I know there are many nostalgic posts about Kolkatta - this is not

[prasad1]

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I used to visit Calcutta(old spelling) and did not know any better. It was one of the big metropolis I lived, studied, and often visited in my younger days. I do not have great memory of the city.

Its Kolkata..!!

I think, the only place in India where people still thinking the British is still ruling India..!!

Crawling “Tram’s” across road !! (It is the only city of India where you can find Tram; the transport system since the British age.)
The public transport system looks age of centuries..!!
Everywhere u can see solid bright yellow color Ambassadors as Taxi. Yellow like a slick Italian sports car only old and with more dents in the body than…. well.

Calcutta was really hot ! Not slang but real. Impressive! Ha Ha. Hot and Humid..!!
Real Indian Smell the traffic in Calcutta was so woow !! The streets are more narrow and crowded. Evenings, crowded and noisy(hORN,hORN,hORN..) roads fill with local vendors and “pull rickshaws”. Making the road transport so Horrible !!!

The biggest visual difference you can see is the “pull rickshaws”. I have heard about them in history books. Calcutta is the last place on earth you can find them. (I am not sure that is true, but then I have never checked either..!!)
Rickshaw pullers have been described as human horses..!! How sad !! People treating like animals !! They are not pulling this rickshaws for fun, but for fill their stomach !!

Busing other people like myself around the city, with no shoes, no food in their stomach, really nothing to live off of. Most of them are from the neighboring states like Bihar and Jharkhand and belong to uneducated and poor families. Most sleep, eat and live on the city's crowded pavements. In most cases they do not own the vehicles, but pay a sizeable portion of their earnings to hire them.

Nothing can prepare you for Kolkata. As the birthplace of an empire and the home of the late Mother Teresa, as a playground for the rich and a haven for the destitute, as a wellspring of creative energy and a center for Marxist agitation, Kolkata dares people to make sense of it.

Oh and wait for one of those Rains. Water does not run out. The sewers spills on the road, and you are walking in waist deep cesspool. I dead going to visit my brothers, just because I have to Transit thru this God forsaken place on earth.

 

[biswa]

Prasadji, you seem to have the usual love-hate relationship. Or is it just love?

 

[Raji Ram]

I was surprised to see Prasad Sir's post in the thread where I write travelogues in Tamil. And, of course, now I am writing about my

visit to Kolkata! Though our friends have been inviting me to visit them for the past three decades, I was hesitating since they are non.veg

eaters! This year there was no escape because Ram had a get together at the ISI, Kolkata. We could visit Victoria memorial, Kali Ghat,

Rabindra sarobar, the place where Ram lived for a few years and of course the basketball court where he used to play in his twenties!

After we crossed the mighty Howrah bridge (old one) and took a right turn, I saw a man carrying two huge boxes and took a snap.

Only while loading in Picasa album, did I notice the background view! Rather a 'gabbu' area!?? :lol:

P.S: Our friends did not prepare any non.veg items on the three days we stayed with them. So nice of them!

 

[krish44]

prasadji
I have pleasant memories of calcutta.
I have been their a few times.
the city has an easy laidback style.
Trams, low cost yellow black taxis charging as much as an auto in other towns,
rickshaws -hand pulled -do they still exist- I remember hindi film 'do bigha zameen'' of bimal roy.
on official tour some 15v rs back , I almost missed my rajdhani connection due to torrential rains and I got stuck on the other side of the howrah bridge.
during recent trip , went to ramakrishna ashram and believe me played holi with the sadhus there singing and dancing.
right on the banks of hooghyl it is a great place.
no problem of good veg food . I went to komala vilas.
there are many good reasonably priced hotels which one can book online .
then there are the old british age monuments where one can spend time when I was there mamatha govt had organised exhibhition on tagore works in victoria memorial . only bengalis can do such things.
due to marxist rule , calcutta has only poor and lower middle class people in large numbers. lifestyle is simple[ I mean food and clothing]. one can roam around free, ,
getting in and out of trams , taking street chai, sweet delicacies.
it has a metro also, the earliest in the country
then , there is the kaalighat temple and jostled with the crowds , got fleeced by pandas and saw the animal sacrifice place.
it could turn your stomoch
the airport is a horror, probably the worst among the metros.
A lovable experience on the whole

 

[tbs]

hi

i have been calcutta many times in my service in army....my eastern command headquarters in wellington , calcutta....i studied

my MBA from calcutta.....INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, CALCUTTA....i used to walk in howrah bridge...

i like rasgulla/ hot tea in mud cup......i enjoyed ganges through howrah bridge......its nice experiences of calcutta...i used to travel

kalingpong/darjeeling tooo...but very bad smell fish baskets in howrah station...very horrible...highly polluted city..thanks

amby cars....

 

[Raji Ram]

........... the airport is a horror, probably the worst among the metros. ..........

