An Evening at The Strand

 

No visit to Kolkata feels complete without spending some time at The Strand, one of the city’s quintessential attractions and a must-visit for tourists. So, after a satisfying lunch at Peter Cat, we decided to make our way there for a relaxing riverside outing.

After a bit of searching, we finally managed to find a parking spot and then walked towards the crossing to enter The Strand. Part of the charm of getting there is the little adventure itself—you have to cross a railway track before reaching the beautiful riverside promenade.

Once there, the riverfront offers a wonderful escape from the city’s bustle. Walking down the stairs at one of the many ghats, you can easily find boatmen offering short rides on the River Hooghly. We opted for a leisurely half-hour boat ride, which gave us beautiful views of the river, the city skyline, and the iconic bridges nearby. Of course, safety comes first, and the boatman ensured that everyone wore life jackets before setting off.

After the boat ride, no riverside experience is complete without indulging in some local street food. A serving of jhaal muri, some papdi chaat, and a refreshing cup of chai or a glass of soda shikanji felt like the perfect way to unwind by the water.

As you sit and enjoy the riverside atmosphere, you’ll also spot the occasional train passing by on the tracks nearby. This is part of Kolkata’s Circular Railway line, adding yet another uniquely Kolkata touch to the experience.

One of the notable landmarks here is Judges Ghat, which is especially famous during Durga Puja season as an important site for idol immersion, or visarjan.

With the river breeze, street food, boat rides, and glimpses of Kolkata’s everyday charm, an evening at The Strand is truly a lovely way to experience the city.

Strand — One of Kolkata's Joys

 

Strand is one of those beautiful places in Kolkata where you can simply slow down, take in the views, and spend some time by the mighty Hooghly River.

One of the many "joys" that makes Kolkata the City of Joy is the river that runs along its western edge, flowing from north to south. The riverside offers not just beautiful views but also the perfect setting to enjoy an evening with some of Kolkata's favourite street food — from steaming hot Puchkas to refreshing Soda Shikanji.

You can also take a leisurely boat ride or hop aboard one of the many ferries and experience the city from the river. And then there are the magnificent views of two of Kolkata's iconic bridges. Looking north, you have the Howrah Bridge, officially Rabindra Setu, and looking south, the Vidyasagar Setu, popularly known as the New Hooghly Bridge. Both are remarkable engineering marvels and an integral part of Kolkata's skyline.

On my way back, I had to stop and click a picture of this beautifully preserved Indian Air Force MiG-27, serial number TS562, displayed at Hastings, just outside Fort William, the headquarters of the Indian Army's Eastern Command.

A lovely evening by the river, a taste of Kolkata, and a little aviation history thrown in for good measure!

Indian Air Force MiG-27 (TS562)

A Drive to Chandannagar

Its been a a short while since we were on the road (read Highways) still getting over the epic 6600+ kms Road Trip from Kolkata2Kanyakumari and our Ride (Maruti Ertiga ZXi) beckons us to take her out again.

So we decided to take a short day trip to Chandannagar which is not too far from the outskirts of Kolkata on the other side of the river on the banks of the Hooghly just about 35-40 kms from the city.

So here we are, trip meter set to Zero at its 11:31 am on a beautiful sunny day!

We made a brief stop at McDonald's Mani Square Mall and packed some Burgers and stuff to much on the go.

A little under an hour later we were crossing the New Bridge at Bally called the Vivekananda Setu. You can see the old Truss & Girder Rail and Road Bridge on the right.

Once we hit the National Highway, memories of our recent Road Trip came floding in as we started to step on the gas and chew the kilometers. This was going to be a brief interlude as we would soon be getting off this Fantastic Highway back on to smaller and narrower roads.

Finally we are at the Gates of Chandannagar as we pass over this small bridge with the two pillars with the French quote "Liberte Egalite Fraternite".

Chandannagar, formerly spelled as Chandernagore (Bengali: চন্দননগর Chôndônnôgôr, French: Chandernagor), is a Corporation city and former French colony located a little over 35 kilometers north of Kolkata, in West Bengal, India.

