Oh Calcutta

The entrance courtyard of the Howrah Hotel in Kolkata.


After a brief stopover in Chennai we already had our tickets for the train to Kolkata. Comfortable and effortless - we decided to go for the 3 tier air conditioned sleeper option (a little cheaper than 2 tier). It was clean, comfortable and a little more costly than the bus from Hastings to Wellington for a 30 hour journey. One of our fellow travellers runs a shop selling items from Sikkim at Siliguri, the destination of our next train. We just secured the last 2 berths on the train for tomorrow night - it is an 11 hour journey and arrives about 7am. The a/c trains provide clean (usually) linen, pillows and blankets. Incidentally, the temperature for Kolkata today is 36 degrees with 92% humidity. Another advantage of a/c trains is that the usual endless parade of beggars in different forms does not occur (I think there is a guard posted at the end of the carriages). There is no limit, however, to the parade of welcome chai, coffee, cool drinks, water, snacks (too numerous to list) and vendors of utterly useless junk and trash, although that does have a certain fascination.
We took a hotel quite near to the station which was built in the mid 1800s. It really would have looked elegant in those days, but is now only just holding together (incidentally behind the hotel counter is a photo of a bearded old man who looks English but with Hindu ash markings etc whose name was Shiv Shankar Shaw - when I asked about him they proudly explained he was their father, and also added that I looked like him!); although the area is probably the grimiest and grubbiest I've come across in India. Having said that we took a ferry across the Hooghly (that's NOT a Gerry and the Pacemakers song) avoiding the busiest bridge in the world, and have come to an utterly delightful city. The old slightly crumbling grand magnificence of old Calcutta. It seems the heritage buildings here are actually looked after unlike parts of Bangalore for instance which has been eager to demolish its built heritage. The trams still rumble along although not quite as crisp as Melbourne trams but it adds to a public transport system that would be the envy of many cities in India. We have just enjoyed strolling and observing. Calcutta still maintains a grandeur that few cities in the world could match.