Because in Kolkata, life comes to a standstill.
What are your first thoughts when you think of Kolkata? Mine are fish, rasagulla and narrow dirty crowded lanes with people busy chit chatting. And of course, yellow taxis, the sight of it always makes me smile.
Taxis remind me of the ‘n’ number of modes of transportation available. From underground metros to Toto’s, it's just so fascinating.
Many asked me why I chose to go to Kolkata for my weekend gateway, and honestly I was quite taken aback by this. For me, vacations don’t necessarily have to be beach spot where you get to see the sunset or exotic locales.
I have always been intrigued by the way of life in this city, the atmosphere and the much spoken about Bengali cuisine. Also, since I have never visited this place and food being my weakness, I packed my bags and went there, kick-starting my 2016 travel journey!
Food..Food and Food! All I saw was food around me and all I wanted to do was eat. That pretty much sums up my two-day trip to the city of joy! Very aptly named indeed, joy = food, right? To everyone’s surprise, I managed to see a lot of places as well, Howrah, Victoria memorial, St Paul’s Cathedral, Mother’s Wax Museum to name a few.
Kolkata is a city of contrast. While one side of the city is oh so plush, sophisticated and has such well-designed buildings and, on the other hand, there are slums, narrow lanes, clustered and broken houses and everything that you would normally see in pictures when you Google for Kolkata. In a way, every city has these two sides; however the contrast in Kolkata stands apart. I was staying in the modernised part of Kolkata which has such lovely wide roads, high-end restaurants and well-structured localities.
I was appalled and kept saying this to Durai and Sneha that I have seen a completely different Kolkata in pictures. It was a good sight, yes, but I was curious to see the other side of Kolkata as well which isn’t that developed and that is when Durai and Sneha took me to Shobabazar. And my, this is where you feel Kolkata. Apart from savouring authentic Bengali cuisine, these areas are where you get the true essence of Kolkata.
When in Kolkata you can’t miss out on the scrumptious food they have to offer. From sweets to Bengali delicacies, you just can’t get enough of it. For most of us having Kachoris for breakfast isn’t our first option, hell it’s not even in our breakfast menu but in Kolkata, club kachori is probably something everyone devours themselves in for breakfast. Club Kachori is the miniature version of kachori we get here in Bangalore. Served along with aloo curry, it’s absolutely delicious! And yes, I did try my hand on other things which are commonly offered across breakfast spots in the city. Dhokla, jalebi, dosa, bread pakoda and the list goes on. My favourite meal was at Bhojohori Manna where I relished the classic Benagli cuisine, vegetarian of course! :P
There was just so much food on the table and if not for Sneha’s guidance I wouldn’t know where to start. The meal had few things which I loved like the luchi and channa dal and few things which I didn’t really enjoy one of them being the chutney. Yes, that is a very important component of any Bengali meal but unfortunately, it’s not something which I liked much.
Bengali meal is a ritual in itself, which I don’t mind following at all. The meal is all the more appealing when you follow the ritual.
Roadside Chinese food, puchkas, rasagullas, sandesh and other sweets were some of the other things I treated my taste buds to. What leaves you stunned here is the variety of sandesh you get, so many flavours, and all of them taste so good. While relishing on all this, I realized if you don’t have a sweet tooth you miss out on so many yummy treats!
And yes, in all this I did visit two restaurants, one was Rang de Basanti Dhaba which serves you some impressive north Indian dishes and Bon Appetit, a tiny café with a homely ambience, I absolutely loved that place. Didn’t try out a lot of things but I spent a good amount of time enjoying Maggie, black forest shake and mango sundae.
What else did I like about the food in Kolkata was the tea! It’s true, the way you drink tea makes a lot of difference. Served in tiny matka’s, the taste of tea heightens. Sharma tea stall and a stall at Ramakrishnapur ghat is where I enjoyed this lovely matka of tea.
Ramkrisnapur ghat reminds me of the Howrah and river Ganga. It’s a lovely sight you know, both the Howrah bridges (one of them looks similar to the Bandra-Worli sea link in Mumbai) and the sight of the river with Kolkata landscape overlooking it. Stunning, I must say.
After two lovely days of being in Kolkata and soaking into the joy this city has to offer, I made my way back to Bangalore with two big boxes of sweets and one big box of rasagulla. It’s been two days and yes I am hungover. Even after all the chaos of losing my phone, the trip turned out to be lovely. I crave for all the food that I ate there and the relaxed atmosphere.
Vir Sanghavi said it rightly 'if you want a city with soul, come to Kolkata' and I couldn’t agree more with him.
P.S: Street photo courtesy - Durai Subramanium
