Kolkata In All Its Beauty

Chronicling my sightseeing trip in the City of Joy, Dec 19th.

4 Students, a Professor from abroad (a guest) and our guide, Mrs. B. We started 9am and the 1st place we went was Mother Teresa's Missionary of Charity. The short visit was awe inspiring. Amazing how a tiny lady in a foreign land could reach out and touch so many people. The trick would be, I guess, to forget your own agenda and empathize. Easier said than done, of course. I saw the room she called home for ~40 yrs and the place she sat everyday for her meals. The setting could not have been any more modest.

Next stop, Jain temple. My first ever visit to one. The temple was ornate with colorful glass/mirror. Exquisite. In the middle sat Mahavira. There was a large chandelier hanging just at the entrance. Intricate sculpting all around, and a garden and lake outside. Beautiful start to the day.

To enter Mullick's Marble Palace you need special permission from the local tourism department. Fortunately for us, we had Mrs. B with us. A 150 yr old palace where 22 members of the Mullick family still live. A peek into how royal life would have been during the British times in the then Indian capital. The house is a collection of European paintings and sculptures. Tall White-House like pillars in the front, courtyard in the middle, 2 floors of rooms around, 1/2 private and hence inaccessible to us. Outside, a lawn large enough to play soccer, a zoo with exotic deer and birds and a garden beyond. This piece of real-estate is situated in the heart of the city. Royal life isn't bad.

Final stop, Vidya Sagar setu, next to the river Hooghly, close to the Howrah-Kolkata suspension bridge. The Ganges in all its glory and the hawkers on the side selling pao bhaji.

There's, of course, the Victoria Memorial, the zoo, the museum, the planetarium, the Dalhousie Square, the race course, the governor-general residence turned library and many other places worth the time. How many are graced by my magnanimous presence, is yet to be seen.