Kolkata (Calcutta) Guide

Whenever I visit College Street I make it a point to visit Paramount - the one-stop shop for sherbets in Kolkata (Calcutta). Paramount is a 94 years old sherbet joint that boasts of a rich heritage that very few places in the city can match up to. It is declared as a Heritage building/shop by Kolkata (Calcutta) Municipal Corporation.

One of the best ways to start your day's food expedition is to have a slice of China in your breakfast... and for this what can be a better place than Kolkata's (Calcutta's) very own "China Town". It is a very interesting fact that Kolkata (Calcutta) is the only city in India that has a "China Town". The Chinese have settled in Kolkata as early as the 1780s, and since then they have played a significant role in defining Kolkata's (Calcutta's) cuisine.

  If you have come near College Street in north/central Kolkata (Calcutta) and have not tasted the deep-fried snacks (Tele Bhaja) from "Kalika" then you are really missing something that can not be expressed in words. Kalika is a shop specializing in cutlets in central Kolkata. Frankly speaking I have had the best Beguni (fried slices of Brinjal dipped in gram flour batter) of Kolkata (Calcutta) in "Kalika Mukhorochok Telebhaja".

Many a time we are in a hurry and don't have time to stand in a long que to buy railway tickets. At that time even if we have to shell out some extra money to get the ticket faster, we are ready to do so. Especially in busy station like Sealdah, where at any given time at least 100 people are standing in a que, if we get the ticket without standing in such a que then we feel really lucky. I think after reading this post many people will start feeling lucky and will save a lot of their precious time. The Indian Railways has started Jansadharan Ticket Booking Sevaks (JTBS) in all its Zones. Many passengers don't know about these counters. The JTBS is an Indian railways approved all station ticket counter. You can buy local train tickets from these counters without standing in long ques... in return you have to pay a commission of Re. 1/- per ticket.

Life in Kolkata's (Calcutta's) suburbs is very much dependent on railways, In other words, Kolkata Suburbs is connect to Kolkata (Calcutta) mainly by these Local Trains. Similar to Mumbai local trains which are called "Lifeline of Mumbai", Kolkata (Calcutta) Local trains are heavily used/availed. People have their own group of "Train Friends". People play Cards, Discuss Cricket and football and even indulge in grave discussions on current affairs and also comment on "Anandabazaar ki bollo (what did Ananda Bazar Patrika say about a particular news)". There is a particular name given to people who travel daily by these trains - "Daily Passenger" and traveling daily is known as "Daily Passengery", though the word "Passengery" is no where in the English dictionary :) .Few years back even I was a daily passenger. We used to remember the train timings by heart coz if you miss one train then you have to wait at least 20...

UPDATE : Now passengers have to pay whatever is displayed on the meter... No extra Addition or Multiplication ... :) From 1st November 2012 Government of West Bengal has increased taxi and bus fares in Kolkata (Calcutta), as a result people (Passengers in general) are quite confused as the taxi drivers are charging whatever they wish coz the meters are the same only the way to calculate the fare has changed. So just to clear this "air of confusion" I am putting up this post.

UPDATE : Now passengers have to pay whatever is displayed on the meter... No extra Addition or Multiplication ... :) For Booking pre-paid Taxi online visit  http://etaxi.howrahcitypolice.in/Booking Link to the App is  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=in.howrahpolice.etaxi Howrah Junction is one of the busiest Railway stations of Kolkata (Calcutta), or rather Eastern India. To reduce the Rush of the passengers, a "New Terminus" has been created in Howrah Junction. All the Trains of Eastern Railway arrive in and depart from the Old Terminus. And all the Trains of South-Eastern Railway arrive in and depart from the New Terminus. Both these Terminuses have their own respective "Pre-Paid Taxi Booths", though the Rate Chart is same for both these booths. These Pre-Paid Taxi Booths are run by Hoogly Nadi Jalpath Paribahan samity Ltd. Earlier These rates were written only in Bengali, then they put up the rate chart in English, though the size of that...