Our first stop is the the Chandannagar Strand on the banks of the River. Its beautifully maintained and itself made the trip worthwhile.

The scenic Hooghly River from the promenade.

Fishermen at work on their boats pulling in their nets.

At the end of the promenade is a Jetty from where one can take the ferry across the river.

If you're a nature lover, there were hundreds of parakeets nesting and flying about the trees on the Strand and around.

There are some interesting Buildings from the days gone by like this one housing a Government Office.

Our faithful Maruti Suzuki Ertiga ZXi parked on the Strand while I pranced around shooting pictures of all the interesting Buildings and Architecture.

Originally the French Governor's Residence, now it is the Chandannagar Museum & Library.

Located in the lane leading from the main Promenade on the Strand is the Sacred Heart Church, one of the main tourist attractions.

Go a bit further into the town and you'll come upon Nandadulal Jiu Mandir which is the other main attraction. It's in a nondescript lane, so you might have to ask around.

On our way back to Kolkata, we decided to check out the famous Serampore College Building. It took us some meandering and we came onto a road along the river.

Serampore College. Though the gates were locked, I managed to get a photograph of the Building. The two little girls actually posed for me in one of my clicks which I only noticed when my wife pointed it out once we got back home.

As we drove through the narrow streets, I'd rather call them lanes, of Serampore there were some intriguing Buildings tucked into these neighborhoods.

A non eventful drive back towards Kolkata and as we were crossing over the old Bally Bridge, I could see the sun setting in my rear view mirror.

I'm sure there were some more places to see, but we covered what we had set out to see.  Chandannagar is off the Buket List.

You can see more pictures on my Instagram

Another Cocktail Party on the River Hooghly

Awesome Sunday Around Kolkata

EDEN GARDENS: The World Famous Cricket Ground's Floodlights switched on at dusk

Vidyasagar Setu (New Hooghly Bridge): At twilight. Notice the lights on the bridge, the boats and the crescent moon above.

Vidyasagar Setu (New Hooghly Bridge): The mighty bridge at sundown

Vidyasagar Setu (New Hooghly Bridge): The sun setting behind one of it's towering pillars at the Howrah end with a boat sailing into the sunset.

The Oberoi Grand Hotel: This is one of the oldest and best hotels of Kolkata. The Grand Arcade below is a shopper's delight, be it street stuff or branded!

A Cocktail Party on the River Hooghly

As part of the numerous ceremonies of this elaborate wedding "Aroop weds Pamela", this one was a bit "hatke" (different); Cocktails on a Boat on the River Hooghly.

When my wife and I got the invitation which read like a 10 day festival of sorts, we really had to decide which one of the ceremonies we would attend. After all it was wedding season and I had a huge 3 day event coming up on the work front at around the same time. So the Cocktails on the river was my first choice and so what if it was a Monday night. Firstly I didn’t have any prior engagements and secondly I just had to know what it felt like being on a Boat all lit up with blaring music and booze flowing. My wife and I had been witness to these boats going up and down the river on numerous occasions when we had visited the strand and always wondered if we’d ever go on one of these jaunts.

The day didn’t start too well as we heard news of the violence that had hit various pockets of Kolkata and I decided to take my bike to work. My wife decided not to go to office as we saw images on the morning news of a bus being burnt right in front of her office. The original plan was for me to come back home, but just in case I couldn’t make it back, I had kept my cocktail attire out. Sure enough, I got stuck in office and she had to come get me.

We left the office about 6.30pm, and we recalled how Aroop had said that the boat would leave at 7.00pm on the dot and those who didn’t make it on time, would be left behind. Heck, we didn’t want to miss this opportunity. So I didn’t bother going back up nine floors to my office to change. I just told my wife to drive to the jetty and while she was driving, I changed my clothes in the car. She was in complete shock and was laughing her guts out as she witnessed me transform from jeans, t-shirt, sneakers mode into the trousers, silky red shirt and black shoes party guy. And all this happened through the length of Theatre Road. Kind of reminded me of Clark Kent going into a phone booth and coming out as Superman.

