Kolkata
Kolkata (before January 1, 2001, Calcutta) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal.
Origins and History
Journey from British rule to independence
Kolkata came into the possession of the British East India Company in 1690 and dates its beginnings as a city from the construction of Fort William in 1698. From 1858 to 1912, Kolkata was the capital of British India. From 1912 to India's Independence in 1947, it was the capital of all of Bengal. After Independence, Kolkata remained the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal.
Contribution to Independence movement of India
Historically, Kolkata was the epicentre of activity in the early stages of the national movement of independence. The Indian National Congress was born here, as also many contemporary societies like The Hindu Mela and revolutionary societies like the Jugantar and the Anushilan groups. Among early nationalist leaders, the most prominent were Sri Aurobindo and Bepin Chandra Pal. The early nationalists were inspired by Swami Vivekananda, the foremost disciple of the mystic Sri Ramakrishna and helped by Sister Nivedita, disciple of the former.
Growth
The centre of Company control over the whole of Bengal from 1757, Kolkata underwent rapid industrial growth from the 1850s, especially in the textile sector, despite the poverty of the surrounding region. Kolkata grew, mostly in an unplanned way, in the next 150 years from 117,000 to 1,098,000 inhabitants (including suburbs), and now has a metropolitan population of approximately 13.2 million. Kolkata was the most populous city in India until the 1980s, when it was overtaken by Mumbai (formerly Bombay). The population increased further with the partition of India , in August 1947 , when it attracted Hindus refugees and other uprooted people and cross border infiltrators from the eastern part of the province of the formerly undivided Bengal, first included in Pakistan, later declaring independence to form the republic of Bangladesh in 1971.
The Baboo Culture and the Bengal Renaissance
During the bygone days of the British, as the capital of undivided India the city was regarded as the second city of the British Empire (after London) and was aptly renamed "City of Palaces" and the Great Eastern Hotel was regarded as the "Jewel of the East". During those days Calcutta was famous for its "Baboo Culture" --- incidentally a cross -fertilization of English Liberalism , European fin de siecle decadence, Mughal conservatism and indigenous revivalism inculcating aspects of socio-moral and political change. This culture was fostered in its wake by the Zamindari System, the Daebhaga System and the Nautch. This also fostered the Bengal Renaissance , literally an awakening of modern liberal thinking in 19th century Bengal , and which gradually percolated to the rest of India. Like the Italian Renaissance, it challenged orthodox social convention to usher in an era of humanistic idealism.
The Age of De(con)struction
Kolkata remained in the forefront of Indian prosperity upto independence and for some more years afterwards before the population pressure on infrastructure and political disturbances led to a gradual decline. A violently disruptive Maoist movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s and left the city badly bruised. Since 1977, a Marxist party has continuously ruled the state with various allegations of electoral malpractices being common. The Municipal Corporation of Calcutta however is presently controlled by a combine of parties opposed to them.
Name
A lot of discussion is still going on how the city got its name. There are different views on the issue. The more popular one is that the city got its name from the Hindu goddess Kali. See also: Calicut
The City of Palaces
The city is home to the National Library of India, and is the cultural capital of India, famous for the book-fairs every winter. Other places to visit in the city are the Victoria Memorial, Jorasanko Thakur Bari , Marble Palace, Dakshineswar Kali Temple, Birla Temple, Rabindra Setu (previously called Howrah Bridge) , Vidyasagar Setu (second Hooghly bridge) , Nandan - Rabindra Sadan Cultural Complex , Shahid Minar (previously called Ochterlony Monument), Science City , Town Hall, Calcutta , Millennium Park promenade, Whiteway Laidlaw Building, Governor's House, Esplanade Mansion, Howrah Station , South Eastern Railway Headquarters and a lot of other places.
The Socio-Cultural Capital and Aesthetic Conscience of India
Observers, Social Reformers and Commentators
Kolkata was also home to the poet Rabindranath Tagore, the social reformers Raja Ram Mohun Roy (founder of the Brahmo Samaj) , Keshub Chunder Sen , Henry Louis Vivian Derozio, David Hare, Alexander Duff, Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar , William Carey and Mutty Lal Seal. It has produced some great social critics , commentators on culture , religion, philosophy and scholars and writers like Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay , Bibhuti Bhusan Bandyopadhyay , Amritalal Basu , Dinabandhu Mitra , Michael Madhusudan Dutt , Syed Mustafa Ali , Saradindu Bandyopadhyay , Pramath Chowdhury , Nirad C. Chaudhuri , (linguist ) Suniti Kumar Chattopadhyay, (historians) Jadunath Sircar and Romesh Chunder Majumdar, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan , (novelists) Samaresh Majumdar , Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay , Dibyendu Palit, Purnendu Pattrea, Tarashankar Bandopadhyay, Rajashekhar Basu, Premendra Mitra, Syed Mustafa Siraj, Mahashweta Devi, Sanjeeb Chattopadhyay, Bimal Kar , Sunil Gangopadhyay , Amitav Ghosh , Amit Chaudhuri , Ashapurna Devi , (poets) Buddhadev Bose, Subhas Mukhopadhyay, Jeebanananda Das , Nirendranath Chakraborty, Annada Shankar Ray and Leela Majumdar . Calcutta was the birth place of the great English novelist William Makepeace Thackeray and noted litterateurs like Sasthi Brata, Vikram Seth, and for some time , the home of German Nobel laureate Gunter Grass .
