You will experience some form of culture shock when you enter India. We arrived in Kolkata on a red-eye flight from Dubai at about 8 a.m. Our family friend arrived the evening before and told us about the hundreds and hundreds of people she saw sleeping on the pavements of the streets as she was drive to the hotel.

            We only saw anecdotal evidence of homeless people as people were putting their homes away and getting ready for the day. One of the toughest things is to be in your hotel room and look down to see children, women, and men asleep beneath your hotel window.

            After a short rest, we went on a boat ride on the Hooghly River which was probably the best thing to do in a jet lag stupor when you don’t really want to do too much. A relaxing boat ride provides you a glimpse into the life in Kolkata.

            We had just missed the Durga Pooja based on the evidence of statues and floats being broken down along the riverside. Durga is a Hindu festival in Kolkata held in October to honour the goddess Durga. The pooja is a four-day event. The celebrations include pomp and ceremony and parades to the most powerful form of the Mother Goddess.

            On our way back to the hotel, we drove by Eden Garden, one of the iconic and largest cricket stadia in the world. It conveys a very tribal atmosphere underpinned by the need to put up a cross link fence between the stands and the cricket pitch.

            We made a stop at Mother Teresa’s Mission which sits at the opening of one of India’s largest slums. The nuns continue to provide for the poor partly financed by donations you make at the museum on the mission’s grounds which includes the tomb of Mother Teresa. It is a truly spiritual place as many people come to pay tribute to the humanitarian, some even lie prone in deference.

            Our full day in Kolkata the next day included crossing the Howrah bridge which separates Howrah from Kolkata over the Hooghly River. Howrah is a somewhat sleepier place compared to the hustle and bustle of Kolkata.

            A trip to Kolkata is not complete without a visit to the Kalighat and the Kali temples. Kali is the Goddess of Destruction and has a very large group of worshippers among Hindus. There are many other spiritual journeys to take in Kolkata such as the Fire Temples of the Parsi and the Jain Temples that lie along the Hooghly River.

            For food, we had to try Fleury’s which is a Kolkata institution serving tea and pastries since 1927. The other foods that are must-tries in Kolkata are the Bengali fish curry and the Hakka Chinese dishes that are extremely popular in the Greater Toronto Area. Dishes such as chili chicken and Hakka chowmein started in Kolkata and cost a fraction of what they cost in the west. Bengali fish curry is one of the amazing dishes of north-eastern India.

Recommended hotel:

            We stayed for two nights with early check in at the Oberoi Grand Hotel. This five-star hotel is in the middle of Kolkata offers a step back to the days when the British Raj used Kolkata as its capital. The old world hotel is well appointed including a swimming pool in the middle of the complex from which you cannot hear the outside world. The hotel is sight of the threesixtythree restaurant with all day dining and a Thai restaurant called Baan Thai. In the offseason, a two-night stay is about £250 while the price is £360 in the high season for two nights.

            If you are on a backpacking trip, most of the hostels can be found around Sudder Street. There are still British-era clubs in existence such as the Tollygunge Club, Calcutta Club, and Saturday Club where it is possible to rent a very lavish Raj-era room. However, you can only do so through a member.

Getting in by air

            Fights to Kolkata land at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport. The airport is served by all Indian domestic carriers as well as Air Asia, Biman Bangladesh, Bhutan Airlines, Cathay Dragon, China Eastern, Druk Air, Emirates, Etihad, Qatar, Singapore Airlines, Sirlankan, and Thai Airways.

By rail:

            There are three main stations in Kolkata: Howrah Junction, Sealdah, and Kolkata. While Howrah Junction is technically not in Kolkata as it is in Howrah, it is the largest railway station in India with 26 platforms accommodating 600 trains every day. Most of the long distance trains from the west such as the Delhi trains will stop at Howrah.

Safety

            By western standards, Kolkata is a relatively safe city. There are areas such as Sudder Street where drug dealers tend to do business, but they tend to keep to themselves. Bag snatchings are rare but they occur so make sure your belongings are safe.