Kolkata/ Calcutta (main page)
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Calcutta or Kolkata? Indpaedia says: Both
Indpaedia believes that India's Eastern capital (and former national capital) is কলকাতা in Bengali, Kalkutta in German, कलकत्ता in Hindi, ਕਲਕੱਤਾ in Punjabi, Калькутта in Russian, Calcuta in Spanish, கல்கத்தா in Tamil, కలకత్తా in Telugu…. (In French and Dutch it is spelt Calcutta but pronounced differently.)
And it is Calcutta when written in English, whether by an Indian or by an Englishman, American, Canadian or a person of any nationality writing in English.
Priyanka Dasgupta | TNN | Aug 3, 2016 The Times of India Capital shift: After 15 years, why Kolkata is still Calcutta for many
KOLKATA: In 2001, just after then Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee announced that the state capital `Calcutta' would be officially renamed `Kolkata', author Mahasveta Devi had welcomed the change.But, almost parenthetically , she had asked what would happen to the names of the city's venerable institutions? Would Calcutta University be renamed Kolkata University? Would Calcutta high court be called Kolkata High Court?
Fifteen years later, the Centre has proposed a bill to change the names of Madras, Bombay and Calcutta high courts to Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata high courts respectively . But the name of Calcutta University remains unchanged.
Among those who had clamoured for a change in the nomenclature of the state capital was author Sunil Gangopadhyay. Soon after the announcement, the elated author had reacted to the change, describing it as a "long-standing demand of intellectuals of the metropo lis". Gangopadhyay had even hoped that the state would be renamed "Paschim Banga" and had suggested that at least a third of the signboards in the city be rewritten in Bengali.This, he had said, would "fuel" Bengali pride, make people feel that the city belonged to Bengalis and do away with the colonial hangover. However, film-maker Mrinal Sen had wondered whether renaming would indeed help in getting rid of the colonial legacy . To do away with that legacy , he had maintained, was not that simple.
Actor-director Parambrata Chatterjee refuses to let go of Chatterjee refuses to let go of `Calcutta' when speaking English. "The colonial hangover is a part of us. I don't denounce everything with a colonial legacy . In Bengali, I call my city Kolkata. But in English, it is always Calcutta for me," he said.
Names of Calcutta Univer sity, IIM-Calcutta, Calcutta Club, Royal Calcutta Golf Club, Royal Calcutta Turf Club and Calcutta Telephones have also not changed.
Suvojit Guha, former presi dent of Calcutta Club, said the committee that was in charge of managing the club's affairs in 2001had decided that the original name was better. "Being a conventional club, we don't embrace change drastically . Without a doubt, the original name of the club goes better with its identity," he said.
Many also point out that while Calcutta is easier to a non-resident's tongue, the name `Kolkata' often gets mutilated into `Kawlkotta' and its variants by many. "Thankfully, our club's name has been saved from that," Guha concluded.
The cosmopolitan Kolkata
The Armenians, Chinese and Jews leave
Gautam Bhattacharyya, July 25, 2023: The Times of India
A small news item in Times of India ’s Kolkata edition, a few weeks back, stood out. The Overseas Chinese Commerce of India newspaper or Seong Pow, arguably the country’s only newspaper in Mandarin published from the Chinatown area of Kolkata, were suspending their publication after more than 50 years.
Was it an all-too-obvious signal that the Chinese community, which had been such an integral part of the soul of Kolkata for ages, was dwindling away further so that there were a lack of readers?
Talk of the Chinese and one conjures images of those lip-smacking cuisine of Tangra area, the shoe shops which dotted central Kolkata or the crackers, and lion-and-dragon dance in Tiretta Bazaar neighbourhood that mark the Chinese New Year.
The Chinese, of course, are resilient people and are not ready to give up on an important part of their legacy — Seong Pow — yet. A small group of local businessmen has now decided to resurrect the publication column by column. If shifting the office space from the earlier decrepit building to one of their business offices was the first step, they have now set themselves a target of resuming the publication over the next few months.
