Kolkata Sightseeing Finally

Sunday morning I was beside myself with joy. The agony of waking up early was more than made up with the fact that “Mission Kolkata Sightseeing” was going as per plan. A slight setback at the Mcdonald’s at Mani Square put us off schedule by about 40 minutes, but we weren’t going to be stopped by their inefficiency. I had ordered a McChicken, Filet-O-Fish and a Coke. The McChicken came to me after 15 minutes and the Filet after half an hour and that too after complains to the manager. All of one counter was open at 11 am and the kitchen was still being put in place for the day. I was really irritated with the fiasco. To add to that an entire glass of coke had been spilled at the counter and was adding to the chaos of now what seemed to be a swelling numbers of customers.

Anyway leaving that behind and getting on with the mission at hand we drove to Dakhineshwar. I had wanted to visit the temple for a long time and finally was glad we made it there just in the nick of time. They close for lunch at about 1 pm and re-open again at 4 pm. We were probably the last people to get in after leaving our shoes at the shoe counter and walked around the inner sanctum of the temple complex where the actual offerings are made to the numerous deities. We came out from the other gate right onto the “Ghat” on the river bank where people were taking “Holy Dips” in the River.

A little further down on the embankment I noticed a row of boats that had been anchored. So we headed back and collected our shoes and came upon a boatman with whom I negotiated the deal of taking us up to “Belur Math” and back. I had always wanted to go to Belur from Dakhineshwar by boat. In-fact I always pictured doing it in a traditional fisherman’s row boat. Well these were the same only that they had a diesel motor concealed in the middle. So once the deal was struck for Rs. 400/- the three of us got onto the boat, which otherwise would be used to ferry dozens of people from this side to the other side of the river.

Over the next hour we went down the river to Belur. As soon as we set off, we went under the Bally Bridge and the new Vivekananda Setu. It was quite a breathtaking experience going under the two bridges. The boat maneuvered through the currents and headed towards the other bank and we soon came upon Belur Math. Even though we didn’t go ashore as the place was closed for the afternoon, it was just calming to see the expanses of lush green lawns of the famed ashram of Swami Vivekananda.

After we were done with The Temple tour, we decided to head back into the city and explore the beautiful gardens and the museum which housed the history of Kolkata at the famous Victoria Memorial. We bought Rs. 10 tickets each (Foreigner are charged Rs. 50) to enter. The memorial was built in honour of Queen Victoria’s visit to India, I think. Anyway what I know is that she was the Queen of England when India was brought under the British Raj. I shouldn’t draw comparisons, but at times I feel that the VM (as popularly called by Kolkatans) is much bigger and more impressive than the Taj Mahal. Of course the Taj has more history and romance attached to it.

Anyway while we explored the interiors, there were beautiful marble statues of all the great Viceroys of the Raj and also Busts of famous Indian Nationals of the time. Apart from that, huge canvas paintings depicting life in the era of British India were on showcased. There were scale models of the various battles that had been fought and also items of clothing and weapons that were used in those days.

A special section is also dedicated to the history of Kolkata and Bengal from the days of the Raj.

The blast from the past got me working up an appetite and when we were done with the sightseeing, I needed food to keep me going while the girls needed shopping to keep them going. So to kill two birds with one stone the closest place to go was Vardan Market on Camac Street. The girls went in to indulge and I indulged in some street food. Chila (somewhat like a dosa), dal pakodas and kulfi washed down with Soda Sikanjee. If you’re ever in the vicinity and want some quick yummy snack kind of street food, try this place.

Later that evening we went to indulge in some more shopping (actually just plain lukkhagiri) at South City Mall. All that also kind of got me hungry and we went to this restaurant just off Southern Avenue called Mandarin. Yeah! As the name suggests, Chinese food it was. Parking was a pain, but I got some place 100 meters down and then when we got in, the place was kind of packed. We had to go up a narrow flight of steps to the mezzanine where there must’ve been 6-8 tables, but it was a tight squeeze. We got ourselves straight to business and ordered a half Thai soup, Mixed Hakka Chow, Mixed Fried Rice, Schezwan Chicken and 2 Cokes. While we got on with the meal, the place got jam packed with people. Sorry, jam packed with Bengalis. It seems this restaurant is like the paradise for Bongs as far as Chinese food is concerned. And I’m not kidding. There wasn’t a non-bong in the restaurant. I stand corrected. Save the two of us.

The food was decent and enormous in quantities. We packed and I was going to be having this for dinner in the week ahead some day.