I will not forget that magnificent feeling, when my flight was over the Kolkata city in the midnight. It was a dark all over and what I could see is the gleams of the lights and bright illuminations Kolkata city.Early in the morning we reached the Kolkata airport/Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport. I was on my trip to Sundarban along with other 6 members.

 

Short Info of Kolkata 

Kolkata is a capital of the West Bengal State and one of the metropolitan cities on India . It is best known for the Howrah Bridge, Durga Puja, Bengali sweets like Roshogolla & Sandesh, Machher jhol (Bengali fish curry), Victoria Memorial  etc. It is the only city in India where the tram train still runs. Kolkata is also called as “City of joy’ ’or “Citi of palaces”. Indeed, one of the colorful cities I have seen ever.

 

It was so joyous moment for me; the sun had just risen and we were passing through the streets of Kolkata. The trams, city buses were running on the middle of streets, people were woken up and they were busy in their morning deeds. We saw the sights of Kolkata’s daily life during our taxi ride, some British time houses and some colorful lanes.

 

 

 

 

We reached at Backpackers office, our meeting point from where we traveled to Sundarban.

The Backpackers is a Sundarban tour operator who had organized our Sundarban trip from Kolkata. They had arranged our transportation to and fro Sundarban, our boat safaris, meals including breakfast, lunch, evening snacks and dinner and our stay in the Eco village.

 

At Backpacker’s office, we ate sandwiches and had a tea in the kullad.  Kullad is a tea cup made of soil or clay. In Kolkata Kullad is called as “Bhad”

“Madam, Bad me chai” Rakesh said and gave me the cup of tea.

We started laughing as we heard the word “Bhad”.  “Bhad” is a Hindi word and it’s mostly used in the context of showing anger or something like “Get Lost”.

 

After finishing breakfast and tea, I was searching for a dustbin to throw my cup, but then Rakesh asked me to throw and break Bhad on the road. For a while I wasn’t comfortable with doing so, but Rakesh demonstrated and he said, this is the way how Bhad get deposed and it is a biodegradable material so it will not cause any dirt on the road.  Well, it was interesting to destroy Bhad on the road.

 

Rakesh and other coordinators were very cheerful and they kept telling us interesting stories and their travel experiences during our journey to Sundarban.

After spending a few days in Sundarban (More posts coming on Sundarban soon), I came in Kolkata and met my best friend. I extended my trip by 2 days just to explore city Kolkata and to spend some quality time with my friend, whom I met after 5 years.

In those 2 days, I managed to see the local markets of Kolkata, the famous Victoria Memorial and the Eco tourism park.

The Victoria Memorial is beautiful white marble building by the bank of Hooghly River. It is dedicated to the memory of Queen Victoria. It was established in 1921 and now, it is a museum and the famous tourist attraction in Kolkata. The museum is the royal picture gallery displays the portraits of Victoria and Prince Albert and narrates the tales of their life. The surroundings of Victoria Memorial are quite pleasant and peaceful.

I visited Eco Tourism Park/ Eco Park also. It is a huge ecological park along with a beautiful lake. There are many areas in park like gardens, flowers section, musical fountains, Mask garden etc. There is a small island in the middle of the lake. One can try boat ride or paddling in the lake or simply sit and spend some relaxing time around lake watching the sunset. I enjoyed the musical fountain in late night. The place is really peaceful and good to visit from the hustle bustle of the city.

 Now I would like to hear from you, did my post inspire you to visit Kolkata? 

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