India

Simultaneously noble and squalid, cultured and desperate, Kolkata is a daily festival of human existence. And it's all played out before your very eyes on teeming streets where not an inch of space is wasted. By its old spelling, Calcutta, India's second-biggest city conjures up images of human suffering to most Westerners. But Bengalis have long been infuriated by one-sided depictions of their vibrant capital. Kolkata is locally regarded as the intellectual and cultural capital of the nation. Several of India's great 19th- and 20th-century heroes were Kolkatans, including guru-philosopher Ramakrishna, Nobel Prize-winning poet Rabindranath Tagore and celebrated film director Satyajit Ray. Dozens of venues showcase Bengali dance, poetry, art, music, film and theatre. And while poverty certainly remains in-your-face, the dapper Bengali gentry continue to frequent grand old gentlemen's clubs, back horses at the Calcutta Racetrack and play soothing rounds of golf at some of India's finest courses.

Before the 20th century

Archaeological evidence from the ruins of Chandraketugarh suggests that the area around Kolkata was home to a thriving and sophisticated civilisation around 2000 years ago. By the time the British arrived in 1686 there were just small villages, strung out along the banks of the Hooghly and overseen by wealthy Bengali landowners. The first British trading depot was established in Hooghly, 38km (23mi) upriver from modern-day Kolkata, but in 1686, Job Charnock shifted operations downriver to the villages of Sutanuti, Gobindapur and Kalikata, setting the foundation for the city that would one day become the capital of British India. Despite the post's initial lack of success, a fort was laid out near present-day BBD Bagh (Dalhousie Square) and in 1698, the Mughal ruler Aurangzeb's grandson gave the British officials permission to occupy the villages.

Kolkata grew steadily until 1756, when Siraj-ud-daula, the nawab of Murshidabad, attacked the town. Most of the British inhabitants escaped, but those captured were packed into an underground cellar where, during the night, most of them suffocated in what became known as 'the black hole of Calcutta'. In 1757 the British, under Clive of India, re-took the city and made peace with the nawab. A stronger fort (Fort William) was built in Kolkata and the town became British India's capital. Over the following centuries, the British created a facsimile of London on the banks of the Hooghly, with parks, gardens, parade grounds and wide boulevards lined with colonial mansions, many of which still stand today. Kolkata's Indian population was relegated to the bustees - sprawling slums extending for miles around the British enclave. This unfair segregation sowed the seeds for rebellion. In the 19th century, Bengal became an important centre in the struggle for Indian independence, leading the British to transfer the capital to Delhi in 1911.

Modern history

Loss of political power did not alter Kolkata's economic control, and the British continued to pump money out of India through Kolkata trading companies and banks until well after WWII. The partition of India in 1947 devastated Kolkata. Bengal was one of the main areas with a mixed Hindu and Muslim population, so the dividing line was drawn through the middle of the state. Kolkata became an industrial city and port without a hinterland, while across the border, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) became a hinterland with nowhere to process or export its produce. Although partition was less brutal here than in the Punjab, Kolkata was inundated with tens of thousands of refugees fleeing from East Bengal. The massive influx of refugees and the departure of the British, combined with India's postwar population explosion, took its toll on Kolkata, both economically and socially. The city became a 20th-century horror story, at least in the eyes of the Western media, who focused obsessively on the poverty and the work of Mother Teresa and her missionary nuns in the slums. In 1971 the India-Pakistan conflict and the creation of Bangladesh led to another flood of refugees into Kolkata, putting yet more strain on the city and its resources.

Recent history

After hitting a low in the 1980s, Kolkata has slowly begun to find its voice again. Public works programs by the Communist government have reduced some of the pressures on housing and resources and middle-class amenities such as shopping malls and multiplex cinemas are popping up across the city. In December 2000, the government officially abandoned the British name Calcutta for the Indian name Kolkata, marking a new-found confidence in the city. More recently, the Indian IT boom has started to catch up with Kolkata, prompting many multinational companies to set up bases in the city.

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Kolkata positively bakes from April to June, so the arrival of the cooling monsoon rains in mid-June can feel like a blessing. The feeling doesn't last - for the next three months, rain buckets down on Kolkata like it was going out of fashion, swelling the Hooghly and flooding the streets. From October through to February the rains slow and temperatures drop back down to bearable levels. It is never cold in Kolkata - the temperature rarely drops below 15ºC (59ºF), and often soars above 35ºC (95ºF).

Average weather

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Transport

Getting around

Kolkata buses are packed monsters that travel at frightening speeds, jostling for space on the roads with trams and taxis. Routes are varied and confusing - the little red minibuses that leave from BBD Bagh have signboards in English. Fares are dirt cheap. Perhaps the most characterful way to travel around the city is by tram; from the Maidan terminus, narrow tin trams run north to Belgachia and south to Tollygunge, but they can be like sardine tins in rush hour. Although pollution-free, the trams face an uncertain future as politicians blame them for Kolkata's notorious traffic congestion. The Kolkata Metro, India's first underground railway, is calm, clean and efficient. There are two types of taxis in Kolkata: yellow taxis have permits to travel all over Kolkata and West Bengal, while black-and-yellow taxis are restricted to Kolkata. Metered fares are very reasonable, but you have to strenuously insist that the driver uses the meter. Kolkata is also the last real bastion of the human-powered rickshaw (cycle-rickshaws never really caught on in the rutted, tram-lined streets). Although slow, they come into their own in the monsoon when the streets flood, and fares - predictably - go through the roof. Fares are invariably elevated for foreigners, but you will be supporting someone's livelihood. Ferries are a quick and pleasant way to get along and across the Hooghly, as well as offering the best views of the Howrah Bridge.

Getting there and away

Kolkata is a good centre for competitive airfares to other parts of Asia, Europe and the USA's east coast. Air India is the national carrier, but state-owned Indian Airlines also has international flights from Kolkata to Bangkok, Dhaka, Kathmandu and Yangon. Private airlines Jet, Air Sahara and Kingfisher offer generally more reliable services around India. Kolkata's Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport is 17km (10.5mi) northeast of BBD Bagh. It's often called Dum Dum, as it sits on the site where explosive dum-dum bullets were once made. A public minibus runs from BBD Bagh to Dum Dum, but you must take a rickshaw for the last 1km (0.6mi); a taxi is usually easier. The efficient Metro also stops short of the airport in Dum Dum, but a shuttle bus runs from the station to the airport terminal. If you're after a taxi from the airport, it's cheaper and more reliable to go to the prepaid taxi booth (after you clear customs), where you'll be assigned one.

Because of the urban sprawl, few people bother to travel from Kolkata by bus, though there are direct international bus services from Kolkata to Dhaka and Phuentsholing in Bhutan, and buses to most large towns in West Bengal, leaving from the Esplanade bus station. It's generally quicker and more comfortable to travel by train. Kolkata has two major train stations, both of them frenetic (beware - they're a pickpocket's paradise). Howrah station, on the west side of the Hooghly, handles most trains to the south and west, while Sealdah station on the east side of the river is for trains heading north of Kolkata to Siliguri, Darjeeling and the northeast. There are also boats from Kolkata to the Andaman & Nicobar Islands.