"The city that taught me to love " a Kolkata (Calcutta) Travel Page by Rupanworld

Kolkata or Calcutta, whatever you call it (for me its all the same and I don't have a special fancy for one name as the it is the spirit of the city that matters to me), is not the city where I was born, nor the place where I spent my childhood, nor where I did my early education, but yet, I am in love with this city from the bottom of my heart. The noise, the pollution, the dirt, the chaos, the traffic, the congestion, the unemployment, the poverty, the unorganised state of things,... infact, nothing at all inspires me to cease loving it. It is the city where I came for my higher education after my graduation, I had my first job here, met my love (and now my husband), got married here, bought my first apartment, gave birth to my daughter and continued to fall in love with the 'City of Joy' every minute, every second of the day. The city has taught me many things, including the art of being a good human being. The city has taught me dedication, effort and selflessness. This city is marked for the prominent 'ever-ready to help' attitude of its people - something that would definitely touch your heart.

I have my own apartment in Kolkata and staying here makes me fell complete. I can speak my own mother tongue, which I love (and you know, in India, you have 100 different mother tongues, spoken differently after every 100 kilometers and it is difficult to be able to speak your own outside home if you are staying even a little away from your home. I stay more than 1500 kilometers away now, in the northern part of India where not only the language, but culture, food habit, dressing, looks, and even houses and the colour of the soil is different. So I guess, I have the right to say that I miss Kolkata so very much, and this, I am writing, seated on the crowded ladies compartment of a local train from Kolkata, that is taking me to my 83 year old Uncle's house, about 100 kilometers away from Kolkata, and well connected by the local train network. I am not used to travelling in local trains, but here, I have no option, that is the only way that I can see the old man. And I don't regret it, despite the toil and effort I put in, its a memory in itself.

Kolkata was formerly called Calcutta, a name given by the British, is the capital of the eastern Indian state of West Bengal. It is the second largest city in India in terms of area after Mumbai. It is located on the bank of the River Hooghly. In terms of population, with more than 15 million people, it is the third-largest city in India after Mumbai and Delhi. It is world's 8th largest metropolitan area. The state of West Bengal is inhabited mainly by the Bengali linguistic group, and this language is the 7th most commonly spoken language in the world after Mandarin, English, Hindi, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic. Kolkata has been the capital of India during the British Rule until 1911AD, when it was finally shifted to Delhi. Because of this, there are many imperial buildings to be seen here. It is said to be the literary and cultural capital of India, although, economically it has been in a stagnation stage for almost half a century now. However, of late, some developments have taken place and there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel. Kolkata has produced many eminent people, starting from many freedom fighters, most singers, poets and political leaders. It has been home to Nobel laureates Rabindranath Tagore, Mother Teresa and Amartya Sen and Legion de Honour awardee film maker Satyajit Ray.