India's first capital. This city has a charm that's appealing in most cases. But it is quite confused. There's always an old and new to everything here.
The name. Drape a red and white saree around 'Calcutta' and stuff its mouth with a few roshogullas - you'll end up with 'Kolkata'. Here both names are quite commonly used.
The bridges. Our dear Bongs love the concept of bridges. You'll find two Howrah's along the Hooghli river. Although they've been christened differently, popularly they are referred to as the Old Howrah and the New Howrah.
The city. Time travelling exists in Kolkata. In a few sectors, if you aren't paying much attention to detail, you'll feel like you've travelled from the 1920s to the 21st century. There is such a drastic difference between Old Kolkata and New Kolkata. The older version of the city has elements of the colonial era, but the British aren't here to maintain it and neither did they teach us how to. Hence, you might find it noisy and dirty.
The buses. Public transport in this city is quite colourful. All the taxis here are yellow. But the buses? You'll find a few buses in red, a few in green and a few in blue. The Govt was too confused to limit the buses to one colour.
The weather. In winter, the sun sets around 4.30 pm. I agree that this is due to India's decision to standardise time in the country, but this causes a lot of visual confusion. The city is completely dark before the clock strikes 5.15 pm.
The people. Here i'm only talking about the people on the roads. Drivers of trucks/buses/taxis/cars are quite restless and confused - the roads become one-way/two-way based on the time of day. Pedestrians are quite confused - the signals fluctuate and are quite misleading. Most others seem like they are on a race against time. They want to reach some place urgently, but they don't really know where they want to go.
This konfusion is quite kontagious. If you're kaught in the middle of it, without intending to, you know you're in Kolkata.
The name. Drape a red and white saree around 'Calcutta' and stuff its mouth with a few roshogullas - you'll end up with 'Kolkata'. Here both names are quite commonly used.
The bridges. Our dear Bongs love the concept of bridges. You'll find two Howrah's along the Hooghli river. Although they've been christened differently, popularly they are referred to as the Old Howrah and the New Howrah.
The city. Time travelling exists in Kolkata. In a few sectors, if you aren't paying much attention to detail, you'll feel like you've travelled from the 1920s to the 21st century. There is such a drastic difference between Old Kolkata and New Kolkata. The older version of the city has elements of the colonial era, but the British aren't here to maintain it and neither did they teach us how to. Hence, you might find it noisy and dirty.
The buses. Public transport in this city is quite colourful. All the taxis here are yellow. But the buses? You'll find a few buses in red, a few in green and a few in blue. The Govt was too confused to limit the buses to one colour.
The weather. In winter, the sun sets around 4.30 pm. I agree that this is due to India's decision to standardise time in the country, but this causes a lot of visual confusion. The city is completely dark before the clock strikes 5.15 pm.
The people. Here i'm only talking about the people on the roads. Drivers of trucks/buses/taxis/cars are quite restless and confused - the roads become one-way/two-way based on the time of day. Pedestrians are quite confused - the signals fluctuate and are quite misleading. Most others seem like they are on a race against time. They want to reach some place urgently, but they don't really know where they want to go.
This konfusion is quite kontagious. If you're kaught in the middle of it, without intending to, you know you're in Kolkata.
I likes this one. Very nice.
ReplyDeleteThis is really good. Your actually making me miss home.
ReplyDelete