My personal discovery of Kolkata

My personal discovery of Kolkata

Rabindra Setu, Kolkata

(What I write here is entirely my personal take on the subject, and most certainly I don't have any intention whatsoever of insulting other Indian cities. It is just my wish to share with the world how I realized the worthy, the potential, the glory of Kolkata)

I was born at Labhpur, a small village close to Rabindranath's esteemed university of Shantiketan at Bolpur. It is one of the many beautiful villages that constitute the overall splendour and serene extent of Birbhum, lining the Bengali west. Among the once-barred wastelands, life has thrived for over several decades, and exquisite availability of fertilizers and precious water from the neighbouring Burdwan district has ensured smoother continuity of agriculture (and thus, life of the people) in Birbhum, as indeed, most of the people here are still dependent on agro-based employment.

My father being a member of the West Bengal Judiciary, I had had the pleasure (and trouble) of discovering many parts of Bengal in detail. Shifting again and again had definitely affected by educational career, and it was equally painful to leave once-alien, then-familiar places behind, in the haunting search for another home, yet again. And thus, I had enjoyed my stay in multiple townships of West Bengal, ranging from the quaint little town of Lalbagh, Murshidabad to the relatively less famous yet pleasant Balurghat, perhaps the most charming station I've ever enjoyed. Along the northern fringes of our state, I had been to Kalimpong, 4000 ft. above the sea-level, where we can literally touch the clouds at times, and once again our journeys took me to Haldia, along the southern coastline of Bengal, standing like a stalwart of Indian infrastructure and a testament to the majesty of modern Indian engineering and industrialization.

And finally, in 2009, I came here, to the city of joy. After searching for residential accomodations to be rented all across the northern region, we finally got what we needed here at Dumdum. And thus started a very strange and peculiar chapter in my life, getting acquainted with Kolkata, the once-celebrated capital of the former British Empire, the modern cultural capital of India, and popularly known as, as I stated above, the 'City of joy'.

Initial complains

The Eliot Park, Jawaharlal Nehro Road

Most certainly, like in many other cases, I was extremely disappointed with Kolkata. And indeed, both my parents used to hate the city (at least one of them still does), and so did I. I was almost convinced that it was nothing less than a punishment thrown at our face by the government, to have made us shift here. The city, with its perilously constructed, shabby buildings in the north, presented to me the very picture of a destroyed metropolis that had once been great.

It is almost needless to mention that I was mostly confined to the northern portions of the city. My life extended, at best, along the length of Jessore Road, quite possibly one of the busiest of its kind all acorss te city. Being the northern gateway to the city, Dumdum is almost always crowded, its roads crammed with people and jammed with taxis and autorickshaws. Refugee housing and reaccomodation plans practically ruined the infrastructure of this neighbourhood. And adding to that, Dumdum is also the seat of Kolkata's airport.

There was practically no sign of modern development, and I began to regard our apartment as my little fragment of hell. Neighter inside, nor outside, could I find peace of mind. And our relatives sorrowfully said, 'This is Kolkata'.

With the passage of time

With time, however, things began to change a bit. I grew somewhat tolerant, realizing that my life is centred around here, and I must accept what I cannot change. This was the second phase of my life, realizing that Kolkata is at least as good as any of the previous townships I've been to and lived in. How it makes me laugh today, I lack the ability to express here with my writing.

Traffic appeared to be increasing every alternate day, and the Nagerbazar-Satgachi flyover (which was being constructed back then in 2010) was showing no sign of being completed. And the whole burden fell on to Jessore Road, which made things even worse than before. And hand to hand with it, the wind of change, Bengal's beloved 'Paribartan', was blowing as well, sweeping all across the extent of Kolkata. People barely seemed to complain, as if that was the way of life.

There had been days when I simply wanted to flee, and not a single day passed without me cursing the city of joy with the full might of my lungs, and sharpness of words. Although that certainly reduced over time, I still couldn't see what made Kolkata special. A distant relative of mine, now a proud resident of Bangalore city, told me that Kolkata is among the worst cities of India, and some of my closer relatives even declared that it is hardly worthy of being regarded as a city. Political parties are often eager to point out that it stands fouth in the list of the four official metropolitan cities of India. And in any way, the common saying was that, Kolkata is only a shadow, a dark ghost of what it had once been.

If only I knew that was going to change.

