kolkata

Centuries before the advent of Western seafarers, the settlement of Kalikata (site of present-day Kalighat) had been home to a much-revered temple consecrated to the Hindu goddess Kali, which still stands today. That aside, the area was very much a rural backwater, and tales of tigers roaming the impenetrable jungles (where Park St now runs!) are rife in the city's lores. When British merchant Job Charnock showed up in 1690, he considered the site appropriate for a new, defendable colonial settlement, and within a few decades a miniature version of London – christened Calcutta – was sprouting stately buildings and English churches amid wide boulevards and grand formal gardens. The grand European illusion, however, vanished abruptly at the new city's frayed edges, where Indians servicing the Raj mostly lived in cramped, overcrowded slums.

The most notable hiccup in the city’s meteoric rise came in 1756, when Siraj-ud-daula, the nawab of nearby Murshidabad, captured the city. Dozens of members of the colonial aristocracy were imprisoned in a cramped room beneath the British military stronghold of Fort William (currently a base of the Indian Army). By dawn, around 40 were dead from suffocation. The British press exaggerated numbers, drumming up moral outrage back home: the legend of the ‘Black Hole of Calcutta’ was born.

The following year, Lord Robert Clive – then Viceroy of India – retook Calcutta for Britain. The nawab sought aid from the French but was defeated at the Battle of Plassey (now Palashi), thanks to the treachery of former allies. A stronger moated ‘second’ Fort William was constructed in 1758, and Calcutta became British India’s official capital, though well into the 18th century one could still hunt leopards in the bamboo forests around where Sudder St lies today.

The late-19th-century Bengali Renaissance movement saw a great cultural reawakening among middle-class Calcuttans. This was further galvanised by the massively unpopular 1905 division of Bengal, which sowed the seeds of the Indian Independence movement. Bengal was reunited in 1911, but the British promptly transferred their colonial capital to less troublesome New Delhi.

Initially, loss of political power had little effect on Calcutta’s economic status. However, the impact of 1947’s partition was devastating. While West Pakistan and Punjab saw a fairly equal (and bloody) exchange of populations, migration in Bengal was largely one way. Around four million Hindu refugees from East Bengal arrived, choking Calcutta’s already overpopulated bastis (slums). For a period, people were literally dying of hunger in the streets, creating Calcutta’s abiding image of abject poverty. No sooner had these refugees been absorbed than a second wave arrived during the 1971 India-Pakistan War.

After India’s partition, the port of Calcutta was hit very hard by the loss of its main natural hinterland, which lay behind the closed East Pakistan (later Bangladesh) border. Labour unrest spiralled out of control while the city’s dominant party (Communist Party of India) spent most of its efforts attacking the feudal system of land ownership and representing proletarian demands and interests. Despite being well intentioned, many of these moves backfired. Bandhs (strikes) were called by labour unions almost fortnightly, severely affecting the commercial productivity of the region. Strict rent controls to protect tenants' interests were abused to the extent that even today some tenants pay only a few hundred rupees occupying quarters in the grandest heritage buildings, which are sadly crumbling away because landlords have no interest in maintaining these loss-making properties.

In 2001 Calcutta officially adopted the more phonetic spelling, Kolkata. Around the same time the city administration implemented a new, relatively business-friendly attitude that has encouraged a noticeable economic resurgence. The most visible results are numerous suburban shopping malls and apartment towers, plus the rapid emergence of Salt Lake City’s Sector 5 as Kolkata’s alternative corporate and entertainment centre (albeit well off tourists’ radars). In 2011 the Trinamool Congress Party swept the state elections to end the Communist Party's 34-year reign in West Bengal, and promised to usher in large-scale paribartan (change). It's a work in progress that continues to the present day. The incredible Victoria Memorial is a vast, beautifully proportioned festival of white marble: think US Capitol meets Taj Mahal. Had it been built for a beautiful Indian princess rather than a colonial queen, this domed beauty flanking the southern end of the Maidan would surely be considered one of India’s greatest buildings. Commissioned by Lord Curzon, then Viceroy of India, it was designed to commemorate Queen Victoria’s demise in 1901, but construction wasn’t completed until 20 years after her death.

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Inside, highlights are the soaring central chamber and the Calcutta Gallery, an excellent, even-handed exhibition tracing the city’s colonial-era history. Even if you don’t want to go in, the building is still worth admiring from afar: there are magnificently photogenic views across reflecting ponds from the northeast and northwest. Or you can get closer by paying your way into the large, well-tended park, open from dawn to dusk. Entrance is from the north or south gates (with ticket booths at both). The east gate is exit-only by day, but on winter evenings, enter here for the 45-minute English-language sound & light show. Tickets available from 5pm. Show seating is outside and uncovered. There are no shows in summer. The stately 1784 family mansion of Rabindranath Tagore has become a shrine-like museum to India’s greatest modern poet. Even if his personal effects don’t inspire you, some of the well-chosen quotations might spark an interest in Tagore’s deeply universalist and modernist philosophy. There’s a decent gallery of paintings by his family and contemporaries, and an exhibition on his literary, artistic and philosophical links with Japan. There's also a 1930 photo of Tagore with Einstein shot during a well-publicised meeting.

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Tagore's House is maintained and run by Rabindra Bharati University, and the museum is located on the university campus. Countless clay effigies of deities and demons immersed in the Hooghly during Kolkata’s colourful pujas (offering or prayers) are created in specialist kumar (sculptor) workshops in this enthralling district, notably along Banamali Sarkar St, the lane running west from Rabindra Sarani. Craftsmen are busiest from August to October, creating straw frames, adding clay coatings, and painting divine features on idols for Durga and Kali festivals. In November, old frameworks wash up on riverbanks and are often repurposed the following year.

TOURS & SIGHTSEEING ACTIVITY

Private Tour: Kolkata Sightseeing Including Mother House, University of Calcutta and Victoria Memorial

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Photography is widely allowed, and for a small tip, it's even possible to sit in at a studio and observe the idol-maker immersed in his work. Apart from gods and (vanquished) demons, you'll often see statues of Victorian figurines, popular historical figures and local legends being constructed, as these are often used to decorate puja pandals.