I am gonna cry :((. I wrote a huuugee review on calcutta .
oh so eloquent. But my session got timed out, and I lost it :((.
So here’s the gist - I have lived in calcutta for 19 years, before I left, blessing my lucky stars that I could get out of the rut .. and I hate the place .. it has been on a decline ever since the 70s naxal movement/ emergency dumped a whole generation into the blackhole. Theres nothing that Calcutta can be proud of right now. Even the nosy neighbour cum good samaritan that used to be so common in calcutta is being replaced by the isolated nuclear family. the bengali lives on in borrowed fame from the intelligentsia of 30+ years back.
The redeeming point is that its cheap. u can regain a lil bit of the old calcutta charm near the Maidan. And the metro is quite useful.
And that its home.
ok .. since its a review .. and a review is supposed to help out ppl .. probbly those who are planning to take a trip to cal --
if u are a westerner, u might wanna go slum hopping, especially if are the kind who wants lots of dinner table stories about the miseries of india.
if u are a techie, and are thinking of going to calcutta for a job - u must be crazy.
if u are a bengali, and its the durga puja season, calcutta is where u shud be.
if u want a handpulled rickshaw ride, wanna hop aboard the metro, get a ride on a tramcar, have some nice chimney soup in china-town ( tangra ) .. well .. go ahead !
the city sucks. bigtime. pollution. insensitivity. all the big city screw-ups are obviously there. add to it the decadence of a dying city.
But you would never ever forget it. And you would miss it at times. Inexplicable, huh ?