Images of Kolkata

We arrive to the steamy heat and crowds of Kolkata from the relative quiet and definite chill of Darjeeling. Despite having some knowledge of what it would be like it’s still a startling contrast. However, we are ready for some city time before we bid a fond farewell to Mother India. Here are a few of the photographic highlights.

Arriving from Howrah railway station over the famous bridge.

The Queen Victoria memorial built in. – beautifully laid out gardens and wonderfully grand on the outside, a bit dusty and musty inside!

The atmospheric South Park Street cemetery. A graveyard from 1767 for many of the British who were here during the colonial period. Many were here for only a few years before contracting a tropical disease and dying young.

Kumartuli – the tangle of streets where artists make and decorate the hundreds of sculptures of gods and deities for the many religious festivals.

Here’s one I made earlier

Blowing kisses

Siesta time

Chargrilled corn on the cob is a popular snack

Stack ’em high!

The wonderful flower market that resides below Howrah bridge and never seems to sleep.

Quintessential India – tuk-tuks and religion!

Taking of which ….. one of the stalls that lined the streets outside Kalighat Temple. Everything you might need for a prayerful offering and a memento to take away!