Anyway we reached the venue well in time and got on the boat and went straight up to the upper deck where arrangements had been made for the evening ahead; the bar and food at the rear and the Entertainment at the front. We found ourselves a seat strategically located behind one of the speakers and waited till the place filled up. Once all were aboard, the boat departed from the Jetty at about 7.30pm. After a bit of socialising with some known faces, we decided to head to where the action was about to begin. Yeah the bar opened shortly after we got into position right in front of it. The evening was kicked off with a brief announcement about the occasion and straight to some old rock ‘n roll Kishore Kumar songs.

As the boat went down river under the Vidyasagr Setu and turned back around, people were already getting into high spirits. But to our surprise we headed back to the Jetty after a short 45 minute ride and learnt the reason was because some of the guests would be hopping off as they had to attend another wedding too. Well that was good, because while we were getting the Jetty frantic calls had bee made to shore. We had run out of cold drinks and the stock was more than replenished once we set off again at 8.30pm. This time the destination was Dakshineswar which was about a two hour cruise from here. This was truly going to be fun!

The high point of the evening was and incident which had me nearly in splits. While we were making merry on the front deck, an elderly British gentleman joined us and my wife, to my surprise, introduced herself and struck up a conversation with him.

Well the conversation went thus:

My Wife: “Hi, I’m Divya.”

British Gentleman: “Hi I’m Roger. I’m Aroop’s dad!”

My Wife immediately shot back: “No you’re not!” while I looked over her shoulder in shock and very confused. As far as I knew Aroop’s dad was Dr. Sen, so how come some Brit guy was introducing himself as Aroop’s dad.

Well that’s when he clarified and told us how Aroop spent a lot of time at his house in UK and that he was part of the family et al.

The best part is that he had probably told everyone he had spoken with at the party that he was Aroop’s dad, and my wife was the only one who had shot back point blank that he wasn’t.

Anyway as the night progressed we passed Belur on our left and went under the Bally Bridge (Vivekananda Setu) and turned around beside Dakshineswar and headed back down river to Kolkata making merry and making new friends.

We finally got back close to midnight after a fun evening on the river.

The Entrance of Outram Jetty (also called the Police Jetty). It's actually the jetty where the River Police have their boats.

This Boat all lit up for the Cocktail Party.

The Party Kicks off.

Approaching the towering New Hooghly Bridge (Vidyasagar Setu).

Approaching the iconic Howrah Bridge (Rabindra Setu).

Heading back from Dakshineswar approaching the Bally Bridge (Vivekananda Setu).

The Party People. People sure were having a good time.

Alighting from the boat after a four hour soiree of sorts on the River.

Awesome Weekend

This weekend was a blast. Considering that the past week brought on a welcome onslaught of rain coupled with dazzling lightening flashes followed by deafening claps of thunder, I thought we’d have to stay in. But as luck would have it, rain didn’t play spoilsport on the weekend. Though we spent the entire day at home on Saturday and there was a mild drizzle till noon, the weather was awesome in the evening and just perfect for some thukpa and momos. So we got on the Karizma and headed out to Elgin Road, with a quick pit stop at South City Mall on the way. Momo Plaza is one of our favourite places to eat and we ordered our standard Mixed Thukpa and Fried Momos. Our luck was looking up, because they also had Chilli Fried Pork, something which, whenever we get there is finished. So we ordered a plate of that too. After finishing, we even decided to pack two plates of momos to carry back home and good that we did because it made for an amazing midnight snack.

The plan was to get up on Sunday morning and go cycling at the crack of dawn. Ummm we didn’t exactly wake up at the crack of dawn, but early enough (6.30 am) on a Sunday morning and took our Firefox Bikes and headed out. We explored the inner lanes and by-lanes of Santoshpur and our surrounding areas. It was a good hour out on or bikes and the sun was beating down on us so we made a hasty retreat back home and indulged in some Sunday breakfast followed by ghoom (nap).

