North East India- unplugged: Royal Bengal

The long awaited vacation is here. It is summer and all and sundry are off to some or the other destination to spend time with their families. Few of them rush back to their native places while a few would rather explore unventured avenues. The remaining have to stay put in town due to various commitments. Wherever you are, it still is holiday time.

30 Apr

7AM: Boarding the early morning flight to Kolkata. Just missed the Mumbai Indians who were flying off to Hyderabad.

2PM: After a short freshen up at a friends place we have now reached

Victoria Memorial

Victoria Memorial.
One of the few heritage sites, it has various sculptures and paintings.

4PM: A quick bite and proceed to Science City. Mirror mazes, evolution of mankind, Astronomical planets, and lots of scientific fundas. A must see at Kolkata. Unfortunately, the schedule was very tight to allow more time at this place.

The roads in this city are much more even than our hometown where we regularly experience roller coaster rides. City appears cleaner, probably due to lesser population. The standard of living is much lower. Real estate costs almost half the price. Local transport too is cheap. What is amazing to note is that all taxis are still the uniform yellow Ambassador variants. The old time trams still function the same and are slightly cheaper than the other public transports. Being
environment friendly, there are foreign funds that keep the trams going. However, the climate really wore us down. Hot and humid.
THE BENGALI CULTURE SEEMS ARCHAEIC AND WELL PRESERVED DESPITE THE INFLUX OF WESTERN CULTURE IN INDIA.

Howrah Bridge

6PM: A ferry ride on the Hooghly river upto the Howrah bridge and back was refreshing to say the least.
This was followed by a sumptuous dinner with an abundance of Bengali sweets, the favorite being Sandesh.

10PM: Boarding a train to New Jalpayguri. Overnight journey. Good night n sweet dreams.


12 May

8AM: Finally it's the last day of our trip.
Just a small stopover at Kolkata till our evening flight to Mumbai.

1PM: A Bengali flavored lunch at a typical Bengali joint - 6 Ballygunge Place, would top up the entire odyssey.