Touched by the brilliance of the city of joy

A wallpaper I once crafted, with GIMP

And one day, I began to understand that it is next to unjust to sorely declare this city below-par without at least exploring it in detail. Taxis are just too demanding, and I didn't want to pay Rs. 500 each time I wanted to visit the Victoria Memorial. And believe me, I didn't even know what the celebrated Victoria Memorial was like before 2013. Hate me, verbally smash me, pity me as much as you want, but that is the truth. But finally, I got to use perhaps the greatest mode of transportation Kolkata has to provide, its brilliant metro railway service. Gossip is too dominating a factor in the average Bengali (and Indian) life, and one of my father's colleagues declared that it is next to impossible to travel anywhere in the metro.

But came 26th Decembar of 2013, I realized that it was simply a blatant lie, constructed perhaps to scare newcomers off the prodigious metro railway system. Definitely it's a bit crowded, especially during the peak hours, but that's nothing is not mendable. We can always take the next train. And during the non-peak hours, you've 50% possibility of getting a seat when you're boarding the train at Dumdum station. Well, that was at least the condition before the further northward extension of the system, to include the currently northernmost station of Noarapa, a few kilometres to the north of Dumdum.

When I first took the metro train, I was surprised to see what we could actually get for Rs. 4-14! Although it is definitely not anything close to its tech-savvy cousin, the Delhi Metro Railway system, having a metro system automatically elevates Kolkata over 99% of other Indian cities. Even Bangalore, Chennai and Mumbai too don't have elaborate systems like this.

Falling in love with the city of joy

Finally, armed with my knowledge of the metro routes and my GPS-enabled Smartphone, I ventured out to explore the marvels of the city. It was on the cold but sunlit day of January 25th, 2013, that I first 'discovered' Victoria Memorial, and was mesmerized by its beauty. Next follows the Kolkata central grounds, more popularly known as 'Gorer Math'. And thus gradually I got to realize what made Kolkata special.

Today, I see that Kolkata is unqie in every aspect of the term. It is the greatest city in India in its own way. It may not be the financial capital of India, it may not have the religious splendour and colour of Varanasi, but it still is, and will always be, the cultural capital of India, the marvelous gem that lights up the whole India with the talent of its residents, with the bright elegance of its literature, with its gloious past, present and even more glorious future.

A city of wonder 

The Victoria Memorial, a remindr of the colonial past.
Yet, this is the city where the light of revolution arose,
in the minds of its elite members. 

Unknown to many (including the Bengalis), Kolkata is among the most famous and celebrated cities of the world in multiple aspects. Many historical buildings and creations make it a notable point in the map of the world, and it is indeed #1 in India in many factors. Some of these are:

1. Kolkata is home to the world's second largest stadium, the Salt Lake stadium (Yuva Bharati Krirangan), which is also the largest one in India.

2. The Kolkata Metro project was successfully started in 1984, and continues to be the oldest of its kind in India.

3. The Birla Planetarium of Kolkata is the second-largest planetarium in the world.

4. The Shivpur Engineering and Science University is the first Asian institution to conduct graduate-level courses, as early as 1864.

5. Kolkata is home to the National Library of India, the largest repository of books here in the subcontinent.

6. The A.J.C Bose Botanic Garden is the largest of its kind in India, and is only second to the Kew Gardens of England in the world.

Many more such features unique to the City of Joy can be put forward, but I guess that would simply be a wastage of time, because the glory of the marvelous city is too great to be confined within the circumference of this small article.

The light of the east 

Victoria Memorial gardens, from the first floor

Established by the British, Kolkata (then known as Calcutta) had always been once step ahead since the early days of its creation. It enjoyed the latest and greatest of facilities then, ranging from the first suburban railway transit and the famous postal service of India started by the British. The very educational capital of India, Kolkata enjoyed vibrant growth in terms of literary and scientific activities all across its extent. And indeed, Kolkata was the seat of Indian nationalism.

What this glorious city has presented us Indians with is beyond my capability to relate properly to my humble words. This is the city of Rabindranath Tagore, our national poet and the foremost face in Indian literature. This is the city of Rishi Bankim Chandra, the great Sahitya Samrat of literature, whose blessd fingers authored Vande Maataram. This is the city of Acharya Jagadishchandra Bose, of Meghnad Saha, of Satyendranath Bose, of Swami Vivekananda, of Netaju Subhash Chandra Bose, of Rishi Aurobindo, of Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar.

They all, whom I mentioned, are the shinning stars who continue to decorate the skyline of the glorious eastern metropolis, and indeed it is our duty to uphold that tradition, to lead India intellectually in the truest sense of the term.

This glorious city has presented us with the immensity of Bengali literature, with songs and novels, with science and culture. Blame me for being a fanboy of this majesty of human endeavour, but I am proud to be proud of Kolkata, my city, the city of joy.

Proud to be a Calcuttan, proud to be an Indian.