Calcutta

Calcutta, a mere fishing village about 300 years ago, is one of the two biggest cities on the Asian mainland (disputing the title with Shanghai, in China). It is also lays claim to be the city with the largest number of problems resulting from rapid urban growth. Unlike many of the older Indian cities, Calcutta has no monuments of the distant past. As the first seat of British power in the shape of the East India Company and as the headquarters of the British Governor-Generals and Viceroys until 1912, it has a large number of the relics of British rule. The port of Calcutta, which once handled nearly half of India's seaborne trade, offers a grandstand view of ships in motion since the river Hugli is narrow. And the tidal bores crashing upstream in a fury of foam are one of the most unusual (and sometimes frightening) sights anywhere in the world. The cantilever bridge across the Hugli is a marvel of modern engineering and the Ochterlony Monument is a rare combination of architectual styles - its base is Egyptian, the column Syrian, and the dome with its metal cupola is Turkish. Fort William, built in 1773, is unique in that not a shot has been fired from it in battle.

The Victoria Memorial, built by public subscription of funds, is an enormous pile of white marble and is a storehouse of Indian history, with a valuable collection of Persian manuscripts. There is a zoological garden but of greater interest are the Botanical Gardens founded in 1786 and which have a herbarium with nearly 40,000 species. The prize exhibit is the great banyan tree, 27 metres high and more than 395 metres in circumference. It has more than 600 roots supporting it. Belvedere, once the home of Warren Hastings, today house the National Library, and St. John's Church is Calcutta's oldest shrine for Christian worship. The graveyard in the church contains the Mausoleum of Job Charnock, Calcutta's founder. A brief excursion our of Calcutta, about 50 kms, is Diamond Harbour a place of great scenic beauty. A little over 200 kms from Calcutta in Murshidabad, the residence of former Nawabs of Bengal. Murshidabad was a centre of silk, ivory and brassware industries and these cottage industries still flourish in the villages around Vishnupur is 145 kms from Calcutta and was the capital of the Malla dynasty during the 17th and 18th centuries. There are several temples which are rich in architectual beauty.

About 160 kms from Calcutta is Santiniketan (Abode of Peace) where Rabindranath Tagore, poet and philosopher, founded the Viswabharathi University which attracted scholars from all over the world. It is a good place to see classical Indian dancing and samples of other performing arts.