Bengal

My country, India is indeed fascinating. I as an Indian and a woman am also fascination. Am born in Calcutta, West Bengal, and still love the city. I was born in a city which was known as Calcutta till it got changed to Kolkata not so far away, but in my tongue Calcutta is still there. I can never say Kolkata. Kolkata is between my fellow Bongs (friends and relatives), but when I say were was I born, I still say Calcutta. It is place which is still dirty and filthy but yet beautiful. There is poverty all around but rich in intellect. The city is claustrophobic but still is spacious. Though I have hardly lived in Calcutta, but would love to own a home of my own someday and live in it with people bustling about. What can you not love in Calcutta? There is heat and humidity but when you go in the river banks of the Ganges, there is a cool breeze and life in there which is not so hot and humid.

Victoria Memorial, Calcutta

Howrah Bridge

The city has both the old and the old colonial houses and there is a modern vibrancy to it. The two pictures above are the two faces of the old city. But don't they still look elegant? Apart from cities like Mumbai (Bombay), Chennai (Madras) and New Delhi, how many cities are there in India which can boast a colonial architecture of such grandeur and awe? There are occasional places like Shimla and Darjeeling, but then there were hill stations built by the British and they also hold some of the old British houses. But nothing to match these cities.

More to come........