kolkata, Delhi, Agra, Jaipur

Kolkata, The City of Joy

To roam in and around a few famous tourist spots prompted me to stay in Kolkata on my last India tour for one more day on my trip to Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mysore, Mudumalai Forest, and Ooty; it was the day before Eid. Before savoring Rajasthani and Gujarati dishes in Kolkata at dinner, we decided to have a brisk city tour. While searching on Google for a few popular places and five-star hotels in Kolkata to satiate my never-ending hunger, as I always enjoy buffet breakfast and dinner, my eyes were glued to a hotel, especially in the Park Street area.

I have heard about a restaurant famous for kebab, though I never knew a hidden gem was waiting for me in Park Street, Kolkata, which I entered there merely by chance, named ‘Rajdhani Thali.’

But before sharing that experience, I have to inform you who are interested in staying at a five-star hotel near the widest road in Kolkata, Indira Gandhi Sarani, formerly Red Road, a road in central Kolkata that runs from Eden Gardens to Fort William West Gate. The road, a wide boulevard, was built in 1820. It bisects the Kolkata Maidan. And the nearest stations are Kolkata Metro, Esplanade, and Park Street.

Built-in 1840 as ‘The Auckland Hotel’, it is the longest-running luxury hotel in the world, operating continuously for 165 years until renovated in 2006. The architecture of the hotel ranges from Victorian to Edwardian to modern. It is one of the finest luxury hotels in the city of Kolkata. The hotel is centrally located, close to important commercial and business areas.

   I will remember The Lalit Great Eastern Kolkata for the rest of my life for their courtesy. While confirming the booking there for two rooms for one night, especially the night before Eid day to enjoy a delicious and healthy breakfast (that I came to know from my rich University friend, and viewed on YouTube) for my family, I felt a few problems with my certain credit card as I tried it via Booking .com. The Lalit authority canceled my booking twice and told me to go for another app except for Booking.com as they included a complimentary buffet breakfast. I followed their advice and finally completed the booking but unfortunately for me and my family, no complementary breakfast was included. It was too late to realize the mistake, anyway, the Lalit authority asked if I needed anything additional and, I requested them to include four complementary breakfasts for me and my family. I emailed them but they initially denied saying sorry. Then I wrote an email with reason using harsh words and tone that virtually enabled me and my family to have that unforgettable experience of taste and hygiene on Eid day morning that the power of an email could do! That morning, I still remember, the manager came to me, saw us enjoying their breakfast, and asked me for a review about the hospitality and ambivalence of their reputed hotel. I did a long review equally and expressed my gratitude.

We reached Kolkata by a Regent Airways flight, luckily a comfortable Boeing 707, and after immigration formalities, we checked into a popular local hotel, as we deliberately avoided the New Market area, where I stayed in my previous two visits. The name of the hotel is Treebo Trend Glorious Rim Rock Palace, located at East Topsia Road, P.S. Tiljala, Kolkata. Discretion of my choice paid dividends as we did not find any Bangladeshi tourists there, and all we could do in our one-night stay was to sleep soundly after a day tour all around the city; we checked out on Sunday, , and checked in at The Lalit Great Eastern Kolkata the very next day.

Anyway, that afternoon was a memorable one for us in the very busy city, the City of Joy. We went to spend the afternoon in the Victoria Memorial and on its premises. There is an immensity of marble on the Maidan of Central Kolkata. Its entrance is on the Queen’s Way. It was constructed between 1906 and 1921 under the auspices of the Government of India to honour the memory of the Empress of India, Queen Victoria (1876 to 1901). It is the world’s largest monument to a single monarch. Spanning 64 acres of gardens, it is now a museum run by the Ministry of Culture under the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. Incorporating significant elements of Indian classical architecture, the Victoria Memorial has become one of the most visited places in the city.

After being bewildered by the gigantic marble monument and digging deep into the Indian Victorian period we were looking for an open-air place nearby the Monument, and that was the large ‘Maidan’, a large open field full of green grass 

that stretches from the Esplanade to the National Library in Alipore. It starts at the Raj Bhavan on the north side and ends at the National Library on the south side. The Maidan is bordered on the west by the Hooghly River and on the east by the Victoria Memorial. It was surrounded by a few makeshift stalls and horse carriages at the opening gate. Yes, dear travelers, you have heard it right, so what about feeling like a king on the eve of an auspicious occasion? So, after roaming here and there on the large premises me and my daughters decided to have a horse ride along the long wide road, the Indira Gandhi Sarani.

It was all about the gorgeous horses and the velocity they generated sometimes matching the speeds of plying cars amidst big trees on both sides of the road and side by side with many cars and buses, a joy of a lifetime in the city of Joy. Who would have thought the very familiar Kolkata might have given me and my daughters such pleasurable excitements, actually you do not need to have so much money to enjoy life as every second counts.

PHOTOS AND VIDEOS

It was my first time visiting India. My brother-in-law’s family invited me to join them and my family on a fabulous tour to Kolkata, Delhi, Agra, Ajmer, and Jaipur. It was a time-consuming, absorbing, exhausting tour of a lifetime that lasted for fifteen days, full of pleasure, excitement, and numerous unseen experiences. I never thought I would build a website for travel blogging, virtually aiming to rejuvenate sweet memories and provide a few necessary pieces of information to people who are interested in travelling to Kolkata, Delhi, Agra, Ajmer, and Jaipur under one lucrative tour package.

Our Dhaka-to-Kolkata trip was with Biman Bangladesh Airlines. It was full of excitement and expectation, as two families were going abroad for the first time.

We visited a few famous tourist spots in Delhi, though we did not have sufficient time to visit the very famous Red Fort. But we managed to visit the Qutub Minar, the India Gate, the iconic monument, and the surrounding park, a place that evoked among us the great sacrifices by revolutionaries against the East India Company and the British Raj. We also spent a whole day inside and on the premises of the Indira Gandhi Museum, which is elaborately linked to our war of independence. The visit proved to be a valuable learning curve for my daughters about the history of our independence.

Personally, I do not like Emperor Shah Jahan, as a bitter history of Bengal reminds me of his misdeeds. Sahjahan, on his way to becoming the Emperor of India, came to Jahangirnagar, the then Dhaka, the rich capital of the Bengal provinces, and killed a good ruler, Ibrahim Khan, brother of Noorjahan, Emperor Jahangir’s very prominent wife, and looted Jahangirnagar, leaving the city totally defenceless. The result was disastrous: the destruction and massacre by the Arakanese and Portuguese pirates, and after the dark incident, the famous capital of Bengal tried hard to regain its glory, which took almost two decades.

Anyway, despite knowing all the dark chapters behind building of the Taj Mahal, I could not forget Bill Clinton’s famous quotation. That is, “There are two types of people in this world, those who saw the Taj Mahal and those who did not.” The temptation dragged me on the premise, and what I experienced was inexplicable. The construction was completed in the year 1648 AD. But after more than three centuries, the beauty, glare, and exquisiteness of the musuleum of Empress Mamatajmahal did not fade.

Two trips I will ever remember for their hasty endeavours from the driver’s perspective, as each time drivers almost got crazy: one in India, from Ajmer to Jaipur, and another one was from Bangkok to Pattaya. Different years, different countries, different highways, different environments, but the velocities were almost the same, from 120 to 140 km, sometimes leading to topsy-turvy, dangerous curves, strange each time we reached our desired destination at 11:30 PM. Anyway, we were lucky enough, as next year an entire family got wiped out from earth on their tour from Delhi to Agra; the Express highway through the road from Ajmer to Agra is far more dangerous