My first stop in India this year was Kolkata (formerly known as Calcutta). My aim for the journey was to cross as many countries via land borders as possible, sadly it was not possible to cross from Dhaka to Kolkata by land because they were (maybe still are, I don’t know) hanging onto an old Covid rule that meant that tourists to India had to fly in through certain airports. They had a whole health check system lined up and I had to fill out an online form, print it to present when I arrived in India.

However – this was not asked for upon my arrival. I passed a sort of temporary booth that looked like it gathered information on travellers, but it looked closed down and wasn’t in operation when I arrived. In fact it was a super quick experience getting through immigration, no questions re: Vaccination or anything. Incidentally Indian and Bangladeshi citizens, I believe, could and can cross the land border without issue. I was tempted to rock up at the border and see what happened, but with a limited time to cross and train tickets already booked for India and Pakistan, I wasn’t prepared to take the risk.

In 2004 I had crossed in the North of Bangladesh and arrived in Kolkata by train from Siliguri. This time arriving at the airport was a completely different experience and I found myself on new freeways speeding past giant hotels, a completely different way to enter the city and I guess I would have to say it felt so completely different 19 years after my first visit.

But I did arrive with some fore knowledge of the place which was useful, and a rough idea of what I would do in my one full day there. As with a few places, I would really just be ‘passing through’. Basically without thinking about it I had a mostly walking tour in my head set to go. And when you’re moving on the next day, it’s more about doing than planning!

And so I took off on this day in the morning from my hotel/guesthouse – will be doing some reviews on the places I stayed as you can imagine, this one was the Park Suites and it was brilliant, one of the best places I have ever stayed in five trips to India, about $45USD per night and excellent value for money, good location on Park Street – a hub of energy and life, with a metro stop 2 minutes walk away.

I was happy that I could actually walk most of the places I wanted to go. I did use transport here and there, once in a yellow taxi which Kolkata is famous for and I felt I just had to take at least one, and I used the Metro in the end one station only I think to get back to Park street.

I strode down park street and made my way to New Market Kolkata, the area is full of little places selling pretty much anything you can think of. Some amazing buildings in the area. I then made a left down SN Banerjee Road and stopped at a little shop for a Kolkata shave – you may or may not know I do love a professional shave when in these parts of the world.

From there I headed onto the maidens towards Eden Gardens, one of the biggest cricket stadiums not just in India (I believe the one in Ahmedabad is the only one bigger) but in the world. On the maidens there were many people out playing social games (and some more serious) of cricket which was really cool. I chilled there for a little while before making my way past the famous cricket ground, and past more trees and park lands before making it to the main river on which Kolkata is built on/around – the Hoogly River.

Then I walked along the banks of it watching life happen, it was a Hindu festival at the time and people were actually bathing in the river, which was a bit special. I cut across with the intention of getting to the Victoria Memorial, perhaps the premier tourist sight in Kolkata. Which is a pity because there is nothing that harks back to the time of the British Empire in India more than a huge building devoted to Queen Victoria.

But it was a fair way away from where I was, and then there were these parks and grounds owned by the military and I wasn’t able to walk through them, so I decided to take the yellow taxi at that point, which was a good call. The weather was warm and sunny, it was a beautiful day to be fair. 28 degrees or so, love that sort of weather for photography.

It was a Sunday and the Victoria Monument was packed. There are principally two types of tickets, one for the grounds and one for the grounds and the building. I chose the first of two, it was a lot cheaper, there was a long wait to get inside the building and I’m pretty sure photography wasn’t allowed inside.

The grounds are beautiful, extensive, there are lakes/ponds, and people come to enjoy the sun and have a day out with the family. It’s a glorious building regardless of why and for whom it was dedicated.  

I snuck back to my apartment for a few moments and then made my way to what they call the ‘Mother House’. This is a house where Mother Teresa ran her charity from in Kolkata for a time. And when I got there, well, I was surprised to see a crowd outside and a ceremony going on inside. A bit of security as well as well as press.

I still am not 100% sure what was going on there, but they ended by singing ‘Happy Birthday’… to whom I was not sure. I thought initially it was Mother Teresa’s birthday but it turns out that was in August. It was a cool experience though just being outside the home whilst everything was going on, which is a good thing as they didn’t reopen the place after it was done (they were saying they were going to.

And a return then to the hotel, and my little tour of Kolkata was done. All in all I was really happy with the day which had allowed me to get a fair bit in to the day and also get a fair few steps into the day as well! The next day I was on an all-day train ride to Varanasi… but that’s another story!

Thanks for joining me as always! Wherever you are in the world, take care, and May the Journey Never End!