end of the purchase I thought the last scratch of the brush was not given. I went to College Street the day before and came back from the Indian Coffee House. I planned to come there the next evening instead of going there at noon. That's how we got to the coffee house, Manna Dey's famous coffee house!
You have to get off at Esplanade to Central or MG Road station. The rest of the road is on foot. Three of my friends from Kolkata came to chat. I went to a corner on the second floor and sat down.
Electric fans hanging from high ceilings on long bars, wooden railings, aesthetic protest posters / chika glued to the stairs, century old wooden furniture, turbaned waiters - I know how I am now enjoying the forties! Movies, political chats with onion pokora, black coffee, and smokers are Feluda's favorite charminars - what more do Bengalis like!
I returned to the hotel with a jumpy chat. We left in the morning and reached Dhaka at night. Despite wanting to be short on time, there was no chance to enjoy the sunset at Prinsep Wharf and the evening at Park Street.
I really want to do a food tour next time. Reading books, listening to music, I remember that I drew a picture of the city, I felt some part of it visually at the cost of the name. I have to come back again and again. I will come.
Thanks for reading this article for so long.
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Great one