Nobel laureates
All Nobel laureates of India have been associated with Kolkata at some point of time. The city has produced six Nobel laureates so far . They are Sir Ronald Ross (1899 Medicine), Rabindranath Tagore (1913 Literature), Sir C.V. Raman (1930 Physics), Mother Teresa (1977 Peace) , Subramanyam Chandrasekhar (1983 Physics) and lastly Amartya Sen (1998 Economics) .
Cinema, Theatre and other Performing Arts
Cinema
The late film director Satyajit Ray , who won the Special Oscar for Lifetime Achievement in 1992 lived in Kolkata. In fact the tradition of non - commercial , artistic , impressionistic cinema is vogue in the cinema of Mrinal Sen , Ritwik Ghatak (d.1977) , Buddhadev Dasgupta , Goutam Ghose , Aparna Sen , Nabyendu Chatterjee among others . In the domain of commercial or mainstream cinema, actors and thespian turned actors like Utpal Dutt, Pramathesh Barua, Tulsi Chakraborty , Kali Bandyopadyay, Kanan Devi, Suchitra Sen , Uttam Kumar, Victor Banerjee and Soumitra Chattopadhyay have won international acclaim.
Theatre
Despite its decline from the pre-eminent position of the cultural capital of India in recent times, it still retains a strong tradition in cinema and theatre. Renowned thespians include Utpal Dutt, Sambhu Mitra , Tripti Mitra, Rudra Prasad Sengupta, Shaonli Mitra, Usha Ganguli among others. Calcutta is the capital of the Hindi theatre stage in India and home to the nationally renowned theatre groups Nandipaat and Ajantrik.
Music
Calcutta had produced talented vocal artists like Gaharjaan , Indubala Dasi , Dwijendra Lal Roy , Acharya Krishna Chandra Dey, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Kanan Devi, Feroza Begum, Kanika Bandyopadhyay, Suchitra Mitra , Hemanta Mukhopadhyay, Manna Dey, Geetashree Sandhya Mukhopadhyay, Debabrata Biswas, Shyama Chattopadhyay, Krishna Chattopadhyay, Sarbani Sen, Robin Bandyopadhyay, Arati Mukhopadhyay, Anjali Mukhopadhyay, Begum Akhtar, Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty, Usha Uthup , Indrani Sen, Shreekanta Acharya, Swagatalakshmi Dasgupta, Suman Chattopadhyay, Anjan Dutt, Nachiketa, Bengali bands Moiner Ghoraguli , Chandrabindoo , Cactus, Crosswindz and Bhoomi.
Globally acclaimed instrumental virtuosos in Classical music like Pandit Ravi Shankar, Bismillah Khan, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Asifuddin Dagar, Amjad Ali Khan , Grammy Awardee Bikram Ghosh , Loius Banks among others hail from Calcutta. The Dover Lane Music Conference held every September celebrates the tradition of Indian classical music. It is said that Calcutta has the finest connoisseurs of classical music in India.
Among the styles and traditions of vocal music in vogue in Calcutta are Nidhu Babur Toppa, Mujraah, Kheyaal, Kavi Gaan, Jatra Gaan, Rabindra Sangeet, Carnatic , Hindustani, Atulprasadi, Shyama Sangeet, Adhunik, Nazrul Geeti, Lok Geeti, Ghazals , Bhakti Geet, Jeebonmukhi, Pop, Indipop, Rock 'n Roll, Santhal Lok Sangeet and Hindi film music.
Dance
Some of the most beautiful dance themes are based on the eternal songs and song and dance based plays of Tagore like Chandalika, The Country of Cards (Tasher Desh) and so on. Prominent dancers and dance troupes of the city include late Uday and Amala Shankar, Tanushree Shankar and group, Mamata Shankar Ballet Troupe, Madhuboni Chattopadhyay, Italian born Ileana Citaristi, Sushmita Bandopadhyay, Gaudiya Nritya, Odissi Kala Kendra, Mallhar, Anurekha Ghosh and Company, The Nupur Dance Academy, Padatik Dance Centre, Durga Prasdee Sangeet Vidyalaya among others.
Magic and Astrology
Calcutta is the magic capital of India and has produced magicians like P.C Sorcar Sr, P.C. Sorcar Jr, K Lal, Prince Seal etc. and numerous nationally and internationally acclaimed astrologers. Calcutta hosts the headquarters of the All India Magic Circle.
Artists
Artists, painters and sculptors like those of the Tagore family (Gaganendranath , Samarendranath, Sunayani Devi, Rabindranath , Rathindranath) , Nandalal Bose, Jamini Roy, Ganesh Pyne, Bikash Bhattacharya, and M.F. Husain have at some time in their careers, been associated with Calcutta.