Taking the flight out
The exodus of younger Chinese population, thanks to their pursuit of greener pastures in the West, is more of an unavoidable social phenomenon. Their ebbing away, much like most of the other minority ethnic communities like the Jews, Armenians or Parsis with time, now threatens to rob Kolkata of the reputation of a heterogeneous city that it once was.
The once wealthy and vibrant Jewish community is now barely identified with Nahoums, the iconic bakery at New Market, while the Armenian Sports Club in the Maidan area is more of an address for most than anything else.
Chen Yao, president of the Chinese Association of India, feels such a change is inevitable though his community is still trying to grapple with the phenomenon.
“Around 2000, we had a population of at least 4,000 spread over Tiretta Bazaar and Tangra. The number has come down by a half now, if not more. The younger members of the community are migrating abroad in search of a better life,’’ Chen tells TOI Plus. A walk through the new Chinatown area tells its own story. Once very much a go-to place with friends and families looking for any convenient excuse to celebrate with a sumptuous Chinese meal there, the restaurant business is still reeling from the after-effects of the pandemic.
The number of restaurants left in the business there have shrunk to single digits, while real estate sharks are preying on the idle warehouses (erstwhile tanneries), which are making way for some modern, yet incongruous housing complexes.
A number of Chinese schools in and around the vicinity has closed down for lack of students. However, there are a number of heartwarming initiatives like the Star Welfare School — run by a Chinese couple — who offer education to the local underprivileged Muslim children.
Monica Liu, the 70-year-old owner of the famous Beijing restaurant and a mini celebrity in the neighbourhood, is not unduly worried about their dwindling numbers though. She and her husband, Liu Kuo Chao, started their business with a modest Kim Lin restaurant in 1991 and then added Beijing seven years later.
“See, you cannot stop the exodus but there will always be a new lot of immigrants coming into a city like Kolkata,” says Liu.
Dying echoes
If the Chinese presence still resonates in the City of Joy, the once thriving communities of Jews and Armenians have almost become footnotes in the city’s changing profile — identified only with their synagogues, churches, schools or cemeteries.
The scenario was far different in the 1960s, according to AM Cohen, the managing trustee of Emunah Calcutta Jewish Trust in charge of the Jewish Girls’ School on Royd Street and also the livewire behind the maintenance and upkeep of the heritage properties.
Sitting in her spacious office room, the 77-year-old soft-spoken Cohen laughs off my suggestion if she could be distantly related to the legendary singer Leonard Cohen. “Kolkata was a far more vibrant city in the ’60s when I came here as a teenager with my dad, who worked in the sugar industry. The Jews had set up five synagogues initially and each would have its separate congregation of around 150 people during the prayers on Saturday. It’s a different story now as sometimes at the morning prayers, I would possibly be the lone person lighting the candle. There are only 10-12 Jews across the city,’’ she says.
There are no students of Jewish faith in either of their schools, with the girls’ school under her catering to the neighbourhood Muslim students from the central part of the city.
“Keeping the school going forms a key part of my responsibility. The synagogues have been identified as heritage properties by the Archaeological Society of India, but they already have a large number of heritage properties at their disposal and not much resources. Things like maintenance, security are taken care of by the trust and that’s a lot on our plate,’’ she says.
A widow and with the rest of the family now settled in the US and Israel, Cohen finds it difficult to let go of her responsibilities but is not sure about who will take over the role in her absence. “It’s a big question mark as to what will happen after me. I am trying to connect with some well-meaning institutions; let’s see,’’ she reflects.
Situated barely a kilometre away from the Jewish school is the Armenian College, belonging to another community which embraced Kolkata as their home. The South Caucasian community arrived in Bengal even before the British.
Settled mainly in central Kolkata, they built their own church — the Armenian Church of Holy Nazreth on Brabourne Road, built in 1734, is the oldest church in Kolkata — college and schools in the city and almost genetically excelled in sport, popularising rugby and also setting up the Armenian Sports Club on Mayo Road. Kolkata still has an Armenian Street and Sukeas Lane, named after an Armenian entrepreneur.
Aznive Joakim, secretary of the Armenian College on Mirza Ghalib Street, founded 200 years back, is herself a fine example of how the community had once blended with the life and ethos of Kolkata.
