India (Frommer's, 4th Edition) (378 page)

When you’ve had your fill of life on the sidewalks, make your way south again, along Government Place East. You’ll soon find yourself in the green expanse that is the
Maidan
—one of the largest city-center parks in the world—where the Ochterlony Monument, or
Shahid Minar (Martyr’s Tower),
is worth noting. Walking west through the Maidan will bring you to
Eden Gardens,
India’s most famous cricket stadium, while much farther south is the imperious
Victoria Memorial
(see below). Buy a ticket and venture in if you are keen to broaden your knowledge of the city’s history. But don’t feel guilty if you just want to lie on the lawn and watch Bengalis socializing. Otherwise, brave the traffic and catch a cab to Howrah to explore the 18th-century
Indian Botanical Gardens
(Shibpur;
033/2668-0554;
Rs 50; closes 1 hr. before sunset), said to house the largest banyan tree on earth. Scientists, when they are available (usually after 11:30am), will act as guides at no charge.

Top Attractions

B.B.D. Bagh
For those interested in colonial architecture, this part of central Kolkata makes for very worthwhile exploration on foot. Once called Dalhousie Square, B.B.D. refers to the names of three Indian freedom fighters (Benoy, Badal, and Dinesh) who shot a British police inspector-general in 1930. At the center of the square
(bagh)
is Lal Dighi Tank, where locals wade and bathe in the dodgy-looking, spring-fed water. Most impressive of the surrounding monuments is the
Writers’ Building,
the office of the West Bengal government, which stretches along B.B.D. Bagh North Road; it was built to house the British bachelors imported to serve the East India Company. Across the road is the early-19th-century
St. Andrew’s Kirk,
recognizable by its tall white steeple. At the other end of B.B.D. Bagh North is the
General Post Office,
with a monumental rotunda; it’s thought to be the site of the notorious Black Hole of Calcutta incident (). Southwest of the tank is the St. Martin-in-the-Fields–inspired
St. John’s Church
(
033/2243-6098;
Rs 10; daily 9am–6pm) and, within the grounds, the tomb of Calcutta’s founding father, Job Charnock. East of B.B.D. Bagh, to the south of Lal Bazaar, you’ll find numerous tea merchants, where teas from Darjeeling, the Dooars, and Assam are packed and exported.
Nilhat House,
located behind the Old Mission Church, is the oldest tea auction house in India—join the action on Monday and Tuesday mornings.

Central Kolkata, south of Howrah Bridge, and north of Jawaharlal Nehru Rd.

Indian Museum
Containing things beautiful, unusual, and ancient, the museum is known to locals as
Jadu Ghar,
the House of Magic. The oldest institution of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region, it holds the country’s largest repository of artifacts (over 100,000 exhibits). Among the dinosaur and mammoth skeletons and the 4,000-year-old Egyptian mummy are extraordinary Indian cultural items, including Shah Jahan’s emerald goblet, and an urn said to contain the Buddha’s ashes. Don’t miss the cultural anthropology section—accompanied by good explanations—if you are interested in India’s many tribal groups. The textiles-and-decorative-arts gallery is most impressive. It can be difficult to find, however—ask for assistance.

27 Jawaharlal Nehru Rd., at the corner of Sudder St.
033/2286-1699.
Rs 150. Tues–Sun 10am–4pm.

Kalighat Kali Temple
Violent, vengeful Kali is the patron goddess of Kolkata, and this temple complex—believed to be the site where the toe of Shiva’s wife fell when her body was scattered across the earth by the gods anxious to stop Lord Shiva’s dance of destruction (see “The Dance of Destruction”)—is a major pilgrimage center, drawing some 20,000 visitors each day. If you’re a non-Hindu, you cannot enter the inner sanctum, sticky with the rotted remains of fresh flowers offered by devotees every day, but it’s worth your while to explore the courtyards and the various stalls selling flowers, fruit, and religious paraphernalia. If you’re uneasy about the idea of animal sacrifice, avoid the enclosure to the south of the temple where at least one goat is offered to Kali every day (a ritual that allegedly replaced the ancient practice of human sacrifice). Be equally wary of the so-called priests—temple “guides” who usher you into the complex and conduct a whirlwind tour of the facilities, only to present you with a donation book that records the radically generous donations of other foreigners.

Kalighat Rd., Kalighat. Free admission. Daily 5am–1:30pm and 3–10pm (Tues, Sat–Sun, and festival days are terribly crowded with mile-long lines of devotees; Wed and Thurs are least congested).

South Park Street Cemetery
This is Kolkata’s most famous cemetery, where monumental gravestones and lichen- and moss-covered tombstones to large numbers of ill-fated Brits buried on Indian soil provide a tranquil retreat. A really atmospheric place to wander around, the cemetery contains headstones that bear unlikely epitaphs like
MAJ. GEN. C. GREEN DIED 51TH OF JULY.

Park St. and southeast end of Cemetery Rd. Free admission. Daily 7:30am–4:30pm.

Victoria Memorial
Conceived of by Lord Curzon as a monument to his queen 4 years after her death, this domed structure is Kolkata’s most recognizable landmark. It’s billed as one of the city’s top attractions, but with portraits of fairly boring-looking individuals filling many of the walls, it’s more likely to excite Rajophiles. There are 25 galleries in the central hall, and about 3,500 articles relating to the Raj on display, including the queen’s rosewood piano. Exhibits are not restricted to Raj-artifacts; the black marble throne that belonged to Siraj-ud-Daulah is impressive, as is a gigantic painting of a Jaipur royal procession, said to be one of the largest paintings in Asia.