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KOLKATA - INDIA
Calcutta is the capital of the Indian state
of West Bengal. Its original name was Kalikata and is, in higher literature,
still referred to as such. Speakers of the region's native language of
Bengali have always known it as Kolkata (??????) and there is consequently
no standardized phonetic spelling of 'Calcutta' in written Bengali. It was
officially changed to Kolkata as of 2001, though the British appelation is
still often used in the rest of the world. It has two well-known nicknames:
City of Joy and City of Palaces. Sometimes, it is also referred to as the "Michhil
Nagari", or the City of Processions and "City of Bandhs" or City of Strikes.
History
Name and origins
On January 1, 2001, the name was officially changed to Kolkata. While
Calcutta was the previous English and official name, it has always been
known as Kolkata in Bengali. The rent-roll of King Akbar, a sixteenth-century
Mughal king, and the work of a Bengali poet, Bipradaas, of the late
fifteenth century, both make mention of the city's early name being Kalikata,
from which Kolkata/Calcutta are said to derive (1 (http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=108730&tocid=9821&query=calcutta&ct=)).
There is lot of discussion 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 High Court recently gave a ruling that Job Charnock, a Briton
earlier believed to be the founder of the city is not the founder of the
city and Calcutta has no birthday. According to the Court, the city owes its
genesis in the Maurya and Gupta period and it was an established trading
post long before the Slave Dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate, the Mughals, the
Portuguese, the French or the British established a modern township there.
References to the existence of an ancient riverine port (named Kalikata)
exist in the travel journals of Chinese scholars and Persian merchants
dating from centuries BCE. The Hindu epic Mahabharata, lists the King of “Vanga”,
as having fought alongside the Kauravas in the great war.
Inspite of the High Court ruling, it is a fact that one of the earliest
modern settlement in the city took place when in 1690, Job Charnock, an
agent of the East India Company chose the place for a trade settlement. In
1698, the East India Company bought three villages (Sutanuti, Kolikata and
Gobindapur) from a local landlord. The next year, the company began
developing the city as a Presidency City. In 1727, as per the order of King
George I, a civil court was setup in the city. The Calcutta municipal
corporation (recently renamed as 'Kolkata Municipal Corporation') was formed
and the city had its first mayor. In 1756, the Nawab of Bengal , Siraj Ud
Daulah attacked Calcutta and conquered it. He renamed the city "Alinagar".
He lost control of the city within a year and Calcutta went back to the
British. In 1772, Calcutta became the capital of British India, a decision
made by Governor General Warren Hastings. In 1779, Hickey's Bengal Gazette
or the Calcutta General Advertiser became the first newspaper in India to be
printed from Calcutta.
Journey from British rule to Independence
The three villages, in particular Kalikata, where Calcutta is located, came
into the possession of the British East India Company in 1690 and some
scholars like to date its beginnings as a major city from the construction
of Fort William by the British in 1698, though this is debated (cf. court
ruling in "Name and origins" above). From 1858 to 1912, Calcutta was the
capitol of British India. From 1912 to India's Independence in 1947, it was
the capital of all of Bengal. After Independence, Calcutta remained the
capital of the Indian state of West Bengal.
Contribution to Independence movement of India
Historically, Calcutta 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, Indiradevi
Chaudhurani, Bipin Chandra Pal. The early nationalists were inspired by
Swami Vivekananda, the foremost disciple of the Hindu mystic Sri Ramakrishna
and helped by Sister Nivedita, disciple of the former. The first native
president of the Indian National Congress Sir Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee and
the first Congress president to advocate self rule by Indians, Sir Surendra
Nath Banerjea (referred to by the British as "Surrender Not") were early
eminent Calcuttans, who provoked and influenced Nationalist thinking in the
late 19th and early 20th centuries. The rousing cry that awakened India's
soul was penned by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, now the national song of
the nation, an ode to the land of Bharat (India) as the Divine Mother, Vande
Mataram. The Elgin Road residence of Subhash Chandra Bose in Calcutta was
the place from where the great patriot escaped the British to reach Germany,
during the second World War.
Growth
The centre of Company control over the whole of Bengal from 1757, Calcutta
underwent rapid industrial growth from the 1850s, especially in the textile
sector, despite the poverty of the surrounding region. Despite being almost
totally destroyed by a cyclone, in which 60,000 died October 5th 1864,
Calcutta 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.
Calcutta was the most populous city in India until the 1980s, when it was
overtaken by 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/Babu Culture and the Bengal Renaissance
During the bygone days of the British, as the capital of undivided India
Calcutta 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 that bygone era, 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 the Hindu Joint Family System, the Mitakshara System, the
Muslim Zenana System , the Protestant spirit of free capitalist enterprise,
the Mughal inspired feudal 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
Calcutta remained in the forefront of Indian prosperity up to 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.
Geography
Calcutta is located in the eastern part of India at 22° 82' N, 88° 20'E.
The City of Palaces
Calcutta has a nickname, the "City of Palaces".
