A Few Days in Kolkata

Here are some photos I'd taken around Kolkata, while I was there for a few days in early December, 2004.

I'd arrived in Kolkata at the very end of my trip. After eight months of travelling, it was difficult to muster the energy required to explore a town like Kolkata properly. Considered to be the cultural capital of the country, I would have liked to have explored more of the cultural highlights that its reknown for...plays, exhibitions etc. Without preparing myself properly or really looking or planning ahead, I found it difficult to break out of the usual business of sight-seeing.

Approaching Calcutta

This is the view from the train-ride through Bengal, approaching Calcutta from Varanasi.


Life verged right onto the tracks. These small towns would have been magic to explore closer.


Streets of Calcutta


Calcutta taxis resemble a New York taxi somewhat. This was the only place I saw in India with yellow cabs.


Near the Writer's Building is Lal Dighi, a large pool of water, I noticed people washing in during the morning.

The Queen Victoria Memorial



Construction finished in 1921 of this grand legacy of the British Raj and to the then reigning Empress of India, Queen Victoria.



I wandered into the grounds of an old library which had a garden and this scarecrow hanging in it.

Park Street Cemetary

Park Street Cemetary is an enormous imperial necropolis in the centre of the city. It reminded me a lot of the Victorian graves at Highgate Cemetary in London. It was only a little eerie...really much more of a serene and peaceful experience...especially with the bustle of the city metres outside the walls.