“My father, Andreas, came as a teenager here and settled down in Kolkata. I was born and bred here and graduated from Jadavpur University. I got married to a Bengali as well,’’ says Joakim, whose Bengali is as fluent as it can be.
Not far from the historic college was the ‘Armani para’, the neighbourhood where the Armenians once lived in a flock. “Armenian merchants had also built iconic buildings like the Stephen Court, Queen’s Mansion and Oberoi Grand. However, the migration to countries like England and Australia started soon after India’s independence and there are 50-odd Armenian families currently in the city now. Our college, incidentally, has to bring students from Armenia to study and stay here,’’ she says.
Cosmopolitan Kolkata
The shrinking of such communities over time, slowly but surely, is robbing Kolkata of the reputation of being a melting pot that it once was. The Afghans, who could even be spotted in different parts of the city — peddling dried fruits and spices — have also become extinct.
Their unique, flowing dresses would either instil a bit of fear or strike a chord in the Bengali psyche after Rabindranath Tagore created his immortal character in Kabuliwallah. However, to expect such a chemistry between an Afghan trader pining for her daughter back home and the young girl in a Bengali middle-class household would seem most alien in today’s society.
It’s difficult to imagine that the city was once home to Greeks as well, with legendary violinist Marie Nicachi believed to be the most famous member of the community in the 19th century. The Greek Orthodox Church in the Kalighat area, opened in 1925, is still operational and is popular for its charitable work.
Anglo Indians and ‘convent’ education or clubs or sports are so inextricably linked that it is hard to believe that they too are leaving Kolkata. However, much to the old-timers’ delight, the Bow Barracks of central Calcutta still holds fort as the community hub.
But for how long?
Walking around central Kolkata there are lanes and corners soaked in nostalgia, of a time when various tongues and cuisines were part of the city’s landscape. But forces of change march on. The prospect of a better life is a strong lure. Kolkata will be so much the poorer for it.
Heritage
The Times of India, Jul 12 2015
Subhro Niyogi
The movement to preserve Kolkata's architecturally distinctive buildings is gaining ground. Will it be enough to save the remaining precious relics from biting the dust?
At 1856 Dover Lane near south Kolkata's shopping district Gariahat, is a beautiful two storied house with slatted French-style windows, round knockers and cast iron railings. It's home of the late Tarak Nath Sen, the legendary professor of English at Presidency College, now occupied by his son and grandson. The house is one of the last of its kind, most others have made way for soulless apartments. Dover Lane is one of several neighbourhoods in upscale south Kolkata that have altered dramatically since the turn of the century. With land prices skyrocketing, houses built between the 1920s and 1960s are falling like nine pins. Houses replete with character and history in areas like Gariahat, Ballygunge, Lansdowne and Bhowanipore are on the verge of extinction. Older houses in the north are also under threat but it is not as severe as the south where the buyout and demolition spree is fuelled by litigation-free land.
Development economist Esther Duflo, who teaches at MIT, says she feels saddened every time she visits Kolkata to find one more relic replaced by characterless concrete. “Kolkata's unique buildings if showcased, will fascinate tourists. I wish someone would preserve them,“ she says.
Aloke Kumar, professor of communicative English at Calcutta University, points out that Kolkata architecture has evolved organically, imbibing styles from British, French, Dutch, Portuguese, Danish and Armenian buildings. “You have the `khirki' from French, dome from Armenian, arch from English and so on,“ he explains.
Writer Amit Chaudhuri, who has launched a campaign to save these structures from demolition, says it was these houses of 20th century Calcutta that shaped the city into a metropolis long after it lost its capital status. In a piece in The Guardian, he described the style as Bengali-European “It's neither renaissance (hard ly any Corinthian pillars, as you might spot in the North Calcutta villas) nor neo-Gothic (as Bombay's colonial buildings are), nor Indo-Saracenic, which expresses a utopian idea of what a mish-mash of Renaissance, Hindu and Moghul features might be.It's a style that is, to use Amartya Sen's word, “eccentric“ and beautiful, and entirely the Bengali middle class's.“
Chaudhuri initiative has galvanized the city's intelligentsia into writing to West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and Kolkata mayor Sovan Chatterjee to stop the rampant destruction.The campaign has also taken the shape of a mass petition through the platform Awaaz.