During the British colonial era in the period from 1700-1912, when Calcutta
was the capital of British India, Calcutta witnessed a spate of frenzied
construction activity of buildings largely influenced by the conscious
intermingling of Gothic, Baroque, Roman, Oriental and Islamic schools of
design. Unlike many north Indian cities, whose construction stresses
minimalism, the layout in architectural variety in Calcutta owed its origins
to the Occident. Thus it was possible to walk on a street in the European
sector in Calcutta in the 1900s and confuse it for Saville Row, Southall or
Pont des Artes.
The buildings were designed, and inspired by the tastes of the English
gentleman around and the aspiring Bengalee Baboo (literally a nouveau riche
Bengali who aspired to cultivation of English etiquette, manners and custom
).
This spate of construction by the Bengalis to rival the English did not go
unnoticed. It was fully appreciated and fostered by the British who went on
to construct some of the most aesthetically visible monuments in the city.
Nirad C. Chaudhuri has remarked that the Victoria Memorial was the only
original architectural design by the British in Calcutta and not, as is
believed by the Bengalis, a copy of the Taj Mahal of Agra.
Calcutta's skyline was European in form; in content it was Indian; thus
earning the appelation of the City of Palaces.
Government House
Government House, Calcutta, built in the early 19th century, is modelled on
Kedleston Hall. The House was once the seat of the Viceroys of India; later,
when the Government moved to New Delhi, it became the residence of the
Governor of Bengal, a function that it fulfils to this day. While the basic
features of Kedleston have been faithfully copied (the Palladian Front, the
Dome etc.), Government House is a much larger, three storeyed structure.
Also, the Government of India evidently did not have the funding constraints
that forced the Curzons to leave their house incomplete: Government House
has all four wings originally conceived for Kedleston. So today, a
'complete', brick built Kedleston, on a much grander scale, sits
incongruously in its acres of gardens in the heart of the Calcutta business
district.
Important Monuments
The city is home to the National Library of India and famous in India for
the grand book-fairs it hosts every winter. The oldest museum in Asia, the
Indian Museum (established 1814), is also to be found in Calcutta. Other
places to visit in the city are the Victoria Memorial, Calcutta High Court,
Bankshall Court, Writer's Building, 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
by the British), Kalighat, Bhoothnath, Science City , St. Thomas, Kolkata,
Town Hall, Calcutta , Millennium Park promenade, Eden Gardens (a massive
international cricket stadium), Whiteways and Laidlaw Building (currently
known as Life Insurance Corporation of India building), Governor's House,
Esplanade Mansion, Howrah Station, South Eastern Railway Headquarters,
Calcutta Maidan and many more notable places.
Museums
Indian Museum
Town Hall, Calcutta
Marble Palace
Gurusaday Museum, Diamond Harbour Road
Jawahar Shishu Bhawan
Birla Technological and Science Museum
Science City
The Socio-Cultural Capital and Aesthetic Conscience of India
Calcutta has been regarded since ages as the cultural capital of India. It
is famous for the book-fairs every winter.
Observers, Social Reformers and Commentators
Calcutta was also home to the Noble Laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore, the
Hindu social reformers Raja Ram Mohun Roy (founder of the Brahmo Samaj),
Keshub Chunder Sen, Henry Louis Vivian Derozio, David Hare (of Calcutta),
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, Gayatri
Chakravorty Spivak, (linguist) Suniti Kumar Chattopadhyay, (historians)
Jadunath Sircar and Romesh Chunder Majumdar, (philosophers and presidents)
Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, (novelists) Samaresh
Majumdar, Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay, Bimal Mitra, Dibyendu Palit, Purnendu
Pattrea, Tarashankar Bandopadhyay, Rajashekhar Basu, Premendra Mitra, Syed
Mustafa Siraj, Mahashweta Devi, Anita Desai, Sanjeeb Chattopadhyay, Bimal
Kar, Sunil Gangopadhyay, Amitav Ghosh, Amit Chaudhuri, Ashapurna Devi,
(poets) Buddhadev Bose, Subhas Mukhopadhyay, Jibanananda 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 Vikram Seth, Bharati Mukherjee, Raj Kamal Jha, Upamanyu
Chatterjee, Jayabroto Chatterjee, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Lali
Chatterjee, Suketu Mehta , Nalinaksha Bhattacharyya, Sasthi Brata, and for
some time, the home of German Nobel laureate Günter Grass. The renowned
genetic scientist and Marxist commentator on society, culture and biology
J.B.S. Haldane, spent his last days in his adopted homeland, in Calcutta.
Nobel laureates
Most Nobel laureates of India have been associated with Calcutta at some
point of time. The city has produced five Nobel Prize laureates so far .
