India is full of Nature's Colour
Rajasthan have four national park and wildlife sanctuaries named- Sariska Wildlife Sanctuary, Ranthambore National Park, Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary and Desert National Park. Ranthambore National Park and Sariska Wildlife Sanctuary are known worldwide for their tiger population and considered by wild lovers and photographers as the best places in India to spot tigers.
KOLKATA TOURISM
Kolkata formerly, Calcutta is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located in eastern India on the east bank of the River Hooghly. When referred to as "Kolkata", it usually includes the suburbs, and thus its population exceeds 15 million, making it India's third-largest city and urban agglomeration. Also Calcutta served as the capital of India during the British Raj until 1911.
The name Kolkata and the anglicised name Calcutta have their root in Kalikata, the name of one of the three villages (Kalikata, Sutanuti, Gobindapur) in the area before the arrival of the British. "Kalikata", in turn, is believed to be a version of Kalikshetra ("Land of the goddess Kali"). While the city's name was always pronounced "Kolkata" in the local Bengali language, its official English name was only changed from "Calcutta" to "Kolkata" in 2001, reflecting the Bengali.
History
In 1702, the British completed the construction of old Fort William, which was used to station its troops and as a regional base. Kolkata (then Calcutta) was declared a Presidency City, and later became the headquarters of the Bengal Presidency. Faced with frequent skirmishes with French forces, in 1756 the British began to upgrade their fortifications. When protests against the militarisation by the Nawab of Bengal Siraj-Ud-Daulah went unheeded he attacked and captured Fort William, leading to the infamous Black Hole incident. A force of Company sepoys and British troops led by Robert Clive recaptured the city the following year. Kolkata was named the capital of British India in 1772, although the capital shifted to the hilly town of Shimla during the summer months every year, starting from the year 1864.
By the early 19th century, Kolkata was split into two distinct areas–one British (known as the White Town), the other Indian (known as Black Town). The city underwent rapid industrial growth from the 1850s, especially in the textile and jute sectors; this caused a massive investment in infrastructure projects like railroads and telegraph by British government. The coalescence of British and Indian culture resulted in the emergence of a new Babu class of urbane Indians – whose members were often bureaucrats, professionals, read newspapers, were Anglophiles, and usually belonged to upper-caste Hindu communities. Throughout the nineteenth century, a socio-cultural reform, often referred to as the Bengal Renaissance resulted in the general uplifting of the people. In 1883, Surendranath Banerjee organised a national conference – the first of its kind in nineteenth century India. Gradually Kolkata became a centre of the Indian independence movement, especially revolutionary organisations. The 1905 Partition of Bengal on communal grounds resulted in widespread public agitation and the boycott of British goods (Swadeshi movement). These activities, along with the administratively disadvantageous location of Kolkata in the eastern fringes of India, prompted the British to move the capital to New Delhi in 1911.
Over the 1960s and 1970s, severe power shortages, strikes and a violent Marxist-Maoist movement – the Naxalites – damaged much of the city's infrastructure, leading to an economic stagnation. In the mid–1980s, Mumbai overtook Kolkata as India's most populous city. Kolkata has been a strong base of Indian communism as West Bengal has been ruled by the CPI(M) dominated Left Front for three decades now – the world's longest-running democratically-elected Communist government. The city's economic recovery gathered momentum after economic reforms in India introduced by the central government in the mid-1990s. Since 2000, Information Technology (IT) services have revitalized the city's stagnant economy. The city is also experiencing a growth in the manufacturing sector.
Geography
Kolkata is located in eastern India at 22°33'N 88°20'E in the Ganges Delta at an elevation ranging between 1.5 m to 9 m. It is spread linearly along the banks of the River Hooghly in a north-south direction. Much of the city was originally a vast wetland, reclaimed over the decades to accommodate the city's burgeoning population. The remaining wetland, known as East Calcutta Wetlands has been designated a "wetland of international importance" under the Ramsar Convention.
Like the most of the Indo-Gangetic plains, the predominant soil type is alluvial. Quaternary sediments consisting of clay, silt, various grades of sand and gravel underlie the city. These sediments are sandwiched between two clay beds, the lower one at depths between 250 m and 650 m and the upper one ranging between 10 m and 40m in thickness.
Climate
Kolkata has a tropical wet-and-dry climate (Koppen climate classification Aw). The annual mean temperature is 26.8 °C (80.2 °F); monthly mean temperatures range from 19 °C to 30 °C. Summers are hot and humid with temperatures in the low 30's and during dry spells the maximum temperatures often exceed 40 °C during May and June. Winter tends to last for only about two and a half months, with seasonal lows dipping to 9 °C – 11 °C between December and January. The highest recorded temperature is 43.9 °C and the lowest is 5 °C. On an average, May is the hottest month with daily temperatures ranging from a low of 27 °C to a maximum of 37 °C, while January the coldest month has temperatures varying from a low of 12 °C to a maximum of 23 °C.
