Transportation of India

Railways: total: 62,915 km (12,307 km electrified; 12,617 km double track)

broad gauge: 40,620 km 1.676-m gauge

narrow gauge: 18,501 km 1.000-m gauge; 3,794 km 0.762-m and 0.610-m gauge (1998 est.)
Highways: total: 3,319,644 km

paved: 1,517,077 km

unpaved: 1,802,567 km (1996)
Waterways:16,180 km

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Attractions of Kolkata

Victoria Memorial

At the southern end of the Maidan, the Victoria Memorial is possibly the most awesome reminder of the Raj to be found in India. This huge white-marble museum is filled with a vast collection of remnants from the period of British empire rule, including a piano that was played by Queen Victoria as a young girl. It also includes the Calcutta Gallery and National Leaders Gallery, with exhibits on the history of Kolkata, the Raj and its various political and social leaders.

Attractions of Kolkata

The Maidan

Often referred to as the ‘lungs’ of Kolkata, the Maidan is a huge green expanse of India’s most scarce commodity - open space. Its most imposing feature is Fort William, which was rebuilt there in 1758 after the original fort was destroyed.

Costing a small fortune, it wasn’t completed until 20 years later, the surrounding area having been cleared of jungle, creating the Maidan that so many enjoy today. The fort is still in official use however and therefore is off-limits to visitors.

Attractions of Kolkata

Tagore House

Epitomising the cultural spirit of Kolkata was the brilliant poet, novelist, playwright and artist Rabindranath Tagore, who took India to the world. India’s greatest modern poet and a passionate nationalist, he penned what would become the lyrics for India’s national anthem, Jana Gana Maya, and became Asia’s first Nobel prizewinner for literature. The rambling complex of Tagore House is now a centre for Indian dance, drama and music. North of BBD Bagh, it houses an impressive museum and university for fine arts

Attractions of Kolkata

MP Birla Planetarium

This planetarium is one of the largest in the world. Within walking distance from the budget travellers’ section of the city, the planetarium provides a welcome respite from the din of traffic. Sit back, look up and take in a spectacular view of the stars that the polluted sky of Kolkata could never otherwise provide.

Attractions of Kolkata

Kali Temple

Kali represents the destructive side of Lord Shiva: legend has it that when the corpse of his wife was cut up, one of her fingers fell here. It has since become an important pilgrimage site, but is not popular with the goats who are slaughtered here each morning to satisfy the godess’ blood lust.

Also known as Kalighat, the Kali Temple was rebuilt in 1809 on the site of the actual temple from which Kalikata (anglicised to Calcutta) took its name. Next door is Mother Teresa’s Hospital for the Dying Destitute, where the Missionaries’ important work can be observed first-hand. The temple and hospital are 2km (1.2mi) southeast of the zoo.

Attractions of Kolkata

BBD Bagh

Calcutta’s administrative centre is BBD Bagh. It holds both the whimsical and the brutal: to the north side is the Writers’ Building where ‘writers’ (a quaint euphimism for clerks) beaver away in the Kafkaesque labyrinthine corridors and vast chambers while quintuplicate forms and carbon copies pile up along the walls; on the western side is the GPO where the original Fort William stood and extended right to the Hooghly river. A tiny guardroom within the fort was the site of the notorious ‘black hole of Calcutta’. Further west of BBD Bagh is Millenium Park - a glorious place to kick back, enjoy a sunset, and absorb life on the river ghats.

Attractions of India

Kolkata

Formerly Calcutta and, more rarely, Kolcutta, Kolkata by any name still conjures up images of squalor, poverty and urban disaster. Too few bother to discover its enchanting colonial beauty, the energy and humour of its people and the charm of the city’s distinctly Bengali soul.

While the teeming humanity, chaotic streets and crumbling colonial heritage are all too real, Kolkata is also acknowledged as the cultural capital of India and its friendliest metropolis. It is also home to India’s heaviest concentration of political activists, poets and artists. (more…)

Attractions of Mumbai

Marine Drive

Built on land reclaimed from Back Bay in 1920, Marine Drive runs along the shoreline of the Arabian Sea from Nariman Point past Chowpatty Beach to the foot of Malabar Hill. It’s one of Mumbai’s most popular promenades and a favourite sunset-watching spot. You certainly won’t be loitering on the sea wall long before you’re engaged in conversation, even if it’s with someone offering to show you how well their monkey can breakdance. The promenade is lined with decaying Art Deco apartments but tourist brochures are fond of dubbing it the Queen’s Necklace, because of the dramatic curve of its streetlights at night. It’s slightly less spectacular during the day.

Attractions of Mumbai

Malabar Hill

On the northern promontory of Back Bay is the expensive residential area of Malabar Hill, favoured for its cool breezes and fine bay views. The colonial bungalows that peppered the hillside in the 18th century have now been replaced by the jerry-built apartment blocks of Mumbai’s nouveau riche.

The formal Hanging Gardens on top of the hill are an interesting spot to study the courting rituals of coy Indian couples, and there are superb views of the city from neighbouring Kamala Nehru Park. Beside the Hanging Gardens, but carefully shielded from view, are the Parsi Towers of Silence.