They are (as chronologically awarded):
Sir Ronald Ross (1902 Medicine),
Rabindranath Tagore (1913 Literature),
Sir C.V. Raman (1930 Physics),
Mother Teresa (1977 Peace)
Amartya Sen (1998 Economics)
Scientists
Scientific greats of Calcutta include, in approximately chronogical order,
the multifaceted geniuses W.B. O'Slaughnessy, Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose, Sir
Prafulla Chandra Ray, the physicists Meghnad Saha, Satyendra Nath Bose,
statistician Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, and genetic scientist Ananda
Mohan Chakraborty. The first in-vitro fertilization (to produce test tube
baby "Durga") in India (and second in the world) was performed by city
doctor Dr. Subhash Mukhopadhyay on October 3, 1978.
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 London
Edexcel / 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 nine public universities, and numerous colleges, including at
least four medical colleges, Calcutta still enjoys a prominent position in
education, though it has slipped in national indexes in the recent past. The
universities or autonomous institutions of national importance located in
Calcutta are listed below:
Universities
University of Calcutta,
Jadavpur University,
Rabindra Bharati University,
West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences,
Netaji Subhas Open University,
Shibpur University (formerly Bengal Engineering College),
West Bengal University of Health Sciences,
West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences,
West Bengal University of Technology,
Open University of Alternative Medicines,
The Open International University For Alternative Medicines (Charter Of
Indian Board Of Alternative Medicines),
and numerous colleges affiliated to some of the above mentioned
universities.
Institutions of National Importance
Asiatic Society
Indian Statistical Institute
Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta
Marine Engineering Research Institute
Indian Association for Cultivation of Science
Indian Institute of Chemical Biology
Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre
Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics
Inter University Consortium for Department of Atomic Energy Facilities
(IUC-DAEF)
Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute
Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology & Applied Nutrition
Other Autonomous Institutes/Centres of Excellence
The Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture
Anthropological Survey of India
Bose Institute
Botanical Survey of India
Central Glass & Ceramic Research Institute
Central Inland Capture Fisheries Research Institute
Central Research Institute for Jute & Allied Fibres
Centre for Studies in Social Sciences
Electronics Research and Development Centre of India
Geological Survey of India
Indian Institute of Information Technology
Mining, Geological and Metallurgical Institute of India
National Institute of Research on Jute & Allied Fibres Technology
National Institute of Homoeopathy
S.N.Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences
Zoological Survey of India
Bishop's College
School of Tropical Medicine
School of Forensic Sciences
Serampore College
Presidency College, Calcutta
Scottish Church College, Calcutta
Bethune College, Calcutta
Max Mueller Bhavan - Goethe Institut
British Council
United States Educational Foundation in India
National Institute of Fashion Technology.
Other public universities or institutions which operate in Calcutta or
conduct courses in affiliated colleges or institutes are IIT Kharagpur,
Visva Bharati University, Vidyasagar University, University of Kalyani,
Aligarh Muslim University, Himachal Pradesh University, Madurai Kamaraj
University, Indira Gandhi Mational Open University and the Indian School of
Mines, Dhanbad. Foreign and private universities like the University of
London, University of Cambridge (Local Exams Syndicate), Troy State
University, Ashington University, TAFE Australia, Birla Institute of
Technology, Mesra, Xavier Labour Relations Institute (Jamshedpur),
International Management Institute (Delhi), Rai University , EIILM
University, Sikkim Manipal University and Wigan and Leigh College, UK also
operate in Calcutta.
The Geological Survey of India, and the National Council of Science Museums
have their headquarters in Calcutta. Financial institutions like ICAI,
ICWAI, ICFAI and technological institutions like ICE(I), IE(I), NIIT, APTECH
have branch offices in Calcutta.
Sports
The Games and the Players
Football or soccer is a passion for many Calcuttans 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
Saurav Ganguly is a Calcuttan.
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 (Guinness
Record holder of being the first person to swim across the English Channel
in 1948 and the seven straits across all major continents), Jyotirmoyee
Sikdar ( 1998 Asian Games Gold medallist in four events in racing), Leander
Adrian Paes ( Wimbledon and French Open Men's Doubles, with Mahesh Bhupathi
and Mixed Doubles Champion 1999 and Wimbledon Mixed Doubles Champion 2003,
with ace Martina Navratilova), 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 Guinness Book of World Records.
Another noteworthy Calcuttan associated with sports is the former president
of the International Cricket Council and former president of the Board of
Control for Cricket in India, Mr Jag Mohan Dalmiya.
The Amphitheatres
Calcutta has a world-class football stadium in the '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. Together they reflect remnants of a
thriving sports culture based on the British inspired love for cricket,
golf, tennis and equestrian events.
Ethnicity
Calcutta is a multicultural cosmopolitan city. Apart from the diversity of
India, the cultures represented are that of the Europeans (Including
Germans, Armenians, and Jews), and other Asians (Including Chinese,
Sinhalese, and Tibetans).
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. Calcutta is the only city in India to have a tram
network and till 2003, the only underground metro railway in the Indian
sub-continent .
Calcutta and Mumbai are the only two cities in India to have the honorary
designation of the Sheriff.
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