Krish Sir! Go and see the airport now! Amazing size!!

Photo courtesy: Google images

 

[Raji Ram]

Dear Krish Sir,

FYI - you may please go through this and the following pages where I have shared my experiences

during my recent (first ever) visit to Kolkata!

பயணக் க(வி)தைகள்... from post # 1594

P.S: Don't miss the dancing coffee picture!

 

[biswa]

TBS ji, you shared your opinion on all sights in Kolkata except one, which I thought would be your specialty. Not many people there wear burkha you know.

hi

i have been calcutta many times in my service in army....my eastern command headquarters in wellington , calcutta....i studied

my MBA from calcutta.....INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, CALCUTTA....i used to walk in howrah bridge...

i like rasgulla/ hot tea in mud cup......i enjoyed ganges through howrah bridge......its nice experiences of calcutta...i used to travel

kalingpong/darjeeling tooo...but very bad smell fish baskets in howrah station...very horrible...highly polluted city..thanks

amby cars....

 

[tbs]

TBS ji, you shared your opinion on all sights in Kolkata except one, which I thought would be your specialty. Not many people there wear burkha you know.

hi

i agreed with u...even muslims are very cooperate with their hindu counter parts...many muslims take part in durga puja pandaal

preparation etc...

 

[krish44]

dear Rajiram ji
thanks for the photos and your poems.
definitely the airport looks much better now.
hope, the check in services and toilets are also better.

 

[krish44]

biswaji
muslim ladies that too from bengal are a fatal attraction for TB boys.lol

 

[Raji Ram]

........
definitely the airport looks much better now.
hope, the check in services and toilets are also better.

Yes, the toilets!! :thumb:

 

[Raji Ram]

The check in of bags was done with ease at Kolkata airport. The only problem was that one of the three bags was NOT sent to Bagdogra!

The Bagdogra airport was very small and the officer could not converse fluently in English. Ram had great difficulty to make him understand

the situation. My suitcase and the bag containing the provisions required by Ram's cousin arrived safe but Ram's suitcase was missing.

Then the officer talked to Kolkata airport and found out that the bag was not loaded in the aircraft in which we boarded! The next evening,

after a lot of exciting moments, the suitcase reached Kalimpong market and we got it!

 

[krish44]

The check in of bags was done with ease at Kolkata airport. The only problem was that one of the three bags was NOT sent to Bagdogra!

The Bagdogra airport was very small and the officer could not converse fluently in English. Ram had great difficulty to make him understand

the situation. My suitcase and the bag containing the provisions required by Ram's cousin arrived safe but Ram's suitcase was missing.

Then the officer talked to Kolkata airport and found out that the bag was not loaded in the aircraft in which we boarded! The next evening,

after a lot of exciting moments, the suitcase reached Kalimpong market and we got it!

there is deficiency of services due to union trouble and sheer carelessness and callous behaviour of staff.
chennai airport is equally bad .last week My wifes expensive bag which was checked in was very badly handled by loaders and got torn . the item is taken by airline staff for repairs and I have not got it back till now.it is not wise to use expensive bags for transport

 

[Raji Ram]

We did not have any problem in Indigo flights. The one leg by Air India spoiled our mood for one whole day!

 

[krish44]

We did not have any problem in Indigo flights. The one leg by Air India spoiled our mood for one whole day!

indigo guys keep time and are courteous . my wifes bag was damaged in indigo flight though

 

[biswa]

biswaji
muslim ladies that too from bengal are a fatal attraction for TB boys.lol

TBSji, any Muslim story from you?

 

[tbs]

TBSji, any Muslim story from you?

hi

sorry...i had some story with christians/sikhs....but 2 step away from muslims.....even i like church/gurudwara....i visited

amritsar in punjab many times....but i never visited a masjid....still i have some problems with muslims...even though i had

good muslim friends in my school days in kerala.. but i never visited their homes..just info....when i was in teen age...

in the 80s....i was studying typewriting/shorthand in a typing institute for a short period in kerala...i met a beautiful

kerala catholic christian gal studying with me....sometimes i used to teach shorthand to her....even i was planning

to marry her...but it never materialised...its another sad story...i had sikh gal....when i was in army....she was daughter

of an army officer... but i dont want to destroy my army career.... so i left that idea too...finally ended up THAYIR SAADHAM..LOL

 

[Raji Ram]

I had a loving Muslim friend who had four pretty sisters. She pestered me to visit her house before I left the hostel (B.Sc, final year).

When I entered her house there were at least 25 cats, a few roaming around and a few tied to the window grills! :fear:

I drank a glass of water and rushed back to my hostel! :bolt:

 

[krish44]

I began my career in hyderabad , my landlord was a muslim. we had a common backyard .
gem of a fellow
when he came to know , my mother had come visiting me for a short stay at EID time,
he pushed the goat upstairs for slaughter physically in order not to hurt my sentiments
some of my closest friends in hyderabad are muslms.
Ilove to take semias and biryanis [veg without meat made for me by them] with paya a hyderabadi speciality
their marriages are simple and great events. they value family relationships and friendships a lot.
once couple of years I go there to visit them and renew my relationship .

