Kolkata in Pictures

Kolkata (Calcutta) is often called the intellectual capital of India. And while this may be true, the most striking parts of the city for me was the energy, the movement, the dynamism. Just to get into the city from the bus station, we had to cross the most traveled bridge in the world. Over the course of the weekend we rode in cars, buses, boats and subways, and in each mode of transportation we were caught up in a flurry of people and activity.

In Bhubaneswar students on campus and some residents of the city seem to speak with a bit of distrust of the outside. Not many students come from "outside." "Be careful of outside food." When we ride through the main drag of Bhubaneswar, we see few crowds and even fewer women. In Kolkata, on the other hand, residents seem to embrace the outside with tons of people out and about shopping, eating, selling, and more. Also, Bengali women are dominant on the scene and make their presence known with their fiery fashion sense. Bangles, large bindis, nose rings and red-painted feet are just a few adornments the women were sporting.
We visited Dakshineswar Temple, one of the most famous temples in Kolkata, which is meant to honor the goddess Kali. The building was red and white, which are colors favored by Bengalis. In fact, married women traditionally wear these colors only.


We followed this with a visit to Belur Math, a monastery and temple complex that was created in 1938 in homage to Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa by his student Swami Vivekananda. Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa is a respected social and religious reformer that helped advocate for the rights of women. Most notably, he rejected the practices of child marriage, widows being denied the opportunity to remarry, and dowry deaths (the murdering of wives whose parents have not paid their dowries in ways that are meant to look accidental, usually occurring in the kitchen).


On our second day, we visited Victoria Memorial, probably the most recognizable landmark in Kolkata. It was built between 1906 and 1921 in honor of Queen Victoria, also known as the Empress of India. It is currently an art museum, which houses a small section that details India's colonial past (curated somewhat strangely from a British historian's perspective...at least that's how it seemed to me). The grounds around the memorial are vast and provid a nice oasis of calm in the middle of the frenetic city.