Tapati Mukherjee, who has staved off promoters eyeing her family's twostoried ancestral house on Hindustan Park, is glad for the support. “The house next to mine is being torn down.But they (promoters) will not be able to demolish this house as long as I'm alive. Others putting up a resistance will take heart from the support on Awaaz,“ said the president of Rabindra Bhavan at Visva Bharati University in Santiniketan.
Adman Alyque Padamsee points out that many television commercials are shot in Kolkata to capture the atmosphere the buildings lend the city .“Unlike Mumbai that is all hurlyburly , Delhi that is very monumental, Bengaluru very new, Chennai very old and Goa just beaches and bikinis, Kolkata exudes charm and atmosphere,“ he says.
Conservation architect Manish Chakraborti, a member of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) heritage committee, backs the demand for conserving the unique buildings but insists it can only happen if the scope of heritage listing is enhanced. At present, only 1,200 buildings are listed, of which 963 are graded.
“The government needs to create legislation to protect these unique buildings; incentivize and encourage owners so that they retain and look after them; promote them as the city's attraction and formulate guidelines for their development,“ he reasons. Architect Partha Ranjan Das believes transfer of development rights can be an incentive. But unless there is swift action, the hammer will continue to fall.
Duflo believes it's time for Kolkata to look to Prague. “Just after the end of Communism, a big project was taken up in Prague to restore old trams, building facades and bridges. Today , it's a top tourist destination. Western tourists now come to India for the Taj Mahal, forts in Rajasthan and Kerala's backwaters. The madness of Kolkata can be the next big destination.“
BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE
Of the two distinct styles of architecture in Kolkata, one is the more ostentatious colonial architecture evident in aristocratic mansions of north and central Kolkata built by Bengali landlords.They have Corinthian pillars, arches, tall louvred windows, colonnades and pediments. Most houses have an inner courtyard.
The other style is a hybrid Bengali-European architecture evident in middle-class houses built by the professional classes of south Kolk ata. The courtyard, long verandah on the first floor and open rooftops are very Bengali.The slatted windows, red floors and cornices are borrowed from French, Portuguese and Danish architecture.The iron work in the balconies are very Victorian. There are also artdeco elements like semi-circular balconies, long vertical glass panes in stairwells, porthole-shaped windows and sunrise motifs on grilles and gates in buildings constructed in the 1940s.
Kolkata in photographs
Shiv Sahay Singh, Kolkata, through the mists of time, July 31, 2018: The Hindu
From: Shiv Sahay Singh, Kolkata, through the mists of time, July 31, 2018: The Hindu
Rare photographs from two of the country’s studios of old are on show at Victoria Memorial Hall
They are black-and-white images of Kolkata from another day: Horse-drawn carriages at New Market, bullock carts at Howrah Station, a Pontoon Bridge that preceded the iconic Howrah Bridge, views of the Raj Bhawan and the Maidan from the Indian Museum and animal sacrifice at the Kalighat temple.
The collection of 96 photographs show landmarks, including famous hotels, and sprawling commons as they stood in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Some of them are still around. They are all there, however, for the time-traveller to see, curated as a rare expo at the Victoria Memorial Hall. “These are digital reproductions of 96 gelatin silver photo prints from the collection of VMH,” said Jayanta Sengupta, secretary and curator, Victoria Memorial. Some 27 prints were made by Bourne and Shepherd, known then as India’s largest commercial studio, and were acquired by Victoria Memorial in 1978. The remaining 69, made by the second oldest studio, Johnston and Hoffman, were donated by the Maharaja of Burdwan.
Daguerreotype images
Mr. Sengupta said that the studios got professionals to make the images. The originals were preserved, and the expo has put on display two Daguerreotype plates. “That’s the way it used to be,” photographer Raghu Rai mused, at the exhibition.
Sex and the City of Joy
Sexy, naughty, wild: Kolkata goes kinky
Stuti Agarwal,TNN | Apr 25, 2014 The Times of India
In the 1990s, Kolkata was plain ol' vanilla. In ice-creams, cakes, perfumes, bathing bars and yes, even in the bedroom. Life was squeaky clean. If you wanted to get dirty, you went to the Maidan and played football.