Scientists
Scientific greats of Kolkata include, in approximately chronogical order, the multifaceted geniuses W.B. O'Slaughnessy , Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose, Sir Prafulla Chandra Ray, the physicists , Meghnad Saha and the statistician Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis.
Education
Primary and Secondary
There are six systems of education catering to each --- the private English medium based convent school education, the central governmental system of education, the West Bengal governmental system of education, the Oxford / Cambridge local exam syndicate education system, the Islamic Madrasah system of education and lastly the open school based education. Some of the most posh and expensive schools in Calcutta follow the convent and Cambridge system of education.
University and Professional Education
The seat of twelve public universities, and numerous colleges, including at least four medical colleges, Kolkata still enjoys a prominent position in education, though it has slipped in national indexes in the recent past. The famous University of Calcutta saw its direction being ably veered towards indigenous concerns by the first Indian vice-chancellor, Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee. The Jadavpur University started off as a National College founded by the National Council of Education as an alternative model to the British system and now houses the foremost engineering college in the city. The Rabindra Bharati University offers humanities based subjects. The other universities or autonomous institutions of national importance located in Calcutta are the the Indian Statistical Institute , Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta , Marine Engineering Research Institute , West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (Calcutta Campus) , West Bengal University of Technology , Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology & Applied Nutrition, Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre , Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Netaji Subhas Open University, Indian Institute of Information Technology , Shibpur University (formerly Bengal Engineering College) , National Institute of Homoeopathy , Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute and the West Bengal University of Fishery and Agricultural Sciences . Established in the 19th century, other colleges and independent institutions enjoying university status are Asiatic Society, Bishop's College , School of Tropical Medicine , School of Forensic Sciences and Serampore College. The Geological Survey of India has its headquarters in Calcutta. Financial institutions like ICAI, ICWAI , ICFAI and technological institutions like ICE(I) , IE(I), NIIT , APTECH have branch offices in Calcutta. Foreign and private universities like the University of London, University of Cambridge, Troy State University , Ashington University, TAFE Australia , Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Rai University , Sikkim Manipal University also operate in Calcutta.
Sports
The Games and the Players
Football or soccer is a passion for many Kolkatans with the national clubs Mohun Bagan and East Bengal being the best known teams. Calcutta has produced summer Olympic medalists like Norman Pritchard (Athletics --- 1900) , Richard James Allen, Leslie Claudius Field Hockey (1924, 1928, 1936) , Gurbux Singh, Dr. Vece Paes Field Hockey (1980) , Leander Paes (Men's singles Tennis 1996) . The current, and most successful, cricket captain of India Sourav Chandidas Ganguly is a Kolkatan.
Other sportspersons who have won laurels for Calcutta are Gobor Goho (World Amateur Wrestling Championship USA 1900-2, Manotosh Roy (former Mr Universe ) and Manohar Aich (former Mr. World)(both in the 1950s) , Mihir Sen (Guiness Record holder of being the first person the swim across the English Channel 1948 and the seven straits across all major continents) , Jyotirmoyee Sikdar ( 1998 Asian Games Gold medallist in four events in racing) , Leander Paes ( Wimbledon and French Open Doubles Men's and Mixed Doubles Champion 1999 and afterwards) , Arjun Atwal (PGA Golf champion 2003), Dibyendu Barua and Surya Sekhar Ganguly (current FIDE Chess Grandmasters) and trans-continental wizards Mohd. Salauddin and wife Neena , who were first team to race across the world in their 'Contessa Classic' 1989 car in 1993 and in a Nissan jeep in 1998 -- in the shortest possible time --- a record acknowledged by the Guiness Book of World Records.
The Amphitheatres
Kolkata has a world-class football stadium in Yuva Bharati Krirangan (also called Salt Lake Stadium) and a 100,000-capacity stadium, mostly used for cricket, called the Eden Gardens. Calcutta boasts of one of the largest race courses of its kind in Asia , the finest golf courses of its kind in the world (Royal Calcutta Golf Club) and one of the most beautiful tennis courts in the world (South Club) . The Eden Gardens Stadium is the largest stadium of its kind for the game of cricket. Today they reflect remnants of a thriving sports culture based on the British inspired love for cricket , golf, tennis and racing.
Ethnicity
Calcutta is a multicultural cosmopolitan city. Apart from the diversity of India , the cultures represented are that of the Europeans (Germans, Armenians, Jewish etc.) , Asians (Chinese, Sinhalese, Tibetan etc.).
Transportation Networks
The two major railway stations of the city are at Howrah and Sealdah with the latter having a more local character. The city has an international airport at Dum Dum and it is called Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport. Kolkata is the only city in India to have a tram network and till 2003 , the only underground metro railway in the Indian sub-continent .
Apart from that...
Calcutta and Bombay are the only two cities in India to have the honorary designation of the Sheriff.
Founder and date of foundation
The city High Court recently gave a ruling that Job Charnock is not the founder of the city and Kolkata has no birthday.
Lastly...
Calcutta is also a gambling term; see Calcutta (gambling).