Demographics
Residents of Kolkata are called Calcuttans. As of 2001, Kolkata city had a population of 4,580,544, while the urban agglomeration had a population of 13,216,546. The sex ratio is 828 females per 1000 males – which is lower than the national average, because many working males come from rural areas, where they leave behind their families. Kolkata's literacy rate of 80.86%6 exceeds the all-India average of 64.8%.6dead link Kolkata Municipal Corporation area has registered a growth rate of 4.1%, which is the lowest among the million-plus cities in India.
Culture
Kolkata has long been known for its literary, artistic and revolutionary heritage. As the former capital of India, Kolkata was the birthplace of modern Indian literary and artistic thought. Kolkatans tend to have a special appreciation for art and literature; its tradition of welcoming new talent has made it a "city of furious creative energy".
Kolkata has many buildings adorned with Gothic, Baroque, Roman, Oriental and Indo-Islamic (including Mughal) motifs. Several major buildings of the Colonial period are well maintained and have been declared "heritage structures", while others are in various stages of decay. Established in 1814, the Indian Museum is the oldest museum in Asia and houses vast collection of Indian natural history and Indian art.7 The Victoria Memorial, one of the major tourist attractions in Kolkata, has a museum documenting the city's history. The National Library of India is India's leading public library. Academy of Fine Arts and other art galleries hold regular art exhibitions.
The city has a tradition of dramas in the form of jatra (a kind of folk-theatre), theatres and Group Theatres. Mainstream films are popular, as are films from the Bengali cinema industry, dubbed "Tollywood". Tollygunj in Kolkata is the location of Bengali movie studios and the name "Tollywood" (similar as Hollywood, USA) is derived from that name. Its long tradition of filmmaking includes acclaimed directors such as Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Tapan Sinha and Ritwik Ghatak to contemporary directors such as Aparna Sen and Rituparno Ghosh.
Key elements of Kolkata's cuisine include rice and macher jhol (fish curry) with rasagolla, sandesh and mishti doi (sweet yoghurt) as dessert. Bengal's vast repertoire of fish-based dishes includes various hilsa preparations (a favorite among Bengalis). Street foods such as beguni (fried battered eggplant slices), kati roll (flatbread roll with vegetable or chicken, mutton or egg stuffing), phuchka (deep fried crépe with tamarind and lentil sauce) and Chinese food from China Town in the eastern parts of the city are quite popular.
Durga Puja is the most important and the most glamourous event in Kolkata.83 Other notable festivals include Jagaddhatri Puja, Diwali, Eid, Holi, Christmas, poila boishak (new year), Saraswati puja, Rath Yatra and Poush parbon (harvest festival). Some of the cultural festivals are Kolkata Book Fair, Dover Lane music festival, Kolkata Film Festival and National Theatre Festival.
The city is also noted for its appreciation of Indian classical music as well as Bengali folk music such as baul. In the nineteenth and twentieth century, Bengali literature was modernized in the works of authors such as Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam and Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay. The rich literary tradition set by these authors has been carried forward in the works of Jibanananda Das, Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay, Tarashankar Bandopadhyay, Manik Bandopadhyay,Ashapurna Debi, Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay, Buddhadeb Guha, Samaresh Majumdar, Sanjeev Chattopadhyay and Sunil Gangopadhyay among others.
Places of Interest
Victoria Memorial
Victoria Memorial was build in memory of Queen Victoria and inaugurated by the Prince of Wales in 1921. It is also a museum where people could see before them pictures and statues of men who played a prominent part in the history of India and develop a pride in their past especially in relation to the history of Kokata.
Indian Museum
Indian Museum Kolkata is the largest museum in the country, established in 1814 and moved to its present site in 1878. Founded by Dr. Nathaniel Wallich and Italian style building designed by WL Granvil. The museum has over 60 galleries and it is devided into six different sections – Archaeology, Art, Anthropology, Geology, Zoology and Industry.
Media
Newspapers
Newspapers which are published in Kolkata, the prominent are:
Times of India, Hindustan Times, The Hindu, The Indian Express, The Statesman, The Telegraph, Asian Age, The Economic Times, Business Standard, Anandabzar Patrika, Bartamna, Aajkaal, Dainik Statesman etc.
FM Channels
FM channels in Kolkata :
Friends FM (91.9)
Big FM (92.7)
Red FM (93.5)
Radio One (94.3)
Radio Mirchi (98.3)
FM Gold (100.2)
Fever (104)
Meow FM (104.8)
Aamar FM (106.2)
FM Rainbow (107)
Powe FM (107.8)
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