Indian Talent, Global Content
|
Indian Talent, Global Content |
New and Improved: May 2012
Just Launched - New eStore selling travel guides, editing courses, ebooks and special offers |
Touring Calcutta on a Tiny Budget
A city that Rudyard Kipling labeled the "City of Dreadful Night" and Dominique Lapierre lovingly immortalized as the "City of Joy”; that's Calcutta for you- full of dichotomies and much more. A city where you can splurge till you have nothing left or you can manage to scrounge whatever you can and survive without spending more than a few dollars. We, being where we are, will look at the latter. Calcutta can really be done quite easily on a shoestring budget, irrespective of the size of your shoes. For convenience, let’s look at life from an American backpacker's point of view, (not that they left us with much choice). So, we'll take a dollar equal to fifty INR (Indian Rupees) and convert accordingly (though its much cheaper nowadays, the extra buck is to cushion any unseen falls). Before I launch into any of my silly wisecracks again, let’s launch into the trip. Let’s look at the components that a tourist spends on, in the order of expenditure.
If you're spending on anything other than these, stop reading immediately, because you're NOT on a shoestring budget. Rooms in Calcutta are available for dirt cheap rates with a little bit of dirt thrown in for the look (there I go again). One has to decide which area one will be living in and a suitable Hotel/Guest House/Dharamshala can be conjured up. The Dharamshala or the pilgrim's guest house would be the cheapest of the lot and one that can be recommended is the Buddhist Temple Dharamshala in Robert street beside the Bow Barracks (a movie filmed in this locality is releasing nationwide soon). Although the Mecca of all shoestring budget tourists in Calcutta is Sudder street, one can easily find accommodation for real cheap all over the city; all one has to do is ask (as the people are really friendly, usually). The cuisine of Calcutta is stuff on which many a book can be written, as there is a great diversity of food available for less than a dollar. One can have chow-mien on the roadside in Sudder street or anywhere else for half a dollar or less and the quantity is enough for a full meal. Being the only city in India with 2 Chinatowns the Chinese have really influenced this city's food culture and the Chinese food available here is one of its kind in the world. My personal favorite food in this city, though, is the Mughlai. You get one of the best Biryanis and kebabs in the country over here. Be it Royal at Rabindra Sarani, Aminia at New Market, Shiraz at Park Circus or Zeeshan at Syed Amir Ali avenue, the Mughlai food is worth dying for. And if your stomach can have all this and still take a little more, then, come to Phears lane or Chuna Galli where you can find kebabs for as low as 15 cents. There are kebabs that are like sausages and there are the 'Soota Kebabs ' or mincemeat held together by thread on a BBQ stick amongst many others. Right from Phears Lane to the Nakhoda mosque area you can feast on Islamic food for a pittance. Besides these, there are the authentic Bengali joints that serve a million varieties of fish prepared in a zillion different ways and all lip-smacking great. Some of the old Bengali eateries serve authentic Continental dishes with forks and knives reminding one of days gone by. Some notable eateries on the budget side are Mitra Cafe in Sovabazar, Anadi Cabin in Esplanade and any of the newly opened Nola restaurants. Although once in Calcutta and without access to a Bengali home, it’s advisable to invest a little bit more and try out authentic Bengali cuisine in one of the finer restaurants like Oh! Calcutta in the Forum Mall on Elgin Road, 6 Ballygunge Place at 6 Ballygunge Place and Aaheli at the Peerless Inn at Esplanade. It’s an experience worth having. Commuting in Calcutta is absolutely no problemo. The metro takes people insane distances at paltry sums and most of the old city from North to South falls on the Metro route. Where the metro fails to deliver, you will get the buses, which ply on almost all the routes, although you might need an expert's degree to board and alight one without falling all over. But it gets you almost anywhere you wish to go in and near the city. The taxis will do for you what the buses even won't and taking one is not all that cheap anymore but it's still relatively cost-effective for a foreign traveler. And yea, if one's a backpacker then the taxi will suit just fine as the Ambassador models have huge boot space to take in that big bag and you. Another experience to not miss is to take a rickshaw ride. These hand pulled carts actually bring one closest to one would ever get to being a slave-master and they'll take their sweet revenge by asking for a hefty sum once you offload your weight. The trams, another one of the surviving relics of the British Raj, are not of much help as far as traveling goes but are a nice way to unwind oneself, especially on the Maidan route. And then if nothing works for you then go that famous Bengali Tagore song way: “Jodi tor dak shune keu na ashe tôbe êkla chôlo re” If they answer not to thy call, walk, WALK alone. Coming back to the budget traveler’s dilemma, let’s deal with the entry fee issues now. Entry fees to various places vary according to the color of your skin. Strange as it might sound, SAARC countries' residents pay very little entry fees while the others are charged almost 10 times that amount. It must make sense in the budget somewhere because that's the way it is. But then, barring a few places like the Victoria Memorial, the Indian Museum and a few other places getting into most places of tourist interest is really cheap. And even in Victoria Memorial a tourist pays 3 dollars to enter, which is not much by most standards. So Calcutta, on the whole, is quite a cheap place to spend your leisure days in. All said and done, one can comfortably manage (with a little bit of a luxurious cab ride thrown in here and there) with an expense of 20 to 25 dollars a day. Shopping's extra. So, come over to a city which still has its soul intact and its prices under control. Come over to Calcutta where you might not spend a lot but are sure to take back some priceless memories. Or, let me wrap it up the MasterCard way: Landing in a crowded and weakly infrastructured airport: 1000$ Most experiences, travel books will tell you about, for everything else come to Calcutta. Chillibreeze's disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article.
>> Read more articles written by Chillibreeze writers:1. Articles related to Content and Outsourcing
|
Premium Services
Products Must Reads...
Upgrade Your Writing |
Copyright 2004 - 2011 Chillibreeze Solutions Pvt. Ltd. |