Our afternoon plan unfolded with us going to Bhuri Bhoj, a restaurant that served Bengali Cuisine and we were glad to find the place tucked away just off the E.M. Bypass near Metro Cash & Carry. I parked the Karizma outside and when we stepped into this practically done eatery, we were surprised to see that it was quite packed, save the first and last table. We took the first one and soon after, the last table was also occupied. So as we were mulling over what to eat, a steady stream of people kept popping in. Make shift waiting arrangements were made in the adjoining garage for people to wait, and the crowd kept getting bigger, pouring out onto the road. We were quite shocked that this little eatery was so popular with people. Anyway we indulged in dal, bhaat, jhingey aloo posto, pabda maach (fish), malai chingri (prawn curry) and aam-er chutney. When we were nearly through with our meal, the rising temperatures outside did take their toll on the waiting patrons and while some left in a huff others did come in to make their sentiments known, leading to an entertaining altercation between some of the patrons. But all in all, this place had yum food, was well priced and had a loyal patronage. But the best part was, they did home deliveries too within a 3 km radius and our house was within that radius. So we paid and took one of their home-delivery menus with us.

Bhuri Bhoj Restaurant
318, Madurdaha, Kalikapur,
Kolkata - 700107
Tel: +91 33 65176077

After that sumptuous lunch, we decided to head out and indulge in some exploration. So we rode towards Garia over the Baghajatin Fly-over. We came up the Metro station and turned left to see how far down into Garia the Metro tracks went. So riding along the road with the elevated Metro tracks on our left we managed to go down about half a kilometre where we noticed the cause of the delay in the Metro project. There was a building bang in the middle of the proposed line. So while pillars had been erected on both side of the building, the mid-section couldn’t be constructed unless the building was razed to the ground. Wonder when that will happen?

Anyway we turned around and as we were heading back we saw the craziest thing ever. If you think I’m “PLANE CRAZY”, what is this person?

After that we headed into New Garia Township and scoped out some of the interiors. One thing that did seem evident seeing the open drains on the roadsides in this low lying area surrounded by wetlands was that during the rains the entire place must be getting inundated. Anyway as we were riding around we came upon a flock of Geese, yes Geese, and I stopped the bike in its tracks, rubbed my eyes, popped out my camera and starting clicking. 11 geese walking around on the colony road, sometimes being chased by the local dogs, who themselves seemed to be having fun and more than attacking them seemed quite curious themselves. It was quite mind-blowing actually. It’s not everyday that you get to see Geese walking down the road in any city.

After that we headed back home, but didn’t quite stop as the weather seemed too nice to get back indoors and so we turned the bike around and headed back out of the colony towards our next destination. I had wanted to go for a boat ride for a while now and today seemed to be the perfect day. So off we rode towards Strand Road and without wasting any time when we reached, got ourselves a boat and went for an hour long ride on the River Hooghly. “O Maajhi re….”, this was exactly the way I had wanted it to be. The boatman with his single oar at the back of the boat was pushing against the current of the incoming evening tide and ahead of us looming high was the mighty Vidyasagar Setu. I just went trigger happy with my camera, shooting anything and everything on the river, above the river, by the banks of the river and the stupendous bridge which we passed under. On our way back we came upon the boat “Mayurpankhi” and its smaller cousin, with a live band blaring music on one of its jaunts on the river with merry makers. Finally we came back to the banks and disembarked climbing up the stairs of the embankment where all the food stalls were. We settled for some Soda Shikanjee (Lime with Ice, Soda and Masala) and while it was being made a local train passed on the track behind us. Its quite frightening actually standing so close to the tracks when these trains pass by, but all part of the experience of going to The Strand. We finally picked up some Bhutta (Corn) and headed back home after a long adventurous day out.

Some beer followed by some home cooked rice and Green Thai curry was a fitting end to a eventful weekend.