In 2014, couples are buying sex toys, friends are throwing erotic bachelor parties, lingerie is getting kinkier and wedding cakes naughtier.
Dress to thrill
Apparently, Kolkata is naughtier than metros like Delhi and Mumbai, according to La Lingerie. Crotchless panties and cupless/ see-through bras, apart from sex toys and vibrators, have kinky fetishists bending over backwards — or forward, if that suits your style — to get them. Its proprietors says that the sales of kinky items have gone up here, as compared to our stores in other parts of India. In the last two years, sales have shot up by 100%. Handcuffs, whips and lubricants are their largest selling items. It's okay to gift naughty items at weddings now. Often, my clients discuss with me the kind of daring lingerie they'd like to wear or how they like to pleasure themselves. Buying wrist cuffs, cat o' nines, riding crops and inflatable dolls isn't taboo anymore."
Dare to gift
When it comes to gifts, a whole world of erotic items have opened up. So you have kinky board games, candles, glasses and clocks flying off the shelves, thanks to more and more people throwing adult-themed parties. From straws, whistles and glares to chocolates — almost everything is available in genital shapes.
According to the Party Hunterz shop, these items double up as party props and icebreakers. We started stocking some of the naughtiest items when their demand soared too high to be ignored. Overtly flirtatious badges, kinky games (such as roulettes with options like grab a guy's bun) leather whips and fur handcuffs fly off our shelves."
Not surprisingly, good ol' Kamasutra is also finding itself under the spotlight.
At the F-Bloc shop the Kamasutra clock is their largest selling item, closely followed by dice games which instruct you on sexual poses! Sales of such items have shot up by 35% since 2012. Most of their clients are youngsters. They are well-informed and know enough to pre-order such gifts from abroad if need be. Even girls do not shy away from asking for kinky gift items now.
Whipping up a storm
There was a time when buying a cake was about choosing between stuff like black forest and butterscotch. It's time you woke up to naughty cakes. From bachelor parties to birthdays and anniversaries, you can order for any occasion . Coming in all sorts of suggestive shapes and sizes, they are guaranteed to up the fun quotient. At the Krazy For Chocolates stores earlier only boys would drop in to order such cakes. But over the last few years, the shop has seen girls coming and giving detailed descriptions (often, offering pictures too) of their naughty cakes.in 2014 girl ordered an adult cake at our store, but asked for it to be toned down a bit since her saas-sasur would be present at the do! On another occasion, a girl gifted a cake showing a naked couple making love, to her bhaiya-bhabhi!
Apparently, most of these cakes are ordered during the wedding season! Krazy For Chocolates sold 50 naughty cakes in the 2013 wedding season that lasted two months Earlier, when KFC had to make a naughty cake, the proprietor would send everyone out for lunch and ask a trusted aide to stay back and help. But now, everybody is in on the game.
Hard reading
the sale of erotic books shot up when a certain Christian Grey came calling. Now, according to figures provided by city bookstores, readers in all age brackets — from teens to retired people — are snapping up these books. EL James's series helped increase the visibility of books such as the Crossfire series and other erotic novels. Now bookstores have a widely stocked segment on erotica and from 60-year-old bureaucrats to 20-year-old youngsters, everyone's asking for such titles without inhibitions. Bookstores are also stocking up on adult board games! In 2012, only guys would come looking for such items furtively. Now, women come in and locate these stuff themselves
E-kink isn't cool The city seems to love the touchyfeely bit. Which is why online sales of kinky items have dropped from the city. Kolkata isn't among India’s top five cities for e-sales of sex toys and lingerie. Maybe because it is more easily available here now.
See also
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Azad Hind Fauj (Indian National Army)
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Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta
Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research, Kolkata
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Kolkata/ Calcutta (main page)
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Museum of Word/ Shabdlok, Kolkata
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Kolkata: Parliamentary elections
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R.G.Kar Medical College & Hospital, Kolkata
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Scottish Church Collegiate School, Kolkata
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Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre, Kolkata
