Simultaneously noble and squalid, cultured and desperate,
Kolkata is a daily festival of human existence. And it’s all played out
before your very eyes on teeming streets where not an inch of space is
wasted. By its old spelling, Calcutta,
India’s
second-biggest city conjures up images of human suffering to most
Westerners. But Bengalis have long been infuriated by one-sided
depictions of their vibrant capital. Kolkata is locally regarded as the
intellectual and cultural capital of the nation. Several of
India’s
great 19th- and 20th-century heroes were Kolkatans, including
guru-philosopher Ramakrishna, Nobel Prize–winning poet Rabindranath
Tagore and celebrated film director Satyajit Ray.
Dozens of venues
showcase Bengali dance, poetry, art, music, film and theatre. And while
poverty certainly remains in-your-face, the dapper Bengali gentry
continue to frequent grand old gentlemen’s clubs, back horses at the
Calcutta Racetrack and play soothing rounds of golf at some of
India’s finest courses.
As the former capital of British
India,
Kolkata retains a feast of dramatic colonial architecture, with more
than a few fine buildings in photogenic states of semi-collapse. The
city still has many slums but is also developing dynamic new-town
suburbs, a rash of air-conditioned shopping malls and some of the best
restaurants in
India. This is a fabulous place to sample the mild, fruity tang of Bengali cuisine and share the city’s passion for sweets.
Friendlier than
India’s
other mega-cities, Kolkata is really a city you ‘feel’ more than just
visit. But don’t come between May and September unless you’re prepared
for a very serious drenching.
Show in Lonely Planet
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1 комментарий:
Vos photos sont toujours aussi fascinantes... Une envie de voyage incontestable...
Gros bisous
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