 

[prasad1]

Ratan Tata’s message to Bengal: Look what Modi has done

Forget making a London out of Kolkata, as chief minister Mamata Banerjee had promised, the city falls far short of Ratan Tata's expectations. In a biting coincidence, the Oberoi Group announced on the same day that it also doesn't have plans for Kolkata or Bengal at the moment. Tata's remarks will cut deep in a state grieving over the dismal industrial scene. Battling a series of recent setbacks, including the lynching of a jute mill CEO and INTTUC trouble at several industrial units, the ruling Trinamool Congress chose not comment on Tata's observations.


Asked if he saw any change in Kolkata in the last two years, Tata spoke freely at an interactive session organized by the Ladies' Study Group on Wednesday. "When I was coming from the airport I could see a lot of development coming up. I saw a lot of residential and commercial buildings but I couldn't see an industry. All this looks like countryside development," said Tata, adding that he would like everyone to "look at what Narendra Modi has done for Gujarat". He is quite positive about Modi's taking over as Prime Minister and hopes that India will be back on the growth trajectory.

 

[prasad1]

How Bengal’s poor sell kidneys in other states

The CID has unearthed a racket in which poor people from four Bengal districts "donated" their kidneys to patients in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.


This comes close on the heels of the detective department unearthing another such racket where poor people from Punjab and Chhattisgarh were brought to the city for "donating" their kidneys in lieu of cash.


Lalbazar detectives had found how the "poorest of the poor" from Punjab and Chhattisgarh were promised Rs 10,000-70,000 for a kidney and brought to Kolkata as donors using loopholes in organ transplantation laws. But in the latest case, CID sleuths at Bhawani Bhavan say they have traced several poor land tillers and daily wage earners in four Bengal districts who have 'donated' their kidneys for a price to patients from Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. All these operations took place in some private hospitals close to EM Bypass.


A fax sent to the Bengal home department by UP chief secretary Javed Osmani in April this year alerted the state to the racket, prompting the health department to launch a probe.
How Bengal?s poor sell kidneys in other states - The Times of India

 

[krish44]

prasadji
Ratan Tata might be remembering the singur fiasco. mamatha spearheaded the opposition to forcible land acquisition for tata motors plant. Tatas were

forced to shift to gujarat.He should not have much love for bengal after the event.bengal went downhill during marxist rule. their rule made everyone

uniformly poor. lifestyle is peaceful and laidback as no one goes to work if it is govt before eleven in the morning and work hardly couple of hours a

day, transportation in buses,trams and yellow taxis is cheap. calcutta is not a city. it is a big village. it reminded me of delhi of the fifties.food is

cheaproadside stalls will give you great chai. if you are bhadralok, you could go one of british days club for a game of bridge and food . the british

have left some heritage monuments behind. .I had positive feelings for the place. I could retire and feel comfortable there. any rate better than

chennai for apartment prices and rentals.it is also the cultural capital . their films , music leave a pleasant feeling . recently saw satyajit rays

'Mahanagar'. you could see beautiful shots of calcutta along with depiction of middle class working gils life in calcutta. Madhabhi mukherjee was

bewitching.the film has not lost its charm even after 50 years

 

[krish44]

many people have kidney damage and require replacement. poor people end up losing their kidneys due to acute poverty . it happens in other states

also. tamilnadu also had this problem. the scale of the illegal donation has reduced to some extent elsewhere.bengal is notorious for poor health care.

their hospitals are death traps. infant mortality due to carelessness is very high. oldies need to be extra careful there. one of my relatives with

a heart problem was wise enough to go to south india for treatment on advice of calcutta doctors and saved his life

 

[biswa]

hi

sorry...i had some story with christians/sikhs....but 2 step away from muslims.....even i like church/gurudwara....i visited

amritsar in punjab many times....but i never visited a masjid....still i have some problems with muslims...even though i had

good muslim friends in my school days in kerala.. but i never visited their homes..just info....when i was in teen age...

in the 80s....i was studying typewriting/shorthand in a typing institute for a short period in kerala...i met a beautiful

kerala catholic christian gal studying with me....sometimes i used to teach shorthand to her....even i was planning

to marry her...but it never materialised...its another sad story...i had sikh gal....when i was in army....she was daughter

of an army officer... but i dont want to destroy my army career.... so i left that idea too...finally ended up THAYIR SAADHAM..LOL

Good story, TBS garu. As they say, you can have as much biriyani and pulao as you want outside, but there is nothing like coming back home to thayir saadam.